Godzilla 2000: New Era, PART 3 · 9:17pm Dec 25th, 2020
Proofed by Lance-Omikron
Hina and illustrations by FallenAngel5414
Ami by EvoWizard
Additional illustrations by LordShrekzilla and Zeroviks
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“She looked a lot worse than she really was, most of the procedures were just making sure no infections would spread from getting spattered by that carcass. We were really glad almost all of the blood wasn’t actually hers, just some nicks and scuffs from the falling debris. Her arm has a lot of bruising but nothing serious, hybrids recover quick,” the attending doctor calmly noted to Yuki as she stood down the hall from the occupied hospital room.
“Thanks, we were very worried with all the chaos,” Yuki said with a frown after bowing.
“All good families do,” the medical practitioner jovially noted as he nodded to her, “Your husband is still with her.”
“Oh…OH!” Yuki startled, “She’s not my daughter and I’m not married. I was just on the emergency contacts because we work together.”
Yuki awkwardly grimaced while shoving some odd thoughts out of her head. The doctor looked her down before shrugging and nodding.
“Ah. I thought her father looked awfully human, so I figured you might just be one of those Mysterians that are good at blending in. my apologies Miss… Well since it’s not an emergency and you were also screened, visiting hours are still good for nonfamily,” he noted while motioning down the hall.
“Thank you! Is this okay?” Yuki quipped as the doctor started to walk away while raising up a bag and pulling a fork out.
“What’s in it?”
“Oh just sticky rice and some shrimp, figured it'd be nice and simple on her stomach.”
The doctor looked like he was about to comment about eating rice with a fork before brushing it off and nodding, “There’s no problem with her digestion, so that should be fine. If she was in emergency care I might say no but this is the smallest injury report I’ve ever had with these kinds of incidents. Just a fractured humerus. I wish most kaiju attacks had a wounded count of 1.”
The doctor shrugged before walking off. Yuki felt some urge to say something, she wasn’t quite sure what, but stifled it away. As she passed by a common room, her eyes were brought to attention upon a TV screen with a news report. Evidently the altercation at the cliffside had gotten plenty of attention. Some of the soldiers had recovered video and those frames of night vision were playing through the television screen. And images of a Godzilla thrashing and roaring as missiles exploded against his hide were playing like nothing had ever changed since about five years earlier. Evidently G-Force was mobilizing with the all-too-familiar image of two bald men splashed on the side of the screen. One, who stood up front, was the shorter and older of the two. The Japanese man was aged while carrying an obvious aura of authority with a muscular stoutness which showed he was once of a very strong build that had begun to proceed with age. Behind and beside him was a dark-skinned British man, past his prime but still sporting a very powerful frame; his face accented by a short-cropped mustache and beard. The former spoke first.
“This is the first time this new Godzilla has come ashore near a populated area. While it was thankfully fended off swiftly by quick responding forces, we must remain vigilant. The Super-X3 has finished refurbishing and will be on call at a moment’s notice,” Commander Aso calmly stated as he tried to placate the reporters at the press release. He stepped aside and let his subordinate stand before the podium.
When he stepped up the news headline changed to the name ‘Pentecost’ and pretty quickly Yuki realized from where she had recognized him. Aso’s subordinate and, by word of the grapevine, most likely successor, had been the captain on the Mechagodzilla UN crew; scouted from British Royal Air Force. Here was somebody who arguably had come the closest to killing a Godzilla in recent decades.
“While there are some kaiju that have proven non-hostile, all of the confirmed ones are either accounted for on Infant Island with the current Mothra, or deceased with the third, sub-adult Godzilla. The identity of his current Godzilla is unknown, but what is known is that the first attack in 1954 killed over 40,000 instantly and then another of the same measure from injuries and radiation. The second monster doubled that number in 1984 alone, much less at the other victims from its other attacks later. G-Force is not taking any chances with this one.”
A reporter apparently had called out as Pentecost nodded to them. The camera swung around to show a young woman sitting next to a G-Force subcommander and Yuki was simultaneously impressed and jealous that her former protégé Yuri Tachibana had gotten into the meeting instead of her. Sometimes having a television repairman as your father like Yuki did has its benefits, but evidently having a commander as your father had plenty of other ones.
“Sir, what about worries attacking this new Godzilla might needlessly aggravate it? This incursion happened less than 100 km away from a nuclear power plant and the second Godzilla certainly targeted them after battles.”
Pentecost nodded sagely, “That’s why we’re sticking to perimeter defense. I know plenty of others want us to kill every large creature we see the moment it exists, and often there’s good cause to do that. Ever since 1984 more and more of them had started appearing, and just last year the attacks went global in New York City. Attacking these creatures is hard enough as to be borderline impossible, so new prediction methods and models are going to be needed. And though every commander dreads being unprepared for an attack, every commander also needs to know when not to send their soldiers into a losing battle. Like attacking a Godzilla at sea. We’re going to be testing out some new defensive measures and buffing up short defenses as well as evacuation strategies.”
Yuki glimpsed Aso nodding approvingly in the background, evidently having decided to let Pentecost handle a good bit of this. Yuki almost got the sense the old commander was intending to retire soon but had delayed it in light of current events.
There was a lot to begrudge, but not the least of which she was bemoaning the clarity and repetition of the captured imagery depicting the battle. Every few seconds it was a new frame of Godzilla taken from the video. It was blurry and distorted because of the distance and rain, but the news networks were clearly milking it for all it’s worth. The very first images of the newest King of the Monsters, the very prize she had come to the GPN seeking.
Yuki pouted as she grumbled, half wondering if she should consider seeking a booby prize by encouraging Yuji to give their production data to G-Force.
“So much for first shot bonuses….”
Stowing that baggage away for now, she paced off down the hall to the room she’d come for. She stopped however upon hearing raised voices coming through the door.
“You should’ve let me talk to him!” a little girl, clearly Io, shouted.
“And you could’ve become irradiated just by running up to it like that!” a reply, clearly from Yuji, barked back.
Yuki stiffened and awkwardly looked around. This was the loudest and clearly angriest she had ever heard father and daughter talk to each other. A large part of her mind wanted to intervene, but another large part wanted to back away far enough she couldn’t hear them and to stay out of it. The deadlock between the two kept her from moving aside from awkwardly stepping aside to stand beside the door just in case anyone came barreling out. Sometimes old snooping instincts paid off, but she couldn’t lie and not feel a little bit guilty.
“Those imbeciles that fired at him were the ones that hurt me, not him!”
“Those imbeciles might have just saved your life! What were you thinking of running up like that?!”
Io's volume increased as her voice started to crack, echoing inside the hospital room, “I was just about to mentally reach out! I could’ve talked to him, do what our research wants us to!”
Her father's voice wavered, trying to increase but held back by a dam, “Our research is to predict and study, not engage! We’re not G-Force, Io!”
His daughter, tears running from her eyes, almost screamed, “Mom would have wanted us to study him! And Junior would never hurt me-“
The dam broke, Dr. Shinoda’s voice doubled in volume, “THAT THING ISN’T JUNIOR ANYMORE!"
The harshness, the emotion in the yell, surprised Yuki as she stood outside the room and forced a backstep. Io was silent and only Yuji Shinoda's huffing breath was audible for a long span.
Fear, bitterness, and dread all mixed together in Dr. Shinoda's voice. The gentle, docile youth he knew from Kyoto, replaced with the living monstrosity that took Io's mother away, "… It’s only Godzilla now.”
Yuki’s face continued to sink. Her mind drifted back to two images. One of a reptilian creature standing inside the biotechics institute at Kyoto. Sharp of fang yes, but apparently so placid it didn’t at all mind a helpless child riding on his back. The second was that photograph taken during that storm at Odo Island, the place all this half-century of monsters began. An ominous titan standing amongst the waves, a force of nature no lesser than that which turned Tokyo into a bonfire.
Reconciling the two seemed impossible.
Yuki heard the haggard breath inside the room, homing in on it and flinching only when she heard a footstep. Reacting quickly she stepped across the doorway and hid behind which way it would move, backing up enough to where it wouldn’t hit her up upon and swinging open. A haggard, clearly stressed Yuji stumbled out with one hand covering up part of his face. Even with his back to her, Yuki could see the shame and frustration fighting for the right to express themselves. She stayed hidden and breathed quietly, counting up as Yuji paced off.
She kept counting to 300 before very quietly stepping inside the hospital room.
She took note of what she saw and made a point not to react to it. Placing the take-out bags on a small table, she fished out a disposable box and plastic fork. Yuki turned back around to face… Seemingly nothing. But that nothing had to be something as she could still see the creases on the bedding from a weight being pressed on it.
Io was using her powers to project the image of the bed beneath her, in front of herself. Effectively making herself look invisible, but with indications of her presence clear given her weight visibly pushing the cushions down.
“You can’t cover that up?” she quipped with as casual a tone as she could muster.
There was silence for a time before a quiet grumble conceded, “… I didn’t memorize what the bedding looks like, I can only project what I’m sitting on.”
“Well could you project a little bit less so I can hand this to you? Figured it would be really good to wash out the taste of that nasty x-ray dye they had you drink.” Yuki muttered, “Fork or chopsticks?”
“What kind of a question is that?” Io snipped.
“One I need an answer to,” Yuki huffed firmly.
After a few moments Io materialized, or at least most of her did. She was visible from the mid-torso down, parts of her upper arms phasing out of appearance when they moved to take the box.
Yuki held out the fork and clicked her tongue. Io was probably looking at it for a moment or two, Yuki couldn’t tell because she couldn’t see her head, before reaching out and taking it.
“I told him I felt fine…” Io mumbled as she sunk back into the hospital bed, “… Fork, if you please, Miss Ichinose.”
“Well, got to use the fishery’s healthcare benefits for something I guess…” Yuki shrugged before evening out her tone, “He just worried, Miss Shinoda.”
Io was silent for a time before opening up the shrimp and rice, scooping up the food with her fork and eating quietly for a minute or two.
“I thought you’d be more surprised,” Io mumbled in a way that was just barely audible, spurring Yuki’s attention.
Perhaps realizing she was too quiet, Io cleared her throat and motioned towards her head.
Yuki raised her brow and shrugged as she seated herself on a chair near the bed with her own forkful of food and box, “I’m no scientist but I pick up on things pretty quick. If you said chopsticks, I might’ve really worried you got hit on the head.”
It was extremely quiet, more of a huff than anything else. But for the faintest of moments Yuki could swear she heard a giggle. Another 10 minutes’ worth of silent eating ensued, Yuki not wanting to and perhaps feeling too awkward at striking up a conversation. That was motivation cast aside when a clearly muffled sound peeped out from Io. Glancing aside Yuki could see the little girl quickly covering part of her invisible face with a hand as if to muffle herself more, but the sound still leaked out. Sniffling and the edges of crying.
Yuki was about to say something when Io cut her off just as her mouth opened.
“I-… I.. Apologize. I cause my father a lot of undue stress with my actions….”
Yuki sighed as she raised her brow and tilted her head, “Not like I was exactly the picture of calm either, young lady.”
Io swallowed, collecting herself for a moment before speaking again, “Then… I apologize to you as well, even if you are an… Imbecile, for getting worked up enough to buy me cheap take-out.”
Yuki rolled her eyes while deadpanning, “Well I don’t exactly pay for gas…”
“I know you were listening outside…” Io whispered before swallowing, “I-didn’t mean to but I can tell when people are around.”
“Thought your father said not to use your powers on people too much?”
“Figured it was okay if I knew them,” Io mumbled.
Yuki took in a deep breath and sighed, smiling slightly as she knew the last imbecile comment was far less snippy and stabbing in tone than past foolhardy attempts.
“Sorry, I would’ve walked away but I haven’t really ever heard you and your father shouting before. You both seemed very stressed.”
Now it was Io’s turn to deadpan, even if her attempt at sounding blunt wasn’t exactly successful.
We got caught in the firefight of a kaiju and G-Force,” Io raised her hand which had a small splint brace on it, “And I looked worse than I was…. He’s a very good father, he frets a lot more than most would and I don’t always thank him when he tries to make sure I’m okay…. Sometimes he tries too much and gets worked up.”
“And I’m sorry about intruding, sometimes I just get like that where I have to observe. Call it news intuition,” Yuki pouted.
“… If you had that, why are you still working in the bargain basement of the airways tabloids when you came to us?” Io muttered in a lighter tone, more successfully managing the deadpan now.
Yuki couldn’t help but chuckle at the phrase that sounded like an insult but was clearly not, “That’s just the way it is with the media business sometimes. Sometimes you’ve gotta swing high and just land low. Celebrity stuff isn’t usually my thing, but you no doubt know that from checking my records?”
Yuki noticed how Io seemed to perk up slightly. Evidently that was something of an assumption she had made where her intuition didn’t quite pan out. It must’ve been Yuji Shinoda that thumbed through her record more. She raised an eyebrow, knowing when she had a captive audience, but decided to string this out a little bit more if only to distract from prior conversation. Taking in a big forkful of her food and shoveling it into her cheek, she started to speak again in a very unladylike manner that no doubt drove off plenty of suitors in her earlier years. Turning and addressing the seemingly headless body with a goofy visage, Yuki hummed.
“Personally I much prefer nature shots to celebrity gossip,” she swallowed the cheek full of food after closing her mouth to chew it, “Did you know I was nearly on the Isla Sorna expedition Ingen sent back in 97?”
“… You? Nearly got on that island?” Io muttered incredulously after shoveling a forkful of food into her mouth. She too probably had a packed cheek Yuki couldn’t see.
Yuki Ichinose nodded, “Ludlow and Masrani had me on their list, but Archer, Stewarts and Paladecki had to set out early because Dr. Levine went off ahead of them and needed help. I was away in Hokkaido and couldn’t get to the airport fast enough.”
“How… were you on their list to go?”
“Well that third guy? Paladecki, Gary if you want the given name; friend of mine on a venture Hammond apparently knew about. I was with him and this other photographer, Van Owen in Tanzania. We were at Lake Tanganyika, big one, extremely long-“
“Longest by length and second oldest in the world,” Io chimed in with much more steadiness in her voice that had previously been there.
There was a twinkle in Yuki’s eye much she didn’t let Io know about it, just quietly letting her plan come to fruition as she cast the tale.
“And you’d believe it by looking at the thing! Might as well be a sea if it wasn’t freshwater. Well, the boys were splitting a tent and I had my own. We were helping document the wildlife and humanitarian needs in nearby Burundi. I was checking my camera gear at night when this... biiig span started to push against the tent wall.”
She spread her hands out into an indication of span, like a storyteller would. Glancing aside she could see Io was facing her, clearly listening despite poking at her food and her face still being obscured. Her audience was certainly captive now.
“Well, I thought one of the guys was playing some joke, so I kicked it. Only it felt like a brick wall. Stunned my ankle.”
She patted at her ankle and waited for Io to speak.
“… What was it?”
Yuki smirked, “I got a good look when it passed by the front of my tent which was just a mesh screen to keep the bugs out… Biggest crocodile I’ve ever seen in my life! I got a good measurement for the head because it was right up against the mesh, the whole thing was probably just shy of 6 meters. Had a noticeable scar right about here-“
She paused to motion to her shoulder, “Later found out it was none other than the infamous ‘Gustave’, a man eater. Probably had come into the camp looking for a snack. He’d apparently grown up consuming the dead and saw humans as food. Unlike most predators, he’s attracted to fire.”
“How did you get out of that predicament?” Io muttered, “I don’t see you missing any limbs…”
Yuki shrugged her shoulders and motioned like she was holding her camera, “Photographers instinct, I grab my camera, old analog job, and hit it in the eyes with the flash a few times. The crocodile ran back off to the water after that. I only got to recognize it years later when someone finally got a picture of it.”
Io mutely thought about it before breaking her pause, “… Wait, but what about your pictures? Wouldn’t you have gotten the first still frames of it?”
The woman cracked a slightly sheepish grin as she rubbed the back of her head, “Would you believe that tent mesh messed up the focus, sooo I look like I was being attacked by a giant dust bunny?…..”
The silence was palpable and lasted a hot minute. Glancing about a bit awkwardly Yuki raised her eyebrow and pouted.
“… Going to call me an imbecile again? As I sure felt like one back then,” she snarked.
“…..”
“….”
“….” Io audibly deflated and laid back in her bed more, “No… Just bemoaning your track record and the fact that we’re relying on you to get our pictures.”
The laugh Yuki had was a snort at first before she had to rapidly pat her chest with a fist to avoid choking. Amidst making sure she didn’t accidentally spit out her food or choke on it, something that was music to her ears graced them. A little, girlish giggle.
Io must have noticed what caused Yuki to look her way and quickly stifled it. They looked at one another, or at least Yuki had to guess where Io’s eyes would be, and left a happy moment to be. Yuki had gambled that Io might have been very mature or intelligent for her age, but there still were bound to be some things about socializing that only come with experience. And given her current circumstances, the photographer was pretty sure her assessment was accurate. Having gotten the last word in, she left the thread of the conversation hanging for Io to pick back up if she felt inclined.
She did so after another interval of quiet eating.
“My mother got radiation poisoning in 1984, she and my dad were in Tokyo and in direct contact,” Io muttered.
The tone shift was like taking a car crash to the face and forced Yuki to spend a few moments mentally rebooting.
“I… erm… I remember your father mentioning they were there that year, but I figured they just maybe saw what went down at a distance,” Yuki gulped as she knew full well there was only one possible source for that radiation, “I guess I’m surprised he studies Godzilla then.”
Io seemed to be trying to stay calm but the waiver in her voice betrayed her strain, “Radiation helped kill my mother. Godzilla is the only thing known to thrive off it without consequences. Why wouldn’t he want to study it?”
Yuki mentally wrote down some notes on what she was being told. She knew full well Dr. Yuji Shinoda was a widower, as he didn’t seem like the type that went through a divorce. But she hadn’t thought it was her place to pry, so these details were new. Details like how Io said radiation contributed to her mother’s demise, not that radiation directly killed her. And given Io’s age, she couldn’t have been alive back in 84…
“That’s a lot of baggage, can’t imagine how hard it can be to hold,” Yuki sighed as she shook her head, “he seems so jovial when you two recruited me.”
Io shrugged her shoulders, what was visible at least, even if she did pause to rub at her fractured arm, “More like he recruited you. I wanted us to work with another scientist, so I was trying to scare you off…”
Ichinose shook her head slowly and did the exact same gesture, “Well, it didn’t work. Is that why he seemed so upset a bit ago?”
Io seemed to nod after whimpering slightly, “… I was the imbecile that time… Mom got poisoned because she got too close. I was… risking it.”
“Hey, it was reckless but it wasn’t your fault we turned out to be so good at predicting where he’d show up that the military didn’t know we were there before they started blasting. You were trying to see your old friend,” Yuki muttered before taking her last bite of sticky rice, “You don’t seem the type to socialize much anyways.”
“Not anymore,” Io murmured, “What tipped you off?”
Yuki picked up her camera from her side bag and motioned to it, “Let’s just say I went through junior high school looking out of the camera lens more than at anyone. I wasn’t exactly popular, believe it or not.”
She preened for a moment before Io replied with the tact of someone who just burst a balloon with a needle, “…Shocking.”
“Could make a desert with how dry your tone just was,” Yuki snarked, “Alright. I might not have been very professional up until now, but I’m your only other horse in this carriage beside your dad. So how’s about we make a deal? We both start acting more professional around each other, you don’t give me a heart attack like earlier, and I won’t torment you with tales of my wasted youth.”
“You’re not exactly an old maid,” Io grunted with a tone that somehow sounded both disparaging and reassuring.
“Well past 25, kid. Ever heard the term Christmas cake?”
Io huffed, “Only out of imbeciles.”
Yuki was just about to snarked back when the hospital workers stepped in, only to quickly yelp in surprise.
“Okay young miss Shinoda, doctors just want to have one last look at your shoulder about that fracture and then—AH!”
Ichinose perked her brow at the odd reaction before following her line of sight to the bed beside her. Io’s head was now visible, if slightly obscured from her long gray hair hanging down. Glancing between the nurse and the little girl, the photographer was quick to discern what was visible to her was not visible to the newcomer. She felt a bead of sweat run down her face as she deadpanned.
It was starting to feel very weird how used to this she was getting, hanging out with the psychic hybrid alien for weeks on end.
“Shinoda, that’s rude. They might have to look at your shoulder but they kinda need to know where your head is,” in an act much more brazen than she would’ve tried earlier that day she reached over and nudged Io’s arm.
The little girl looked at her and finally Yuki got a good ascertaining as to her condition. Io looked far better than she might have expected she’d appear right after the verbal fight with her father, Yuki was pretty sure she didn’t want to see what that was. Especially with the remnants of tears still staining parts of her grayscale skin and swollen facial veins. A large frown was on her features all the while. Yuki nodded to her and after sighing, Io nodded back and apparently dropped the cloaking. Her facial veins receded as she ceased her psychic concentration.
“Hey, want me to go find your father?”
A full stomach and an hour of brevity did frayed nerves good. Io Shinoda nodded with a slight grunt of approval. Her facial veins pulsed once again as she tapped Yuki Ichinose’s arm, putting an image in her head of where to look. The three left the room, Io going with the nurse and Yuki having some directions.
Dr. Yuji Shinoda sat behind the steering wheel of his stationary vehicle, a dozen things racing through his head. Over half of which concerned his daughter in a sad cornucopia of shame and regret. There was a heavy temptation in his line of sight. Across the street was a pretty good sake bar he’d once visited back in college, back in simpler and happier days. The warm storefront was very inviting as phantom scents and sights besieged his senses. The temptation of dulled pain was strong enough to give him a tremor before quickly shrugging it off and averting his gaze. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel he tiredly wiped his face to try and spur thoughts of other matters.
It was a godsend that a distraction came to him when the passenger door opened, and Ichinose stepped in while holding a takeout bag.
“You know, I was kinda worried I’d find you across the street with a half-empty bottle of the hard stuff,” she muttered after glancing towards the bar.
“I gave up all drinking back in ‘85,” he shrugged, “Much as it might dull the pain in the moment, I’d be too worried about causing a lot more later.”
“Well if it takes some of that strain off; Io’s fine. Just a small fracture. She’s just having one last test to make sure her shoulder is fine otherwise,” Ichinose explained calmly, “… Hungry? I got enough for three.”
Yuji took in a deep breath before shrugging, nodding as he grumbled comically, “Well, there goes my promise of you not having to buy lunch with the GPN contract.”
“I’ll send you the bill. It wasn’t much, I got the Imbecile Rate anyways,” Ichinose snarked as she pulled out the only full rice box left.
The presence of two eaten boxes perked Yuji’s notice.
“How’s Io, did she eat well?”
Yuki Ichinose rolled her eyes and nodded, “She ate fine, she’s doing just fine… I was with her this whole time.”
Yuji sighed in relief as he got the chopsticks readied and took several bites, a realization slowly dawning on them. Awkwardly glancing about he cleared his throat before speaking.
“You.. ate with her…? Is she upset?”
Yuki raised an eyebrow, “What, do you think I would spend an hour antagonizing a little girl in a hospital bed?”
Yuji Shinoda’s eyes widened and dilated as he rapidly jolted up, holding a hand in defense and dropping his chopsticks while trying to not fling rice everywhere.
“NO! No no no! Ah that came out wrong! I meant she usually-! Did you and her? Aaag,” Shinoda grumbled as he tried to root around in his seat for the chopsticks. A dull prodding in his arm spurred his attention enough to look over and see Yuki offering him a fork.
Conceding either the infinite nowhere under the seats had swallowed up the sticks or they were in contact with unsanitary floorboards, he took the implement.
“Thanks…” He noted, eyeing it oddly.
Ichinose chuckled briefly, “Surprisingly, Young Miss Shinoda and I had a much less-abrasive-than-usual conversation. Actually apologized to me… still called me an imbecile several times though.”
“It’s her quirk,” Dr. Shinoda muttered as he somewhat awkwardly help a fork between his twitching fingers, muscle memory trying to make it work like a chopstick, “Surprised though, I think she starting to warm up to you.”
“Seems so…. By the way, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you use anything other than a knife and chopsticks for food.”
“Well I never can understand why you and Io both like using these forks for sticky rice,” Yuji noted with pursed lips before setting about to use the stabbing implement, more gouging the food then actually scooping it up.
“You’d have to have really grown up in the boonies or be very dedicated to a stereotype to not use one,” Ichinose quipped with a shrug, “No offense.”
“None taken, but I did,” Shinoda muttered with a forkful of rice, “I grew up on Odo Island.”
“… Wait, that place wheeeere…”
Shinoda nodded, “The original Godzilla showed up and the legend that gave it its name came from. The ancient sea dragon of destruction… Aside from that, mostly just a fishing village. I didn’t experience air-conditioning until I was about 20.”
“Sounds pretty rustic, been back there anytime recently?”
“Not since Io was born no…” Shinoda frowned as he stabbed at his food and took in a few more sloppy bites, “Parents come to visit us when they want to see her.”
“…..”
“…..”
Neither of them looked at each other but the silence was starting to suffocate the inside of the van.
“…. Io told me some stuff. Mind if I just rip the Band-Aid off at the risk of insensitivity?” Yuki Ichinose huffed as she drummed her fingers against each other a bit nervously.
Shinoda swallowed another wad of chewed rice and after teething at his lip, shrugged a long exhale before taking in an equally deep inhale to steel himself.
“Well it’s better than dancing around it. All right, hit me….”
“I know why the research on Godzilla’s important to you, personally,” Ichinose said as softly as she could, trying to make sure she didn’t throw any gas on a fire or salt in a wound, “I’ll be honest, I kind of thought you were one of those kaiju groupies when I first signed up and I was hoping you could lead me to the big payout of some good pictures. The first ever of the new Godzilla… Well that goal’s shot.”
“… So, is this the part when you hand in your resignation?”
When she shook her head he was so adamantly expecting a nod it took him a moment to double take and look at her again. Yuki once again shook her head.
“No thanks, I think I’ll stay.”
Yuji raised his brow, “Even though you know about what we hadn’t been talking about, Io and I?”
Yuki shrugged, “Had I not, I very well might have quit. Check the tabloids for jobs to pay the bills before maybe trying to land some Safari gig to get out of here… But, no…. I would like to hear more though, if I’m to stay.”
“Ah, so I'm being blackmailed for information?” Shinoda humored with a chuckle.
“No, just requested it,” Yuki quipped as she held her hands up but nodded, “But if saying you were coerced helps with your daughter later, knock yourself out.”
“Think it would have the opposite impact… All right, I’ll tell you. Though I’m pretty sure you’ve already put together some of the links.”
“Like Io being moody because she never bonded well with other kids, her spending time with a mutant dinosaur whom may or may not be Godzilla currently, leading to you to chasing after what might as well be a kaiju ghost in the hopes it turns out to be her old friend and he gives her closure?... Yeah, I figured that pretty quick,” Yuki said casually with a handwave, “You’re just trying to be a good father and she’s trying to be happy again. Sad tale but I didn’t need to have a PhD to figure it out.”
“Yeah I figured… Well, it started back in 1984,” Dr. Shinoda muttered as he motioned out the windshield, as if trying to paint the picture in front of them like a tapestry, “I was married to Io’s mother Asuka. We were in Tokyo at the time to visit a mentor of ours, Dr. Hayashida, when we got caught up in Godzilla’s attack.”
His hand waved back and forth with the recollection, “I just remember.. chaos. Everybody was so confident the new Self Defense Force and C.C.I tools made from Mysterian tech would make mincemeat out of it. Odo Legend said otherwise but I was a lot younger and.. Maybe a lot more arrogant back then. I still remember the gawking shots in the gobsmacked crowds when the maser tech didn’t carve right through its hide. Then everyone started running. Asuka and I, we waited too long to leave and got stuck on a train trapped on the tracks after Godzilla bowled through the power station. I can still remember feeling the tremors and realizing it was not an earthquake as it got stronger, closer….”
Yuki Ichinose’s eyes widened slightly at memories from viewing the surviving 1984 attack footage. An infamous incident captured in photography of when Godzilla was confronted by the Super-X while still holding a train in its hand.
“That train? The one stuck halfway across the street. You were on that? The one it-“
“Picked up, inspected, and tore into before throwing aside when the Super-X pissed it off? Yep…”
==========
Vertigo, total vertigo. That was the best way to describe Yuji’s mind as he tried to stagger to his feet but was unable to because the orientation of the train kept changing. What was directly down kept changing. He could barely even hear with all the screaming, even as he futilely tried to call out his wife’s name; having lost his beloved amongst the sea of panicked passengers. The orientation of the train shifted towards the side and the young biologist was violently thrown up against cracking glass. Even as his head spun and he tried to get a bearing on any sign of his wife amongst the bodies thrown up against the walls and near him, there was one other sight and one other sound that canceled out all others.
He glimpsed jagged teeth illuminated by the military spotlights, the charred and darkened skin, and the overpowering presence from his homeland. He had a fickle relationship with his parents’ legend. When he was a boy, born after the tragedy from 1954 , plenty of the old-timers at Odo Island were feeling both vindicated and adamant. Sadly vindicated that their legend had been proven true, and that destruction had been wrought amongst the proud and the innocent near them. But every time he might challenge or question the needs for old ceremonies dating back to archaic times meant to satisfy a creature known to be dead decades ago, his parents and the elders were always very adamant Godzilla could not be so permanently dealt with. Even when he brought up the theories the creature was a mutant animal brought about by radiation; they were assured the sea dragon of destruction had always existed. It just mattered in how it incarnated.
In ancient times storms and lightning meant destruction, and so Godzilla arrived with storms and lightning. In modern times, what was more destructive than the nuclear bomb? So why wouldn’t such weapons herald Godzilla’s return?
And tonight, that titan of destructive legend was real again. The creature separated from him only by a half inch of glass and a few dozen meters of air snarled.
It didn’t seem to care what rampant speculation the young biologist might’ve had previously. If it was somehow the 1954 creature back from the grave or something totally new. All that mattered was it was Godzilla. Destruction on Odo Island might mean a few houses smashed up or damaged from a bad hurricane. Destruction in a place like Tokyo might entail a body count in more digits than Yuji wanted to think about.
The enormous titan roared, bellowing so loudly that everyone in the train was shouted into silence. Across the roof and the sides, metal started to creak and groan from strain as the monster held up the train in its hand.
“STAY BACK! HANG ONTO SOMETHING!”
The first voice to cry out once the creature stopped roaring was instantly familiar. Yuji’s eyes darted to the side and down the train car’s length. Amongst the piles of shivering, bruised, and terrified people was a familiar span of metallic gray hair. Sprawled with her back against several seats, Asuka Shinoda was about to cry out some other survival tip when the Mysterian woman was cut off by the screech of metal.
The roof bowed inwards as if made of tinfoil, the tip of a massive claw stabbing through the structure and punching a large hole in the sealed train car. A streaking light soared overhead, the telltale sign of missile fire arcing over the train car and crashing against Godzilla’s torso with plumes of explosions. The leviathan was hardly scratched, but responded with hatred. Its dorsal plates lit up as it glared upon the source of the missile fire. A metallic platform resembling a bulbous plane with no wings hovered across the downtown district in row to intercept the creature. The Super-X’s bright floodlight clashed with Godzilla’s blue radiance for domination of the light and the demise of shadow.
Godzilla dropped the train and let loose his radioactive plasma beam. Before the light became blinding Yuji glimpsed the train roll during its freefall and let the blue plasma ray’s radiating light cast through the hole the claw had punched. Right onto Asuka’s petrified face.
They hit the ground hard, Yuji’s head whipping into the window seal hard enough to cut him. The last thing he remembered of the immediate memory was the Odo island nightmare roaring into the night, no doubt as it carved a path of destruction chasing the Super-X.
==========
Yuji absentmindedly touched the back of his head where a scar cut through his hairline above the neck, phantom throbbing still palpable.
“Asuka, Io’s mother, was hit with a bad dosage. Not enough to cause immediate noticeable problems, but that meant we didn’t think it was serious. There were plenty of other people much more hurt than she was, so she insisted they go first. We were just happy to be alive… Call it ignorance being bliss,” Yuji swallowed as he rubbed at his eyes.
Yuki’s eyes were cast off into the distance of the city, perhaps transposing imagery she saw from the 1984 attack on to what was before her, “Hey, you don’t need to go on more….”
“… I’ve,” Yuji Shinoda steeled himself and swallowed a quiver, “I’ve had my years to grieve. Asuka and I had many good years together and I guess you could say the relief we had afterwards of being alive is how we got Io. But… When we were visiting my old home, that’s when complications happened. Asuka could save herself or she could save Io. She picked Io.”
Yuji’s breath wavered as he took in a deep one to push the memories out, “I got a job back at Kyoto Institute thanks to an old friend, while trying to be a single father. I did my best but I fully admit I bungled more than once. Io didn’t quite get along with most of the other children at the psychic school as she grew. It all seemed to pick back up though when Junior hatched and she took a big liking to him.”
Yuki Ichinose chuckled at the fond memory instilled within the picture sitting on the dashboard, “Io and you seemed pretty happy back then.”
“Seven years ago, yep. Job took a lot of time but we were making a lot of progress. Understanding how Godzilla cells adapted to the radiation was made even better by having Junior around to provide a lot of data. Io got a friend and was able to busy herself helping a colleague of mine, her mood at school was improving, and I was finally able to move past the grief…. Then G-Force and C.C.I. decided to use Junior as a lure to try and take the fight between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla away from any city. The plan went sideways and after her ward got used as bait I can’t blame Junior’s caretaker having him leave with Godzilla. Io lost her friend. I lost my research. And somehow,” Yuji stilled for a moment, “... Someone was aware of how my wife died the way she did. Told Io.”
Ichinose felt her pulse chill as the implication fully started to settle in. She would be the first one to admit Io was abrasive and needed an attitude adjustment, but the implication that somebody would rub it in a vulnerable little girl’s face that their parent was a widower because of them…? Yuki did not see herself as a violent person… Usually.
Thankfully before the conversation could get really derailed, Yuji continued.
“Kyoto wasn’t a happy place anymore. So, we decided to move and shift gears. Founded the Godzilla Prediction Network after 1995 when someone reported sighting one after the mess with the Destroyah was over. Seemed like a great deal. Lots of father-daughter time, get to see the countryside, try and take another crack at studying such a being again, help people get out of the way if an attack is going to happen, and Io seemed very eager.”
“Because the Godzilla was her friend,” Yuki muttered with pursed lips, “Because it’s Junior.”
“….” Yuji let out a long sigh, “Even at the start, I always worried in the back of my mind we wouldn’t like that answer regardless of what it was. You know how some people let their kids take pictures with things like lion cubs?”
Yuki nodded as she lifted her brow wondering what the analogy was.
“A parent might be alright with that because the little thing is harmless and tame… At that age. How many pictures have you seen of a baby next to a fully grown lion…? How about a fully grown lion that’s also radioactive and huge. So huge it might not even notice you and can kill you without even touching you. Just standing next to you, walking around you, or… breathing on you…”
The small bit of extra emphasis on that last part told Yuki enough considering the fate of Io’s mother.
“I worry I might have strung her along, made her think we were reuniting her with her old friend… I never actually said anything about how I was worried it might not be her old friend anymore. Even if he means no harm…” Yuji shook his head while rubbing at his scalp, then quickly massaged his eyes when Yuki glimpsed the edges of glistening drops coming from them.
His sharp exhale was clearly holding more than a little back, “And now… I just shattered all of that right in front of her, then screamed at her afterwards!.... Aarg! I-FFPH!.......”
Yuji blinked in confusion as he looked at the offending article that had just lightly whacked him across the head. A rolled-up tabloid clutched in the hand of Ichinose. With pursed lips and narrowed eyes she drew back with the clear intent to whack him again. She tilted her head and perked her brow, threatening to whack him again.
“….”
“…. Well what was that for?!” Shinoda complained as he rubbed at his scalp.
“A jarring distraction, do you need another?”
“W-What… How does… How does that help? Are you trying to psychoanalyze me and act accordingly or something?”
Yuki stuck her tongue out and hoisted her mighty paper weapon aloft, “No I’m trying to distract you because you egghead types tend to overthink everything and spiral, is it working?”
A small silence passed as Yuji glanced about a bit awkwardly. The mild stinging on his scalp from where the binding had very lightly smacked him actually was the only thing he could think about for a hot second. And when his own thoughts started to drift backwards, evidently something very obvious on his face given his dour looking off into space, the motion of Ichinose holding up the paper threateningly once again pulled him back.
“… Yes? I mean it didn’t hurt or anything really, just warn me next time.”
“Good, I wasn’t trying to hurt you!” Ichinose quipped with a very mild flush on her cheeks, “I’m just noticing a big family resemblance between you and Io. You Shinodas really do hyperfocus on things don’t you?”
“…” Yuji blinked before opening his mouth like he was about to say something, only for it to die in his throat. He tapped at his lip with the edge of his finger and soon shrugged, “Got me there. And Io definitely gets that from me.”
“Look, Shinoda…” she took in a breath and collected herself, “Yuji. Tonight was definitely a setback for everybody. Io lost out on her wish to reunite with her friend. You lost out on your wish to see your daughter happy… I lost out to my wish to make the big bucks getting some of those first photos. Looks like I’m going to have to go hunting Bigfoot if I want the first good shot of a new monster after tonight.”
She shrugged her shoulders, “Whatever happens happens, Ichinose family motto. Point is, tonight wasn’t a total bust. After all, the prediction models were spot on. We were so accurate at predicting Godzilla’s path that we got even closer than we ever thought we would! And based on the news reports, I think plenty of people are going to want to know how to tell when he’s coming!”
Her smirk and jovial wiggling of her eyebrows proved infectious. Yuji exhaled while making light of the situation and nodding along.
“Well you’re right there… Not like there would be much more data to test on him by anyone else,” Yuji Shinoda hummed, “Whatever happens happens.”
“H-hey, I said that’s my family motto. Only I get to say it!” Yuki quipped as she crossed her arms in a comedic showing of ‘anger’, “What do you mean by the way about there not being much data? I thought you said you worked with Godzilla cells back in Kyoto ?”
“I did,” Shinoda muttered, “But you know how laws change. C.C.I., shady braggarts, tried to snatch up my research when I left but laws got passed. No G-Cell testing whatsoever, doesn’t matter which Godzilla it’s from. And with all the samples destroyed, we’d be the only data in town about the big creature.”
“Well then, all the more reason to keep going,” Ichinose hummed, “Seems like Godzilla Prediction Network still has a goal! And I’m just interested enough to stick around to maybe see it through.”
Yuji sighed as he chanced a smile, “You really believe in our research that much?”
Yuki nodded while waving with her hand, “That and I needed dental insurance and you got me on contract for at least a year.”
“Well then, we’ve got at least a few hours ‘til Io is fully cleared. And something tells me she’ll want some time to calm down for that. How game are you to help me out with something?”
Yuki held aloft her camera, “Depends, can I use this?”
Shinoda was not entirely well again, stress lines and redness still surrounded his eyes, but a sense of levity had returned “What do you think I hired you for?”
It was fairly convenient that reports of a kaiju incursion tended to clear the roads going one direction, making the drive back to the cliffside less than half the time it took to get to the hospital; a mere 20 minutes. Because they were still more focused on the titan far out at sea now in a futile attempt to track him, the military and G-Force hadn’t locked down the area. Finding a way around to the area where the confrontation at the cliffside had taken place did take a bit of finagling as Yuji did not want to drive through the tunnel again with any risk of foundations being upset, but they did reach the destination in good time. Suiting up in a hazard suit with a Geiger counter in hand, Yuji prodded along the perimeter while checking the readings.
“How exactly do you own that get-up?” Yuki called out from the van.
Yuji called back behind him as he swept the geiger counter about, “Two of my colleagues work at the plant in Janjira, Brodys, one of them was even a groomsman at my wedding!”
Seeing the needle not jump up past the norm spurred him to turn around and call out to the van.
“It’s okay! Radiation levels are about what they would normally be on a sunny day.”
Yuki exited the van camera in hand and quickly snapped a few pictures before Yuji could stop her, flashing a smirking thumbs-up at the image of the intrepid scientist. He supposed it was convenient that the bulky radiation suit completely obscured him so they couldn’t see him covered in a nervous sweat. Taking the helmet off to get some fresh air that he knew wouldn’t cause his nose to bleed and skin to start glowing green, Yuji observed the ruined roadway. The entrance of the tunnel was partially obscured by fallen rubble with four large gouge marks cut into the concrete. Yuki also saw them and held up her hand inspecting the anomaly while trying to match up her fingers to it.
Yuji was also keen to notice what wasn’t there. Despite large bloodstains and bits of tissue on the roadway, the whale carcass was missing. Observing some drag marks that led into a breakage in the safety rails dividing the cliffside from the road he paced along the trail and pulled out a flashlight.
“Where’s the whale?” Yuki called out to the man behind her as she kept trying to match up her hand to the gouge marks.
Bits of memory resurfaced, Yuki recalling the sight of a large arm lunging forward for the tunnel. She tried to mock swipe with her hand as if to see if her fingers could align with the gouges. The angle didn’t match up correctly, and one of the etchings into the concrete was offset to the side like a thumb.
“I think it got rolled or pulled down the cliff-face,” Yuji yelled back as he started to appear over the edge, “I wanted to get a tissue sample to see what species it was. The Godzilla mostly got their energy from radiation when at full size, but their base species did eat marine mammals. I was hoping if I could find out what kind of whale it was, to get an idea of where it's been. If it was a sperm whale it’s diving deep, right whale means it was far north-“
“-Yeah, yeah I get you. I know animals pretty well,” Yuki quipped as she puzzled.
From where the Godzilla had been standing it only made sense she had seen the right arm, if at glimpse, and that meant she could tell which way the hand had been oriented from the position of the thumb. If it was lunging down to trying smash or grab them, the thumb would be off to the left of the other fingers. If it was holding its palm upwards the thumb would be off to the right. She attempted to align her ring through index finger with the three smallest gouges while figuring out which one was the thumb.
Yuji meanwhile had managed to cast his flashlight’s beam down the cliffside, briefly stealing himself after realizing what a big drop it was. Considering what could happen to a whale carcass that fell hundreds of feet, he was expecting a giant red splatter with some bones. Instead he found only a gigantic burn mark several dozen meters across. His brow furrowed at the observation, mentally re-creating the position of Godzilla as well is the military strike in his head. The Super-X3 would have been flying overhead, any artillery, missile batteries, or maser tanks should’ve been perched up on the hillsides bordering the ocean. There wouldn’t have been anything at the bottom of the cliff. A quick check over for any wreckage or markings to indicate tires or trends came up with nothing. And the drag mark where the whale had been pulled down lined up with the scorch impression.
“Godzilla… burned the whale up. To ash,” Yuji muttered as he scratched the back of his head.
“That’s not all,” Yuki called out as she took several photographs of the tunnel entrance before beckoning Yuji over with her hand, “Check this.”
He followed and she pointed at the gouge marks.
Yuki nodded and held up his arm to align with the markings, “Claws and fingers, cut right through the concrete.”
“It was trying to swipe at us or was swinging around when the military attacked it,” Yuji noted dryly.
Yuki shook her head and held his wrist to rotate his hand. With the palm facing down and the thumb off to the left, Yuji looked like he was swiping at something. But with his palm facing upwards, his thumb aligned with the large mark offset to the left. Yuki pushed his arm in somewhat so his elbow was bent.
“If it was swinging at us, then its claws shoulda dug into the road too and the hand wouldn’t align correctly.”
Yuji glanced between his hand and the tunnel, mentally imagining the motion needed for an arm in this position to make that kind of mark. Something in his mind clicked and he pivoted his flashlight up the side of the hill the tunnel cut through. Several impact craters clearly indicating missile strikes were visible further up, having created the large rockslides that had rain debris on them.
There were other possibilities, they were all in a big panic and with the darkness as well as the rain it was virtually impossible to see any clear details. But there was the chance, and Yuji could admit he almost hoped for it. There was the chance the Godzilla wasn’t swinging at the metal or hadn’t failed to notice them. There was the chance it, or he, saw the damage to the hill and was trying to hold the tunnel up by bracing its palm against the roof.
A brief flashback to Kyoto’s ecological enclosure was transposed with the sight of Io standing in the rain shadow of the leviathan.
It was no smoking gun, but… It was a chance.
Yuji’s eyes trained upon a small chunk of red with a bit of white stuck to a piece of debris. Keen to double check it with the Geiger counter, Yuji pursed his lips when the readings did start to increase. Not to dangerous levels, but markedly higher than what was the norm. He pointed to the piece of flesh with his light and nodded to it. The light of the flashlight showed it to be some piece of skin with dermis underneath, with an odd growth stuck to it along with a layer of translucent slime.
“Don’t get too close to that, it’d be like getting a few x-rays in a row.”
“Are you going to do something with it?” Yuki hummed as she gave the piece of flesh a wide span but did snap a picture.
Yuji put his helmet back on before getting close and pulling out a lead canister. Using some tongs, he picked at the piece of whale flesh and pulled off a strip of the slime that looked like saliva. Sure enough, the Geiger counter mostly responded to what he heavily suspected was Godzilla’s saliva and not the flesh itself. Content that this was certainly not G-Cells, Yuji did his best to clean the flesh before putting it inside the canister with the contaminated tongs. His brow was still furrowed in thought. Godzilla had made a conscious effort to destroy the carcass after carrying it for such a distance, something that made no sense with an incomplete assessment. And he’d look into getting it completed.
“I’ve got a colleague I can send this to.”
Stepping back into the van and letting Yuki drive, Yuji pulled out a satellite phone and tapped at the numbers after pulling out a directory. The dialing took several minutes but sure enough, a feminine voice replied back in English.
“Calling me super late. You realize I’m not back in the states and we’re not 10 hours apart right now?”
Yuji sighed and chuckled, “Sorry Elsie. But you are in Osaka right? I got a biological sample I’d like you to look at, you know marine life better.”
“Shinoda? Listen, I gotta be heading back to the states soon, Tatopoulos needs a hand with something and-”
“It was in Godzilla’s mouth, you got equipment for minor-radiation?”
“... You’d better send me it, pronto!... What was it exactly?”
Yuji glanced at the canister, “A whale I think, tissue sample. Thank you for your contribution once again, the most esteemed Dr. Chapman.”
A snarky tone responded, “Flattery won’t pay the transport bill, Yuji.”
Neither saw the tall figure watching them from the cliffside, even as they memorized Yuji and Yuki’s faces as well as the GPN logo on the van. Nor did they become aware that something else unseen picked up the satellite signals. Signals rerouted to the myriad of forms rapidly moving through the seas kilometers away. Dolphins, sea turtles, fish, gigantic squid all swimming in formation.
Superb work as always, Tarb. Really enjoying the character work and interaction here.
Merry Christmas!
Glad Io is getting friendlier. I like how you are expanding the original movie.
Still doing great with the Pathos in this part, and the 1984 flashback did a good job of portraying how terrifying Senior's attack was.
Alrighty, another one down, so this was a definite character development segment. And I enjoyed it. Loved Yuki’s more interactions with Io and Yuji.
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Always helps to have a more normal person to bounce personalities like theirs off of.
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Aye thanks. It's something the movies do show, but not something I often saw highlighted.
5422617
With all the grimness in the story, helps to have some happier moments. :)
5422417
If I may ask, whom was your favorite character early on?
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Ooh, that's a tough one. XD
I remember that I really, really liked Yuki Ichinose in this section of the story. Her handling of the aftermath of Io and Shinoda's fight did a lot to really make me love her as a character.
Not even three minutes into this part, and we already got shippers on deck. It’s as if all this ship teasing is building up to something.
I’ve been acknowledged by Canon-Senpai again!
Is it sad that I wonder if this is a Lost World reference?
What can they say? Like Imbecile, Like Imbecile.
Greatly enjoyed the convos Yuki had with both Io & Yuji. Levity was good with Yuki telling Io about her trip to Africa, and telling Yuji how much like his daughter he was. Pathos is fantastic with Io confiding how she feels about her parents & Yuji reminiscing about 1984. Overall, this was a good showing of how Yuki fits in with the Shinodas
as the future stepmother.As I’ve commented on a different part. One aspect I’ve been enjoying is the mystery surrounding Junior & Orga’s actions. We know what their end goals are, of course, but we’re left wondering how they’re gonna do it. Putting together all the clues you leave with our foreknowledge to get the entire picture is half the fun of reading this story.
Overall, this is a good chapter of character work, pathos, and mystery.
Loved the conversations here. Yuki bonding with both Io and Yuji really helps make her a part of the unit. As well as naturally talking about their past and present and how that effects them. It was all really well done and I can't wait to see how this develops further. I think Yuki is definitely someone the pair need, especially since they are the precipice of drifting apart due to their views on Junior. While he might be wrong, Yuji does have the right to compare it to a lion cub and fully grown lion, except worse. Of course that isn't always the case, an animal grown up can still be nice and kind, but as a father, his instincts are telling him 'keep daughter safe' especially because of what happened with his wife. It is a sad scenario. Hopefully Yuki helps him through it. (She might need to smack him again though. XD)
I like that the start is about the obvious consequences of the previous chapter and close encounter.
Also like how nice the doctor is...and Yuki being mistaken for his wife.
And do like the instant consequences of a Godzilla showing up again. Granted, there have been kaiju incidents, but Godzilla has a unique place in history.
I direct note to them saying 'fended off quickly'. Even with this much time and monsters, that hubris is still there.
And we get Pentacost's introduction, and glad to see that little bit of interaction. But I do like he's shown to be every bit as reasonable as he canonically is.
News media milking it...*Groans* I hate the news media.
I like the argument, as it shows both sides of the story. Both have a good point.
And...Oh boy, Yuji said probably the worst possible thing he could to Io. He means well, but that is neither something he knows for sure and something Io will never accept, and he refuses to look at the actual evidence to see...but he seems to realize that and be aware that he was acting out in emotion, not what Io really needed to hear or the tone he should have used. Given his shame Yuki notices, he clearly knows that.
I like the fun you had with the invisibility power Io has.
I do like that Io is ultimately willing to accept she didn't handle the situation the best either, and just the interaction between the two having some bonding. It's really sweet and I like it. Feels very organic.
...And I love Yuki mentioning she nearly ended up involved in a Jurassic Park movie, and that connection is fun. Advantage of a big interconnected world.
I do like the backstory that Yuki provides here, as it shows she had a life before this.
Yuki has a shocking amount of luck, given how many deadly situations she's narrowly evaded.
But also bad luck given how many oppertunities she missed.
Bonding scenes like this are always fun.
...And leads to Io trusting Yuki enough to talk about her mother. Which the built up definitely makes feel natural. And leads to Io admitting her own folly in the situation.
And the fact it ends with them snarking each other is just plain fun.
You really have fun with Io's invisibity, don't you? :D
Do like her then going to Yuji and the little detail of him admitting he gave up drinking and why.
I am really enjoying the chemistry these characters have with each other.
I also like Yuji choosing to stay because she actually LIKES them now.
Nice to see them just being open with each other and going from co-workers to friends.
And once more showing Yuji is well aware of the Arrogence of Man, because part of what happened was because of falling for it and thinking the Masers could kill Godzilla.
I do like them being in THAT train, which adds a good level to it.
I do like Odo Island's reaction to this stuff and how they're ultimately being ironically correct...and how he seems to question how much of it is false and how much is real.
Overall the entire scene is terrifying and does a really good job of highlighting how terrifying being in that situation would be...and we can even see the exact moment his wife likely got irradiated.
Very emotional scene after and shows the emotions that come with this...and leads to them having an upwards curve that went straight back down.
Information we the audience already know, but presented in a way that feels fresh. Good job.
I also like how Yuji feels guilt about maybe going about things with Io the wrong way, and indeed does realize his mistake earlier...but Yuki is there to snap him out of it.
I just love these scenes because it shows them growing closer to one another.
And Yuki has a good point: a predictable tracking method will be something important.
Going back to the place they met Godzilla and looking around...I do like Yuji took care to wear a radiation suit...and reveals he's a friend of the Brodies, which I really do like that connection.
I also like them finding that the radiation levels are safe, something very unusual compared to the previous 2 Godzillas.
...And the whale thing isn't dead. Great...Or at least until the implication Junior incinerated it.
And Yuji going full dork is fun.
And, as I guessed last time...Junior saved them on purpose. I like how Yuki figures that out, showing she's extremely smart.
And they find a piece of the whale's flesh Godzilla had bitten off, and I like he confirms it's not g-cells, and that it's somehow important.
And once more interconnected worlds with Dr. Chapman's cameo. Always a fun little addition.
Good chapter and I do love the pay off to a lot of things here.