Author: Matthew Freese | Banner: Dao Zang Moua

Upon the ocean floor, two colossi battled for dominance. Their movements disrupted the waves, great gouts of their projected power boiling the water and frying schools of fish above.

One, a lengthy creature like a caterpillar, only far bulkier and coated in black, armored plating. From his head came forth a mighty horn, which would occasionally crackle with bolts of energy before a bolt like lightning seared forward. His red eyes narrowed in rage as a blue stream of nuclear light raked across his body, burning his flesh.

Across from Battra, a towering leviathan. Black scales flexed and bulged from the muscle beneath as the mighty titan stepped forward, baring his ivory claws. The three rows of spines upon his back clattered as he walked, closing the distance and swiping the blades upon his hands down Battra’s front. Yellow eyes focused as he opened a maw full of sharp teeth, lunging forward and attempting to sink them into the insectoid’s body.

Godzilla roared in anguish as Battra thrust his horn forward, running it through his side. Blood clouded the waters as the dark guardian pulled himself free, then quickly unleashed a point-blank blast of his Prism Beams into the closing wound. An explosion rippled through the opening, sending smoke and chunks of flesh flying.

As the King of the Monsters replied by sweeping an Atomic Breath down Battra’s back, earning a shriek of anguish from the insectoid, his severed hide began to drift to the ocean floor.

Unseen by either of the titans, who could only focus on killing the other, a relatively small creature darted out. Seizing a particularly large portion of meat with its fangs and clawed limbs, the prehistoric remnant fled from the dueling colossi as quickly as it had arrived.

Blissfully unaware of the invisible waves radiating from its meal…

Years passed, Godzilla eventually overcoming Battra and going on to fight several more foes, each one more horrific than the last. Finally, he passed, overwhelmed by an excess of internal power which his body could not handle. However, he left a successor.

A young Godzillasaurus, who had survived the demise of his species. He had been adopted and raised by the leviathan, he was the one being who got to see a side of Godzilla that was not overcome with spite and rage.

And now, Godzilla Junior stood upon Adonoa Island, the place where he had technically come into this world, even if it had only been as an egg. But, instinct drew him back here when his home with his father was destroyed, and so it was his territory.

Junior was the perfect image of his father, in physical terms at least. Same imposing figure, powerful musculature, and wellsprings of nuclear energy within his core. But where he and his father differed was the mind.

The Godzilla who had first arose in the 80s and rampaged throughout the first half of the 90s was a hateful destroyer, seeking vengeance for the agony and confusion of his transformation into a colossus. He had grown less aggressive towards the end of his life, once he had found Junior, but he was still nowhere close to kind towards anyone but his son.

Godzilla Junior, who most had just taken to calling Godzilla, was no destroyer. His first memories were of humans being kind and caring towards him, providing him shelter and food. His transformation into a mutant had been mostly slow and gradual, the result of absorbing ambient radiation from both this place as an egg and from Birth Island as he grew. The most sudden transformation, into his present form, he had not even felt until it was done.

And fortunately, for humanity, G-Force realized that he did not pose nearly the same threat as his father. So, anti-Godzilla countermeasures turned from killing to observing and appeasing.

Adonoa Island had been outfitted with nuclear reactors specifically designed to feed Godzilla, to ensure that he never came to the mainland to satiate his hunger.

The new King of the Monsters had no issue with this. He knew that war with humanity had been an unending, painful crusade that accomplished nothing for his father until he stopped it. Besides, the humans had done him no wrong.

He began to walk inland, seeking some of that sustenance. Far away, a pair of eyes watched him from a lookout post. A black-haired woman put down a pair of binoculars, then picked up a radio.

“This is Miki, Junior’s heading inland towards the north reactor. Over.”

“Thank you, miss Saegusa, we’ll get preparations underway ASAP.” The voice on the other end replied. “Over.”

Miki Saegusa had once been a gifted psychic, not a fraud on television or in a carnival booth type psychic, but a person gifted with genuine abilities beyond normal human minds. She had spent the better part of a decade arguing that Godzilla should be left alone if Japan wanted the destruction to stop, but her pleas had mostly fallen on deaf ears. Now, with exactly what she had wanted being true and her psychic abilities faded with age, she preferred spending her time as close to the colossus she admired and praised as she could.

Suddenly, Godzilla stopped walking, and turned around. He sniffed the air, narrowing his eyes. He felt like he could sense something, an odd presence far away. He snarled, closing his eyes. As Miki raised the radio up to speak into it, the leviathan went back to his previous task.

“Miss Saegusa?” The technician on the other end’s voice came through, as she had turned communications on.

“Oh, sorry. False alarm, proceed as usual. Over.”

As she turned the radio off, a voice rose behind her. “He sensed another kaiju, that’s all that could have been.”

It was Azusa Gojo, another black-haired woman around the same age as the former psychic. She had been a biology researcher, and still was, though now she only researched Godzilla. However, it was not just the potential for scientific discovery that drew her here, it was also the relationship she had with the mutated Godzillasaurus. When Junior had first hatched, she had been one of the people in the room, and it had been her that the living relic had imprinted on and viewed as a mother.

Miki turned to face her friend, who stood in the doorway of the small building. “Indeed. But I’m sure it was nothing too bad, given how he turned away and went back to what he was doing.”

Azusa watched as Godzilla disappeared behind the mountains, his tail trailing behind him. “Yeah, maybe one of those mutants that team in America deals with.” She continued staring as he fully disappeared from sight, then sighed.

“You’re worried about it, and him.”

“I thought you weren’t psychic anymore.” Azusa replied, giggling.

Miki laughed with her friend. “I don’t need to be psychic to tell that you’re worried about your baby,” she teased.

Azusa put her hands on her hips, leaning down to better look her friend in the eye. “Oh, and you don’t worry about him?”

“Of course I do, but I also know how powerful he is. If it’s something hostile, he can handle it.” The former psychic replied, smiling brightly.

“But, he hasn’t fought anything nearly as rough as the things his dad had to fight.”

Miki got up, walking past her friend and into the lookout post. “He can rise up to the challenge. He’s not that same baby anymore.”

Azusa turned to face her friend, that statement dredging up a question she had been stewing over for a long time. “You think he’d still remember us if he saw us?”

“I’d bet my life on it.”

Deeper inland, Godzilla stood over the nuclear reactor, absorbing the energy from the opened casing of the isotopes to fuel himself. The radioactive mineral had been raised up on a platform, to ensure he could feed off it without needing to damage the actual building. Despite the meal, his thoughts drifted elsewhere.

Something had swam near his territory. Usually, as long as it kept its distance, he would not mind the presence of another colossus. Sometimes he would allow even more than that, as long as the fellow kaiju was clearly not seeking to cause trouble. And few mutants with a working brain sought to aggravate him.

But this entity felt at once so similar and so unfamiliar. Like it had been another of his kind, but warped and twisted. He wanted to feel happy about another being like him existing, but its presence felt so off that he could not.

He had been lonely for a long time. Yes, people surrounded him every moment, but they stayed back and hid from his gaze like he was a tyrant and they were his subjects desperately trying to escape notice. It was not the life he was used to, nor was it the one he wanted. He knew the days of enjoying the sunny sky with his father by his side were long gone, no matter how much he longed for them.

 

Days passed since that incident, nothing else out of the ordinary arising. Tokyo’s citizens carried on as normal. The JSDF headquarters was the same as it had been for the majority of the time since Godzilla’s meltdown, mostly confined to keeping an eye on global events and doing routine maintenance and training exercises.

Suddenly, alarms blared throughout the facility, alerting everyone that radar had picked up a giant approaching Tokyo.

Swiftly, the war room was staffed as soldiers were positioned to be sent off if the command came about. A deep, commanding voice filled the war room, drawing salutes in its direction. “I need details now! What’s happening out there?”

It was General Aso, and despite how he was clearly getting up there in years, he still commanded a deep sense of respect from all working for him. A technician replied to him as the gigantic screen changed to display the radar imagery.

“Sir, we’ve detected a kaiju approaching the city,” On the monitor was a green silhouette of a creature which resembled a fish, though far longer than any marine life. Even with this rudimentary image, it was clear most of its length was due to its tail. “It will make landfall within the hour if its current pace continues. We have no record of the creature, nor have any of the other nations that have replied to us.”

“Have we gathered any information on this thing so far?” Aso replied, taking his seat at the head of the central table.

“Yes,” replied another technician. She pulled up several images and readings onto the screen, eclipsing the radar image. “Low levels of radiation are being emitted by the creature, but more concerning is the blood it’s leaking into the water.” A red cloud of water rested on the surface, surrounded by dead fish.

“Blood? Is it hurt?”

“That’s the strange thing, because the amount of blood this thing’s leaked should have hampered a creature its size, yet its swimming has not slowed down at all. Either it’s not actually hurt, or it has the ability to rapidly replenish its blood.”

“Regardless,” Aso responded, then raised his voice to the rest of the room, “We have a kaiju approaching which is going to contaminate the city with radioactive blood and who knows what else! I want to be prepared before this thing reaches Tokyo! Mobilize tanks, evacuate civilians, and send out a squadron to intercept it in the water!”

“Yes sir!” Replied practically the whole room, before activity filled the space as everyone scrambled to accomplish their respective task.

As the JSDF got citizens out of the way and sent tanks rolling through the streets, jets flew out over the waters intent on attacking the creature. Perhaps they could drive it away with the initial assault, and though it would make the tanks and evacuations worthless, General Aso would rather do such things needlessly than allow thousands to perish.

And as these operations commenced, mechanics swiftly worked on a colossal plane deep within a JSDF facility. Coated in green armor, the flying fortress known as the Super X3 had been inactive since stopping Godzilla’s meltdown from ending the world. Despite the years out of action, it was still mostly intact, just minor touches being required before it could enter the air once again.

Nearby, its pilot, Sho Kuroki, waited. He was not the sole pilot, but he was the main pilot and the only member of its crew to be who had also been part of the last. “Hope the ol’ girl flies as well as she did last time. If we even need her, this new kaiju didn’t look like much at all.”

“You really think those jackasses in tanks are gonna bring it down? They would have barely been able to bring down that Godzilla knock off that showed up in New York.” Replied one of his co-pilots, an older, rougher man named Akira Yuki.

Kuroki chuckled. “Sounds like someone’s just upset he’s been downgraded from a big, fancy mech to something that actually worked against Godzilla.”

A third voice cut in. “Yes, ‘worked’ for all of a few hours, then later swept in and dealt with him while he was already melting.” It was Koji Shindo, another of the three pilots who had been with the mech MOGUERA.

With the budget for the G-Force drastically cut since Godzilla’s threat was ended, the already existing Super X3 was the only anti-kaiju super weapon that could be afforded, and even then it barely received upkeep. Due to this, two of the pilots of Moguera had been reassigned to serve with the Super X3.

Sho playfully smacked Shindo’s arm. “At least mine’s still intact.”

The three shared a laugh, before a voice rose from nearby speakers. “Attention all personnel, the unidentified creature has dove too deep for the scrambled squadron to strike. Its course towards Tokyo, however, remains unchanged.”

“It panicked when jets showed up, yet it’s still coming here?” Shindo asked, scratching his head.

“Well boys,” Kuroki put his arms around both their shoulders. “Looks like Tokyo’s getting a fancy new ice sculpture in no time.”

Minutes passed, the atmosphere morphing from Tokyo’s constant hustle and bustle to an eerie, anticipating stillness. Tanks rolled through the streets, ready to engage the enemy if the need arose. The Super X3 remained down for the time, and none of the maser weaponry had been deployed, but the soldiers still felt confident.

The waters of the bay receded as the surface began to roil. Then, the waves rushed forth as its yellow head emerged. Bulging eyes rolled as they observed the surface for the first time. Its mouth flapped open and closed like a puppet’s as it further left the water, revealing its bloated neck covered in bloody gills. They poured crimson ichor, staining the waters. A thick, wormy tail ascended behind it, flailing through the air like the limb had a mind of its own. Thin, bony legs supported the creature as it made its way onto the land.

Pushing itself onto land, the mutant stumbled towards the city. The air was filled with the rushing sound of jets flying overhead, drawing the creature’s attention. Bullets and missiles soared forth from the war machines, crashing against their lumbering target. The explosions drew cries of shock and pain from the mutant as they tore chunks away from its hide, prompting it to charge further inland, causing further chaos.

“General Aso, the creature is retreating into the city. What is our next course of action?” Questioned a subordinate.

“Open fire on it with all weapons until it either drops dead or goes back to the ocean!” The commander ordered. “And get me an ETA on the Super X3’s deployment!”

“It should be within the hour!” Reported another subordinate, rattling off the reply he had gotten from the technician over his headset.

“If that thing’s still in the city after an hour, that’s a failure! Get to it, men!”

Windows shattered and car alarms blared as the creature clumsily ran, its tail carving out chunks of concrete from nearby buildings with its swinging. The same sound of planes overhead filled it with fear, earning a high-pitched cry of panic. Before it, tanks rounded a corner, pointing their cannons straight towards it. Despite not knowing what they were, the creature did not like what it was seeing.

The mutant attempted to turn around, bashing its tail through several abandoned floors in the process. Then, they fired, unleashing their shells. The chunks of metal slammed into the yellow flesh, blasting away chunks of skin and scale. Oozing craters were left in their wake. Letting out a choked scream of anguish, the beast charged straight forward, plowing through the little shop that had been before it. Rubble flew in all directions as it tore through several buildings and emerged on another street.

Another squadron of tanks and soldiers awaited it on the other side, bombarding it with their payloads. Rocket propelled grenades and tank shells joined a storm of bullets in hammering the stumbling mutant’s face and torso, its tail being once again struck with the shells of the first assaulting squad.

It charged forward, shrieking and flailing madly towards its attackers. The tanks pulled back as best they could, the soldiers turning and running. Missiles and bullets fell from the heavens, crashing against the mutant’s back as the jet fighters sought to save their comrades.

The diminutive scutes upon the beast’s back were cracked, several shattering beneath the assault. Falling onto its side, the mutant cried out once more, spraying blood from his gills and staining the pavement. Its tail beat the ground, cracking the concrete.

“Give it all you’ve got!”

More tanks rolled in as other jets joined those already assailing their common foe. Bursts of fire and smoke covered the mutant, sending gore flying through the smog. The echoing cries of agony rose above the cacophony of artillery, sending chills through the men and women witnessing the scene. They were used to a giant wading through their assault, reacting with hatred and anger instead of agony and sorrow.

The chaos faded as they ceased their assault, leaving the smoke to clear and reveal a gruesome scene. The mutant’s hide was shredded, geysering blood as it twitched. Bone was exposed, coated in scarlet. Murmurs arose amongst the soldiers, questioning if they should waste the ammo to kill it or just let it lay there and die.

Suddenly, it screamed as its flesh began to bulge and distort. The remaining yellow scales shifted into crimson, the legs growing as the entity reared up to become a biped. Tank cannons began to aim up, hoping to bring it down, only to finally be met with resistance as the gaping maw sprayed boiling blood.

It was only ankle deep by the time it reached the soldiers, but the issue was not the depth. Smaller shouts joined the rumbling bellow of the mutating creature as the brave men were reduced to bubbling puddles as they fell into the ichor. Rubber melted as the tanks before it were immobilized, smoke rising.

Instead of the sluggish lumber, the beast charged forward towards its attackers. Tanks were crushed beneath its feet, exploding. It cried out in pain at the anguish shooting up its legs from this, but this was soon drowned out as its skin bubbled and steamed.

More shells and bullets crashed against the mutant, making it fall over and smash head-first into a restaurant. Looking back the way it had originally come, the beast charged towards the water, uncaring of any obstacles in its path. Helicopters descended, peppering it with bullets. The anguished mutant blindly swung its tail backwards, the pilots managing to barely avoid the swipe.

Burnt shards of concrete and steel flew as the beast smashed through several buildings, each impact drawing out an agonized bellow. The waters of the bay called to it, a relief to this agony.

“What the hell is that thing doing?” Aso asked, eyebrows furrowing as he watched the screen showcasing the battle. “And what the hell did it just do, how could it have evolved like that?”

He looked around the room, getting nothing but murmurs. Pinching the bridge of his nose, the general took a deep breath. “If that thing gets into the water and gets away, I want our top kaiju experts and psychics here, ASAP!”

Elsewhere, in the repair dock of the Super X3, the pilots of the mobile fortress were just as confused as everyone else. Yuki spoke up, his arms crossed as he watched the flailing creature retreat.

“Well, it’s certainly no Godzilla, that’s for damn sure.”

Sho Kuroki replied, his head tilted as he tried to make sense of things. “Sure looks and sounds a hell of a lot like him. Distant cousin?” He said with the shrug of his shoulders.

Shindo spoke up. “You think it’s another clone of the big guy?”

“Well, I don’t think we exactly have another Biollante or SpaceGodzilla on our hands if it is.” Yuki snarked.

The waters of Tokyo Bay rippled as the mutant fell into them, disappearing beneath the surf as great gouts of steam obscured it. Helicopters and planes soared overhead, searching for the colossus as it went deeper down and further out. Soon, the steam stopped rising, and it was like the creature had disappeared.

Tokyo began to fill back up, the areas the monster had been in still being sealed off as hazmat teams explored it. Geiger counters ticked all throughout the scenes of its rampage, but at the dried puddle of blood they went absolutely frantic. Though it no longer boiled and steamed, it still carried enough radiation to cripple an unprotected human.

Despite the monster disappearing, G-Force remained on high alert. Several experts and specialists had been brought in to help deal with the creature and figure out where it had gone. Most noticeable among them, the two currently talking with General Aso and his cabinet, were Kenichi Yamame and Meru Ozawa. The former, a young man who had known more about Godzilla when he was a mere college student than anyone except G-Force’s top experts. He had been brought into G-Force when Godzilla entered his burning state, the organization deciding they would need all the help they could get. The latter, a young woman named Meru Ozawa. She wasn’t a genius like her comrade, but the raven-haired girl carried a special gift. She was a psychic, one of the best that the school for psychics had taught.

Meru did not feel comfortable. Her mind picked up the emotions of the room, every anxious scientist and outraged military officer. She would still remain here, so she could know what to do when her talents were called for, and so that she could remain “in the loop.” But she could not relax, for no one could relax here.

But most concerning of all was what she sensed from the man sitting next to her. Kenichi Yamane knew something horrifying, and it hung over his mind like a cloud.

“Yamane,” Aso spoke, his voice keeping its even tone. Despite the mood of the room, Meru felt very little emotion from the man. He still cared about the situation, but if Meru had to guess, the years of fighting Godzilla had hardened his constitution to these sorts of things. “You’ve been with the scientists who scanned its DNA. What can you tell us?”

“Well, sir,” Yamane replied, nervously. “We aren’t sure what exactly to make of it, except that it isn’t good.” He grabbed a remote, and with the click of a button, the main screen was occupied by three images. One, a strand of human DNA. The second, the all too familiar sight of Godzilla’s DNA, cast in a green light. Finally, something Aso, Meru, and nobody else in the room besides Yamane had seen.

Context clues told them it was DNA, but it was far more complex and intricate than either of the other two images. Countless branches overlapped and intertwined, causing it to resemble an abstract art piece more than it did the genetic makeup of a living thing.

“Is that the creature’s DNA?” Meru questioned, feeling the mood of the room further darken.

“Yes, and it confirms what we suspected.” Kenichi replied, clicking the remote once more. The images were replaced by the radar silhouette, an image of the creature crawling onto land, and a picture of the mutated, crimson form fleeing.

The young expert continued speaking. “The entity did not have fully developed legs when we first picked it up on the radar, or else we would have seen them bulging out from its sides. And, more obviously, the sudden, violent mutation when it was on death’s door.”

General Aso stared at the screen, then looked back to Yamane. Meru sensed fear creeping into the aged veteran, and though it was small amongst the sea of emotions filling the war room, it stuck out and rose above the rest for what it meant. “Are you saying it‘ll be different when it surfaces again? More dangerous and powerful?”

“Yes, sir. We can’t predict by how much, but if this rate of growth continues, we’ll be looking at something nigh-unstoppable.”

“What do you suggest we do?”

“Well,” Kenichi gestured to Meru. “I was going to suggest that she attempt to discern the creature’s location with her psychic powers.”

The young psychic’s pulse quickened, but she remained stoic. She remembered talking to Miki about what the latter had experienced when she peered into Godzilla’s mind and tried to hold him back.

“Are you kidding me?” Aso replied. “Miki passed out when she psychically connected with Godzilla, we can’t take that risk.”

“Yes, but that was because she tried to mentally overwhelm Godzilla. I’m only asking Meru to find the creature and tell us where it is.”

As Kenichi and Aso argued, the psychic looked over at the images of the new mutant. The crimson form had a foot pressed down onto a tank, reducing it to scrap. Somewhere in that pile of metal, there had been a human being. With a life, maybe a family, maybe any other number of things they had already accomplished or would have one day. Ended, in the blink of an eye, filled with terror as life was cut short.

Many people wanted psychic powers. They desired the power to lift things with their mind, learn other’s secrets, and all other manner of selfish, stupid things. Meru eagerly awaited the day when her psychic powers would fade, so she could live a normal life. So that when a tragedy occurred, she only had to deal with the emotions of herself and those emotionally close to her, not everyone physically near her.

“I’ll do it.” She cut both men off, drawing shocked gazes. “If it means preventing deaths, I’ll do it.”

“It will help us so much, at the very least to get a better idea of the urgency of the situation.” Kenichi replied. To say he was fully confident was a lie, but he was not nervous either.

For even he did not know the full depth of the situation.

 

As preparations to fly the psychic out in a helicopter over the waters to find the target went underway, the situation on Adonoa Island grew more ominous.

“He’s still standing out there, just staring out over the waters.” Miki reported to Azusa, watching through a pair of binoculars as Godzilla was almost unmoving.

“He’s been out there for an hour. This isn’t normal, something’s bothering him.”

“Turn on the radio, go to the news,” Saegusa asked. Her friend did so, and the answer became clear very quickly.

“G-Force has announced that they have the developing situation under control, and that the mutant will be found and properly dealt with before it becomes a threat again. Tokyo’s citizens are advised to be prepared to leave their homes and evacuate at a moment’s notice, though G-Force promises that such a scenario is an unlikely worst-case.”

Azusa scoffed. “That feels like pretty big information to not give us.”

“There’s a mutant in Tokyo?” Miki replied, tilting her head. “I guess you were right, he did sense something.”

“It has to be something major to get him acting like this.”

“Should we tell G-Force about Junior’s behavior?”

“Wait until he does something beyond this, I doubt they’d be happy to just hear that he’s standing there while they deal with all this.” Azusa answered, looking out towards the leviathan.

“Do you really think they have this under control?”

“You were the one with them for years on end, you tell me.”

The former psychic paused for a moment, thinking. “They think they do, at the very least. But I doubt they truly know…”

Godzilla wanted to swim out and discover what this was. He could sense the presence, the same one that had passed by his island, though now it was warping and twisting even further. He even considered the possibility that he may need to fight this new creature, but he did not want to risk leaving his island.

Would humanity reject him if he entered their territory? He was not filled with the same hatred as his father, but would they understand that? His mere presence could terrify them into attacking. His father had told him of what humankind was capable of. They could create weaponry that could harm him, potentially even kill him.

Godzilla Junior did not want a war with man. His only experience with people had been loving and caring, and he refused to let those memories be clouded with pain and hatred.

 

Near the waters off Japan, a helicopter patrolled over the waves. In the backseat, Kenichi and Meru sat side by side, the latter with her eyes closed and her mind reaching out. She needed complete focus for this, so the other passenger just stared out the window, thinking.

Not of the mutating aberration growing beneath the waters, though it was ever present in the back of his mind. Nor of asking Meru out on a date despite the crush he had on her, now was certainly not the time to even think of that. He was thinking about how Japan could seemingly never know peace. Just when it had seemed their troubles with Godzilla were over, a new one had crawled out and plunged the land of the rising sun into chaos once more. Would this one plague them for years to come like the second Godzilla, or would it be more like the first? That was not a comforting idea, for instead of raiding Japan for years, that one had just torn through Tokyo in a single night like the bomb that birthed him, leaving nothing but despair and death.

Deep within the waters, it sensed something probing its mind. A shifting, chaotic mass of contorting flesh and bone which grew with each passing second “looked” up. Hatred filled every fiber of its mind, agony flowed through every nerve of its mutating body. No living thing should have had to deal with any one of the things that had plagued it, yet it had been blasted apart for merely setting foot on the land. Nothing cared for it, it was stuck enduring this all alone for all else reviled it. The entity would vomit all of the bile building up within its heart and soul upon the world, until all else but it drowned.

The cancerous god opened its mind to the psychic, and Meru felt like someone had driven a burning iron through her brain. Her face contorted in agony as she went limp, twitching. She wanted to scream, but her throat felt like it had clamped shut. She barely registered Kenichi yelling at the pilot to take them back as quickly as possible, before going unconscious.

Several anxiety filled minutes later, the young psychic was on a hospital bed, being treated by several medical experts. She was stable, nothing traumatic had actually happened to her body, it had all happened within her brain. They were unsure if her brain would be well after this, for she was still unconscious.

Kenichi sat beside her bed, head down as he blamed himself. Years ago, when G-Force had first called for him, he had suggested recreating the Oxygen Destroyer to deal with Godzilla’s meltdown. Looks of horror and shock met him in reply, especially from Miki Saegusa, who he had hoped to romantically pursue. Her reaction to his idea buried that possibility six feet under.

He remembered this, because once again an idea that he merely deemed as pragmatic immediately went wrong. He had always been a person who tried to go for the best solution, even when it may not have been the most gentle or kind option. But while the idea for the Oxygen Destroyer’s reconstruction had never actually come to pass, and for that he thanked the gods because it would have had unimaginably worse consequences than just him going home alone, this plan had been executed.

And now, here he sat, the only visitor to a woman he had possibly rendered comatose. How could he claim to be an expert in anything? Was he even just a pragmatist, or was he a monster who didn’t realize what he truly was?

As his sulking continued, Meru’s eyes fluttered open. She gasped in deeply, drawing Kenichi’s shocked reaction. His worries fell to the back of his mind for the time being. “Oh my god, Ms. Ozawa, I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t,” she steadied her breathing, “worry about it. We’re going to get surprised by that thing several more times before this is all over.”

“Wait,” Kenichi replied, feeling some of the weight on his chest lift, “you actually learned something?”

“Yes,” the psychic paused for a moment, shuddering at what she had witnessed. “Most importantly, that we need to get every amount of firepower G-Force has, and before tomorrow.”

Aso had not taken the news well. Not because it was a ludicrous request, but because of what it meant. “Are you sure we’ll need all of what you describe? Will the Super X3 not be enough on its own?”

“Yes,” Meru replied, before turning towards the three pilots, who had also been gathered in the war room. “No offense to you three.”

“None taken, we’re just wondering why we did away with the giant mechs.” Yuki replied without a hint of humor, his arms crossed.

“Budget cuts because Godzilla was no longer a threat.” Replied Aso, similarly cross.

“General,” Meru continued. “I sensed so much power within that thing, waiting to be released. And I sensed wrath that still chills me. That thing will destroy all of Tokyo, and beyond, if it is not stopped.”

“Can you tell us how to stop it though?” Aso replied, his stoic demeanor beginning to crack.

“No, any weakness I could have sensed was lost amongst the overwhelming pain and hatred within it.”

Aso stood up, convinced. He didn’t like working with psychics, found them too soft most of the time, but he had managed to learn that they were to be taken for their word. “All personnel, mobilize now! We need to be ready for this thing!”

Evacuations went underway, despite the protest of both civilians and politicians. The latter claimed that two evacuations in such a short amount of time was too much, especially with the lack of hard evidence for this second attack. A quick reminder of the tens of thousands of deaths that could occur even if a kaiju was repelled efficiently shut them up in no time.

Hours ticked by as the fancier and more expensive anti-kaiju weaponry was rolled out. Maser tanks and jets, both of the normal and freezing variety, moved amongst their more rudimentary counterparts. The Super X3 waited in its docking bay, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.

The flying fortress’s pilots felt confident behind the controls of the marvelous machine. It had survived an encounter with Burning Godzilla, how could it possibly fall to this new threat?

Night had fallen, and without the citizens and businesses present, a large portion of Tokyo was unusually dark. The city had not been fully evacuated, such a task in such a short frame of time would be impossible, but the majority of those near the bay had been moved further inland at the very least.

Far away, to Miki and Azusa’s horror, Godzilla dove into the waters, swimming at full speed.

And the waters near Tokyo bubbled, then bulged upwards. Eventually, a form as black as the surrounding night pierced the water, coated in scars of bright crimson which glowed in the darkness. As opposed to the bulging eyes of the previous form, the mutant’s orbs were like pinpricks in the hideous face. A misshapen mouth full of white needles opened, spitting a roar of hatred towards Tokyo as it marched.

Soon, bloated legs reached the beach, each one as thick as the entity’s torso. A tail of immense length reared up, waving through the air like it possessed sentience. The fact that it ended in an exposed clump of meat with an eye and a mouth had some thinking it did have a brain in there.

Once it reached the first building, the mutant lashed out with the massive tail, tearing a vast gash through the structure. As debris and dust flew forth, the building imploded, sending out walls of smoke. Not taking the time to look at the destruction, it continued, tearing through more and more buildings.

“Super X3, deploy! All other units, prepare for battle and intercept Godzilla!” Aso commanded.

Kenichi whispered to himself. “A new Godzilla… I wouldn’t be able to believe it if I wasn’t looking at it right now.”

Jets streaked overhead, firing missiles and streams of azure energy upon the towering colossus. Instead of stumbling back and crying out, Godzilla soundlessly replied by whipping its tail towards the squadron. They parted before they could be taken out by the deformed appendage, drawing a growl from the leviathan.

A squadron of tanks rolled through the streets, firing upon the creature. Tank shells crumpled against the ebony hide, falling away as flattened hunks of metal. The maser beams streaked across the skin, sending a few flakes of blackness fluttering down. Freeze rays fired upon the keloid scars drew a bellow of rage, prompting the tail to swing into a nearby building.

A rain of debris fell upon the vehicles, burying several and blocking more. Marching forward, Godzilla sent several more waves of shattered building upon them, until it reached them. Explosions disrupted the rubble as it stomped on the war machines, some being sent flying in piles of scrap as it kicked out with a surprising speed.

As more tanks and jets fired upon the colossus, failing to do more than aggravate it, the Super X3 drew near. Yuki turned on comms, speaking to the people back in the war room. “Anyone got any leads as to this thing’s weaknesses? From what I’m seeing, just blindly firing on it ain’t gonna work.”

Kuroki replied. “I’m going to suggest attacking the head. Maybe get some missiles down it’s throat like the first Super X did to Godzilla.”

“Yeah, remember how that ended?” Yuki snarked.

“I do. But this isn’t the first Super X.” Sho answered, before pushing down on the controls to close the distance between them and the leviathan.

The front of the vessel opened, revealing a dish like that on the maser tanks, only much larger. From it came a brilliant beam of blue light, which crashed into one of Godzilla’s miniscule arms. The vestigial limb was bathed in freezing power, drawing a cry of pain. The fingers shriveled up, the arm curling into itself as it turned an even darker shade.

Its head snapped towards them, bellowing. Closing its mouth when missiles left the wings of the vessel, Godzilla tried to rush forwards, but its colossal legs failed to move as fast as its mind wanted. Bursts of cadmium shrouded the being’s face and torso, sending the deformed leviathan stumbling back.

“This all he’s got?” Shindo smirked. “I’d be more scared to fight that scrawny lizard America had to deal with.”

“Don’t get cocky, you heard what the egghead said. This thing’s full of surprises.” Yuki scolded his comrade.

Sho interrupted before his co-pilots could speak any further. “We’ve got his attention at least. Just keep out of reach of that tail.”

Explosions burst across its body, beams piercing the smoke to lash at its ebony hide, but Godzilla was only focused on one thing. Even with its new form, it had still been hurt by the strange object flying above it. But it could not reach it, not yet anyway.

If the flyer continued to harm it, then soon it would develop a countermeasure.

Like a hammer, the deformed tail came down upon another group of tanks, crushing several beneath its bulk and hurling several more with the shockwave. More cadmium missiles fell upon the leviathan, though its reaction was not as strong this time. The Super X3 remained out of its reach, even with its mighty tail. Godzilla roared once more with rage, sending chills down the spines of all the men and women who could listen.

Within the war room, a technician shouted for General Aso. “We’re receiving a call!”

“Damnit, now’s not the time!”

“It’s from Adonoa Island!”

Aso’s eyes widened, along with everyone else’s. “Patch it in!”

Another screen activated, revealing the faces of Miki Saegusa and Azusa Gojo. “General,” Azusa started, wasting no time on pleasantries. “Godzilla has left Adonoa Island, and swiftly. Me and Ms. Saegusa do not think it can be for any other reason than the mutant that attacked Tokyo previously.”

“When did he leave?”

“Twenty minutes ago. He seemed like he was thinking about leaving the island for several hours, but something must have set him off and he made the decision.”

“Miss Saegusa and Miss Gojo, that mutant has changed into a creature almost as tall as Destoroyah, and is currently in a battle with our forces. I would hope that once it is dealt with, Godzilla will immediately begin to head back to Adonoa, or else we will have to engage with him as well.”

Miki immediately replied. “How could you even say that at a time like this? You’re threatening to attack a perfectly docile creature while another kaiju attacks Tokyo!”

“If Godzilla turns around once the new Godzilla has been destroyed, there will be no problem.”

“New Godzilla?”

Kenichi spoke for the general. “Yes, it has similar spiked scutes and a similar build, though the new one is deformed and very sluggish.”

As they listened to the conversation, the crew of the Super X3 scanned their colossal foe for weaknesses. Yuki pointed at the back spines, which were illuminated by a crimson light. “What do our heat scanners say about that? Those spines have to be radiating some kind of heat.”

Yuki quickly replied, looking at the screen showing an outline of Godzilla. “Yep, they seem to be vents of some kind. Given how last time we saw it its skin was boiling and smoking, that must be a new feature to make sure it doesn’t overheat again.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Flipping communications to speak to all other soldiers, Yuki commanded the squadrons. “Aim all fire on those back spines!”

As he yelled this, Kuroki unleashed the Super X3’s full weaponry upon the target. Godzilla screamed in agony as the freezing maser and cadmium missiles crashed against the exposed flesh of its heat vents, sending shards of the scutes flying. The light dimmed where the frost struck, clogging the pores.

As the flying fortress banked upwards to loop around for another strike, a hail of missiles, bullets, and maser streams descended, further assailing the leviathan’s back. Godzilla doubled over, screeching an unholy cry. Tanks behind it did the same, as the squadrons before it rushed to join the first attack to work.

“See, everything is under control.” Aso spoke to the two women. “The new Godzilla will be dealt with, and Godzilla Junior should be able to sense this and return to his home.”

“I suppose so…” Miki replied, watching with mixed feelings. On one hand, she felt sympathy for the new Godzilla, seeing the pain it endured at the hands of the military. But on the other, its continued existence was a threat to Junior. For if he did come to Tokyo, he may draw the same ire his father had. She looked over to her compatriot, and she did not need psychic powers to tell Azusa felt the same.

As the danger to its life mounted, Godzilla’s immensely complex DNA began to shift. It needed to swiftly purge the threats, especially those out of reach of its body. The heat within was dimming, yet also becoming too much to bear as the vents were damaged. The DNA took the path of least resistance, even with the potential issues this measure would pose.

Opening its jaws, thick clouds of smoke poured from Godzilla’s maw, rolling like a fluid over the masses of tanks. It filled the streets, rushing into opened buildings. Fear began to mount within the hearts of all spectators, the tanks desperately trying to pull back.

Then membranes slid over the leviathan’s eyes.

And the smoke ignited, becoming a roaring blaze. Tanks were consumed, melting and bursting as their carcasses were launched by a horrid force behind the heat. Windows shattered and buildings melted, crumbling as their supports gave way. The horror did not end, and progressed too quickly to be properly taken in as the geyser of flame thinned. The rushing cacophony was replaced by a high-pitched shriek as the fire turned into a purple stream of light.

It tore through buildings like they did not exist, leaving blazing streaks of melted metal in its wake. Turning far swifter than its body should have allowed, Godzilla tore city blocks asunder as it carved a hellacious cavern of molten slag. Skyscrapers crumbled as they were torn into, unable to stand.

And with pinpoint accuracy, the new deity began to shoot planes out of the air. They were reduced to burning comets as it sheared them in two, the pilots becoming vapor as the beam passed over them.

The Super X3, its pilots overwhelmed by the sheer devastation happening before them, was surrounded by a burning sky. Godzilla turned its head towards the anti-kaiju weapon, raking the beam across the green metal.

Alarms blared as the wing was instantly incinerated, dropping them from the sky. Layers of metal were peeled back, smoke and sparks pouring from the wound. It had only been a glancing blow, and the colossus had stopped firing just afterwards, but it had been enough to cripple the Super X3.

As the vessel disappeared behind a cluster of buildings, the deity bent down once more, its back glowing with the same violet power. Over a dozen photon streams pierced the air, slicing into the sky as it shook back and forth, destroying the rest of the jets that had not turned tail and fled in time.

Cutting off power to the beams, the abomination stood back up. Standing in the center of the raging inferno, surrounded by death and destruction of its own creation, Godzilla roared to the heavens. The lights of its body faded as its skin darkened further, and it became a statue.

The war room, along with Miki and Azusa, were silent. They could all hear their hearts beating in their ears. The two felt no sympathy for the creature any more, not after such a display of power. It had done as much damage as one of Godzilla’s rampages in mere minutes.

They still feared for Junior’s life, only now for much different reasons.

In the downed Super X3, Yuki unstrapped his seatbelt and got up, popping his neck as a wave of pain shot through him. Nearby, Sho checked an unconscious Shindo’s pulse. “He’s alive, somehow.” The pilot blearily stated, before sighing as he tried to collect himself. He coughed, leaning against one of the few control panels not spitting sparks.

“This is Akira Yuki, of the Super X3,” He spoke into a communicator. “The Super X3 is badly damaged, yet all of her pilots are alive. You said Godzilla Junior’s coming here? This’ll be a controversial statement, but I think that’s the best damn news I’ve heard all day.”

He remembered fighting alongside the previous Godzilla inside Moguera. He saw the full power of the being he had thought himself to be the Captain Ahab to its Moby Dick, and was humbled greatly. This, along with the fact that Godzilla had been on their side in that conflict, had gone a long way to convincing Akira that they could rely on the King of the Monsters when all else failed.

A few days passed, silence settling like a fog over Tokyo. The new kaiju, dubbed “Shin Godzilla,” remained still. In the Japanese language, Shin was a word with many meanings, the specific one here being new. Though, some said it also referred to god, as they could think of little else than god-like to describe the display of power they had witnessed.

It was determined that Shin Godzilla was unmoving because it had expended too much energy, and so it rested to slowly recharge. Though, as some unfortunate souls in fighter jets had discovered, the deformed leviathan could still move and fire its ray in short bursts.

The current plan of G-Force was to just wait for Godzilla to arrive and battle his counterpart. It was not the best plan by any means, but they had little choice. The Super X3 was out of commission, and likely would be for weeks, if not months.

 

On Adonoa Island, Miki and Azusa talked. They knew that Junior would arrive soon, and they were discussing what they would do. They reached the same conclusion quickly.

“I can’t just sit here and wait, not after seeing what Shin Godzilla can do. I need to be there in Tokyo with him, just in the war room with the rest.” Azusa told her friend, pacing back and forth. “It’s irrational and probably dangerous, but—“

Miki took her friend’s hand, giving that same warm smile. “I’ll be with you for this. I feel the same way, it’ll just feel, better. To be near him, you know?”

“As long as we keep far away, we should be fine, right? They said they can still fly planes and helicopters, just as long as they don’t get too close to Shin.”

“We’ll get a helicopter, immediately. I’m sure there’s gotta be a pilot dying to get off this place, right?” She giggled, Azusa joining her in the brief bit of levity.

“Besides, we need to be there in case Aso tries to attack Junior after it’s over, right?” She tried to justify, more to herself than her friend.

 

Meanwhile, in the G-Force headquarters, Aso stood watching the haunting visage of the destructive deity. He stood there, realizing that he was once again relying on the creature he had dedicated his life to destroying. Not quite the same creature, but they were impossible to tell apart with sight.

Was humanity truly the dominant species? He wondered this with how often it came under siege from creatures beyond its ability to fight, and how often they had needed to rely on other colossi to save humanity. Every time it seemed like humanity was able to claw its way into their league with some immense machine, it would be torn back down.

But still, he would try to fight these things. The next mutant to attack Tokyo, he and the rest of G-Force would face it. It was their duty to the people of Japan, and the world. Even if it was always doomed to failure, their honor would never fail. He had never backed down before Godzilla. But for now, he would secede, and let the gods wage war.

The waters of Tokyo bay rippled as another colossus swam through them. Three rows of white spines broke the surface, soon followed by the ebony body of Godzilla.

“As with your father before, we turn to you in our darkest hour. Perhaps one day, we may return the favor to you.”

Immediately, the leviathan saw his counterpart, and everything he had sensed was true. It resembled him on a basic level, but where his hide was unscarred scales, its was cracked and separated by red patches. Instead of spines that smoothed out at the ends, this being had jagged and spikey scutes. And where his thick musculature was well proportioned, its bulged out and rolled down the legs while the torso was thin.

The King of the Monsters was looking at a broken mirror of himself. It made his steps towards it slower, as he contemplated what was about to happen. He saw vast fields of destruction around it, suggesting it had not had a good experience with humanity. Despite his good times with them, he knew full well of their darker side. His father had drilled that into his mind.

Why was it not moving? Had it been damaged in some way? Life still coursed through it, but he did not know how much. Could he help it? If it was like him, then it fed on radiation. It could borrow some of his energy, enough to get it back to Adonoa Island where it could have all the energy it needed. Would the humans back there accept it?

Godzilla drew near to his counterpart, his yellow eyes looking it over. He let out a gentle call towards it, seeking to rouse its attention.

But he already had its full attention, the moment he had entered a several mile radius. Shin Godzilla sensed the radiation within it, the stimulus dredging up the memory of its previous life. The flesh before it coursed with the energy it needed. It just needed to be a bit closer…

Stepping to its side, the young leviathan gazed into its eye. Another gentle call left his mouth, yet as he stared into the eye, he felt fear. It felt like the miniscule orb was boring into his mind.

The god incarnate opened its gnarled jaws, revealing the hideous, toungless maw within. It lunged down, and the wariness Godzilla had been feeling was the only thing that let him jerk to the side in time. He cried out in genuine fear, a sound that few had ever heard and none would ever want to hear again. Instead of clamping onto his neck, the needles buried themselves into his shoulder.

Thrashing its head back and forth, Shin Godzilla began to rip into the flesh of his victim. Godzilla’s eyes narrowed as his mind shifted into combat instincts, prompting him to scrape his claws against the charcoal-like hide of the cancerous one. The attack failed to do more than dislodge some sheddings, and the mutated theropod could feel the teeth sinking into him shifting and growing, the strength behind the bite increasing.

Azure light filled the white spines, a brilliant glow manifesting in the monster king’s throat. As opposed to the thin ray of cutting light Shin Godzilla spat, Godzilla’s atomic ray was a thick pillar of nuclear energy. Tearing into the foul daikaiju’s side with a series of explosions, the Atomic Breath dislodged his attacker. But, a bleeding chunk of meat came with it, cutting off Godzilla’s assault as he roared in pain.

As ichor sprayed from his wound with each heartbeat, he looked down to see the god incarnate, now with a maw of thicker, triangular teeth currently filled with his own flesh. Smoke poured from the hole in Shin Godzilla’s side, where a burnt crater throbbed.

As sinews extended in the mutant theropod’s shoulder, connecting with one another and beginning to sew the wound shut, he lunged forward. His foot crashed against his downed foe, sending the abomination rolling as it madly tried to swallow its meal. Godzilla marched up to his foe, slamming a stomp into the aberration’s beam wound, earning a spray of ichor as burnt flesh tore.

Turning its head towards its attacker, Shin Godzilla’s throat expanded as a freshly grown tongue helped force the bleeding chunk down. Purple light filled its spines, drawing the youthful king’s attention. Expecting a beam to erupt from its mouth, he charged forth and pinned its face to the ground with a foot.

The horrid deity’s tail rose, turning its “head” towards Godzilla. From the toothy hole that barely resembled a mouth, a ray of violet power shot forth. It cleaved through scale and skin, burning them and peeling away layers of epidermis. Sweeping the ray down its now shrieking foe, Shin Godzilla carved a burning trench into Godzilla’s side. The mutant theropod backpedaled, prompting the mutant divine to cease firing the beam. Slamming its malformed tail into the ground, it strained the muscles in the limb to push itself back to its feet, turning its gaze once to Godzilla.

Flashbacks to another unholy horror shredding into him with a ray of violet surged in his mind.

A layer of red, raw flesh coated the less-mutated daikaiju’s shoulder, a vast improvement over the gaping chasm it had been less than a minute ago. Shin Godzilla tilted its head, intrigued. This made its desire to feast intensify, part of its brain still dominated by the primitive desires of what it had been. The more developed portions of its conscious wondered what more it could gain, especially if it did succeed in devouring its foe.

Godzilla charged forward, intent on keeping the fight up close. Moving with a speed that belied his bulk, he crashed his shoulder into the deformed leviathan, forcing it back a step. As it groaned, he slashed at its chest with his claws once more, tearing in deeper yet failing to do anything beyond the superficial. Shin Godzilla’s tail swung around, bashing into Godzilla’s damaged shoulder, drawing a cry of pain. Growling, the smaller leviathan spun in place, whipping his tail across the grotesque behemoth’s chest. Shin Godzilla stepped back, allowing the monster king to thrust his foot forward and crash it into the stomach of the god incarnate.

The taller beast doubled over, allowing Godzilla to grab him by the sides of the head. Turning his body, he lifted Shin Godzilla off the ground, his muscles powerful enough to handle lifting an object heavier than even himself. Twisting further, he released, sending the aberration soaring through the air for a brief moment. Rubble and dust shot into the air when Shin Godzilla crashed into a pile of rubble several hundred meters away.

Miles away, Yuki watched on a screen from G-Force headquarters along with Kuroki and Shindo as the latter lay in a hospital bed. “Kick his ass, kid! Make your old man proud!” The former main pilot of Moguera cheered, his fellow pilots joining him.

“Give him a good hit for me!” Shindo raised his fist in the air, then winced as a sting of pain shot through him for it.

Sho smiled as Godzilla fired another Atomic Breath at the downed Shin Godzilla’s back, drawing out a bellow of anguish as chunks of flesh and shards of sharpened scutes flew. “Make him pay for all the brave men and women he’s killed.” He whispered as his comrades continued cheering, remembering his fallen best friend.

It felt odd to cheer for the son of the one that had ruined his life…

Once Shin Godzilla was back on its feet, Godzilla was upon it once more and slamming his bulk into his distorted twin. Splitting its lower jaw, its tongue dangling from the gap, the god incarnate called upon its power.

The mutant theropod screamed as violet light tore down his back, leaving a glowing valley of tearing flesh. Several spines warped and cracked, some melting from the intense heat ripping through them. His world blurring from the anguish, he tried to search for some way to end the pain. Seeing the shriveled, dead arm of his foe, Godzilla blindly reached for it.

Gripping the numb limb, the smaller leviathan pulled back hard, ripping it free with no resistance and earning a tide of flowing blood from his foe’s new wound. Shin Godzilla ceased firing, backing away in shock. The two stood across from each other for a moment, trying to recollect themselves. Godzilla dropped the arm, which shattered into dust upon contact with the ground.

Geysers of blue flame erupted from Godzilla’s damaged spines as he charged an Atomic Ray, making him wince. They mingled with crackling bolts of azure electricity as he fueled the attack with radiation absorbed from the beam which had just lacerated his hide, erupting from his opened mouth as a brilliant beam wrapped with spirals of purple energy.

The Spiral Ray blasted a series of craters into Shin Godzilla’s front as it swept up and down its form, making the cancerous god recoil and stagger backwards. Falling to the ground with a heavy thud, shooting up a wave of dust, the abomination howled. Another Spiral Ray tore across the downed beast, further mutilating the charcoal hide.

With his back torn asunder by both the horrid wounds inflicted by his foe and his own runaway power, Godzilla slouched and breathed in deeply. His regeneration was powerful, but it had limits and did not erase pain. The bubbling skin and muscle fell away as they were replaced, his spines healing slowly as they needed to first crack back into place before anything else could be done.

The monster king’s eyes widened as he watched the craters of the aberration begin to fill back in with pulsating muscle, the dead-looking flesh crawling over this to reseal and renew. Exhaling a wave of steam, Shin Godzilla released a series of calls that almost sounded like laughter.

It would never die. The mutations responsible for its existence had stumbled into perfection, ensuring that whatever it needed, it would obtain. The radiation soaking the air around it thanks to the sprays of nuclear energy which had just tried to end its life certainly helped the process.

From the hole where a useless, tiny arm had once been, a wave of gore pulsed forth. Godzilla tried to rush forward and stop this, but his back muscles locked up and blazed with agony. He could only watch as he sucked in air, clenching his teeth hard enough they almost cracked. A four-fingered hand larger than his head ripped itself free, earning a cry from Shin Godzilla that was both agony and bliss as the accompanying arm continued to exit. The shoulder began to morph as well, swelling to accommodate the new limb. Before it had even fully emerged, the arm smashed into the ground, then pushed. Forming muscles strained alongside Shin Godzilla’s tail to lift the god of evolution to its feet.

Standing at its full height once more, Shin Godzilla raised its new, fully formed arm up to observe it. Rippling with muscle, it absolutely dwarfed even Godzilla’s mighty arms, much less the vestigial mass of bone and skin opposite the hulking limb.

The grotesque colossus charged forward, its legs shifting with each step to make them better suited for movement. They thinned and became more muscular, so that the ponderous march it had been confined to was a thing of the past.

Godzilla, his back healed enough to be bearable, braced himself.

“Dear god,” Kenichi gloomily said as he watched this unfold, “we can’t stop that thing.”

“How is that even possible? It just, grew a new, better arm!” Meru exclaimed, feeling her and Kenichi’s heart beat grow rapid. Was Godzilla really not going to be enough to defeat this thing? Was she looking at humanity’s demise? If what she sensed from Yamane was any indication, he certainly believed so.

Godzilla was nearly knocked off his feet as the colossal fist bashed across his face, sending broken teeth flying from his maw. Spitting out a wad of blood, the smaller leviathan’s spines flashed once more, but he did not spit forth an Atomic Ray. The energy traveled as blue bolts through his body, flowing into his hands and shrouding them with an aura of crackling light.

His energized talons slashed across Shin Godzilla’s torso, spraying sparks and smoke as they cleaved off a chunk of blackened hide. Growling, the god incarnate wrapped its hand around Godzilla’s throat, before hoisting him up off his feet. Shin Godzilla sank its teeth into the monster king’s stomach, tearing out a chunk of meat and spilling vast quantities of blood. The leviathan squirmed in its grip, but the mighty claws held firm.

The three pilots of the Super X3 were speechless. Yuki managed to find some words, but he barely got them to roll past his lips. “What the hell…”

Sho’s silence faded as anger flew forth. “It’s not fair! Every time that thing comes close to dying, it pulls something else out of its ass and dominates its opposition!”

Another bite, another step closer to the vital organs within. The foul god relished each moment, enjoyed the warmth of blood and flesh filling its maw and flowing down its throat. So enraptured was it with this sadism that it failed to notice a blue glow from the spines of its prey.

An Atomic Ray could not have left Godzilla’s maw at this point, for the pressure upon his windpipe was too forceful. But just as his father did, so too did his body have a mechanism to ensure that the building nuclear energy would not tear his insides asunder. It would not be pleasant, for this ability still induced pain with its usage, but it was preferable to this.

A shockwave of blue energy erupted from every inch of the monster king’s body. The fingers attempting to crush his throat were peeled back, burning from the Nuclear Pulse’s might and being snapped back. As the bones in its fingers broke, the shockwave traveled down the arm, searing off layers of flesh with its passing. The concussive force sent Shin Godzilla backpedaling, its arm being thrust back hard enough to send additional pain shooting through the joints.

Godzilla’s feet slammed into the ground, shooting up a blast of dust. Spiteful growls left both leviathans, the surrounding world blurring away as they only focused on one another.

Lunging forward, Shin Godzilla slashed its prey across the chest, leaving bleeding wounds. The monster king gripped the burnt limb, his muscles straining against the aberration’s as he kept the hulking appendage restrained. Parting his jaws, Godzilla unleashed a Spiral Ray upon the wrist, severing the hand with a series of explosions.

Throwing it aside like so much garbage, Godzilla, eyes narrowed, charged forth once more.

Kenichi could not help but make an observation as he observed this. “He certainly has the spirit to overcome Shin Godzilla, but I don’t know if he has the actual power.”

“If only he was stronger,” Meru casually replied, too engrossed in the battle to put much thought into her reply. Despite the casual nature of the statement, it did get Kenichi’s mind to drift as he pondered such an idea.

Far away from the dueling titans, a helicopter drifted over the ocean as it approached Tokyo. Miki, Azusa, and a pilot who was regretting life decisions watched the battle with varying emotions as they drew close.

“They’re already battling?” Miki stated, fear creeping into her voice. “I thought we would have beaten Junior here!”

Their pilot replied, “The fact that we don’t have enough fuel to get back to Adonoa is the only reason I’m not turning around.”

Godzilla bashed his tail across Shin Godzilla’s face, making the abomination stumble back. Slouching down, a demented expression that could only vaguely be called a smile crossed the aberration’s face. Violet light shined from its back, before shooting forth as over a dozen rays. Twirling in place, it raked Godzilla’s flesh with the numerous beams, forcing him back as he roared in anguish.

The beams not striking him continued, piercing the air. One almost struck the helicopter, causing it to quickly swerve to the side as the pilot desperately tried to stay alive. “We are landing ASAP!” He yelled, to no complaint from his passengers.

“What the hell is that helicopter doing out there?” Kenichi questioned, wondering why anyone would be out there at this time.

Meru closed her eyes, reaching out with her mind. Her eyes snapped open, “It’s Miki and Azusa!” She exclaimed.

“Should we help them?”

Meru barely hesitated. “Yes! I’m tired of sitting here and feeling like I can’t do anything.”

From their spot far away from the battle, Miki and Azusa observed the clash of titans. Godzilla, the burns upon his front still not healed, spat a regular beam of nuclear power upon his foe, then lunged forward. His claws tore across the flesh he had just scorched, only for the deity to reply by bashing its huge arm down on his skull. The mutant theropod stumbled back, shaking his head.

“He’s certainly started to take after his father in combat…” Azusa said, watching the savagery with which he fought. It felt like she was looking at a totally different creature, not the sweet saurian she had watched be born.

The stump of Shin Godzilla’s arm began to flail out with tendrils of sinew and muscle, which rapidly connected to attempt to recreate the hand. The monster king opened his jaws, biting down on the mass of tissue and crushing it between his teeth. Foul blood filled his mouth as he pulled back, fighting past the thick tail bashing against his hide like a hammer as he severed it.

“Look how injured he is!” The former psychic cried out. “He’s covered in burns and he’s starting to get tired, how much has he had to regenerate?”

Godzilla was assailed by another violet stream of photons, causing the writhing bundle to fall from his jaws. Shin Godzilla stepped closer, continuing to spew death from its hideous maw. It was almost too much for the duo of women to handle, seeing the young creature brutalized. Strips of blackened flesh fell to the ground, which the abomination’s serpentine tail seized in its “mouth,” human-like teeth within gnashing the radioactive morsels. Shin Godzilla shook with laughter as it watched Godzilla squirm in agony.

An Atomic Breath parted Godzilla’s jaws, being split apart by the cutting laser. Twin streams of azure flame seared into Shin Godzilla, forcing the god incarnate back as it roared in shock. Drawing deep from his dwindling wells of strength, the monster king rushed forward, gathering power for another beam.

“I can’t look,” The biologist recoiled, shielding her eyes. Blocking out the visual aspect did not help much, for she still heard the crash of their bodies slamming into one another, the hideous bellows of Shin Godzilla mingling with the wrathful roar of Godzilla.

Miki shut her eyes and covered them as well, for she did not want to risk blindness as the two colossi locked eyes, bodies shining with grand power as they were right next to each other.

An azure stream of rushing nuclear power crashed into the thin, violet beam of death, the two struggling for a brief moment as the powers fought to overcome one another. Over the span of a second, a pulsing sphere of the two colors formed in the epicenter, its heat threatening to cook the two as they nearly touched it.

Then it burst, and both were lost in a massive explosion.

Miki and Azusa screamed when the window separating them from the outside world, for they had landed in an airport near the shore miraculously still intact, shattered inwards. Chunks of broken glass fell on and around them, leaving them with myriad cuts.

Once the chaos settled, they uncovered their eyes, wincing at the pain all over their bodies. Nothing had cut too deeply to be fatal, but it was still far from pleasant.

“You ok?” The former psychic asked, getting a nod in reply.

“I guess? Could be doing much better.”

“What even happened out there?” She looked back, seeing neither Godzilla present. “They can’t both just be gone.”

Miles away, another duo was asking questions. Akira Yuki and Meru Ozawa were seated in a Jeep, driving through the city seeking the pair of women. Yuki had little qualms with helping find Miki Saegusa, feeling similarly to Meru that sitting back and watching this unfold without being able to change anything was almost painful. Not that Sho or Yamane felt much differently, it was just that finding a vehicle able to fit more than four people on short notice was difficult after most soldiers had left on that day.

“After how they were tearing each other apart, I can’t believe that explosion killed them.” Yuki gruffly stated, maneuvering the heavy vehicle down a cluttered road of abandoned cars.

Meru closed her eyes, trying to be very careful to not peer into either mind. “They’re both still alive, just not moving. It must have knocked them both out, but knowing Godzilla, I doubt that will last long.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Well let’s hope they both stay asleep long enough for me to drive around the spots they’ve turned into nuclear hellholes.” A Geiger counter built into the vehicle, standard issue for the JSDF after the rise of Godzilla and the constant battles against him, remained neutral.

 

One moment, he had been locked in mortal combat with a horrendous mutant seeking to devour him. The next, he found himself in an entirely different environment.

Godzilla Junior was far smaller and younger, a baby. Instead of the vast expanse of Tokyo, he stood behind a metallic fence, surrounded by foliage inside a large facility. Instead of the cruel leviathan ripping into him, he was looking at multiple people, including his mother. He cooed, intrigued by the humans watching him. They seemed just as interested in him as he was them.

One stepped forward, a person who looked similar to his mother. She smiled at him, it was a warm, kind smile. But something felt off, her aura was uncomfortable to him. He sensed that she had attempted to control another of his kind with abilities most humans did not have.

He growled, making them flinch back. Baby Godzilla did not trust the woman with the abnormal powers of the mind. She began to talk to his mother.

“He can sense that I tried to control Godzilla, it’s got him on edge,” Miki Saegusa explained to her colleagues.

“There’s gotta be a way to get him to trust you, right?” Azusa replied, “though, maybe don’t try to use your psychic powers, if that’s what’s set him off already.”

The psychic nodded, before ducking beneath the top of the fence and slipping through the bars. Though the gaps were small enough to stop the young Godzillasaurus from getting through, a human had little issue getting through.

Everyone on the other side of the fence was clearly nervous as Miki walked towards the infant theropod, even Azusa’s smile hid anxiety. But as Baby Godzilla watched the woman approach, he did not sense any fear within her. Her smile remained as she drew closer, a hand gently reaching out.

This fearlessness was not born from pride, which is what he would have suspected moments ago with how she had tried mentally attacking an adult of his species. Instead, it was confidence born of kindness, she refused to believe he could bring himself to hurt her. She truly wanted his trust, and as he began to also walk, he felt the same warmness from her as he did from his mother.

They stood right across from each other. The infant theropod stood taller than her, looking down upon the woman.

His tail swung forward through the air, aimed at her head…

And lightly brushed against her hair, unfurling it and sending the black locks tumbling down around her head. She began to laugh, as did the rest of the gathered people. “I think he likes me!” Miki giggled as the tail continued delicately patting her on the head. Baby Godzilla cooed once more, his mouth doing the closest it could get to a smile.

She had trusted him, and that was enough to earn his trust. He basked in the joy filling the room, especially from Miki and Azusa. They cared for him more than anyone else, so he cherished them the most.

 

This memory motivated him. A low growl left his maw as consciousness returned. He was beneath rubble, the light blotted out except for a few strands peeking through. He needed to get up, and to fight. For humankind, he would rise. Humanity needed him to win on this day. He had been through worse pain than this, death’s embrace had already encircled him once long ago. The foul nightmare that had plagued his dreams for years had inflicted such greater pain than this thing had.

Those two needed him to be victorious.

As Miki and Azusa looked out over the landscape, searching for Godzilla, they had remembered this moment as well. Happier times, though Miki found herself having a harder time enjoying the memory. For shortly afterwards she had helped try to kill Junior’s father, an action that had weighed on her conscious for a long time.

When the psychic had tried to overwhelm Godzilla all those years ago, she had managed to glimpse the titan’s subconscious. Part of what knocked her out was how overwhelming his sorrow and pain was, as she got to see the psyche of a being that truly had nobody else.

That was why she had fought so hard to make G-Force leave the previous Godzilla alone. He had not been some demon born of hell to tear humanity asunder, he was just a poor soul in the wrong place at the wrong time lashing out at a world that had forsaken him. Perhaps if they left him alone, he would do the same.

“Do you think that Shin Godzilla is like Junior’s father?” She asked. “Suffering, and just lashing out?”

“Perhaps. But Miki, I don’t think that thing is like Godzilla was. Maybe it’s the same on a basic level, but you heard what they said about it. It had fled and come right back once it was powerful enough, just to wreak havoc and destroy.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“The way that thing fought and tore at Junior…” The biologist paused, trying to find the words. “It won’t just stop at him or Tokyo. There’s something wrong with that thing, on a level that leaving it alone won’t solve.”

Water surrounded the aquatic predator, his natural habitat. He tore at the flesh within the black scales in his grip, filling his belly. But, as he did so, he felt… wrong. Nausea, burning pain with each bite, this meat was sickening. Then why did he keep feeding? Because he was hungry, because he had not fed in so long that any sustenance was acceptable. It was why he had ventured so close to those two giants, risking death just to pick up the scraps they left behind.

Time passed, how much it did not know. His body was beginning to change unnaturally, swell and shift in ways it had never done before. He ate other fish, fish he could have never brought down before as his power increased, but it wasn’t enough. Their flesh was not as filling, not as delicious. It lacked the strange essence of the titan’s flesh, the same essence that he had lamented.

Perhaps the land would have more of the essence, more of what he needed. Yes, the land would have what he sought.

The surface did have what it desired, but it also caused more pain and suffering. They must be eliminated, destroyed so that it does not need to feel anything negative.

It was immortal, divine. It did not need to deal with the same struggles as the pathetic wretch it had once been. Not when a pillar of light could erase all in its path and when its body was perfect. But, it was not perfect.

Rubble shrouded it from the world, obscuring the entity. With one movement of its hulking arm, now fully healed, the sun’s light caressed Shin Godzilla once more. Rising, casting more debris off its form, the god incarnate roared.

Perfection was within its grasp, all it would take would be filling its belly once more…

Responding to the roar, Godzilla climbed to his feet, then let loose his own call.

Yuki’s eyes widened, and a quick glance over confirmed his passenger was feeling the same. “How close are we to them?” He asked, trying to focus on anything other than the gods about to tear each other apart between him and safety.

“Close, should only be a few minutes.” She breathed in deeply, trying to remain calm.

The rumbling of the city made that difficult as the two charged at each other with a renewed vigor. They had both been launched miles away, but the time spent unconscious had healed their wounds.

Once they drew close enough, they began to fire their respective beams, their stride not breaking. Purple rays sliced through blue streams, sending portions of nuclear energy falling to the ground and detonating as they were cleaved from the beam. Godzilla was sliced open as Shin Godzilla was blasted, earning growls of hatred from both. Their claws flexed as the gap between them closed.

An energy enhanced slash by the monster king left smoking marks in the chest protrusion of the aberration as the latter’s thick fist bashed into the former’s stomach. Tilting his body, Godzilla sent Shin Godzilla stumbling back with a tackle, only for the abomination to rush forward with a kick to the mutant theropod’s legs. Godzilla staggered as pain shot through his leg, allowing Shin Godzilla to slam its skull against his own. Blood poured down his face as the strike split his head’s skin.

Lunging forward, the mutant theropod gripped the sides of his foe’s chest, before turning his body to try and take it off its feet. Shin Godzilla’s humongous claws raked down his back, but it did not stop him. The god incarnate bellowed in rage as it was thrown to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

*****

The monster king’s surrogate mother and her friend the former psychic watched as a Jeep pulled up to the airport they were taking refuge in. They almost had not noticed it with the fight taking up most of their attention, but it was who stepped out that grabbed their attention the most.

“Miki!” Meru cried out as she ran towards her mentor, arms wide to give her a hug. She pulled her arms back close to her body when she saw the bandages on Miki’s body, “Oh my god, are you ok?”

“Yes, Meru what are you doing out here?” Miki asked with concern, embracing her regardless. “Who knows what could have happened while you were out there, why did you come all the way out here for us?”

“Miki, who’s this?” Azusa asked, her arms and legs also wrapped in bandages.

“What the hell happened to you two!?” Yuki questioned as he stepped near, a level of worry in his voice that the former psychic had never heard from him before.

“A window exploded with us near it, fortunately we already had our eyes covered and we were able to find bandages here.”

“Oh my god, what the hell is wrong with you! Why are you out here?”

Azusa stepped in, “Because we didn’t want Aso trying to hurt Junior after this is all over!”

“Lady,” The former Moguera pilot had no idea who this was “Aso gave full control of the situation to the big guy, and while he’s an asshole, he’s not that bad.”

Miki quickly tried to be diplomatic. “Azusa, this is Meru Ozawa and Akira Yuki. She’s a psychic like I was, and he was one of the pilots of Moguera.”

“And the Super X3 before burnt-beef jerky out there knocked it out of the sky.”

“Meru, Yuki, this is Azusa Gojo. She was a biological researcher at the facility where Junior hatched. And she’s who he imprinted on and viewed as a mother.”

The psychic reached out a hand to greet the biologist. “Nice to meet you,” Azusa nodded, agreeing.

Yuki rubbed his temple, groaning. “Alright, you two didn’t come out here to stop Aso, you two just couldn’t bear to be an ocean away from the kid while he took on that thing.”

“We thought we’d already be here before they started fighting, we underestimated some things.” Azusa admitted.

“Alright, understandable, I guess,” he gruffly replied, mentally admitting that they had all underestimated many things about this situation. “But can we talk about this somewhere miles away from that!” He pointed out to the two battling, both on their feet and clawing at one another.

A kick to the burnt stomach sent bile pouring from the aberrant deity’s maw, staining the concrete with toxic sludge. Shin Godzilla’s gargantuan claws slashed down the young leviathan’s face, narrowly missing his eye as skin parted and sprayed blood. Godzilla snarled, his adrenaline managing to block out enough of the pain to let him keep going.

Lunging forward, he wrapped his arms around the god incarnate’s torso, digging his claws in deep before surging power through them. Lifting the horrendous deity up in an attempt at a bear hug, Godzilla continued to burn twin holes which smoked into the cancerous flesh.

This fight was not progressing, both knew this. They were both too powerful for the other to bring down, but while Godzilla’s only strategy was the one his father had always used, Shin Godzilla began to plot. While the monster king prepared to just dig in his heels and fight until his foe dropped, the larger mutant looked out to the ocean.

With its adaption, it would attain what it needed in that environment, whatever it needed to take victory. It cared little about the specifics, being willing to just let its DNA figure that part out. All its mind needed was to just get them there…

Like the cracking of a whip, Shin Godzilla’s tail slammed into Godzilla leg beneath the knee, bruising the limb and sending the monster king falling forward with a cry of pain. Swiftly, the deformed leviathan was on its feet.

Shin Godzilla’s tail wrapped around Godzilla’s throat, before straining to lift him into the air along with its gigantic hand. Twirling in place, the aberration hurled its foe towards the ocean. The mutant theropod flew through the air, roaring in shock until he crashed into a cluster of buildings. The structures were destroyed in a series of explosions, sending debris shooting into the air.

And a rumbling quake through the airport, which was less than a mile away from the impact. The four humans fell to the ground as they lost their footing, wincing in pain. When the shaking ceased, the four scrambled to their feet, frantically trying to get to the Jeep. Miki and Azusa stumbled due to their previous injuries, leaving the other two to rush back and try to help them.

And then a shadow fell over them, blotting out the sun. Speechless, they looked up to see the god incarnate, looking towards its prey.

Meru fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Just being so close to the thing dredged up the horrid memories of peering into its mind, seeing the pain of one’s whole body ripping itself apart and sewing itself back together over and over until a new form was achieved. Tears streamed from her eyes as she tried to block out the memories, but with the colossus standing over them, she could not.

She cried out in terror, drawing a diminutive pupil towards the four.

Miki Saegusa saw nothing in that eye that she had seen in the previous Godzilla. She saw no animal just wanting to be left alone, no sorrowful creature just trying to live. She saw a hollow soul, and when it shifted its head towards them and curled the foul chasm it called a mouth into the smile of a killer, she knew she was looking at a soul totally lost to madness.

Humans. The insects that had torn apart its former body. Its weaker, pathetic body. The scum that had tried to destroy this new form, the almost perfect form of a god.

The deformed leviathan’s tongue licked the edges of its mouth as it raised its tail into the air, preparing to bring it down like the hand of God upon them.

So enraptured was it in its preparation to destroy the cowering humans below, and so filled with terror were they for seeing death hang above them by a fraying string, that neither noticed the ground shaking until it was thundered like a drum being beat.

Godzilla’s roar snapped them all from their daze, drawing the shocked Shin Godzilla’s attention just before he crashed his bulk into the self-proclaimed deity. The shockwave knocked the four off their feet, earning cries of panic from them. The monster king’s gaze drifted over to them, his binocular vision allowing him to get a clear view of what were relatively insects to him.

And what he saw widened his eyes and filled his heart with sorrow.

His mother and her best friend were injured, cowering in terror and utterly helpless. He knew she was not his real mother, but that meant nothing to him. She was still the one who had cared for him at his most helpless, showed him kindness and love as some of the first things he remembered. And the other was just as close and caring to him as his mother had been, she might as well have been a second mother. Even though they had sent him away, he did not hate them for it, for he knew that it was for the best. Besides, it was that which had let him be with his father, who he knew was not his true father, but for that he also did not care.

Shin Godzilla’s tail swung down like a hammer towards them. Godzilla noticed this at the last moment, shoving his hand out to catch the limb. Muscle strained as pain shot through his arm, but he had stopped it from crushing his loved ones. The god incarnate reared its arm back, swinging it forwards. The monster king’s other hand crashed into its palm, making him wince as it pushed his muscles to their limit.

With a shove, he was forced to take a step backwards. He felt something metallic crunch beneath his foot, exploding. He assumed it was a vehicle from what his father had told him, though he had never had the experience until now.

The four humans watched as their ride away from the warring titans was crushed like a tin can, the sturdily built Jeep being rendered a flat wreck. Yuki tried to take initiative, running to the side to try and escape, only for a purple ray of death to cleave through the ground a hundred feet before him, leaving a burning trench that blocked off meaningful escape that way.

Shin Godzilla laughed, a raspy and crackling call that sounded painful. Meru was still unmoving, tears streaming down her face as the mind-shattering terror she had witnessed refused to leave her. Azusa and Miki just hugged each other, trying to comfort one another as Yuki frantically paced back and forth, trying to figure out some way to survive. Godzilla looked back, seeing them all.

Another shove backwards, and he was brought even closer to splattering the two people he cared most about. He remembered the other two from somewhere, but his mind was too clouded to focus on that. Tears streamed down from his eyes, which just made the demon opposite him laugh even harder.

The mournful calls of his mother and the former psychic brought back another memory.

He swam through the ocean near his home, smaller than he was now. Instead of his home being Adonoa Island, it was another land that the humans called Birth Island. Here he lived with his father.

Godzilla Junior crushed a whale’s corpse between his teeth. Despite being able to subsist off radiation at this point in his growth, he was not quite used to it yet and still persisted and eating flesh. The sky above was dark, but his vision was still nigh-immaculate in the night.

He had been surrounded by darkness, until blinding light filled all in an instant. Heat washed over him, drawing an agonized yell from him that was lost in the horrid roar of the blast. It had faded as soon as it had begun, leaving him dazed as his body tried to repair the damage. Skin was burnt off, eyelids that had saved his eyes at the last moment incinerated, and his eardrums ruptured.

Blurry vision being repaired by regeneration saw his home was a boiling crater in the water, the fluid rushing back into the gap as fast as it could. Despite the pain, he could only focus on one thing. Was his father dead?

He got his answer, though it had not been what he wanted when he saw the form of his parent rising from the liquid crater. Even with his wracked vision, he could tell something was horribly wrong.

His caretaker did not normally glow crimson.

Godzilla Junior cried out, a pathetic cry. Godzilla looked over to his son, before swimming away with a roar. Instead of the powerful bellow of a king, it was a scream dripping with anguish. Junior could only watch as the one being he counted on abandoned him, suffering immeasurably. His vision went black as consciousness failed.

The new King of the Monsters had already lost one parent…

Suddenly, Shin Godzilla was pushed back. First, it was only a slight movement, not even a full step. The deformed colossus tried to shove once more, only to be forced away. Digging its feet into the ground, the deity roared wrathfully. It agonized the onlookers’ ears, even as they covered them.

Then Godzilla looked up, and his spines flashed crimson.

Eight pairs of eyes were averted in a split second to avoid being blinded as scarlet streaks of energy raced from the smaller leviathan’s back to his arms, shooting into his hands and having an immediate effect as bursts of smoke and flesh erupted and left imprints in Shin Godzilla’s flesh where he touched.

The smaller mutant lifted his counterpart into the air, earning a cry of panic from the self-proclaimed god. Meru gazed at the sight, feeling the weight crushing down on her heart and mind fade. She smiled, as did the other three with her.

Charging forward, the mutant theropod kept his foe aloft, before hurling it forward after a few steps. Absolute confusion and bafflement roared from its jaws as it soared. He watched as it crashed into a group of structures, being buried within, he turned to look back at the people, to see them cheering.

The psychic’s eyes were closed as her compatriots yelled.

“Show that overcooked piece of shit who’s the real king!” Yuki shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Miki cupped her hands around her mouth, “You can do this! Save us from Shin Godzilla!”

Tears streaming down her face once more, but this time of joy rather than sorrow, Azusa whispered. “I’m so proud of how far you’ve come.”

Thanks to Meru, the monster king heard it all. He was overwhelmed with emotion, unable to figure out how to even respond.

Until a laser seared into his back, and a shriek filled the air. He screamed as it continued, digging in deeper with each passing fragment of a second. Godzilla roared, pointing away from this place, before turning around and responding with his own bellow.

“He wants us to leave,” Meru replied, scared once more, though not nearly as much.

“I didn’t need a mind-reader to tell me that,” Yuki quipped. “You heard the dinosaur, let’s get the hell out of here!”

Snarling as he turned to face Shin Godzilla, who approached with wrath as it continued searing its power into the mutant theropod’s chest, Godzilla called upon his internal reserves of energy. This time, he was fueled by rage brought about by his desire to protect another. This fury was deeper then any self-fulfilling one, as the tangible threat to those he loved was ever-present.

The taller mutant paused when Godzilla’s spines flashed red instead of blue. Parting his jaws was a stream of scarlet power wrapped in orange spirals, and the difference was apparent as soon as it made contact.

Shin Godzilla hit the ground, mouth wide open as it failed to scream. Detonations reduced the fiend’s stomach to a boiling crater of sludge, rippling through the chest and shattering the outer layer of flesh while cooking that which lay beneath. Raising its tail, it tried to fight back with a stream of energy from there. Another Spiral Fire Ray crashed into the limb near the base…

And sent it flying free with a trail of smoke and gore.

Godzilla stomped closer, reducing more of his foe’s body into steaming viscera with another blast. He had already lost one parent to this cruel world, he would not be left alone. Even if she could not be by his side like his father had been, just knowing she was safe would be enough. Enough to let him know he was not alone in this existence like he had thought himself for so long.

Shin Godzilla shrieked in hatred as the monster king stood over it, cursing him and promising unparalleled agony before slow death. Godzilla replied with a thunderous bellow that made the self-proclaimed god recoil, sending chills through even those cheering for him at the sheer ferocity present.

The most grotesque sound either had ever heard rang out when the King of the Monsters plunged his foot into the bubbling caldera of blood and organs. Gore sprayed from Shin Godzilla’s maw, tail stump, and myriad wounds as its insides were mutilated and crushed. It tried to mount some last offense, but nothing would come forth as Godzilla ripped his foot free, worsening the damage.

Where was its adaptation? It was supposed to be able to overcome any situation, yet nothing was happening. Was this it?

As Shin Godzilla wallowed in its self-doubt and confusion as to why it was not ascending past this obstacle, crimson light filled its vision once more. Its flesh was beginning to grey once more, its energy robbed of it after such a cataclysmic trauma. The heir to the throne spent a few seconds charging this blast, he could feel his adrenaline fading so he decided this needed to be finished now.

Finally, he unleashed the column of nuclear retribution, incinerating the scarred divinity. As its coffin was formed from blasts of immense power, Shin Godzilla’s last thoughts were despair as its illusion of godhood shattered like a glass vase hurled into a wall.

Sho, Shinjo, and Kenichi cheered as they watched from far away.

“He actually did it!” The young researcher was baffled, but far more ecstatic at the same time.

Shinjo was less disbelieving, “Of course he did it. After what I saw his father do against SpaceGodzilla, I never doubted the kid.”

“But, he needed help there?”

“Yeah. He got help here too, didn’t he? Just not as noticeable as a big mech with a million weapons.”

Sho said nothing, just watching with a smile. The fact that Godzilla Junior had been spurned into a powerful wrath by just a few humans being put in danger confirmed that they had a trustworthy guardian. This was not the one who killed his best friend, in fact, this one would ensure more people did not have to go through the same pain he had.

Godzilla breathed in deeply, before rearing his head up and roaring in triumph. Once his victory shout faded, he slouched as fatigue hit like a freight train. He began to turn towards the ocean, beginning to walk.

The four fleeing people watched as the King of the Monsters dropped like a sack of bricks, eyes that were yellow once more sliding shut. His abdomen still shifted with breath, but otherwise he was still.

And to their horror, Shin Godzilla’s tail flailed, the skinned end of it rearing up like a serpent. And just like a snake, it slithered past the monster king’s body towards the shore. Disappearing into the waters, it was gone without a trace.

Hours passed, in that time G-Force picked Azusa, Meru, Miki, and Yuki up and returned them to sanctuary. Godzilla’s eyes fluttered open, and he pushed himself to his feet. He would not dwell here for longer than needed, so he marched towards the waves. Soon, he walked into the ocean, leaving Tokyo behind to return to Adonoa. He felt triumphant, joyous. He would have liked to say goodbye to them, but he understood if they wanted to get inside and back to comfort as quickly as possible. Perhaps they would come visit him at his home?

Once things had settled down, the four sat in Shinjo’s hospital room alongside Sho and Yamane, catching up.

“Are you all sure you don’t want to come to Adonoa with us, just for a visit for a day or a few?” The biologist asked kindly.

Yuki replied first. “I’ve had my fill of giant monsters for about… ever. I’m sure more will show up, but I’m not looking to go to them.”

Sho shared similar feelings. “I prefer an anti-kaiju machine between me and a daikaiju, so no thank you.”

“A chance to get to study Godzilla in an environment where he isn’t trying to destroy everything around him? How could I not?” Kenichi replied.

“Of course!” Meru replied, overjoyed.

“Eh, give me some time to think on it. Obviously, I can’t leave for a good bit.” Shinjo stated.

“Of course, and I look forward to you all visiting! Yuki and Sho… I don’t really blame you.” She giggled.

Yuki’s voice grew more serious. “Did any of you ever hear where Shinny’s tail went?”

“They’ve got submarines searching, they haven’t found anything,” Sho replied. “Must have slithered further out to sea to make itself harder to find.”

“Spineless shit.”

Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement. Even the most kaiju sympathetic present carried no love for the creature, trying to specifically murder people who had done nothing to it had shut that door and sealed it forever.

“Anything on Junior?” Shinjo broke the silence with that question.

“He’s still swimming, nothing’s gone wrong with his swimming yet. He’ll be fine,” Azusa replied.

“Of course he’ll be fine, he takes after his pa.”

After more catching up and talking, the group ended up splitting up to do whatever they felt like doing at the time. While most of them just did casual things, Kenichi Yamane specifically searched for General Aso. After being directed to the head of G-Force, the young researcher had a pitch to make.

“I’m listening, Yamane, don’t waste my time, I have a lot of things I need to be doing.”

“Don’t worry,” he replied to the older man “I’ll be brief. First, we know that Godzilla Junior can be trusted, correct?”

Aso paused for a moment, thinking. “So far, yes. He left as soon as he could and protected people.”

“Second, while he has the willpower to take on stronger enemies, his physical strength may not be able to catch up. Shin Godzilla almost killed him.”

“Yes.”

“Third, we know G-Cells are highly receptive to other genetics.”

“What are you suggesting, cut to it!”

Kenichi recoiled, though he was not surprised that the last bit would spark such a reaction. “I suggest we experiment with G-Cells to try and discover a way to give Junior a boost,” he started talking quickly, worried about getting rejected immediately. “They would be very carefully monitored and ready to be terminated at a moment’s notice.”

Aso was silent, skyrocketing the young scientist’s anxiety. Then, he spoke. “I’ll consider it Yamane, don’t expect much, but I’ll think over it. I have enough on my plate at the moment.”

“Of course, of course, thank you.” He bowed as he backed away, leaving the general to do what he needed to do.

Despite the tenseness in his mind, he felt good. Especially because perhaps, an idea of his would not cause revulsion or pain. Perhaps an out there plan of his could actually save people and do some good for this world.

Days passed. On Adonoa Island, Godzilla looked out over the horizon, watching the sun glisten off the waters. It was a beautiful sight, and on an island of mostly stone, he tried to witness as many beautiful things as he could.

“Hey! Down here!” The feminine voice that had remained on his mind for years rang out, louder than it had been before.

The leviathan looked down, seeing his adopted mother holding a megaphone, smiling as her friends stood behind her. Meru and Yamane were more reluctant, slightly hiding behind her, but Saegusa stood right beside Azusa with the same joy.

Godzilla smiled, a warmth in his heart he had not known for years.

Winner: Godzilla (Heisei)