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Chapter Text

-Dear guests! Today we will destroy the enemies of humanity! Today, humans will once again become the dominant species on Earth! Professor, activate the Absolute Zero cannon!

***

A woman was meditating in a cave behind the waterfall. but she was unusual. She had butterfly wings behind her back, and on her head was a helmet with blue spots and antennas. It seemed that she was worried about something: her forehead was very wrinkled.

When she found what she was looking for, she got scared and screamed.

— No!

***

The surface of the sea was cut by dorsal plates. They looked different than before. They were more pointed and had a light purple color. The military watched them closely and began to prepare their weapons.  Finally, the mysterious creature came onto land. When the military saw THIS, they were very surprised. What they initially thought was Gojira turned out to be a gigantic creature, five hundred feet tall. two amber eyes looked straight into their eyes. And there was a most deafening roar.

SCRREEEEEEENNN!

***

General Goesen was standing in the GDF building. She was looking at a robot that was found near the Japanese coast. He looked a lot like Kiryu, who was in the next compartment

The woman looked thoughtfully on mecha and thought how good it was that they found it before the Monarch.

***

A small and at the same time gigantic girl walked along the beach until she came across a large rock. the girl looked at her thoughtfully. She was sure that this thing had not been here before. she eventually decided to practice with her atomic breath.

Its plates began to hum slowly and quietly. Then they glowed blue and she fired. But the "rock" didn't care. Only small stones fell down. Junior looked at this with disappointment. How was she going to take the throne of the Queen of the Monsters after her mother if she was weak?

Suddenly the ground began to split. Tons of dust rose into the air, briefly blocking her view. Suddenly a growl was heard. It came from the place where the rock was. When the dust settled, she opened her eyes and was surprised.

In front of her was a huge reptile. The reptile's scales were dark charcoal. The long tail ended in purple spikes. She noticed that the reptile also had dorsal plates. The largest ones were found near the shoulder blades. They were all purple in color. The creature's aura was royal and had the power of her mother. No, even stronger. She watched in awe as the reptile's gaze settled on her. Then the huge lizard turned and began to go into the sea.

***

A huge spaceship was drifting in space. It was a little futuristic and shaped like a golden ball. It contained thousands of rooms, the largest of which was the throne room. A huge throne was placed there, and a woman sat on it. She had golden scales and horns. On his hands were mittens with dragon heads. And the wings were folded behind her back.

- Well? The first time was a failure, but the second time will be my victory. I swear to it.

***

The coming of the real daikaiju.

Release date:

Soon.

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Here's a teaser for this book! I would like to clarify. there will be multiple fandoms in this work: Ultraman, Monsterverse, Godzilla (Showa, Heisei, Millenium), Pacific Rim, Shin Godzilla, Godzilla Minus one and Godzilla 1998.

the prologue will be released at the end of June, and the first chapter two weeks after the prologue.

See you soon!

Chapter Text

— Father, have you ever felt like you were losing your strength?

—Every single day.

***

- Right now Ultraman is fighting a giant reptile that looks like a Titanosaurus! Wait! Is it holding something? Jimmy, zoom in!

The lizard had a huge metal ball in his hands. No matter how the lizard fought, he tried to keep the ball safe and not allow it to his enemy.

The Titanosaurus swam with all its might. He fought for a long time, but he was tired. He would have gotten out of the fight long ago if it weren't for the item. If he lost it and the King discovered it, he would be in great trouble.

There was something he could admit. Wherever he was, it was a strange place. The giant man fought him and almost won. And right now...it's flying. Titanosaurus stared blankly at this, as if he had never seen such a scene. Which was true.

Suddenly twenty rockets flew near his neck. He screamed in surprise and pain. These were the flying things Rodan was talking about. Apparently he's not always joking: these things really stung.

A couple more rockets exploded near his eyes and he closed his eyes. It was very painful, but he had to endure it. Otherwise, the King's people will decrease even more.

***

After a grueling battle, he was able to drive the monster away from the city. Now he was trying to take the ball that was in the Apex truck when the monster attacked the city. And why the hell does it swim so fast?

That's it. He's had enough. He will DEFINITELY take a month or two off. If monsters from the depths attack, the huntsmen or daikaiju with kaiju will be able to defeat them. If Queen Ghidorah returns, same thing.

***

Finally the monster roared and released the metal ball. The ball was still floating on the surface when the waterfowl dinosaur fell to the ocean floor. The king will be very unhappy.

Ultraman took the ball and began to examine it. It was slightly larger than his palm and seemed to open. After a couple of seconds, a hiss was heard and the ball opened. It turned out to be a large egg. The hero began to worry. "It looks like I killed his nanny or parent," he thought sadly. But his thoughts were distracted by a crash. Eventually the egg broke. And what he saw was unusual.

It was a small lizard. His tail and back plates were similar to one of his girlfriend's. Which he was familiar with and sometimes fought with. The baby's scales were light gray and a little soft. Suddenly he noticed that the lizard was looking at him with two amber eyes. A second later it began to make a quiet squeak.

-You are a very sweet baby. Isn't it?" said Ultraman, bringing the mask closer to the baby. And obviously she was girl

***

Gojira yawned displeasedly. Ultraman had just come to the Island of Infants and woke her up. Telling her to just come to the beach.  "Obviously he wants more fights. Apparently he didn't have enough," she thought, looking at the horizon.

"Goji! I'm here!" his voice rang out. There was a slight sense of uncertainty in him. This was not new.

"So you wanted..." her voice trailed off when she saw what he was holding. More precisely, who. A super cute lizard with amber eyes was looking at her.

***

Godzilla looked at the scene with displeasure. The egg is missing, the Titanosaurus is unconscious. In addition, the baby could have already hatched and wreaked havoc somewhere unknown. If it weren't for his affairs as a king, the baby would be safe. But in any case he will find it. And if he is in danger, he will save him.

***

The coming of the real daikaiju. Adventures of Ultraman.

release date: soon

Chapter Text

All these years man thought that he was the top of the food chain. But it turned out that this was not the case.

In 1947 everything changed. Monsters have appeared. The first was Gojira. He attacked Ginza and completely destroyed it. The troops were able to destroy it and for a while everything calmed down.

But seven years later, an unknown creature appeared. Upon examination, it turned out that it was a swarm of large insects. It was impossible to get rid of them. But unexpected hope appeared. It's unclear who it was. Some considered him to be the brother of the first Godzilla. It turned out that it was his son.

The government decided to destroy both monsters and, using a nuclear weapon, lured them to the remains of Odo's skeleton, where they blew up the monsters. Neither Godzilla nor insects were visible.

In 1955, a new monster was discovered, or, as they were called in Japan, daikaiju. They named him Anigirus. He was a huge ankylosaur that was heading straight for Tokyo.

But he was intercepted by a familiar lizard. They fought for several hours until they disappeared from people's sight. After that, Godzilla appeared every year.

Each time he fought a new monster. Once he even fought against aliens. This was the case until 2005. This year was remembered by everyone as the Final Wars." During this event, all the monsters fought. And only a few survived.

So we come to the present.

Apex is a company that creates weapons to fight daikaiju. Everyone in this company believes that monsters must be destroyed. They have been trying to do this for many years. And today they will succeed.

-Dear guests! Today we will destroy the enemies of humanity! Today, humans will once again become the dominant species on Earth! Professor, activate the Absolute Zero cannon!

According to scientists' calculations, Absolute Zero's cannon should teleport all daikaiju to the Black Hole based on their DNA. This is an ambitious plan.

A second later, the cannon began to buzz and calculate the location of all the monsters.

***

Godzilla slept peacefully in the Colosseum. A year has passed since he and Kong destroyed King Scar and freed the Hollow Earth from his influence. It's gotten much better since then.

Suddenly Godzilla began to wake up. He felt something. Whatever it was, he didn't like it at all.

A portal began to form under Godzilla's feet. It was similar to the portals to the Hollow Earth, but different. Unlike those blue portals, this one was darker in color and had greater power.

Godzilla growled as he realized he couldn't do anything with the portal. He had already begun to fall into the portal. Before he was sucked in, he let out his alpha roar.

***

The journey was short. So it seemed to the King of the Monsters. While moving, he could hear familiar voices. To his surprise, there were also King Ghidorah and Kaiser Ghidorah, who should have been dead.

Finally the journey ended and Godzilla landed on the ground. He stood up, shaking off the sand and looking around. It seems like nothing has changed. There was no one. He could feel them though. They were in the same places as before the strange portals. The great thing was that Ghidorah was frozen. Amazing. The Kaiser was in Germany and didn't seem to mind at all. I don't understand why he is so fixated on this country?

It doesn't matter anyway. How did they get here? Jokes of fate or another stupidity of humanity. He didn't know and wasn't going to find out. For now.  The King of the Monsters decided to order hibernation so that humanity would not disturb or provoke them.

Godzilla himself decided to settle there. He flicked his tail and flicked it a couple of times. Thus, a quite decent hole was dug. He lay down in it, curling up and letting the dust cover him. Before going to bed, he caught something familiar. As if there were two more people just like him. There were others too, but they all smelled strange. How...people

_______________________________________________________________

Here comes the prologue! Hope you enjoyed it.

I would like to tell you something. This will be my main story. Until I get to the middle, I won't write others.  Chapters will be released when the word count is about 4 thousand.

Link to profile for those who like this work.

https://www.wattpad.com/user/Samat2010

First chapter date: 10/27/2024 

Chapter Text

Fifty years have passed since Godzilla and the rest of the Daikaiju went to a new world and hibernated. Fifty years have passed since then, and a lot has changed. In 1954, people detonated a nuclear bomb and awakened monsters. They were mostly giant women with beautiful bodies. There were also men, but there were fewer of them.

The first monster that humanity encountered was Gojira, the Queen of the Monsters. She was unhappy and destroyed Tokyo. But humanity fought back and destroyed it. A year later, her daughter arrived. Also Gojira. But instead of destroying cities, she protected people from monsters. Years passed and Monster Island was created. All the monsters were there. But cities were also attacked, and the Global Defense Force was created. The head of the GDF was General Goessen. She hated Gojira and her kind. Therefore, she insisted on their destruction.

***

Monster Island.

The kaiju girls have been training for some time now. They practice their techniques and improve them. Gojira battles Rodan, Aniguirus, and Caesar while her daughter Junior watches over them. Shobijin is here too.

"Wow! Wow! " Junior was encouraged by his mother. She had fun watching the fights. The priestesses of Mothra were also interested. They wrote down everything that needed to be improved. Suddenly the Sun was obscured by a huge golden ball. And the sky became darker.

Suddenly the Shobijin said, "Oh no! False Queen, invader of worlds, the Golden Horror has arrived! This doesn't bode well! " said the priestesses of Mothra.

"False queen? Who is this? " asked the Princess of Monsters. The answer to her question was a previously unknown roar.

BIDIDIDIDIDBIBI!

Kaiju training ended unexpectedly. Everyone looked at the strange flying object. Suddenly the lower part of the ship opened up. There were several previously unknown figures there. The tallest was a girl with golden hues. Her scales, clothes, horns, wings, tails and hair were golden in color. Her eyes also shone gold. The other was a little lower. She had gray hair, blades on her arms and tail, a blue jumpsuit that completely covered her, and a red visor that hid her eyes.

"So this is the kaiju of Earth? Seriously, who names their planet that?" she said mockingly. -

"Yes, my queen. "It's them," the kaiju with blades answered her.

"Hey! Who are you? - Gojira shouted. The last thing she needed today was aliens.

"Hmm, this is "Queen of the Monsters", right? You look... pretty weak.

"Are you saying I'm weak? Come down! I will conquer you!

"Well, if that's what you want..."

Clouds began to gather over the island. Yellow lightning struck the entire island, and the thunder rumbled much louder.

"Orga, Gigan, Megalon! Attack!"

Two more kaiju emerged from the ship. One of them was the most muscular and huge. Her black hair was cut short and her skin was grey. The yellow eyes were like lanterns in the dark. It was heavily armored and had a cannon on its left shoulder. The kaiju had three huge spikes on their arms. This was the first commander and chief scientist, Orga.

Walking next to her was the smallest of the quartet. She was wearing a special gas mask for working in mines, she had wings on her back like a beetle, and large drills were glued to her hands. His brown hair was also cut short. He was a specialist in minerals, ores and Megalon underground traps.

They stood opposite the earthly kaiju and took fighting stances. The earthly ones also stood up. And Gojira and the False Queen were already fighting at full strength. Ghidorah attacked with his gravity beams and fists, and Gojira with his atomic breath.

But the golden kaiju dodged all ranged attacks, so Godzilla went into close combat. She swung and was about to hit her, but the enemy grabbed her fist and began swinging at Godzilla and threw her to the ground. She picked her up again and kneed her in the stomach, arching Godzilla's back. Then she said.

"And it's all? I expected more from the so-called... Ahh!"

" Get away from my mom! " Junior shouted.

She stood not far from the Korolevs' bivoy and watched. When Gojira was attacked, she began charging her atomic breath. And released a small cloud that still had the power to push the alien away from the Queen of the Monsters.

" Oh, how cute you are! But you still have to be polite if you want to live. Remember. IT'S me, THE QUEEN OF MONSTERS, and my name is Ghidorah! Your new lady!

"Go to hell!"Junior then grabbed Ghidorah's hand and bit it hard and painfully.

"Oh, you little brute!"Ghidorah then grabbed her and hit Junior hard, throwing her a little to the side.

"Don't touch my daughter!" Godzilla roared, her eyes turning red and her wounds completely healed. She rushed towards Ghidorah and kicked him. Her dorsal plates then began to glow white instead of the normal white. She fired her most powerful atomic breath at Ghidorah. This threw her to the floor of the island. In surprise, Ghidorah flew up one hill. When Ghidorah hit the hill, it looked like it was moving for a second.

"Leave this planet! Or you and your minions will die!"

" Never! I never..."

"My queen! We are being pushed back! We must retreat before it's too late! - Dzhigan shouted."

"As you wish! But we will be back!"

BIDIDIDIDIDIBI

The battle is over. This time the earthly kaiju won. But what will happen next time? There's no point in talking about it yet. Let's better see what happens next.

"Junior, we need to talk."

"What happened, mom? "Junior, it was very dangerous.

"You almost died!"

"But, mom! I can defeat my opponents!"

"Tanks and planes? Yes. But not the other kaiju. Many of them are stronger and more experienced than you. Please, for my sake, hide during battles. Fine?"

"Eh. Okay, mom."

"I promise, when you grow up, you will be able to fight kaiju."

"True?"

"Yes. Now let's go to the lava springs. The wounds need to be examined and treated."

"I'm coming!"

***

A few minutes after the kaiju left, the hill began to move a little. But immediately after that it froze and several pieces of earth fell off. Dark coal flakes were visible through the hole.

***

Ghidorah's ship.

"Argh! How could you lose? Are you all?" Queen Ghidorah shouted.

"My queen, I promise this won't happen again."

"It will be better this way! Eh, Orga, prepare a couple of pipes."

"Let me ask you why?"

"I found something in Xomos during the flight." — Ghidorah said and pressed a button on the computer. The monitor was divided into two areas. On the left was some kind of dark green dirt, and on the right was a white crystal.

"What is this?"

"This, Orga, is the key to our planet. I found a crystal in orbit of a black hole, which then turned white. And I found dirt in Earth's orbit. She ate all tэhe garbage. "

"Do you want to improve them and turn them into soldiers?"

"You thought correctly. Well done. If with mud everything is simple, you just need to feed it, then for a crystal you need blood for the carrier."

- Maybe you should take Gigan's blood or my own? - Megalon suggested.

-No and no again. I already have a soldier who is trying to kill me. I don't need a second one. And if we take my blood, the horse will try to usurp my power. No, I have a better idea. We need Gojira's blood.

"Are you sure she won't try to kill you?"

"I'm absolutely sure the clone won't do that."

"What about blood? How do we get Gojira's blood?" - Megalon said.

"You and Gigan will receive blood. Don't let me down~!"

***

Antarctica .

A huge snowy wasteland greets everything and everyone for many kilometers. Not far from the center of the snowy continent is the Monarch search group. Monarch was created to study and communicate with kaiju. More than once it was possible to prevent quarrels between people and kaiju.

But after a few years, Monarch began to pick up huge amounts of radiation. Scientists have suggested that these are sleeping kaiju. But they became convinced that it was something more.  These were creatures similar to aiju. But at the same time they were different. They were completely animals. They were also supposed to be much older.  One of these creatures was in the icy captivity of Antarctica.

Monarch decided to send a team to study this daikaiju. They decided to call them that because they were much larger than the kaiju and seemed stronger. Finally the group entered a huge cave. They went deeper and deeper. Until we found what we were looking for. The shadow of a huge three-headed dragon was encased in ice.

"Mother of God," whispered one of the scientists.

"She has nothing to do with it. Report that we have found a daikaiju!"

"Yes, sir!"

***

Monster Island.

Gojira lay in the lava and rested. This day was very difficult for her. First training, then a battle with aliens and a conversation with Junior. Opening her eyes, she saw something. A small blue dot in the sky. And it slowly increased. Soon she was able to recognize one of the aliens. I think her name was Gigan.

The Queen of the Monsters stood up and quickly got dressed. She then got into a fighting stance. Suddenly something was heard from underground. She bounced away from the resulting hole. Megalon began to crawl out of the hole.

"Get rid of your blood and live a little longer!"

"Never! Why do you need my blood?" But the answer was a cutting blow from Gigan.

Then again. And one more. Gojira dodged everything. Megalon then attempted to impale the Queen of the Monsters with her drill. Gojira could not dodge for long, and Gigan managed to shed a little blood. She missed the braids and ponytail.

"Accepted!" - shouted the killer.

"Went! - Megalon said, but was stunned. Gigan did not wait for her and flew away. Gojira watched as Jigan flew away along with her blood. Her head was spinning with so many possibilities of what they were trying to achieve.

"Well at least we have one. Cesar, stop sleeping and help me tie her up!"

Chapter Text

"So this means that we swapped one minion for another?"- asked Orga.

"Not necessary. We'll have her back soon. Now give me blood."

Ghidora took Orga's blood and poured it into a tube with a crystal. She then charged 50% of her power and shot the tube. The crystal began to glow and slowly take the form of Gojira.

"Great. Hm?"

"What happened, my queen?"

"Nothing happens for nothing."

"What does it feel like?"

"It's as if there are two representatives of my species on Earth."

" Is this possible?"

"Perhaps, but no. I persuaded Mother not to help me at this time. And according to information, no one was here before me."

"Where are they located?"

"One is located at the southernmost point of the planet, the other is somewhere in the north. But not far."

"What are we doing?"

"Study them. If they are active, tell me. They could be good allies if the plan with Hedorah and the clone fails."

"Yes, my queen."

***

Germany.

Numerous mountains covered the land. One of the mountains was Methuselah (daikaiju). He had been sleeping for years and had no plans to wake up anytime soon. In the very north of Germany, in the largest mountain, a huge dragon slept.

His scales were dark gold. In some places it was covered with bone plates, and in others it was completely black. The three-headed dragon slept here for decades. Nothing could disturb his peace.

Suddenly the middle head opened its red eyes and closed them again. Silence reigned again, and only the old dragon's breathing could be heard.

***

Monster Island.

"This is how to tie a knot. Isn't that possible?"

" Can. I just needed to find a reason to wake you up. She hasn't woken up yet?"

" Not yet. You hit her hard."

"Okay, I'm leaving. "

"Where?"

"Just swim in the Pacific Ocean. Nothing special."

***

Antarctica.

Strange. This world is strange. He is both familiar and unfamiliar. They have a lot of questions in their heads. Why are they alive? Why is San here if he was in the robot? What happened after their defeat?

But they found out something. Thanks to San's connection to technology. This world appears to be inhabited by humanoid kaiju. They have already seen the prospect of the future. Oh yeah. The largest mountain serves as their castle. The humanoids worship him and give him a lot of food.

Suddenly San screams. Very loud.

—What happened, idiot?— asks Ni, always dissatisfied.

—You should look at it!

An image of Ghidorah fighting with Godzilla appears in front of them. The three look at this with interest and discuss.

—What should we do, Ichi? What are we going to do with them?

—Watch and wait for the right time. We will be freed just as we were then. If necessary, we will help our "colleague".

***

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

The Queen of the Monsters, Gojira, was floating in the Pacific Ocean and thinking. first of all, about aliens. They seem to be strong opponents. Especially the golden bitch, Queen Ghidorah. Secondly, strange creatures began to appear. One of them was a huge reptilian fish with green pupils that ate garbage on the ocean floor; some other green slurry, similar to someone's larva. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a push to the side. She looked with irritation at the one who did this and was surprised.

In front of her was a very large and long snake. There were fins on the back, like a shark, and the two front paws were four-fingered. The snake's eyes glowed white, and its teeth were incredibly sharp. The scales were swamp-colored. It was the longest snake she had ever seen.

The creature towered fifty meters above her. It growled aggressively and appeared to be trying to establish its dominance. Gojira did not retreat and also growled, while her dorsal plates began to glow brightly.

Suddenly the creature attacked her and began to bite and scratch, at the same time trying to wrap its tail around her body. It almost succeeded, but Gojira was able to disentangle herself and establish a small distance. She swam a little and her dorsal plates sparkled brighter. She then fired with all her might at the creature in front of her.There was a small explosion and the creature was thrown back. But there was no visible damage. The snake was stunned. But not for the reason Gojira thought.

"Why was it so weak?" Leviathan thought in his head. Gojira took advantage of this and hit Leviathan hard on the head. This blow was already much stronger. The force of the blow sent them flying away from each other. Gojira's dorsal plates began to sparkle again and she growled, demanding submission. Reluctantly, the Prince of Envy obeyed and swam into the depths.

***

Mothra flew around the Island of Infants, constantly looking back. Lately she has been overcome by terrible anxiety. It's as if something evil is waiting in the wings to come to light. And she didn't like it at all.

Having flown to a huge waterfall, she went into the cave behind it. There were many mysterious figures depicted on the wall. There was everything here: from the great battles of the past to the action of the present and future.

Mothra walked to the place where she often meditated and concentrated. She drew attention to the spiritual content of the world. It has changed a lot. She searched for a long time and finally found the reason. There was something in Antarctica that was similar to Queen Ghidorah, but stronger. And in Germany too. But there was a creature there stronger than in Antarctica. Suddenly terrible images appeared in her head.

"No! Can't be!"

It was so terrible that Mothra flew out of her cave and headed to the beach where she often rested.

***

He is a born hunter. His networks are all over the island. Eight eyes look at future prey. He quietly moves his limbs, preparing to attack the strange moth. He has been watching her for several days. He saw her enter the fall. And after some time Veletale. Here it is. The hour of hunting has come.

His camouflage allows him to remain hidden among the trees. He is still following the moth. He knows this island better than anyone. And no one will run away from him. Finally she landed on the beach, not far from the sea. This is a good chance. She has no idea that she is being hunted. Fine. Carefully stepping on the ground, he slowly approaches behind her. She is still watching the surface of the sea. And he jumps on her, pouncing and preparing his paralyzing poison.

***

Mothra quickly flies towards the shore. At the same time, she feels that a hunter is watching her. "Maybe Kumonga? It looks like her," she thinks. Having landed on the shore, she begins to call her friend. Having received the answer, she calmed down. Moth turned her thoughts over in her head and sighed. Hard times are coming.

The brunette felt like she was being watched again. She pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind, focused, and found the observer. Feeling that he had jumped on her, she dodged the blow and looked at the attacker. It turned out to be a giant spider with a height of at least 60 meters. Its color was dark brown, ideal for a hunter. Eight rubies looked at her with displeasure.

The giant spider prepared to attack again. This time he won't make a mistake. Mothra saw it in his eyes and prepared to parry the attack. The insect predator jumped at her again, aiming its fangs at her neck. And suddenly his muzzle met strong silk and Mothra dodged him. The spider tried to tear off the threads and attack again. But he failed. Mothra looked at the spider and covered each of its legs. The spider tripped and fell. After this, the Moth Goddess began gluing more and more silk to every inch of him. In the end it looked like a huge cocoon.

Mothra breathed a sigh of relief and saw Gojira's dorsal fins cutting through the waves and coming towards her. And so, her closest friend came out of the water.

"Hello, Mothra."— she greeted and pointed to the ball. "What is this?"

"Hello, Goji. This is a cocoon."

"Hmm, okay. It turns out..."

"No, this is not my egg. This is just a creature unknown to me."

"Then why did you call me? You know I have a lot to do."

"Come after me. I'll tell you everything. The friends walked through the forest and were silent. They soon came to a familiar waterfall and entered Mothra's cave."

"This morning I felt restless. It was as if something had appeared in this world that should not be here."

"Yes, that's what happened. We trained in the morning, and then a golden bitch flew in from outer space and ruined everything."

"Her name was Ghidorah?"

"Yes exactly. Then you called me, I swam and saw something strange. It was a huge snake. Not like Tiamat, but real. It had fins and short front legs. In short, a monster from human fairy tales."

"It's clear. Can you show me where it is? Maybe I can talk to her."

"Yes, sure."

***

That day people watched the queens fight. They looked at this with horror. In the end, they left the island as quickly as possible to report everything to the government. A military company was created in Japan to combat threats to Earth. Its name is Global Forces or GDF. This company is headed by General Goesen.

She hates all kaiju, especially Gojira. The reason for her hatred is unknown, although many believe that Gojira was "accidentally" killed by a member of his family. Now a conference was held at the state Democratic Forces headquarters with the following persons in attendance: Dr. Gojo, Miki Saegusa, Miss Ibuki, Dr. Yuhara and Mrs. Shiragami. And, of course, General Gozen herself. At that moment, they were watching and discussing the recording of the Queens fight.

"Well, now we just have to destroy even more kaiju."

"They are also from space."

"What do we know about them, General?" asked Lady Shiragami.

"When the aliens arrived on the island, we were able to hack their computers. The information we found was staggering. As it turns out, they are led by the same Alpha as Gojira.

Here is her description: "Fear her! The Queen of Terror comes and devastates the planets. Those who disobey her will be destroyed!" They were in Earth's orbit for some time. At the same time, viruses were introduced into our computers. It is assumed that they did this."

"What should we do? Should they let the Earth kaiju attack them or strike them themselves?" asked Dr. Gojo.

"It's time for us to get out of the desert of nature's mutants!" We must prove that humanity can take care of itself! That Lyuli is the dominant species on Earth! That's why I prepared one project. He calls it "Mechagodzilla Kiryu".

"Kiryu?" Miki Saegusa asked worriedly. She didn't like it.

"Yes. For the robot we used our first enemy. Ironic, isn't it? The people's first enemy is now protecting them."

"Gyozen, what have you done?"

"Something that should have been done a long time ago. Using the bones of Gojira's mother, we increased the android's strength and power. When the kaiju tire, we will strike and destroy them! Forever!"

"This is dangerous and irrational. Who knows how Gojira will react if she finds out that we desecrated her mother's grave."

"I don't care what the monster thinks. That's it, the GDF conference is over."

Everyone started to leave. Gyozen went to her office while the others went to the repair bay.

***

The repair bay was a gigantic room. It contained two robots: Kiryu and MOGUERA. The latter was created to fight kaiju underground. A group familiar to us was looking at her. MOGUERA looked like a cross between a mole and a penguin. It could also turn into a level installation.

"I wonder why we need Kiryu if we already have MOGUERA. In addition, she performed well in the battle with the demon."

"You know the general. She will not rest until she destroys all the kaiju."

"Hmm, what did they do to her?"

"Don't know. But if the reason turns out to be stupid, then you will have to find me a boyfriend."

"It's not funny, Miki."

"Ha ha."

***

Gyozen office.

Gyozen sighed quietly: the meeting turned out to be more difficult than she had imagined. Then she took a mug of coffee and began to drink.

"Return the bones of Gojira's mother to her grave, otherwise something unexpected will happen."

Gyozen spat out her coffee in surprise towards the source of the voices. It turned out to be two little girls. They seemed not very happy with the general's latest actions. She quickly grabbed her gun and pointed it at the fairies. Then she said:

"Hmm, never. She serves as a line of defense against the likes of your goddess."

"Maybe you won't talk like that in her presence?" - the twins asked, pointing to the window. There was a huge eye there. It was Mothra's eye.

"What? How did she get into the territory?" Gyozen said fearfully. -

"Doesn't matter. I'm here to give you an ultimatum. Once the alien threat is gone, you will return the bones to the grave. Clear?"

"Y-yes, I see."Gyozen agreed stutteringly. After a few seconds, Mothra flew off, leaving behind an angry Gyozen.

***

Monarch Outpost. China.

One word. Marvelous. Not only did she quickly gain consciousness? but also moved to another world. More precisely? to another reality. Does this make her happy? and at the same time makes you sad. What will happen to people from their home world? Will they die or survive? Alas, she did not know.

Fortunately, this world is not very different. Yes, she was shocked when she found out that all the kaiju here were natural hybrids of humans and kaiju. But it wasn't that that bothered her, it was the reaction of the others. She already knows about Kumonga and Leviathan's honey mushrooms with the natives of this world. To say that they were happy would be sarcasm.

But what about the rest?

She could already sense that the MUTO pair and the Golden Horror were alive. The problem is precisely the latter. He will not stop until he becomes the sole master of the daikaiju. And to achieve this, he can destroy all life on the planet, thereby destroying it. Mosura had no doubt that her colleague knew about this and was preparing as carefully as possible.

***

Monarch Outpost, Skull Island.

Humanity has studied a lot on the surface of the Earth, but this island is an exception. For many years he was hidden by a huge storm, which was much larger than any of his relatives. As the name suggests, the island is shaped like a human skull. Monarch scientists think that this island is part of the Hollow Earth, a huge cavity found beneath the surface of the earth.

Earthquakes have occurred on the island more than once. This is the reason the island has so many canyons and mountains. But as many as there are, there are so many dangers. Every year, kaiju called skull walkers emerge from the ground. Although they are small, they are very dangerous. Unlike other kaiju species, they have equal numbers of both genders. This is because they multiply quickly. This, in turn, does not please the two giants who share the island.

The head of another skull walker was destroyed by a stone. He was abandoned by a titanic woman. Her name was "Queen" Kong. She is the goddess of a local tribe called the Iwi. They are very religious when it comes to kaiju.

She stood with a stone in her hand and breathed heavily. Skullcrawlers are too much. The Durat storm doesn't help at all. She began to think when things started to go wrong. This began immediately after the arrival of the Monarch. That day the storm around the island was very strong. That day, she was able to defeat Skulldevil, the Alpha of the Skullwalkers. Then she threw it into a small mountain and it began to fall apart. And something appeared. It was a being twice her height. It was a huge overgrown gorilla. That day she felt as if the island was welcoming this creature. And then it went away.

Unfortunately, she couldn't see him. And no matter how she searched, she could not find "him." She didn't know how, but either this entity had high levels of stealth; or he was blind; or the island itself didn't want her to find it. Most likely it was the third.

She frowned. The storm was getting stronger. She felt that the island was crying. Cries over the deaths of its inhabitants. Having learned about this, she ran to the village of Ivi. To the only place where the indigenous inhabitants of this island remained. To where she is. The island was huge even for a kaiju. It's like for people on a medium sized island. She didn't know how people from the main world only discovered it in the last century. She shook her head. There is no time for reflection. We have to hurry.

***

Hollow Earth.

Shimu knew something was wrong. She was in the cave again. She was wearing chains again. She was once again controlled by a tyrant. But there were also differences. Reality has changed: it was different. Instead of full-fledged kaiju, there were humanoids. She had her doubts about the monkeys, though. They already looked like those little creatures. Then there was another one here. More precisely, her version of a humanoid. Right now they were at opposite ends of the cave, watching each other.

They didn't trust each other. Not a bit. Although they were in captivity, their pride did not go away. At all. Nope. She had already suffered greatly after the battle with the "king". This she could admit: he was strong. A very strong creature. Much stronger than the other Godzillasaurs she had seen before and during the war.

***

On the other hand, Shimo didn't know what to do. She had been a prisoner of this monkey bitch for several thousand years and the ordinary appearance of the cave was familiar. Until an overgrown lizard appeared. They were similar. Too much. From the first moments their glances crossed, they immediately disliked each other.

In the name of Mother Nature! Even their powers were the same! She doesn't know what kind of creature it is. Maybe some kind of mutation? Or maybe the evolution of those little lizards? She still remembers that impudent person who dared to steal food from her. In the future, she will find him and eat him. Necessarily.

The tension only seemed to intensify when they threw off one portion of the meat. They stared at each other and then at the meat. Then again at each other and again at the meat.

Only God knows who ate the meat.

***

Dr. Ishiro Serizawa looked out the side door of the helicopter as it hovered over the lush green landscape.

Below him lay a sun-drenched tropical rain forest clinging to the rugged slopes of the Philippine highlands. Pines and other evergreens dominated the pristine mountain slopes, while groves of redwood and bamboo flourished at lower elevations, painting a picturesque portrait of pure, untainted nature. A sophisticated-looking man in his early forties, with thinning black hair and a neatly trimmed mustache and beard, Serizawa enjoyed the view—until he saw his target.

The quarry cut through the green desert like a wound. Acres of natural beauty were ripped out, revealing barren ridges of rock and soil. Ugly metal structures nestle on shelves of bare bedrock that has been chiseled, blasted and bulldozed into the mountainside. The slums stretched down the slopes, housing thousands of workers toiling under the scorching midday sun. Mining of copper, zinc, nickel and other minerals was a growing industry in the Philippines, but it came at the expense of the country's precious flora and fauna. Instead of lush greenery, the mining complex was dirty, brown and lifeless. Serizawa winced at the damage to the environment. The older he got, the more he thought that sometimes it was better to leave nature to its own devices.

His eyes narrowed as he saw what appeared to be a collapsed section of the mine. This was what drew him to this abandoned place, all the way from his native Japan. He looked at the collapsed mine with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. The first reports hinted at something truly wonderful, worth this grueling journey. Serizawa couldn't wait to see it for himself.

***

Japan Tokyo.

Tokyo is the capital of Japan. It consists of several small towns and villages. In this city, the train goes in two directions: north and south. This city is a constant target of the kaiju. It is assumed that due to the huge amount of atomic energy.

In 1999, a nuclear energy leak occurred in one of the territories. After this, the area became uninhabitable. Surprisingly, it's not the kaiju's fault. A year later, another nuclear power plant was destroyed. As a result, these two areas became completely incompatible with life and were completely abandoned.

Few people know, but both nuclear power plants have Monarch and GDF bases. All because of the kaiju that lived there. Both kaiju were in a cocoon. It was not possible to study them completely. At the second nuclear power plant, the cocoon flashed red for a moment, and the electricity went out for exactly a minute. But then it turned on again.

***

The helicopter landed on a flat area of the mountain top, not far from the collapse. Outside, sweating workers operated excavators, bucket trucks and other heavy equipment as they hurriedly dug loose gravel and slurry from the collapsed mine. The equipment bore the Universal Western Mining logo. Filipino workers stepped back from the helicopter, raising their hands to protect themselves from the dust and debris thrown up by the rotors.

"Finally," Serizawa thought. He unbuckled his seatbelt and awkwardly climbed out of the helicopter, followed by his colleague, Dr Vivienne Graham. An attractive Englishwoman in her thirties, with dark brown hair cut reasonably short. She has been Serizawa's right-hand woman for many years. Her practical clothes were wrinkled from the trip.

Three other members of their team also exited the helicopter and immediately began unloading travel bags and equipment. Serizawa took a moment to get his bearings. It felt good to get my feet on solid ground and stretch my legs again. He looked around, looking for someone who could accompany them to the opening.

"Dr. Serizawa!" A stocky, middle-aged American man emerged from the chaos surrounding the mine, shouldering past the busy workers and machines. Sweat glistened on his ruddy face and soaked his clothes. Serizawa recognized the man as Oscar Boyd, one of the executives of the mining company. He and Serizawa had been in touch before.

"Thank God you're here!" Boyd shouted over the noise of the rotors. He joined Serizawa and his team. "It's just a mess, I'm warning you. It's just a complete mess."

Chapter Text

Pacific Ocean.

 

At the place where Gojira fought and defeated the sea serpent there was an entrance to a cave. The cave tunnel was long and passed through the Hollow Earth portal. This is where this cave ended. The snake we knew was licking his wounds and thinking about everything he had seen.

 

"The world is still the same. Although some of its inhabitants are quite strange."—The Prince of Envy thought to himself. For a while there was silence again. Until he heard the call of his King. The one to whom he is truly loyal.—"Apparently My King wants to see me. It's interesting that so many years have passed, and he just called me."

 

***

 

A squad of armed guards armed with automatic weapons accompanied Boyd. The men had the stony expressions and icy eyes of hardened mercenaries or guerrillas. Not the most reassuring of welcoming committees. Serizawa and Graham exchanged worried glances. The presence of weapons and guards was unnerving, but they had come too far to give in to doubt now. Serizawa believed that the soldiers were only on hand to ensure safety, even if the amount of firepower on display seemed excessive to him.

 

"They discovered a radiation pocket here last month," Boyd said, getting straight to the point. He seemed anxious, awaiting any advice and assistance the scientists could offer. Serizawa understood that Boyd was from the company's headquarters and was not in person nearby when the disaster occurred. He seemed nervous and out of his element. "And everyone was excited, thinking they had a uranium deposit. They started stacking the heavy equipment and..."

 

As he said this, he led them down the slope to. the nearest ridge. Serizawa walked carefully over the rough, uneven terrain. "The valley floor collapsed into the cave below," Boyd continued.

 

"He just failed. Now we can assume that about forty miners went with him." He stepped aside to let Serizawa and the others see for themselves. The team found themselves on a rocky outcrop, looking down onto the valley below - or what was left of it. A jagged chasm, at least a hundred feet long, swallowed up the valley floor.

 

Mangled machinery, shacks, boulders and other debris appeared dimly in a dark rift that seemed to descend deep into the Earth. Serizawa stared at the wreckage for a few moments, taking it all in, before speaking again.

 

"I need to talk to the survivors." - he said.

 

***

 

Atlantic Ocean.

 

There is an ancient and amazing legend associated with the Atlantic Ocean. This is the legend of a city called Atlantis. They say that there was a castle of Poseidon himself, the god of the seas and oceans. But for unknown reasons, the city was sunk. Scientists think it's the kaiju's fault. Little do they know that the creature that sank the city made it its home and is still there.

 

In the center of the ruins you can find a huge temple. It is clear why the legend says that this was the castle of the sea god. The building was huge. Like the city, the temple was in the ancient Greek style. He was relatively intact. Only corals and algae covered it, and one column collapsed. The entrance was decorated with huge doors. They were destroyed in the middle.

 

Walking through the corridors, one could find a bunch of ancient treasures. And among them are human remains. The creature that did this was truly evil. And then there was the throne room. Or what's left of it. The statue of Poseidon was destroyed and lay on the floor. The back of the throne was slightly damaged. And on the throne was that same creature. The creature had the body of a huge snake. Its scales were blue and its fins were ragged. This was Tiamat, the most evil creature. Even Kaiser Ghidorah is a harmless sheep in front of her.

 

***

 

A tin-roofed warehouse was converted into a makeshift sorting center. Dozens of wounded and dying workers occupied rows of beds. Serizawa immediately saw that all the men were suffering from severe radiation burns. Blisters, sores and red spots plagued their flesh. Some were still conscious, while the more fortunate were rendered unconscious by morphine drips.

 

Agonizing moans and sobs echoed from the walls of the building, whose stuffy atmosphere was devoid of any air conditioning. Doctors and nurses, overworked and depressed, moved quickly between the rows of patients, doing what little they could to ease the men's suffering. Unlike their patients, the rescuers wore hazmat suits for their own protection. Gas masks covered their faces.

 

Serizawa, still wearing his traveling clothes, felt awkward and defenseless. Beside him, Graham inhaled sharply, stunned by the scale of the tragedy. Serizawa shared her horror. From what he could see of the men's burns, few of the miners would last a week, while any survivors would be doomed to years of complications, cancer, and deformities before they finally succumbed to the harmful effects of the radiation. He sympathized with them with all his heart, knowing that at this moment there was little that could be done for them.

 

Gathering his courage from these heartbreaking sights and sounds, Serizawa approached one of the patients. The man's face was so swollen that he barely looked human. The burned skin peeled and blistered. Hair was falling out. Burns and swelling made it difficult to determine the patient's age, but a look at his medical file showed that the dying miner was only twenty years old.

 

"So young," Serizawa thought, even forcing himself to concentrate on the task at hand. Now is not the time for sentimentality. He needed accurate data and information if the root cause of this disaster was truly as he suspected. Many more lives could be at stake.

 

One of his assistants rescued a portable radiation detector from his supplies. The hand-held device included an external wand. Serizawa removed the detector from his shoulder and turned it on. Moving closer to the bed, he pointed the sensor at the patient.

 

The detector clicked quickly.

 

The arrow on the monitor rose sharply into the red zone. Serizawa retreated cautiously, alarmed by the results. He stopped one of the busy nurses, whose face was almost completely hidden by a gas mask. He grabbed her by the shoulder of her hazmat suit.

 

"Can you ask this man what happened?" The nurse nodded. Leaning over the patient, she spoke to him in Tagalog. A hoarse, whispering voice emerged from his cracked and swollen lips, but it was too faint to be heard.

 

She leaned closer as the man repeated his words, gesturing weakly towards Serizawa with his bandaged hand.

 

"He says," the nurse translated, "that people like you... you came here, you destroyed the earth. You made holes in her flesh... and now she has given birth to a demon."

 

The miner slowly turned over in his bunk, using the last of his strength to turn his back on Serizawa and the others. Serizawa made no attempt to refute the man's accusation. He was more concerned about the "demon" the survivor had mentioned. Just the ravings of a dying man... or a warning?

 

***

 

She waited. She waited for many years for her betrothed to come back for her and give her food. But he didn't. Instead, he informed her of the location of the food. These strange devices that gave food. She broke out of the chrysalis and headed towards the largest one. She admitted it was delicious. With pleasure, she began to eat more and more. Then she headed towards the mountain.

 

There was food there too, but she decided to save it for the future. You never know, a hundred things could happen. She began to listen. Great, the "king" is still sleeping. If you succeed, he won't even wake up. She buried herself deep between the metal things. She will still need to decide what will be tastier for her dear future children. She snapped her jaws for the last time before pupating to the end.

 

Silence reigned in the destroyed military base in America. The soldiers were ordered not to disturb the creature's peace in order to avoid problems.

 

***

 

Pacific Ocean.

 

Many miles from America, Gojira stopped. She felt something. Something familiar and disgusting. With a loud growl, she began to swim towards America. She cared nothing for humans or other kaiju, and with a fury she had never seen before, she sailed to the West Coast of America to eradicate the abomination.

 

***

 

Island of Monsters.

 

Junior, with amusement in her eyes, held a small stick and poked it at the crab. The crab dodged as best it could. However, this did not save it much. Suddenly, the crab felt something and stopped for a moment, then with unprecedented speed, it rushed as far as possible from the hill on which Junior was sitting.

 

The Monster Princess, feeling the vibrations, stood up and began to turn her head in all directions, trying to determine the source. Unexpectedly for her, the hill began to crack at the seams and fall apart. The girl rolled head over heels down it and sat down on the sand.

 

Meanwhile, the hill began to rise. The pieces that were rising fell with a crash and formed a curtain of dust. Junior closed her eyes and heard a soft growl. She opened her amber eyes and gaped.

 

A huge creature stood before her. Bigger than her. Twice as big as her mother. A creature she felt a distant kinship with. She even believed it to be an ancient ancestor of her species. Same dorsal plates, same tail and gills. The creature shook its head slightly before letting out a roar it was familiar with. The roar of a member of the Godzillasaur Royal Family.

 

SCREEEEEENKK!

 

She didn't know it, but the world itself greeted this creature as an old friend. The world had met its master. The King of Monsters had returned.

 

With a low growl, Gozilla headed towards the Lkean, its dorsal plates hovering on the surface of the sea for a long moment before disappearing towards Japan. Soon, humans and kaiju will see great battles that will decide their fate and the fate of this world.

 

***

 

Wailing klaxons penetrated the walls of the security van, causing Ford to start in alarm. He knew emergency warnings when he heard them. All hell was breaking loose somewhere.

 

Desperate to figure out what was happening, he peered out the rear window of the van. He spotted heavy steel cables winding from the base of a towering construction crane, which had just swung into action. He couldn't make out what the cables were attached to.

 

Radios squawked outside the van. Ford saws guards rushing past.

 

"Hey!" he shouted, trying to get their attention. Had everyone forgotten that he was handcuffed inside the van? He yelled over the blaring klaxons. "HEY!"

 

His shouts went unheeded. Whatever crisis was underway clearly took priority over one inconvenient American trespasser. Ford realized he was on his own, right on top of a buried nuclear power plant. He remembered the radiation helmet tucked in his belt and hastily put it back on. He used his free hand to refasten it to the suit.

 

Better safe than sorry.

 

***

 

Serizawa watched from the crow's nest as the tech crews on the lower levels of the pit scrambled out of the way as the huge wire "cage" descended, sealing the cocoon inside, even as another layer of the outer shell shook loose, sloughing onto the floor of the pit with tremendous force. Serizawa offered a silent prayer for the workers below, hoping they would not be crushed by the stony fragments, which were as hard and brittle as volcanic rock.

 

Agitated voices filled the control room. The pulses, coming faster and faster, were growing steadily in strength. Arguments broke out among the panicky scientists and technicians as they debated the correct response to the escalating crisis.

 

Emergency measures were hurriedly deployed, but Serizawa got a definite sense that matters were spiraling out of control. Besieged by critical reports and queries from the staff under his command, Dr. Whelan looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. It appeared now that they had all severely underestimated the forces—and the creature—they had sought to contain. Whelan's dreams of solving the world's energy crisis were turning into a nightmare.

 

"Grid secure!" Jainway called out as the high-tension netting stretched taut above the quivering cocoon. The technician let out a sigh of relief, which Serizawa feared might be premature. After all, the cage had never been tested.

 

The announcement quieted the tumult inside the control room. Overlapping voices trailed off as all heads turned toward Whelan, who was pacing back and forth before the windows. Everyone present knew what came next. Jainway's hand hovered above a switch. He looked to Whelan for the go-ahead.

 

"Say the word," the technician said.

 

Whelan, for his part, appeared overwhelmed by the responsibility that had fallen on him. He looked in turn to Serizawa, who sympathized with the stricken scientist. This was no easy decision.

 

"So much we still don't know," Whelan moaned, agonizing over the potential loss to science.

 

Down in the pit, the cocoon shuddered again, shedding yet another layer of shell. Great chunks of the cocoon rained down on the metal flooring, which began to buckle beneath the avalanche. With each layer, more and more of the unearthly effulgence at the core of the cocoon could be seen, although the organism within remained hidden from view.

 

But for how much longer?

 

"Kill it." Serizawa said.

 

Whelan let Serizawa make the call. He nodded to Jainway, who threw the switch.

 

Thousands of volts electrified the metal grille at the base of the cocoon. Bright blue flashes crackled across the flooring. The cocoon sizzled and convulsed as the electricity arced across its outer shell, jolting it with bolts of artificial lightning. Smoke rose from its cracking outer shell. Floodlights and fuses blew, throwing the entire pit into darkness. Graham gasped, and Whelan looked away from the window. In theory, whatever was growing inside the cocoon had just been electrocuted.

 

Serizawa prayed they had not waited too long.

 

On the monitors, the data feeds all went silent. A hush fell over the control room.

 

"All readings are flat-lining," Jainway reported.

 

"Is it dead?" Whelan asked.

 

Serizawa peered down into the murky pit. As nearly as he could tell, the cocoon remained intact, apart from a single long crack splitting its surface. Shadows filled the gap, making it impossible to discern what lay deeper within the cocoon. The bioluminous glow had been extinguished. No sound or motion could be detected from this height.

 

Jainway sagged back into his seat, looking drained. He clearly thought the crisis had been averted, as did various other technicians throughout the control room. The electricity appeared to have done the trick, but Serizawa remained on edge. There was too much at stake to take any chances.

 

"Get a visual," he instructed.

 

***

 

Down in the pit, a work crew cautiously approached the charred cocoon. The metal grid beneath their feet was no longer electrified, but their hazmats suits included rubber boots regardless. Massive fragments of dislodged shell, the size of boulders, were embedded in the floor, forcing the workers to detour around them. Burnt and shattered scientific equipment further obstructed their path. The grilled flooring was dented and cratered, making it difficult to navigate. It was several minutes before they reached the base of the cocoon, which remained dark and inert.

 

The leader of the team, Koji Tanaka, ignited a handheld flare. An incandescent red glow cast light on the deep, jagged crack running up the blackened exterior of the looming cocoon. He peered up at the crack, but saw only a still, silent darkness. It appeared that the creature was indeed dead, but perhaps there was yet more they could learn by examining its remains?

 

The team drew nearer to the cocoon. Tanaka was about to report back to the control room, when he thought he spotted a glimmer of movement through the crack. At first he thought it might be just a trick of the light, but, no, something was definitely shifting deep within the cocoon. He squinted into shadows, while the rest of his team started shouted and pointing excitedly. They could all see it now: Elusive shapes—no, a single shape—stirring inside the cocoon, right before their eyes.

 

Tanaka's mouth went dry. He began to back away warily.

 

A deafening howl erupted from the cocoon, echoing off the walls of the pit. Terrified, Tanaka and his team turned and ran frantically for their lives.

 

They didn't get far.

 

A bone-rattling shock wave blasted from the cocoon, flinging the fleeing workers across the floor into the ruins and rubble. The concussive force disintegrated what remained of the cocoon, causing it to crumble into dust, even as a tremendous electromagnetic pulse blew through the entire base, shutting everything down. Tumbling through the air, Tanaka was already dead, his organs pulped, before he slammed into a disintegrating pile of debris.

 

The creature howled again.

 

***

 

The van rattled as though a bomb had gone off nearby. The dome-light in the ceiling, which had been flickering and off, went out completely, leaving Ford trapped in the dark. The blaring klaxons ceased abruptly, while a sudden blackout seemed to hit the entire facility. All the lights outside went dark simultaneously, so that only faint starlight illuminated the scene. The motorized cranes whirred to a stop.

 

What the—?

 

Ford was still trying to figure out what was happening, and whether he'd been completely forgotten, when the thunderous howl of some unknown creature rang out over the chaos. That was no machine or siren, Ford realized instantly. The ululating cry was unmistakably coming from something alive.

 

He couldn't believe his ears, and a primordial fear gripped his heart. Bombs and blackouts he understood, and he had seen combat more than once. But the thought of what could have produced that savage wail defied his imagination.

 

What had his father said before? About some sort of animal...?

 

***

 

Joe found himself alone in the improvised interrogation room. Fitzgerald and the guards had run off, distracted by the crisis, which had apparently caught them completely by surprise. He remembered the feeling.

 

"You should've listened to me" he thought bitterly. "I should've made you listen."

 

The lights went out, just as they had at the plant years ago. He heard an electronic lock click as the power shorted. He tried the door and found it unlocked. Cautiously sticking out his head out the door, he glanced around but didn't see any more guards in the vicinity. He wasn't surprised. If history was indeed repeating itself, as he feared, then the people here had a lot bigger problems on their hands than one trespassing engineer.

 

This was his chance, he realized, to find out the truth at last.

 

***

 

Along with his fellow scientists, Serizawa stared down into the abyss, which was lit only by the intermittent strobing of the emergency lights. The steel-mesh net over the pit remained intact, further obscuring his view of the creature below, which had obviously survived their attempt to electrocute it. Despite the danger posed by the monster, Serizawa marveled at its obvious strength and endurance. They had sent enough voltage through the grid to fry a great white whale, but the creature was still alive and free from its cocoon.

 

We waited too long, he realized.

 

It's grown too strong.

 

The erratic lighting frustrated him. Straining his eyes, he could make out only the vague impression of some gargantuan form moving below. He caught sporadic glimpses of gigantic red eyes and gleaming fangs. The biologist in him was anxious to see the adult form of the organism, now that it had completed its metamorphosis from the larval stage that had hatched from the Philippine egg sac fifteen years ago, even as he feared for humanity as well.

 

What exactly had just emerged into the night?

 

Beside Serizawa, Whelan gasped as the shadowy beast pressed up against the cable netting, testing its cage. The creature heaved upward, shaking the entire pit. Steel scaffolding and support beams began to buckle alarmingly. Tortured metal screamed in protest. The crow's nest bucked beneath Serizawa's beneath feet, and he had to grab onto a window sill to maintain his balance. Graham stumbled against him, her face pale.

 

"Evenyone out!" Whelan shouted. "Now!"

 

His palm slammed down on a panic button.

Chapter Text

A bewildering assemblage of steel gantries and elevated walkways circled the site of the former power plant, overlooking a sinkhole of Biblical proportions. Joe made his way through the unfamiliar complex, heading toward the center, even as a mass evacuation got underway, triggering a distinct sense of déjà vu.

Hundreds of fleeing workers, many wearing radiation suits similar to his own, rushed past him, descending from metal catwalks and stairways in a desperate exodus. In their haste, nobody noticed an unfamiliar face amidst the crush. Joe jostled through the tide of humanity, like a salmon fighting its way upstream. He alone was headingtoward the source of the chaos—and the inhuman howl.

"I have to see it" he thought. "I have to know what's down there."

Another deafening wail could be heard above the tumult. He forced his way along the gantries, drawn by the sound of the creature. The terrifying screech was proof that he wasn't crazy after all, that he had been right all along.

He hoped Ford understood that now.

***

Trapped in the van, Ford found himself forgotten in the midst of an increasingly hellish nightmare. Fleeing workers and emergency crews raced past the van by the dozens, oblivious to the desperate American handcuffed inside the vehicle. The cuffs dug into his wrist as he tried unsuccessfully to wriggle his hand free. He shouted frantically at the people running by.

 

No one listened or even glanced in his direction. They were all too busy trying to get away from... what?

***

Joe crept along the gantry toward the pit. One level below, a crew of unusually courageous emergency workers warily approached the edge of the giant sinkhole. All at once, some enormous creature, its exact contours obscured by darkness and a net of heavy steel cables, shoved up against its cage. An angry screech conveyed its displeasure at being trapped.

The earsplitting cry convinced the workers to turn and run like hell. Joe didn't blame them; it was a natural response to the gargantuan monster trying to force itself out into the world. He would have run himself if he hadn't spent the last fifteen years looking for answers. This could be his last chance to find out exactly what had destroyed the plant years ago—and why Sandra died.

Luckily for the fleeing mortals, the creature retreated back into the pit after its failed attempt to breach the net. Brody was impressed by the size of the cage, admiring the foresight and ingenuity of the engineers who had designed and implemented the ambitious safety measure. The creature's bellicose howl faded away. It appeared the cage had worked.

"Thank God" Joe thought. He wanted desperately to lay eyes on the creature, but that didn't mean he wanted to see it run amok.

That monster's caused enough havoc already.

Then a giant black appendage rose up through a gap in the cables. Joe's eyes bulged at the sight. At first he thought it was a limb of some sort, but then he realized that it was actually

just a single hooked claw.

His mind reeled at the sheer scale that implied. For the love of God, how big was this thing?

The crooked talon hooked onto the taut steel cables, gripping them. It began pulling downward on the net, exerting tremendous force. The heavy cables stretched and strained at their moorings. The catwalks overlooking the pit started to tip precariously as they were wrenched loose, so that they dangled at alarming angles above the sinkhole and the creature below. All six cranes, each over 150 feet tall, began to tip toward the pit like fishing poles being dragged down by an over-sized catch. Twisting metal squealed as if in agony.

Joe gasped as the gantry quaked beneath him. He stumbled backwards, away from the railing. Suddenly the ingenious steel "cage" didn't seem quite as impressive—or reassuring—as it had been only moments ago. Hearing metal shriek, he spun around and saw the groaning cranes begin to buckle and bend catastrophically. The veteran engineer foresaw the collapse only seconds before it unfolded.

One by one, each crane gave way in sequence, crashing down like a row of towering dominoes. More workers raced in terror from the falling cranes, each of which had to weigh at least two hundred tons. The screams of the trapped crane operators were drowned out by the din of warping steel and one earth-shaking impact after another.

"Jesus Christ" Joe thought."It's tearing this whole place down!"

One of the cranes toppled over, falling straight toward Joe. Adrenalin and reflexes kicked in and he dived for safety only a heartbeat before the top of the crane crashed onto the gantry right where he had been standing moments before. It felt like another tremor had struck, rolling Joe across the walkway. Amazed to find himself still alive, he staggered to his feet and looked around.

Several fleeing workers had not been so lucky. They lay crushed beneath the fallen crane. Heads, limbs, and torsos had vanished, buried beneath the heavy piece of construction equipment. Spreading pools of dark arterial blood, looking almost black in the night, seeped out from beneath the mangled steel. Joe could tell at a glance that most of the victims had been killed instantly.

He wondered if they were the lucky ones.

***

"This is insane" Ford thought. "I can't die like this!"

He fought the handcuffs with all his might. His wrist was raw and bleeding, but the cuffs still refused to yield. The perverse absurdity of his situation was enough to drive him nuts. He could disarm a bomb in the middle of a battlefield, but he couldn't get out of a damn van when this entire place was coming down on top of him?

He stopped tugging on cuffs, recognizing the futility of his exertions.

"I'm sorry, Elle, Sam. I tried my best."

His heart broke at the prospect of never seeing his family again.

"I always meant to come home to you."

A falling crane hit the rear of the van like a giant hammer, shearing off the rear doors and sending the parked vehicle into a spin. Ford cried out, but had no time to react to this heart-stopping shock. Held in place by the cuffs, which yanked viciously on his wrist and arm, he tumbled violently inside the spinning van. His body slammed into the interior wall, knocking the breath from him. Whiplash twisted his back. For an endless moment, his world turned into a bruising carnival ride.

Then, finally, the van came to rest several yards away from its starting point. Dazed, his heart racing, Ford found himself staring out the missing back half of the van, which now faced the heart of the mysterious complex. The facility was apparently constructed around an enormous pit where Ford guessed the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant had once stood. Compared to the crashing din of moments ago, there was a sudden silence—until he heard what sounded like sturdy steel cables straining against some inconceivable force.

"The animal" he realized."The one Dad tried to tell me about."

That chilling, mind-boggling realization was enough to snap him out of daze and take stock. It occurred to him that the crashing steel crane might have been a blessing in disguise. Hurriedly checking the security rail, he felt a surge of excitement as he saw that the sturdy steel had been cracked by the accident. It took him a few anxious moments, but he managed to slide the cuffs of the rail, setting him free at last.

"Yes!" he thought."That's more like it!"

Wasting no time, he clambered out of the wrecked van by way of its missing back half. His radiation suit was still clumsy and uncomfortable, but, this close to the old reactors, he wasn't about to take it off—even if none of the guards had been wearing them before. He kept the helmet and gas mask in place.

He glanced around the darkened base, trying to get his bearings. The fallen crane lay between him and a steep ridge beyond. Steel catwalks and scaffolding spread across the ridge like overgrown foliage, but he could still dimly glimpse the pit beyond. Metal cables continued to creak and groan. He started toward the scaffolding, wondering how on Earth he was going to find his father in this chaos, when frantic pounding seized his attention. He quickly spotted where it was coming from.

A Japanese crane operator was trapped inside the control booth of the capsized crane. The compartment was partially caved-in, so that there was barely enough room for the man inside, and the exit door was a twisted mass of crumpled metal. It was going to take a blowtorch, or maybe the "Jaws of Life," to extricate the operator from the crushed compartment. The man's face was bloodied and contorted with fear. His fists hammered against the cracked window of the booth. From the looks of things, his legs were probably broken. Frankly, it was a miracle he was still alive.

He locked eyes with Ford, who hesitated, uncertain what to do.

"I need to find my father"

but...

***

"Ford!"

Joe spotted his son from his elevated vantage point atop the quaking gantry. Ford was down below, still wearing the same secondhand radiation suit, and staring at the crushed operator booth of one of the fallen cranes. Joe watched with growing concern as Ford stepped over a tangle of steel cables stretching between the crane and the net above the pit. The cables went taut as the creature tugged again at the bars of its cage, dragging the cables toward the pit. Distracted by some drama below, Ford didn't seem to realize that he was standing in the path of the cables, which were shifting toward him.

"Ford!"

Ford was too far away to hear Joe's shouting over all the other commotion. Frantic, Joe rushed along the wobbling gantry, forcing his way past a stampede of terrified workers. He had to fight not to get carried backwards by the crush of bodies fleeing. Joe waved his hands in the air, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Ford!"

But Ford still couldn't hear him. Unaware of the danger posed by the moving cables, he appeared intent on rescuing somebody trapped in the crane's demolished control booth. The cables jerked again with another powerful tug from below, which also jolted the gantry beneath Joe. The elevated steel walkway creaked and teetered, tossing Joe from side to side. His elbow smacked painfully into a guardrail, but Joe barely noticed. He sprinted further across the unsteady gantry, even as everyone else scrambled in the opposite direction. The fear-maddened crowd thinned out, clearing his way, as he raced to get within earshot of his son. His eyes widened in horror as the taut cables began to drag the entire crane toward the pit.

"Ford! Get back now!"

Ford heard his father shouting. Startled, he looked up to see Joe staring down at him from an elevated walkway. He couldn't quite make out what his dad was yelling, but the utter terror on Joe's face was clear enough. Metal scraped loudly against the pavement, throwing off sparks, as the collapsed crane surged toward Ford. Hundreds of tons of lethal metal and machinery threatened to flatten him like a runaway train.

He dived out of the way, forced to abandon the trapped operator. The crane swept past him, carrying the operator to his doom. Their eyes met briefly before the control booth, along with the rest of the crane, was yanked into the waiting pit. Ford wondered briefly if the man had a family...

Joe kept shouting at him from above. Scrambling to his feet, Ford looked up at his father again—just as the plummeting crane hauled down the entire elevated gantry Joe was standing on. Ford barely had time to register what was happening before the metal scaffolding collapsed, taking Joe with it. Crumpled steel landed in a heap at the edge of the giant sinkhole, atop a jutting concrete ridge.

"DAD!!!"

Ford rushed toward the wreckage, praying that Joe was still alive somewhere in the towering pile of debris. He couldn't lose his father now, not like this! He needed to apologize to his dad for never really listening to him, for thinking he was crazy all these years. Who knew that it was the world that had gone mad—and that Joe Brody was the only person sane enough to see that?

The ruins of the collapsed gantry loomed before him. A thick cloud of dust and pulverized concrete rose from the debris. He was almost there—

Something huge and heavy slammed into the pavement in front of him, blocking his path. A glistening black column suddenly stretched high above his head. Stumbling backwards, it took Ford a second to grasp that what he was seeing was an enormous spiked claw, attached to a limb the size of a redwood.

"No" he thought."It's not possible. No animal can be that big!"

Then another jointed black limb stretched up from the depths of the pit and smacked down on the ground several yards behind Ford.

And another.

Ford froze in terror. For a moment, all he could hear was his own breathing inside the gas mask and the rapid thumping of his heart. Nothing in his Navy training or combat experience had prepared him for the sight of the colossal creature rising up out of the darkness of the pit like a living mountain. An iridescent black exoskeleton, made of a hard shell-like substance, covered a vaguely insectile behemoth with at least six limbs of varying sizes.

Two sturdy hind legs, with "backwards"-jointed ankles, supported the bulk of the creature's weight, while a pair of elongated middle limbs extended from the beast's armored shoulders. A much smaller pair of forearms, resembling those of a praying mantis, protruded from its upper thorax. Glittering red eyes peered out from beneath a flat triangular skull that almost looked like a rattlesnake's. Saliva dripped from a huge hooked beak. The sheer scale of the creature beggared the imagination. It had to be nearly two hundred feet tall.

This was no mere "animal," as his father had predicted. This was a monster.

The beast kept rising higher and higher, straightening to reveal its true, incredible size. Its titanic form blocked out the sky, hiding the stars. Its immense shadow fell across the sprawling base. Ford waited for the monster to squash him like a bug, but it paid no attention to him. Instead it hunched and grunted, heaving as though undergoing some kind of internal convulsion.

Its armored back began to buck and bulge violently. For a moment, Ford allowed himself the hope that the monstrous creature was dying for some unknown reason. Perhaps an adverse reaction to the environment or the radiation in the pit? Or maybe the creature was simply too big to survive. Was it possible he was witnessing its death throes?

"Please" Ford prayed."There's no room in this world for a monster like this."

But then its molting back split open in two long parallel gashes, dozens of feet long. Glistening prongs of flesh emerged from the ruptured carapace, unfurling grotesquely into sleek black wings that reminded Ford of a stealth fighter. Blood pumped into the wings causing them to grow stiff and rigid. Thick veins supported a scaly membrane. They stretched and flexed, wet and shimmering. A hard black sheath, that appeared to be made of the same glossy substance as the creature's exoskeleton, protected the underside of the wings.

No longer hunching, the creature rose up triumphantly, exalting in its metamorphosis. It bloodcurdling screech could probably be heard for miles away. Spreading its newborn wings, it took to the sky.

Awestruck, Ford watched it fly away.

But to where?

***

The sun rose over the ruined base. Black smoke rose from the rubble, darkening the sky. The toppled cranes remained where they'd fallen, even though emergency crews had begun the grisly process of carting away the remains (partial and otherwise) of the deceased. Severed steel cables hung in tatters from the edge of the sinkhole. Helicopters circled overhead, observing the devastation below.

Survivors were being carried away on stretchers, even as first responders worked overtime to extricate more bodies from the debris. Collapsed gantries and scaffolding had turned the site into an enormous junkyard. Twisted steel beams jutted from the wreckage like abstract grave markers. Sobs and curses filled the air.

Ford wandered directionlessly through the ruins, ignored and forgotten amidst the disaster scene. His face was caked with soot and sweat. He'd discarded his gas mask and helmet hours ago; radiation poisoning had seemed the least of his worries. Every muscle ached and he felt black and blue all over.

A loose pair of handcuffs still dangled from one wrist, which stung like the devil. He stumbled clumsily over the rubble, attempting to stay out of the way of the emergency crews. He'd been searching all night for his father without any luck. For all he knew, Joe was still buried beneath the debris.

He spied a crowd of medical personnel tending to another batch of wounded. Unwilling to give up, he pressed his way into the makeshift triage unit. Dozens of casualties occupied gurneys, while the overtaxed doctors, nurses, and medic struggled to cope with the flood of patients. Ford was both appalled and discouraged by the number of victims. He didn't know where to keep looking for his dad. Joe could anywhere.

Or nowhere, anymore.

"No" he thought. "Don't even think that."

He'd already lost his mother on this very same site. He'd be damned if he'd see his father buried here, too. Exhausted and sore, he stubbornly worked his way down row after row of casualties. Ford had seen combat, and the aftermath of suicide bombings, but the widespread suffering on display here still got to him—and left him feeling very afraid.

His brain was still trying to come to terms with the reality of the gigantic winged monstrosity he'd witnessed earlier. Bombs and terrorists were one thing. He knew how to protect himself—and others—from them. But a creature like that... how on Earth did you stop it? Was that even possible?

And what was it doing now?

Worried and worn out, he almost walked by his dad without recognizing him, but then he spotted Joe on a gurney, surrounded by harried nurses and medics, fighting to keep the injured man alive. An IV line was set up to administer fluids and medication. Pressure was applied to the most visible wounds. Joe was caked in blood and dirt, his shredded radiation suit almost unrecognizable. The medics were already peeling the suit from him to get at his injuries.

"Dad!"

Ford rushed toward, trying to squeeze past the doctors and nurses, who refused to let him through. He peered anxiously over the shoulders of the busy medics, hoping that he hadn't found his father just in time to see him die. That would be too cruel.

Joe's eyes fluttered at the sound of Ford's voice. He squinted through a fog of pain at his son. Their eyes met, truly seeing each other for perhaps the first time in years.

But was it too late for both of them—and the world?

***

Cold sweat broke out on her temples. Her hands, usually so sure and strong, were shaking. She felt this presence, like an icy wind cutting through her bones. It was ancient, hungry, and powerful beyond comprehension.

Her throat was dry and her heart was beating wildly, a strange, frightening rhythm. She felt a wave of cold run through her body, as if an icy wind had blown from the very depths of her soul. The power emanating from the nascent entity was overwhelming, all-consuming.

Mothra took a step back, instinctively trying to distance herself from the source of the encroaching darkness. There was a faint whisper in her head, vile and ominous, beckoning into the abyss. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block it out, but it only grew louder, more insistent.

Memories, like shards of a broken mirror, began to surface in her mind. Whispers of old legends, warnings from forgotten gods. They all seemed like foolish fairy tales... until they became reality. The darkness, it was always there, in the shadows of the light, beneath the thin layer of the familiar world.

She needed to warn the others. She needed to stop what was awakening. But how? What could stop such a force? The horror in her eyes reflected the abyss that was about to swallow the world. Mothra knew that time was running out.

Chapter Text

The Green Berets advanced through the nocturnal jungle, kitted out with hazard gas masks and night-vision goggles. The dense bamboo forest was lush and fragrant, abloom with wild orchids, hibiscus, and plumeria. Hidden waterfalls cascaded in the background, but any wildlife was anusually silent, as though the local fauna had made themselves scarce.

They were only miles away from lively beaches and night life of Waikiki, but, from the looks of things, they might as well as have been deep in the Amazon rain forest. The dense underbrush made for hard slogging, but the soldiers maintained a brisk pace. They hacked their way through the jungle with machetes.

The leader of the team, Captain Bill Cozzone, was a combat veteran who had taken part in a wide variety of missions over the years, ranging from counter-terrorism to humanitarian assistance, but this assignment was a new one. Nothing in his extensive training and experience had involved tracking down a "Massive Unknown Terrestrial Organism," let alone a missing nuclear submarine.

He used a Geiger counter to guide them through the jungle. It clicked faster and faster as they zeroed in on their objective. Spotting something ahead, through the green-tinted view of his goggles, he raised his hand to signal a halt.

Whoa, he thought.

There's something you don't see every day

The Alexander Nevsky, a fourth-generation nuclear submarine, was standing upright among the trees, as though dropped from above. Nearly six hundred feet tall and more than forty feet across, the sub was encrusted with a hardening resinous secretion that dripped slowly down its side. It nose was buried deeply in the earth, amidst smashed and pulverized greenery. In theory, the submarine housed a crew of 130 officers and men. Cozzone found it hard to imagine that any of them could have survived the drop. They were almost certainly crushed to a pulp inside the towering metal shell.

The twelve-man team spread out around the base of the misplaced sub, gazing up at the surreal sight. Cozzone didn't like the look of this. Submarines belonged in the ocean depths, not perched upside-down in the Hawaiian jungle, only a short hop from Diamond Head. This was wrong with a capital

"Guardian 3, this is Sparta 1," he reported via radio. "We've located the Russian sub. Break—"

Something stirred above the jungle canopy high overhead. Craning his head back, Cozzone spied the MUTO itself, crouched above the upright sub. Despite his earlier briefing, the soldier was taken aback by the sheer size and freakishness of the winged monstrosity, which looked like a cross between a giant bug and a dinosaur. Its shiny black wings were folded in behind it like an ominous dark cloak. A thick orange secretion oozed from the creature's segmented underside. The photos he'd been shown before had failed to capture how truly monstrous this "organism" was.

Holy mother of—

"Guardian 3, we also have eyes on your bogey."

The command center aboard the Saratoga immediately responded.

"Sparta 1, Guardian 3. Six Actual requests a sit-rep, over."

To Cozzone's relief, the MUTO ignored the stunned Green Berets down on the forest floor. Instead it had torn open the hull of the

Alexander Nevsky and was gorging on the glowing plutonium core of the nuclear reactor, gobbling down the red-hot fuel rods like a pelican downing a fish. Cozzone was suddenly very thankful that the MUTO supposedly consumed nuclear radiation. Otherwise he and his men would be fried for sure, gas masks or no gas masks. He tried to convey to Command what he was seeing.

"Guardian 3, tell the Six it's... uh... well, it appears to be eating the reactor."

***

"Of course" Serizawa thought. "Just as it fed on the nuclear fuel at Janjira before."

A momentary hush fell over the CDC. Admiral Stenz looked at Serizawa, who nodded grimly in confirmation of the Green Berets' on-site assessment of the situation. Stenz absorbed this new intel with admirable calm and efficiency. He stepped briskly to the center of the war room and raised his voice to be heard above the general hubbub.

"Cat's out of the bag, people," he declared. "New protocol is safety, not secrecy. Get me eyes in the air. Notify Coast Guard District Fourteen and Hawaii Civil Defense. There are a million people on that island."

Serizawa recalled the devastation at the M.U.T.O. base and in the Philippines years ago. He could only imagine the consequences of the creature invading a major population center. They were looking at a catastrophe in the making.

"General quarters, please, skipper," the admiral instructed Captain Hampton. "Set condition one."

The order spurred the entire naval strike group into action. Crews reported to battle stations as the carrier's various support ships rotated their huge artillery guns toward the shore. Seeking fresh air, Serizawa stepped out onto the busy flight deck in time to observe the commotion. Flight crews scrambled as several F-35 jet fighters screamed off the runway amidst loud blasts of blistering exhaust. The Lightnings were one-seat, supersonic aircraft capable of reaching the island in seconds. Catapults hurled them into the air at a breathtaking pace.

Covering his ears, Serizawa turned his attention away from the runway to the nearby island. The strike group was positioned off the shore of Oahu in response to the distress signal from the Russian sub. He could see the sparkling lights of Honolulu and Waikiki, as well as the lush green mountains rising up beyond the beaches and resorts.

The landmark volcanic cone of Diamond Head dominated the southeastern tip of the island, overlooking the most popular tourist spots. Only a few miles of ocean separated the fleet from the island. Serizawa gazed out over the moonlit waves and the white caps churned up by the coursing battleships. The slumbering Pacific struck him as deceptively placid, hiding an entire undersea ecology with its own unplumbed secrets, such as...

His eyes widened as he spied a large, dark object slicing through the ocean toward the islands. At first he thought that maybe his eyes were deceiving him, that it was just an illusion born of darkness and the restless motion of the waves, but the huge shape began to rise from the water, growing higher and higher with each passing moment, like the fin of some enormous beast.

Serizawa swallowed hard. He remembered the colossal skeleton they'd discovered in the Philippines fifteen years ago, as well as the decades-old photos on his desk below, the ones he'd been studying his entire career. The ominous silhouette of that long-unseen leviathan remained burned into his memory, even though they were taken before he was born.

Could it truly be her?

***

The train glided toward the next terminal along the elevated track, which ran approximately thirty feet above the tarmac below. Rows of jetliners were parked wing to wing away from the runways. Ford lifted Akio onto a seat to await their stop. He wondered what would be faster and more efficient: getting off at the next stop and trying to catch another train heading in the opposite direction, or staying on this train until its circuit brought it back to their starting place, where, hopefully, the little boy's parents were waiting anxiously for his return? Ford could just imagine how frightened they must be right now.

He'd once lost sight of Sam at the mall; it had only been for a few minutes, but he still remembered how panicked he'd been at the time, all the terrifying scenarios that had flashed through his head before Sam had turned up over at the food court, perfectly fine. Those had been some of the longest minutes of his life, including his time on the front. He knew exactly what sort of hell Akio's parents were going through right now. The sooner he got their child back to them, the better.

Akio sat quietly, watching the planes taxi below, until he suddenly sat up and pointed in excitement at a flight of military jet fighters roaring past the airport toward the densely forested hills beyond. Ford held onto him tightly, alarmed by the sight. Those had looked like F-35 Lightnings, probably launched from the Saratoga offshore. He could think of no reason why the supersonic fighters would be zooming inland at full speed.

Unless...

***

Streaking through the sky, the Lightnings flew in formation toward the mountain range overlooking Honolulu. The lead pilot, Captain Douglas Lang, readied himself for combat against an entirely new type of threat. As the jets crested a rocky jungle ridge, the MUTO came into view, crouching above the bamboo trees like the world's biggest praying mantis. Despite being prepped for this mission, Douglas gulped at the sight of the enormous winged monster. It was hard to believe that such a creature actually existed outside of science-fiction movies or comic books. Yet there it was: right in front of them, rippling with some sort of eerie bioluminescence.

"It's still just an animal. Not kaiju", he reminded himself, keeping his focus on his mission. "And animals can be put down."

The F-35 was armed with both guns and missiles, which ought to be more than enough to take out the dangerous creature. "Niner-niner," he reported over the radio built into his helmet. He aimed his cross-hairs at the MUTO, but, to his surprise, they bounced and wavered erratically, as though unable to lock onto the target.

"What the--?"

The cross-hairs kept sliding off the target. It was like trying to thread a needle with a wobbly piece of thread.

"I'm getting all sorts of guidance errors," he reported. "Switching to manual."

He reached to flip the switch, just as the MUTO reared up on its hind legs and began glowing brighter than before. A rippling aurora charged the air around it, only a heartbeat before it slammed its upper limbs down, generating a visible electromagnetic pulse.

No!

The captain's entire cockpit display went black. He fought to maintain control of the plane even though all of its electrical systems had shorted out instantaneously.

This can't be happening. It's just an animal...

Flaming out, the disabled aircraft spiraled down toward the jungle floor, where the Green Berets scrambled to get out of the way. The crashing fighter jet slammed into the earth with stupendous force. The impact knocked the fleeing soldiers off their feet.

Seconds later, a huge orange fireball billowed up above the trees.

***

Aboard the Saratoga, Serizawa commandeered a pair of binoculars from a passing seaman. His heart racing, he placed the long-distance lenses to his eyes and searched the moonlit sea for the enigmatic shape he had spied before. He quickly relocated the mysterious object, only to discover that the jagged protrusion had been joined by two smaller points on either side. Recognition dawned in his eyes as he grasped what he was seeing: a row of gigantic dorsal fins.

Racing straight toward the fleet.

Warning sirens sounded as observers aboard the various ships spotted the oncoming threat and braced for impact. Serizawa suspected that few aboard the vessels, except perhaps Graham and a handful of others, knew exactly who or what was surging their way, but it was obvious that something very large and solid was on a collision course with the Saratoga and the other ships. Serizawa grabbed onto a safety rail, not that he expected it would do much good, not if this was indeed what he surmised.

"It must be her", the scientist thought. "What else could it be?"

Torn between scientific curiosity and fear for his life, Serizawa prayed that he would at least be allowed to behold the legend in all its majesty before it laid waste to the floating super-carrier. Through the binoculars, he watched as the giant fins came closer and closer.

Then, at the last minute, before the mighty battleship could even attempt to avoid the collision, the fins dipped rapidly beneath the waves, diving beneath the

Saratoga

and the rest of the strike group. The ship pitched back and forth as something impossibly massive passed beneath it. Baffled flight crews shouted to each other in confusion. Only Serizawa understood the awesome force that had just passed them by. Only he understood that it was not her, but someone else. Nature had spared them, at least for the moment.

Drained, he lowered the binoculars and let out a sigh of relief. Part of him was actually disappointed that the owner of the fins had not fully revealed himself, but he suspected that that fateful moment would be upon them soon. He turned toward the unsuspecting island only a few miles away. He had visited Oahu before. It was a beautiful island, full of friendly locals and vacationing tourists.

Little did they know what was heading toward them.

***

Little girl was enjoying her family's vacation in Hawaii. A blond, six-year-old girl from Seattle, she kept close to her parents as they strolled along the beach at Waikiki, along with dozens of other people. Palm trees swayed above the shore. Tiki torches lit up the night while the mouth-watering aroma of roast pig wafted on a balmy breeze from a nearby luau. Hula dancers in grass skirts put on a show for the tourists. A busy beachfront bar offered drinks, both grown-up and otherwise.

The rolling surf lapped at the shore, while the white sand was cool and squishy beneath Jenny's bare feet. Rows of multi-story hotels, condos, and resorts faced the water, while thickly forested hills rose up further inland, beyond the shops and nightclubs. Laughter and music filled the warm night air. An ocean breeze had a salty flavor. It was past Jenny's bedtime, but her parents didn't seem to mind. They were on vacation after all.

The festive scene was suddenly disturbed by a flight of fighter jets zooming overhead, heading inland from somewhere out at sea. Sonic booms shook the night. The jets came in so fast and so low that their passage whipped up the sand on the beach. Startled tourists looked up in surprise. Even the hula dancers stopped swaying and stared up at the jets. Contrails of exhaust streaked the night sky. Bartenders stopped serving drinks.

"Wow", she thought. "Nobody told me there was going to be an air show!"

The jets were just the beginning. Police helicopters arrived next, swooping in from downtown. SWAT team members, equipped with rifles and body armor, belayed down on ropes from the hovering choppers to the hotel rooftops, staking out sniper positions. They aimed their weapons at the wooded slopes of the Koolau Mountains, almost as though they expected something bad to attack from the hills at any moment. The helicopters buzzed above Waikiki.

Girl was captivated by all the excitement, until her mom grabbed her and hugged her tight. Her parents exchanged worried looks and whispered anxiously to each other, as did the many others vacationers frozen in place upon the beach. People pointed and stared at the unexpected invasion. Jenny heard someone speculate about "terrorists." Despite her tender years, she felt the mood changing all around her. Grownups were acting confused and scared, which scared her, too.

Suddenly it didn't feel like a fun vacation anymore

***

All at once, the entire airport lost power.

Agitated voices filled the train as the overhead lights sputtered out, leaving the passengers in darkness. The train slowed to a stop upon the track, stalling between stations. Ford kept a tight grip on Akio as the boy pressed his face up against the window, looking out towards the mountain slopes none too far away.

The hellish red glow of rising flames could be seen from the airport, lighting up the night. Confused passengers murmured anxiously as they spied the distant inferno. No one else seemed to know what was happening, but Ford had a likely idea. His memory instantly flashed back to the creature from the pit.

"I think we found it", he thought.

***

Girl and her family jumped as an explosion went off in the hills. Thick black smoke rose from the dark jungle, followed by bright red flames. Her father swore under his breath while her mother stifled a frightened sob and scooped the little girl up into her arms. All around them, people were acting scared and confused. Nobody seemed to know what to do or even which way to run. Their hotels were even closer to the hills where the explosions were, so there was nowhere to run except into the ocean.

"I don't like this", girlthought, hugging her mom. "I want to go home."

Looking away from the menacing flames and smoke up in the hills, she stared out at the sand and surf instead. Her eyes bulged as she spotted something peculiar. The tide appeared to be retreating rapidly from the shore, ebbing back into the bay, as though it, too, was afraid of all the scary noise and commotion on the island. Her brow wrinkled in confusion.

Was it supposed to do that?

She tugged on her dad's arm, calling his attention to the fleeing waters. His sunburnt face went pale at the sight. Her mom turned around and gasped out loud. She thrust Jenny into her daddy's arms and they took off running inland, away from the shore, as fast as they could. Her mom shouted at the other grownups and children on the beach. The girl had never seen her mother so afraid before, even when attacked by kaiju, she remained somewhat calm. But not this time.

"Run!" her mother yelled. "RUN!"

***

A huge tidal wave crashed onto the shore. Terrified beachgoers, including a girl and her family, ran in panic, seeking higher ground as the tsunami swept over the beach, inundating the crowded streets and buildings beyond. The surging water washed over blocks of bars, nightclubs, shops and restaurants.

Screams and shouts mingled with the roar of debris being carried along by the current. Cars, motorcycles and trash cans swirled chaotically in the brown, murky water. Those who had not escaped clung to anything that would keep them afloat, praying for rescue.

The wave didn't seem to be going away. It kept rolling, penetrating deeper into the city like a hungry beast devouring everything in its path. People who had reached the rooftops watched in horror as the chaos unfolded before them. The girl clutched her father's hand, feeling him tremble. He wouldn't let go, his grip was like steel, but the fear he was trying to hide was palpable.

"What is it, Dad?" she whispered, her voice shaking as much as his hand.

He said nothing, just pulled her forward, away from the beach, into the city. Each thunderclap reverberated in their chests, making the ground vibrate. They reached a strip of shops, most of them destroyed, their windows blown out. Inside, chaos reigned.

And then she saw it. An incredible wave, much larger than the first, was bearing down on them, like a living thing devouring everything in its path. She knew it was the end. Her father tightened his grip on her hand, and together they ran, knowing there was nowhere to hide. In that moment, they were just two small figures running from the wrath of the ocean, hoping for a miracle that seemed to be nowhere in sight.

And suddenly...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

...loud footsteps were heard.

Her heart pounded in her chest, echoing in her ears. Jenny stood frozen in place, paralyzed with terror. Her legs refused to move, as if they were rooted to the wet sand. She knew she should run, she should hide, but fear paralyzed her, turning her into a helpless victim.

The shadow was getting closer, and the rumble was getting louder and clearer. Jenny could feel the salty air become electric, as if before a thunderstorm. She could make out individual details of the silhouette: scaly skin, sharp claws, glowing eyes. It was a nightmare monster made real.

Flashes of light shot up from the hotel rooftops like fireworks. Flashes of blood-red light gave glimpses of a gigantic creature emerging from the bay and stomping through the flooded streets. The monster was literally too big to take in in its entirety. Girl caught only bits and pieces of a colossal whole.

***

It had been years since he had fallen asleep. His sleep was filled with anxiety. The Many would return and wreak havoc. The Outsiders would come for him and feast on the remains of the world. His home world, but at the same time, utterly alien. He heard the echoes of battles and smelled his kin. But their scent was different.

The scent was a mixture of familiar notes and human parts. It was new to him. When he woke up, he saw one of them. He saw a cub that froze when he saw him and he froze too. The cub looked and looked like a member of his species. He saw parts of his species and parts of humans, but he didn't pay attention to it.

At that time, his attention was captured by the awakening of the parasites. He felt one of his kind approaching the female, so he went to the male. Today, he would end this abomination once and for all.

Chapter Text

Its eyes, hidden beneath bony protrusions, glowed with an unholy fire, reflecting the flickering of distant stars. The scales that covered its body shimmered in shades of obsidian, as if the darkness itself had taken shape. An aura of ancient power emanated from it, overwhelming and terrifying.

It moved with a grace that belied its enormous size. Each step rumbled the earth, and the air around it crackled with static electricity. It was the embodiment of a primal terror, awakened from the depths of the ocean.

It towered over the landscape like a living mountain, silhouetted against the crimson sunset. The jagged fins on its back resembled blades ready to rend the sky. Its barbed tail, like a whip, sliced through the air, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake.

It was a sight that inspired both awe and terror. Snipers opened fire from the rooftops. Tracer bullets cut through the darkness, but the giant sea monster continued to march forward, crushing cars, trucks, and small buildings with its mighty gait. Its giant tail swung back and forth behind it, obliterating bars, boutiques, and coffee shops.

The smoke from the gunfire added to the confusion, but the furious shelling had no effect on the monster, which seemed to be heading for the nearby hills, heedless of any structures that stood in its way.

It paid no attention to the insignificant men, women, and children who desperately ran from it, or even to the special forces who tried, but failed, to push it back. It seemed that simple humanity was beneath its notice.

Fleeing tourists and locals scrambled to get out of the beast's path of destruction. Jenny's family ducked into an alley and huddled together, clinging to each other in fear as the lumbering beast passed them. They remained there for what seemed like an eternity, until finally the giant footsteps seemed to recede into the distance. The deafening gunfire also gradually died down.

The family waited a few more minutes before cautiously exiting the alley and looking around. The power was still out throughout Waikiki, but numerous small fires were burning within the rubble of the collapsed buildings. As the smoke from the gunfire began to clear, carried off by the ocean wind, the girl and the other survivors stared in amazement at the catastrophic sight before them.

The monster disappeared, heading northwest toward the hills above Honolulu, but it left a trail of destruction in its wake. A swath of flattened buildings and vehicles, at least three blocks wide, stretched from the sea to the jungle beyond.

The invulnerable creature had cleared a path through the heart of Waikiki, crushing everything in its path. A streetcar was crushed into the sidewalk. A giant footprint sank deep into a luxury golf course. No tourist traps or residential neighborhoods were spared. Palm trees littered the rubble like broken toothpicks.

Crowds of stunned and speechless people staggered through the empty streets to watch in awe at the devastation. Native Hawaiians cried and cursed over the loss of their homes and businesses. A girl just wanted to go home to Seattle. This vacation was no longer fun.

***

The Green Berets reeled from the burning remains of the crashed F-35. The thick black smoke made Captain Cozzone thankful for his gas mask. A quick head count confirmed that all of his men had survived, though the same could not be said for the unlucky fighter pilot. Cozzone took a moment to wish the pilot's soul peace and hope that his sacrifice would not have been in vain.

Realizing his team was still in danger from the MUTO, he rallied his men, who responded immediately as trained. Rifles at the ready, they shook off the shock of the fall and peered through the smoke, trying to spot their inhuman foe. The MUTOs had shown no interest in attacking yet, but Cozzone was not about to let his guard down.

Movement in the smoky jungle canopy warned him of danger. He heard tree branches and trunks crack loudly as a large black shadow hobbled toward them. He ducked to the side and called hoarsely to his men.

"Look out! Coming!"

The men were running for their lives as the fourteen-ton Russian submarine went down like a falling redwood tree. Its reinforced double hull ripped apart like a flimsy tin can and crashed to the forest floor, shaking the ground for acres around. Nearly six hundred feet of tar-coated submarine crushed the green underbrush. Broken branches and trees were strewn around it.

But where was the MUTO?

The captain leapt to his feet, armed and ready, and his men did the same. His night vision goggles pierced the dark night, revealing a flat stretch of jungle leading to the coast. His heart sank as he saw the twinkling lights of the Honolulu airport just beyond. Thousands of civilians passed through that airport every hour.

And the MUTO was on its way.

***

Sighs of relief echoed throughout the train as lights began to flicker to life throughout the airport. It seemed that the power had been restored and the blackout was over. The train even began to move forward again.

Ford felt a little better now that he and Akio were no longer stuck in the dark. He was still worried about the battle that was apparently raging in the nearby hills, but perhaps there was still a chance to return the lost little boy to his parents. He could only hope that the military could destroy—or at least contain—the winged creature from Japan.

"This isn't my fight", he thought. The Navy didn't need a bomb disposal expert for this fight. The best he could do was keep Akio safe and return him to his family. Thank God that thing hadn't made it to San Francisco... yet.

He looked ahead anxiously, trying to see the approaching terminal. The skylights were working again, illuminating a section of the elevated track ahead. All seemed clear as the train rounded a bend, and the floodlights re-awakened to reveal... a MUTO, traveling down the track right in front of them!

The train erupted into chaos as other passengers spotted the giant winged monster in front of them, but the automated train continued to pick up speed, heading straight for the creature. The panicked passengers rushed to the opposite end of the train. Ford tried to hold onto Akio, but the panicked flight tore the boy from his arms. Akio was swept away by the crowd as the train raced toward the monster. Ford jumped out of his seat and dove after it.

"No!" he thought. "I can't lose him!"

An Apache helicopter swooped out of the sky, adding to the noise. The rotor wash rattled the train's windows. It passed overhead, just overhead. The sudden arrival of the attack helicopter elicited more screams than cheers. The ordinary travelers suddenly found themselves in the middle of a battle between military forces and a giant insectoid creature.

Ford kept an eye on Akio, who was trying to get back to him. Darting forward, Ford tackled the boy to the floor just as the Apache opened fire on the MUTO. Its 30mm autocannon cracked loudly into the night, sending a hail of ammunition into the crouching creature, which reacted angrily. Howling in protest, it slammed one of its massive middle limbs into the helicopter. The elusive helicopter dodged the blow, but the monster's flailing limb smashed through the front of the train, as well as the overpass beneath it.

The horrific screams were drowned out by the roar of crushed metal and shattered concrete. Tons of debris, mixed with falling bodies, crashed to the asphalt, more than two dozen feet below. The rest of the train continued along the edge of the shattered track, but caught on twisted steel supports and hung precariously over the wreckage below. Gravity caught the survivors, who fell helplessly out of the severed end of the train, screaming all the way, even as a recorded voice automatically began to play.

"Please mind the gap..."

Ford struggled to hold Akio while simultaneously clinging to one of the vertical metal poles in the middle of the passage. Screaming men and women rushed past them, nearly knocking Ford over. Gravity pulled Akio, briefly ripping him from Ford's grasp. Screaming, the boy began to slide away...

"No!" Ford thought desperately, trying to reach the boy.

He grabbed the boy's wrist and held him tightly. He scooped Akio up into his arms, and the boy clung to him for dear life. Ford wondered how long they could stay upright, and if it would matter if the MUTO was a few yards away, perched on the other side of the broken rails, snapping its teeth angrily at the whirring helicopter.

Ford stared at the creature that had already been responsible for his father's death, not to mention his mother's death fifteen years ago. Was this same monster going to kill him now—and leave Sam without a father? Would Sam miss it?

Ford waited tensely to see what the MUTO was going to do next. The creature watched the Apache helicopter with its scarlet eyes, seemingly eager to strike it again, but stopped when a series of loud bangs echoed across the runway, approaching from the east. The sound immediately caught the MUTO's attention; it crouched down, as if it was genuinely upset by the noise. Still holding onto Akio, Ford shuddered, wondering what could have scared the giant winged terror.

Perhaps an even bigger monster?

The MUTO let out a terrifying howl, then took to the air. Its sudden flight caught the helicopter pilot by surprise. The creature's outstretched wing clipped the Apache, knocking the helicopter out of the sky. Out of control, the helicopter crashed into a row of parked jetliners. The helicopter and jets burst into flames, and an explosion rocked the swaying train.

Towering fireballs erupted from the wreckage. Ford could feel the heat of the flames even from such a great distance. He choked on burning jet fuel. The light from the newborn inferno illuminated the night, revealing the source of the booming noises that had alarmed the MUTO. Seismic footsteps pounded the asphalt, which cracked under the tread of two giant, clawed feet.

"Oh, my God," Ford thought.

The terrifying reptile towered over the airport, dwarfing even the MUTO. It was nearly two hundred feet taller than the winged creature, and much heavier, too. Walking upright on two legs, it resembled some unknown species of dinosaur, but it was at least thirty times larger than even the Tyrannosaurus.

A rough, scaly hide covered its stocky, imposing frame. Two muscular forearms ended in viciously clawed hands. Rows of jagged fins ran down its broad back to a thick, barbed tail that was nearly as long as the monster was tall. Ferocious eyes peered out from beneath the creature's heavy forehead, fixing the MUTO with predatory intent.

For a moment, he thought it was Gojira. But it wasn't.

Fangs the size of a full-grown man gleamed within powerful jaws that opened wide to let out a warlike roar that echoed throughout the airport. It was a trumpet-like roar with a deep bass reverberation that rose to a chilling crescendo. Ford had never heard anything like it.

The MUTO had risen to the challenge. It howled back at the lizard and swooped down from the sky toward the legendary king of the monsters. Amid the flames and smoke from the burning jetliners, the primordial creatures clashed. Unable to look away, Ford pressed himself against Akio as they watched the titanic battle unfold high above the broken rails.

Ford felt very small and insignificant.

***

Sam was curled up on the living room couch where he had passed out the night before. The cozy blanket had largely fallen off him, so that only his bare feet were covered. His sleeping face was illuminated by the flickering light of the television, where a breaking news story interrupted the regular programming on almost every channel.

The volume was turned down low, but the screen was consumed by astonishing footage from Hawaii, where a fantastical clash of two incredible creatures was being filmed from dozens of cell phones from different angles. The devastating battle played out on the screen in fragmented pieces of chaotic footage, caught on the run by awestruck viewers all over Honolulu.

Hordes of terrified civilians, fleeing the disaster, ran toward the camera, nearly obscuring the view of the massive winged monster plummeting toward a high-rise hotel, which collapsed on impact, showering glass and rubble onto the panicked streets below. An even larger monster, bearing a family resemblance to the toy dinosaur on the living room rug, stomped in for the kill.

The massive reptile opened its mouth wide, revealing the flesh-ripping fangs of the ultimate alpha predator. It took a deep breath, sucking in a gigantic gulp of air that suddenly rippled in its jaws like a heat mirage on a summer's day.

Sensing danger, the MUTO turned and ran from Godzilla, its wings flapping in a desperate attempt to escape.

Electricity sparked deep in Godzilla's throat, and the superheated air ignited. A torrent of bright blue flame erupted from his jaws, scorching both the MUTO and the beach below. Palm trees and abandoned houses burst into flames. The white sand instantly turned black. But the MUTO had survived.

Squealing in pain, its wings scorched and smoking, the smaller monster fled. Leaving Oahu, it soared out to sea, with Godzilla in relentless pursuit. Cameras on the shore captured the fearsome leviathan wading back into the bay and slowly sinking out of sight.

"Sammy?"

Elle walked into the living room, already dressed in a hospital gown. She had to report to work in a few hours, and she still hadn't been able to find a sitter. She found the boy still asleep on the couch, looking so cute it hurt. He had seemed so peaceful last night that she hadn't had the heart to disturb him.

Glancing at the TV, she saw the morning news anchor humming softly at the table, but she ignored him. She had work and a baby to take care of, not to mention an absent husband who was theoretically supposed to be home. The day's business would have to go on without her.

She still had a little time before she had to go to the hospital, so she pulled the blanket back over Sam to keep him warm. He stirred slightly as she adjusted the blanket. His eyes flickered past her for a moment, then widened. Suddenly he was wide awake and staring at the TV behind her."

Mom! Look!"

***

The sun rose over Waikiki Beach, which now resembled a refugee camp more than a vacation spot. Both civilian and military medical tents had been erected along the parched shoreline, while dozens of exhausted rescuers tended to the wounded, homeless, and traumatized. Most of the major fires had been extinguished, despite the piles of rubble blocking the streets, but smoke still rose from scattered small fires between the beach and the airport.

Once luxury hotels and condos were now just large piles of debris that emergency crews were desperately digging through in hopes of finding survivors trapped beneath the collapsed buildings. The press was already on the scene, interviewing survivors. Rumors were swirling that the president had declared Oahu a disaster area.

For the second time in as many days, Ford found himself wandering through the aftermath of a devastating monster attack, except this time he was holding a lost child. After being rescued from the damaged monorail, he and Akio were taken by bus along with numerous other survivors to the beach, which was now the center of rescue efforts.

Ford wanted to search the airport to try to find Akio's parents, but he was assured that all the terminals had been evacuated. In theory, the tents here were his best chance of reuniting the boy with his family, but Ford was beginning to lose hope. The camp was full of desperate people urgently searching for their missing loved ones. Akio's plight was just a drop in the ocean.

He carried the shivering child into one of the large Red Cross tents. Akio clung to Ford; he hadn't let go of his savior since Godzilla had chased the MUTO away from the airport. Ford found himself oddly grateful for the giant lizard's timely intervention. He wondered where Dr. Serizawa was, and what he thought of Godzilla's return.

"Excuse me?" Ford called out, trying to get someone's attention. "This boy was separated from his parents. I—"

But the medics and rescuers were too busy to deal with him. The canvas tent was overflowing with shell-shocked survivors in equally dire straits—or worse. Ford's heart sank as he looked at the makeshift morgue, with too many bodies covered in sheets. He began to wonder if he was fooling himself into thinking he could have a happy reunion in the midst of such widespread carnage and destruction. For all Ford knew, Akio's parents were already dead, murdered by rampaging monsters.

Just like Dad.

"Akio! Akio!"

A woman's voice screamed desperately. Ford turned to see the boy's parents pushing their way through the crowd. Tears of joy were streaming down the couple's faces. Although they were a little battered, neither appeared to be seriously injured.

Akio jumped out of Ford's arms and ran straight to his mother and father, who embraced him warmly. Ford couldn't remember the last time he had seen a family so happy to be reunited; even the loved ones greeting the returning troops in San Francisco paled in comparison.

Ford found it hard to believe that it had only been a few days since he had stepped off the plane to meet Elle and Sam at the Air Force base. So much had happened since then, so much death and destruction. His throat tightened as he watched Akio's sobbing mother scoop her child up into her arms. He knew he would have done the same if Sam had been here now.

He moved forward to talk to Akio's parents, but quickly realized that the sobbing couple hadn't even acknowledged his existence. Akio was all that mattered to them right now; the rest of the world had understandably faded. Ford stepped back, not wanting to intrude on the emotional reunion. His role in this particular drama was over. Akio was where he belonged. .

"Okay," Ford thought, overcome with relief. "Take care, buddy."

The family set off, looking for any help or safety they could find these days. Akio glanced back at Ford over his father's shoulder before the family disappeared into the crowd and confusion. Ford silently wished them luck. He figured the whole world could use a little of that, with all the warring monsters on the loose. The entire planet had just become a much more dangerous place.

The kaiju weren't the most dangerous creatures in the world anymore. Far from it.

Suddenly alone, surrounded by strangers, Ford now had only one thing on his mind. Scanning the crowd around him, his gaze fell on a cell phone in the hands of a passing survivor. He rushed toward the man, who was wearing a grimy Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts. One of his sandals was missing. Numerous small cuts and scrapes marred his face. Ford guessed he probably looked the same.

"You get service on that thing?" he asked.

"No," the man said, shaking his head. "These things must have knocked out all the working towers. The pay phones aren't even working." He looked at Ford hopefully. "You have a car?"

The car wouldn't do Ford any good. He shook his head and walked away from the other man, already forgetting about him. He needed to get in touch with Elle and let her know he was okay and trying to get back to her and Sam. She must be worried sick.

A contingent of American troops from all branches of the armed forces filed into the tent. Ford hurried toward them. He approached an Army soldier who had stopped to let the wounded on stretchers pass before him.

"Lieutenant Brodie, U.S. Navy," Ford said. The soldier looked up and saw only a ragged figure, his civilian clothes torn and dirty from wars. Ford had not even shaved for days.

"I was here on leave," Ford explained. The soldier nodded understandingly.

"Excellent timing, sir." He saluted Ford.

"Sergeant Morales." Ford was glad that Morales, who looked about his age, did not dispute Ford's statement. He hoped the friendly soldier could help.

"I need to get to the mainland," he said.

"Well, you see, this really is your lucky day, sir." Morales grinned at Ford, who didn't get the joke. "General orders. All squads. Anything not tied down, head east." He grinned wryly as he headed across the tent. "We're all Monster Hunters now."

East, Ford thought. Across the Pacific... after the beasts?

"That's where they're headed?"

The sergeant, though kind, was in too much of a hurry to answer all of Ford's questions. He walked briskly to keep up with the other soldiers. "Our truck is right outside."

Ford hurried after him, his mind reeling from the alarming news he had just received. Whatever relief he had felt at reuniting Akio with his parents was quickly dispelled by a growing fear for his own family's safety. His worst fears were coming true.

The giant creatures were heading east...towards the west coast of North America. Towards Ella and Sam.