Evolving Escape - Showa Godzilla Era

[DaveTheAnalyzer]

Evolving Escape

By

The Analyzer

Godzilla watched as Mothra crawled away without so much as looking back. For once, he wasn’t scuffling with Rodan as he had been for the past several days. They were stunned by the giant larva’s conviction to fight against King Ghidorah, for a cause the pair didn’t believe was worth it.

For as long as Godzilla lived with his new body, he had a hatred for humanity. First, it was the lights that reminded him of the trauma of his mutation. Then there were the constant attacks wherever he went. He was shot at, bombed, buried in ice, electrocuted. These invaders of his territory even recruited a few monsters in their effort to destroy him. As far as Godzilla was concerned, they could all destroy themselves, and Rodan agreed with him.

So why did he feel a strike of guilt in his heart as he heard the sounds of Mothra engaging King Ghidorah in combat? Barely months ago, he killed her mother and had been trying to murder the twins without so much as a twinge of hesitation. Her entire heritage was a representation of the humans he hated. So why did he feel moves to defend her?

Godzilla locked eyes with Rodan, and they both knew the answer. Mothra had earned their respect. She was willing stand up for her principles despite overwhelming odds, odds that would likely end with her demise. That took enormous courage and pride. Compared to her, Godzilla and Rodan felt like immature children scuffling over territory.

They weren’t doing this for humanity, Godzilla thought as he stomped in to join the battle. They were doing this to save an individual they respected and fight a creature who was a threat to their entire land.

---

Godzilla blinked at his foreign surroundings, having no idea where he was. The last thing he was aware of was going his separate way from Mothra and Rodan, moving into a lake to rest from that tiring battle. He wasn’t close with the other monsters, but he felt an allegiance to them and such a change wasn’t something he could accept while moving around. He had been planning to explore whether this was a favorable change when he awoke, but his new location distracted him from this thought process.

Well, not completely. Godzilla noticed Rodan beside him, looking as bemused as he. Before they could exchange words, however, they noticed King Ghidorah and set aside their confusion.

Mothra might not be there to marshal them in order, but Godzilla and Rodan fell into lockstep. Working together was gradually becoming instinctual and soon they drove King Ghidorah away. Victorious, Godzilla did a series of taunting jumps, before returning his attention to his surroundings.

Yes, the land around them was foreign, in more ways than one. The stars above him were arranged in a completely different pattern, and the atmosphere felt different, albeit still livable. Even the earth under his feet felt different from what he had experienced. Again, he exchanged a look of confusion with Rodan, mind uncomprehending. Just where were they?

Then he noticed a silver object of metal ejecting fire as it rose into the sky. Godzilla was reminded of the small missiles humans used to shoot him with. Very faintly, he could sense humans inside. What would humans be doing dwelling inside an exploding weapon.

Then Godzilla realized it wasn’t a weapon, but a means of transport. It wasn’t going to explode but return the humans to their home. They had a hand in Godzilla and Rodan’s sudden change in location, and were going to leave the pair behind.

Godzilla felt a spike of rage go through him. He could have used his blue fires to destroy the rocket and strand the human here as well, but he was too livid to even do that. Mothra might be courageously settled in her convictions, but she was wrong, wholly wrong. Humans were not worth saving. They were a malicious plague of parasites, and judging by Rodan’s angry calls, he agreed. Godzilla was beginning to not regret allying with Mothra and Rodan, but he would not ally with humanity and the next time he met a human…

Godzilla’s mind was then filled with a horrible, screeching white noise and he knew no more.

---

Again, they had to fight King Ghidorah. The next thing Godzilla was aware of was he was back on Earth and he had the biggest headache imaginable. He was confused and angry, and King Ghidorah was the one he vented his anger on. Rodan joined him, and they managed to drive King Ghidorah off. They crashed into the sea soon into the process, though, and immediately lost track of each other.

Godzilla swam, though he was weary. He found the most convenient island with no life and crawled into a cave, where he rested. He had been transported between planets, brainwashed, and fought a powerful space monster twice. With all that happened, Godzilla deserved a long and restful sleep. The last thoughts Godzilla had before slipping into blissful oblivion was wonder how Rodan was doing. He might be sneaky and somewhat cowardly, but he had been with Godzilla through thick and thin. Godzilla hoped Rodan was okay somewhere out there.

---

Godzilla felt an internal body twitch. Energy was coursing through him, making his limbs move with no conscious effort on his part. The energy grew stronger, dragging him into consciousness. His sleep-fogged brain didn’t know what was happening until he opened his eyes and realized he was being electrocuted. Slowly, he began to get up.

The cave had changed in the time he slept but that proved no barrier for Godzilla. He burst out of the mountain and roared in the storm, angry at being awakened. Then he was distracted by an unfamiliar cry. Following it, he found Ebirah. The giant crustacean was chasing something, but Godzilla didn’t care. He wasn’t inclined with making friends either. This was an invader of his new territory, and Godzilla wanted Ebirah to go away.

Ebirah was a bit of a challenge, but he was ultimately outmatched. Godzilla went to rest among the island’s mountains. His thoughts were less than encouraging toward both humans and his fellow monsters when he returned to sleep.

Godzilla was abruptly awakened by the sound of gunfire. Roaring angrily, he walked toward the direction of the sound. A gaggle of soldiers was chasing a woman, and they immediately reeled back when he came into view. They fired at him to no avail, but a roar from him was all it took for them to turn tail. The woman had pressed herself against a rock, terrified, and he went to investigate. Godzilla hadn’t been attracted to any creature in a while and whatever unfulfilled frustration he had could be taken care of privately. His approach didn’t change with this woman, but she did smell familiar. Godzilla continued watching her, trying to jog his brain so he could identify who she reminded him of.

Then it clicked. Mothra. She smelled like Mothra. She mentioned at one point that she watched over a bunch of humans who worshipped her and displayed the greatest assets of their species. Godzilla stared at the terrified woman speculatively. His opinion on humans hadn’t changed, but for Mothra, he would spare the woman. Besides, he had more pressing concerns. Like sleep, for instance.

Unfortunately for Godzilla, a giant bird and a swarm of airplanes interrupted him. The giant bird one was easy to take care of and when the woman showed appreciation, he felt a bit smug. However, the airplanes were a total annoyance and the woman had vanished in the chaos. No longer caring about her, he picked up the scent of a whole colony of humans on the island and became enraged. He was going to take care of them once and for all.

Taking down the settlement was pathetically easy and the humans who were still alive scrambled to safety. They were obviously not going to stay here. Then Ebirah appeared, taking out the boat, and Godzilla decided he should also be taken care of. The second round was a bit more challenging and he wished at that moment he had Rodan to assist him. He wanted to get things done quickly and sleep. He ripped Ebirah’s claws off, and taunted the giant crustacean with them as he retreated.

The familiar enchanting wing flap gave him pause. He gazed into the air and watched, transfixed. It was Mothra, no longer a courageous little larva, but a majestic and powerful being just like her mother. Judging by her faint calls, she was coming to fetch the remaining humans on the island. Narrowing his eyes, Godzilla observed her landing. He had a score to settle with her.

He left the ocean and called to her. She greeted him warmly, but he would have none of that. In their brief discussion, Godzilla asked where she had been for King Ghidorah’s return and why she was helping humans. She replied that the process which resulted in her current form took a while. There wasn’t an emergency and she couldn’t rush things while inside the cocoon. When she finally emerged, she had to rest. As for the humans, most of them were her charges and they all were innocents. Godzilla wasn’t convinced. They were going to fight, and see whose view on humanity was more accurate.

Mothra’s heart was clearly not into battling. She acted as though he was a distraction to what she considered a more serious task, and when her powerful wings blew him off balance, she took the opportunity to snatch the humans and fly away.

Godzilla got to his feet and went to the edge of the island, watching as Mothra become a speck in the distance. He felt betrayed. He thought Mothra was an ally, albeit an annoying one, and here she was putting the safety of the humans over her fellow monsters’ needs. Not to mention the fact the humans were probably not sorry to abandon him on this island. Godzilla had wanted all the humans off the island anyway, but it was the principle of the matter! Also, the humans were only concerned about themselves. They probably weren’t thankful for the help they received from their titan counterparts.

“Godzilla…”

Godzilla’s good ears picked up voices in the distance, and Godzilla froze. Were the humans calling him?

“Godzilla…”

“Godzilla!”

Yes, he was being called. Mothra was using her powers to enhance the human voices. What for, Godzilla thought resentfully. So he could hear their taunts?

“Get off the island…”

“Jump!”

Godzilla found himself puzzled. If those were insults, they were certainly odd choices. Were they trying to order him around like a pet?

“The island’s going to blow…”

“Get into the water…”

“Godzilla!”

The island was going to explode? What were they talking about, Godzilla thought. This wasn’t a volcanic island. Only human bombs exploded. He was very familiar with them. But there wasn’t one powerful enough to destroy an entire island…

Godzilla blinked, as he realized there was one.

The bomb that mutated him.

The bomb that gave him these new powers.

The bomb that made him hate the lights of humanity and humanity itself.

The bomb that destroyed his former island home.

The bomb humanity created that these humans were warning him about.

Godzilla could hear the quiet – no sound from wildlife, the lack of birdsong, not even the scrambling of small mammals digging up food. They had all retreated because a great danger was rapidly approaching, and Godzilla had missed it because he was too busy settling old scores to pick up on the signs of danger.

Without thinking, Godzilla swiftly jumped into the ocean and swam.

He heard a boom, followed by louder, frequent ones. The water shifted around him, and Godzilla dived deeper, avoiding the warmer water of the surface. The pressure was uncomfortable, but Godzilla made sure he was far away from the disturbance before he went anywhere near the surface.

He slowly brought his head toward the ocean surface, and then thrust it into the air. Godzilla could still hear those explosions in the distance, but he was alive and well. So were Mothra and her charges as she was protecting them from any fallout radiation with her magic. He could hear the humans cry of relief at his sight, their appreciation he was alive clearly apparent.

Godzilla realized those humans had been concerned about him. They had awakened him so he could escape the island and although he never helped them directly, he was vital to their survival. They wanted to return the favor and warned them about the bad humans’ bombs. Godzilla wasn’t reduced to tears by such a gesture, but he felt an appreciation for not being irradiated again - it made him think.

Mothra was speaking to him. Do you consider all humans bad now, she gently asked. Godzilla was glad that she wasn’t being preachy this time, and he took a moment to answer. Godzilla opinions changed glacially. Even his opinion of his fellow monsters took many months to shift and he was still in the middle of the process. The same could be said for humans. He still didn’t trust most of them, and rightly so. That wouldn’t change for a while.

Still, Godzilla allowed, a few of them were alright. If he ever met Rodan again, he would tell him to consider developing a more nuanced opinion of humans.

The End

---

So that was my first Godzilla fanfic. I did an introspective piece so as to get a handle of the characters. I posted it here first as a test run to see if any of you can spot any grammatical, canon, or characterization errors. Other suggestions for improvement and positive comments are also welcome.

[HayesAJones]

Very nice. Interesting to get into Godzilla's head, especially when it concerned Mothra. An intriguing relationship you weaved between the two.

The mentions of the battles seemed rushed in this form of narration though. Perhaps it would work better as a retelling of past events rather than a real-time description?

[DaveTheAnalyzer]

My picture of Showa Era Godzilla is that he's asexual, so no romance. It was a bit hard to search the relationship, since he isn't as close with her as his dudebro Kaiju.

I kinda skimmed over the battles since the focus of the story was Godzilla's view on humans, with the building of relationships between the Kaiju second. I could change that if I think carefully, though.

[HayesAJones]

Heh, I didn't mean intriguing like that, just the mixed respect and conflict.

[Gojira21]

Nice, i liked this a lot