Godzilla 2000: New Era, PART 6 · 8:00pm Dec 29th, 2020
Yuki Ichinose didn’t quite know what to say or make of the situation when she drove up to the fisheries in the GPN van without Yuji Shinoda but with Io Shinoda alongside.
“Looks like Yuji really did decide to go with G-Force and not swing back by,” Ichinose lamented with a frown, “He at least call or text you back again?”
She pulled up her watch to check the time, a frown starting to cross her features before Io’s hand reached to open the door. The fact there was no other vehicle pulled into the parking space for the GPN caused Yuki to reflexively snap her head around to Io.
“No, but I can manage,” Io replied curtly, trying to open the door with her good arm while still carrying her bags.
“Do you even have a key to get inside?” Yuki sniped as she pulled the van keys free, least Io snatch them.
Only for the young Shinoda to do no such thing as she pulled out a key attached to a tassel, one that had seen obvious use as the wear on it rubbed off some of the pain that had once been upon its surface.
“I can manage,” Io grumbled, or at least she tried to grumble as it came off more as a whisper; while she still tried to pull her backpack up with her.
Yuki responded by awkwardly lurching her way across the front seat to grab the backpack and firmly, but carefully pull it away.
“You’re not going to let me even try to call your father first to see what’s keeping him? Not even to call?”
“Doesn’t matter, not the first time something held him up. He focuses heavily,” Io whispered quietly with her bangs shadowing her face, her voice clearly dripping with apathy that contrasted to some of her body language.
Yuki knew what someone trying to look tough looked like, given she seemed to be the only one around here who grew up in the messy social atmosphere that was ‘Not Being an Egghead’.
“Hey, if you hadn’t noticed you still got your arm in a splint and aren’t old enough to go to Junior High School yet; I’m not leaving you alone out here,” Ichinose snipped as she kicked open the driver door after pulling the latch, stepping outside and walking around to help Io out of the van.
By the time she got around the rear of the van to the passenger side, she found the door already ajar and with the sound of feet hitting the ground; but no sight. Yuki Ichinose narrowed her eyes and reached out to grab the door, putting herself at the gap the opened door had made. About ten seconds passed before Ichinose hardened her expression like she was reprimanding an apprentice, subtly frowning while tilting her head and rocking her hip to the side before tapping her foot.
“…” She held out the backpack and huffed.
After a few moments, a downcast Io Shinoda reappeared in front of her, having been camouflaging herself. She pouted before sighing, turning around and holding her good arm out.
“That’s better, doesn’t kill you to ask for help sometimes you know,” Ichinose muttered as she let the girl have her dignity and put the backpack on her gently.
“Unless it really bothers you that much, I think I’ll stay for dinner until your father gets back or remembers to call,” Ichinose sighed as she closed the van door when Io stepped around from it and let her lead on to the front door.
“Any objections to that, young Miss Shinoda?”
“I’ll cook, have experience,” Io sighed as she led on without complaint.
The fact that as they approached the front door, the girl drifted closer to her told enough in regards to how she was feeling. Io was upset, saddened or frustrated. A feeling not at all new to her evidently enough. She was just too proud to speak up over it and was resigned to let it stew. Usually Ichinose wouldn’t butt in like this, but the compulsion was too strong to ignore.
She looked to the youngster and fidgeted her lips in thought. Io Shinoda normally carried herself with a calm, knowing manner; like she was the smartest person in the room and knew it. She almost never let her head hang, even slightly; and she didn’t gravitate closer and closer with each step. Usually she kept Ichinose at an arm’s span at minimum. Some say certain kids grow up much faster, but Ichinose didn’t quite buy that it meant they somehow mentally changed so drastically in such a short span of time; at least not in any healthy manner. Some might call her a sentimentalist, but she liked to think it was right to let kids be kids.
Io Shinoda wasn’t a young woman who’d mentally bloomed at an early age. She was still a little girl who felt she had to stop being that for a myriad of reasons. Yuki had seen slices of the truth around Io and her father before, like him helping her with her homework or when she’d shown fear at upsetting or scaring him so badly at the hospital.
Io got so close Yuki was resigned to lift up her arm and, after some apprehension, put it around her to her good shoulder. It had been months to make headway like this, but it seemed the right thing to do. The fact Io seemed to perk slightly but not object sent a wave of relief over Yuki’s mind.
Maybe some things were changing after all.
“Hey, how about I help you out with dinner?” Ichinose quipped as they stepped into the main doorway to the fishery apartments and closed it behind them.
Io spoke in the most casual, monotone voice possible, “No, with your horrid taste in take-out; I don’t trust you to boil water.”
Ichinose deadpanned but rolled her eyes.
Yep, some things were definitely not changing however.
Across the street in an alley, a tall figure stood and watched the fisheries. The GPN files and data weren’t a part of the web of internet connections and folders they had accessed so far. This could prove a liability with the unknown variables, and unknowns weren’t tolerated. The computational machine the young female carried likely had some of the data beyond the algorithms they had copied. Had she been alone, they’d have moved in to take it.
But this area of the human settlements was well populated at this time of night, with the workers all in nearby dwellings or within the apartment complex the GPN was based out of. And, most importantly, the adult female had been present.
Overwhelming the both of them was perfectly do-able, but the risk calculations weren’t favorable. The data might be damaged in the struggle, and the fact it related to the primary threat of the mutation made it all the more precious. And then there was the curiosity of the younger female’s genome. A tempting possibility and curiosity, a perfected splicing of foreign and native genes whereas their genome bank was increasingly fraying at the chromosome. With other hybrids not easily in reach, this was a chance not to be spoiled.
Two prized targets serendipitously in the same location. But…
The drone pulled back after a high-pitched ultrasonic frequency the collective had come to register streamed overhead.
High above, Belvera flew Garu-Garu in another sweep over the nearby city blocks, looking for any aberrations in mana or manner that might tip her off to more of the abominations. She detected something briefly before losing it yet again, cursing as she swung her flying steed around to circle about for another sweep.
The drone, rapidly dividing into a horde of rats, hid within the storm drains to scatter while communicating with the collective. The enemy was hunting them, they’d need a distraction.
Fortunately, time was on their side despite the cellular degradation. One cancerous rat, covered in growing tumors, melted away as its salvageable biomass was absorbed by another of the drone’s division. They continued to dim, but they needed only hold out for a little longer.
=======================
He stood in the wreckage of what had once been the Sunshine 60 tower. Constructed in 1978, it was the tallest structure the whole continent of Asia had ever seen. Almost 240 meters tall, 60 above ground floors to give it its name with an additional 5 below-ground floors. Special reinforced concrete and wall inserts set around columns on the core to prevent earthquake or typhoon damage, the world’s fastest elevator making travel brisk, office spaces, banks, showrooms, cafeterias, restaurants, doctor’s offices, all stacked atop one another all the way to the observation deck.
It was built atop the Sugamo Prison, that final nightmare from the horrific times of the Pacific War. Another commander last stood where he did now, he fancied. Hideki Tojo, general of the Imperial Army and Prime Minister. He was sentenced to hang here, after the horrors he helped inflict upon Asia were thrown right back at their home country. Some say Tojo repented on his last days, but he could never be sure if it was legitimate or not. Perhaps, only the dead knew.
But placing Sunshine 60 atop the destroyed grounds of Sugamo was a statement. After two atomic bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki, firebombings by both man and monster upon Tokyo, Japan had survived. Survived and come to thrive even while caught in the middle of this Cold War. And so, they’d constructed the skyscraper 60, to reach towards the clouds and take in the sunshine. Japan had sought greatness by ill-gotten means, but now they could become even greater by the strength of their own efforts alone. In an imperfect world, it was a comforting statement.
And now he was standing in the ruins, a charred and torn flag of a rising sun lazily flapping in the wind. The air was uncomfortably warm, yet thick with dust, smog, and smoke.
General Takaaki Aso of the JSDF trembled as he tried to steel himself, taking a pause from his efforts to aid in the search for survivors. He stepped out of the escape hatch to the Super-X he’d forced open after it had been discovered in the rubble. He’d known the truth the moment he smelled the burning smoke and scents of death within. The best he could do was close their eyes for a semblance of dignity while keeping his face hidden from view of any others. They couldn’t see him like this.
The Sunshine 60 was meant to be a testament to grandeur, instead it would be the final testament to a burning city and the brave pilots who’d flown the Super-X in trying to save them. The very thing meant to symbolize a reborn Japan had crushed them to death when a creature that shouldn’t exist shoved the building on top of them.
Takaaki’s thoughts drifted to the ghost of Hideki. He’d risen through the ranks with men like him from that horrific era in mind. He’d often told himself he was superior, morally and mentally, to that war criminal. He didn’t send the men and women under him to burn down cities, preemptively attack neutral nations, and slaughter innocent people. He was Takaaki Aso, General of the Japanese Self Defense Force meant to do just that, defend. He was not, nor would ever be General Hideki Tojo of the Imperial Army.
But, he’d personally sent the Super-X with the Prime Minister’s approval. He’d told them they’d be national heroes, knights of old to slay a monster. Susanoo to kill Orochi. He’d even fancied the Captain of the craft might succeed him one day. The captain looked confident, yet determined to defend his people. Aso had seen his face molded into terror, frozen from the moment the Sunshine 60 came crashing down on top of the Super-X.
His left arm trembled, icy cold gripping his mind.
It wasn’t his fault. He’d sent them with the best equipment possible. Got them the best training he could get. They knew the risks when they signed up and they fought valiantly even when the cadmium shells they’d been counting on ran out.
His right arm trembled, and a tide washed into his mind from the other side.
It was still his command. He’d still sent them against a threat he had no assurance of victory against. A threat that seemed to come crawling back from the Hell it had been sent to 30 years ago. If he’d been so assured of victory, why didn’t he pilot it?
He was a commander, if he fell it would be chaos and others would need his guidance.
But was being a commander somehow supposed to make him more important than those under him? Those who trusted him to lead?
No! He never saw himself as more worthy of life than his troops that served with honor!
And they died with that honor!
A deep cold sunk over Aso’s mind.
Troops… serve with honor. Die with honor. That sounded like an Imperial Creed.
General Aso could almost feel the haunting of General Tojo lurking about him. Judging him.
A tear splashed onto his boot, the water staying still before a tremor forced it to roll off his shoe. The ground shuddered once again.
He opened his eyes, and Takaaki was a youth again, 30 years prior in the same city. The same city of ruin and flames as a titan that walked with thunder loomed over the smoke and haze of the realm shrouded in shadow. Godzilla moved away from the heart of Tokyo, going back to the sea without any heed to what got in his way.
Aso’s mind was a flurry with questions. But one was first and foremost in the wakes of the destruction, all those who had to die tonight fighting a creature that seemingly had no reason to attack them.
Why couldn’t you just stay in the ocean?
At the echoes of Godzilla’s distant roar, the titan off to meet its fate at Mount Mihara, Aso glimpsed a single form staring back at him. One clad in an aged Shinto priestess’ garb.
Takaaki Aso sprung up from his bed, the storm still rolling outside as he was roused from his recollection of a dream. Recollections from 16 years ago. He wasn’t a Self Defense Force commander anymore, but G-Force. A task force specifically to combat Godzilla and all those like it, the giants that shouldn’t exist. Against his wishes, he’d become a commander in a war. It had aged him more than it should have, he felt older than he was and looked the part.
Aso’s mind shifted back to Tokyo, to the ruins of the Sunshine 60 and the prison it once stood upon the grounds of. To General Tojo.
Tojo had espoused first-strike on the United States and British Empire to ‘protect Japan’, he’d endorsed war crime after war crime to ‘protect Japan’, and he’d fallen away from any good man he’d once been while excusing mistake after mistake in the name of ‘protecting Japan’. War can turn good men bad, and bad men into monsters. Was General Tojo’s repentance at the end of his life earnest realization of the horrors he’d help unleash? Some parts of Aso's mind disagreed, but never knowing for sure meant it couldn’t be turned away entirely.
And what of his mistakes?
The new Godzilla hadn’t harmed anyone. It could be perfectly docile and no threat to anyone. He could call off the operation at Amami, finally retire before he had a chance to inflict a wound upon the world with his mistakes as Tojo did, and let someone take this burden if anyone else had to.
Or he could be wrong. By the will of any gods that existed he could be horribly wrong. Not many people had seen Tokyo turned into a massacre of flames and radiation twice as he had.
If he acted, some might die under his command as they fought the dragon.
If he did nothing, others more might perish if he did nothing against the unknown.
Tojo did what he did acting against something that was innocent, and millions of people suffered. People, that was Tojo's cost of leadership; not his... But no matter how much Aso tried to think of the two scenarios as lacking any sense of similarity, he couldn't erase all of the ties.
He was a good man. A devoted husband, well loved commander, a man who'd gone into the Self Defense force with the express intent of helping those he could and whom agreed to lead G-Force because he'd seen what could be wrought by kaiju up close twice. Back then it had been a logical extension of why he joined the JSDF. But at what point was he at now? Was he still fighting to defend; or was he just fighting?
Had Hideki Tojo once told himself he was a good man too?
He stilled and took in a deep breath, waiting for all the tremors to cease as thunder rolled outside. The face of a man Takaaki had never even seen in the living world, a ghost from the past, still haunted his vision. Almost as if that old General was standing in the room with him.
“No, I will not make the same mistakes as you,” Aso whispered while thinking of a man who died half a century ago.
Thunder cracked once again, illuminating the room.
Commander Aso’s aged eyes drifted to the item taking up space on his shelf, brightly visible in the crack of lightning outside that seemed the calling echoes of an angry god. Or kami.
The relic Hina had left Aso stared back at him with a presence. At least it did to the old commander’s sleep deprived and strained mind. In some way, he almost felt as if he was praying to or trying to commune with it. It was desperation for an answer he sought, but in a time of indecision like this Takaaki could have begged for the assurance the old woman had.
The mummified claw of a Godzillasaurus offered no insight as to what he should do.
So, Takaaki decided he could only do what he could hope was right.
==========
Yuki Ichinose was power walking out of her bathroom with her typical day attire thrown on and her hair still partially wet after a shower. After having stayed a few hours to ensure Io was well settled, she’d taken her leave to grab some precious hours of sleep. Ichinose didn’t know if it was worry that woke her up early, so early she practically chugged several cups of black coffee to snap awake even while showering, but something wasn’t right.
Well, a lot wasn’t right. Yuji Shinoda might have always meant well and been kept busy by important work, but Yuki was about ready to twist his ear off next time she saw him for last night. Not the part about putting up with Io’s admittedly almost cute sass for several hours at dinner, nor the admittedly pretty good cooking. That was fine. But leaving Io high and dry waiting for so much as a goodnight call was so very irksome. Eggheads, gigantic brain, studious eyes, and constantly had the blinders on.
Yuki let out a loud groan after chugging the last of her coffee, grumbling to herself as she paced towards the front door. She had a full day, but most of the folks at the fishery wouldn’t be out and moving yet. She could swing by to check on Io, put some of that tingling fear in the back of her mind to rest, and focus on not passing out for the rest of the day.
Ichinose grabbed her keys, the last cup of coffee, and some half-eaten remains of Io’s cooking while making her way to the front door. She was just about to reach for the handle when a rapid pounding upon the other side of said door stayed her motion.
Blinking a few times in a stupor, Ichinose let the rattling of another series of poundings rattle her away from the door.
“Yuki! Miss Yuki!” a feminine voice called out and for a split-second Ichinose thought it was Io, before realizing she both barely knew what a frantic sounding Io sounded like and that the pitch was very different after a moment of thought.
Yuki leaned closer to the door and looked out the peephole, perking her brow at seeing a face she wasn’t expecting.
Well, at the very least it wasn’t some random drunkard pounding on her door.
Ichinose unlocked the door and, after taking a moment to step aside, opened it to let a woman some years her junior stumble through. A bob of short reddish orange dyed hair shot past her as Yuri Tachibana quickly made her way into Ichinose’s apartment after nearly falling flat on her face.
“Yuri?” Ichinose quipped with a raised brow, looking at how early in the morning it was at a mere 6:30 AM.
She been expecting to see her coworkers, including the intern she had helped mentor, but not for another hour or so. Had been years that she got a house call, let alone one unannounced. Seeing the young woman heaving and panting as she staggered to Ichinose’s recliner chair, Yuki closed the door and shot her a confused and at the same time deadpan expression.
“… Are you drunk?”
“B-B-Big- Ooooh big! Tentacles! Seafood! Taser- BZZZT” Tachibana stammered, saying nothing not to dissuade her coworker’s initial guess.
“There’s this thing called breathing, you know,” Ichinose huffed as she gently pushed up on Yuri’s jaw to force her to stop yammering and actually take a deep breath.
After several moments of letting the redhead try and collect herself, Ichinose repeated herself after observing the younger woman was very flush with color.
“Yuri, are. You. Drunk?”
This wasn’t exactly something that happened to Ichinose inside her apartment before, but there were some bars and restaurants nearby and she had seen drunkards stumbling around in the streets a few times. Tachibana always was a lightweight at company parties.
Yuri shook her head, but before she could stumble out any other words that might only make it look worse for her account, she repeated one of her last words.
“Taser,” Tachibana huffed while lifting up the self-defense tool, which still dragged one of its prongs and cables; with the other having been snapped off after clearly being used.
Ichinose felt a cold shoot down her back, some measure of protective instincts starting to kick in as they had with Io. She stood up and went to her door, peeking out the peephole just to confirm Tachibana hadn’t been followed before she locked the door and braced a chair against it just in case.
Yuri, having a moment more to collect herself, slumped back in the recliner with her heaving breathes starting to still enough that she could clearly speak.
“I-I’m sorry! Got scared, disoriented- Lost for hours. I-I think I lost my keys in the chaos,” Yuri gasped as she rubbed at her face, “Father- with G-Force in Amami. Your place was closest.”
Ichinose sat herself down next to her and handed Yuri the coffee, clearly seeing the younger woman needed it more. She made sure to hold Tachibana’s shaking hand, least Yuri spill it all over herself. After gulping down several large chugs, Yuri gasped and leaned back. It was now, with her neck perked up, Yuki could see something that gave her a lot of mental pause. Concentric, parallel rings of lightly cut skin going in a thin line across Yuri’s underjaw and neck, previously harder to see with how flush she was with color from no doubt a harrowing night.
Degree-holder she was not, but Yuki had been around wildlife enough to recognize some patterns or shapes. And this was something she’d only seen before at some seafood markets or on a beached sperm whale. They looked like the marks cephalopods arms like that of giant squid left, where the suction cups were ringed with small teeth to grip prey or enemies; only much smaller than the marks she’d seen on the beached whale.
And Yuri didn’t look like she’d just taken a dip in the deep ocean to get attacked by a pipsqueak giant squid she tasered.
“I um… I was attacked.”
“… By?”
“I-I.. I really don’t know,” Yuri whimpered as she took another swig of coffee.
=====================================
Amami Ōshima Island, Offshore Japan
=====================================
Yuji surveyed the scenery that would’ve been very beautiful and serene had it not been for the large military convoys crossing up and down the roadways. Amami Ōshima island was by many regards a subtropical paradise, mostly home to a few small villages, a port, and over two thirds of the landmass being occupied by a protected forest rich with unique wildlife. Had he not gone on the career path he did, Yuji easily could’ve seen himself one day working on this and neighboring islands documenting flora and fauna that had died out on the Asian mainland thousands of years ago. Not all living relics were gigantic saurians. But the beauty and relatively underdeveloped nature of the island did thankfully mean there weren’t that many people on it, making evacuation much quicker than it otherwise would’ve been by boat. He could only hope it wasn’t necessary in the end.
Still, the fact this remote island of anywhere was where the calculations and current data indicated Godzilla was coming brought its own questions.
Commander Aso stood up beside him with his hands held behind himself, pushing his chest out to project an image of authority for any passersby looking to their commander.
“Latest satellite and sonar data we have, limited as it is, continues to support your work Dr. Shinoda, it is coming.”
“I just wish the algorithms’ results could clue us in to a motive,'' Yuji resigned with a sigh, “Random island in the middle of the ocean? Amami Ōshima isn’t exactly small, but we’re over 200 kilometers from the next bigger landmass in Okinawa, and over 300 kilometers from the southern tip of Japan’s main islands, about 400 to the nearest nuclear power plant at Kagoshima Prefecture… Makes no sense.”
Mitsuo Katagiri joined the conversation by standing at the opposite side of Aso, “To us humans perhaps, but more than once kaiju have acted erratically. They don’t always have a clear-cut motive.”
“Yes, but figuring out the motive can help stop future incidents,” Yuji corrected as he tapped at his chin.
“Well, hopefully after today there won’t be any future incidents,” Commander Aso noted before quickly realizing what he had said and holding a hand up as he addressed Yuji, ”As promised, only nonlethal options. The missile batteries and artillery are only to get Godzilla’s attention and drive it out of the deeper waters. Then the antinuclear bacteria can be deployed. I personally saw to it out of my busy schedule to ensure the late Dr. Shirigami’s creation was armed and prepared.”
“C.C.I.’s innovation and renovation at work regenerating the good doctor’s efforts,” Katagiri hummed, “In the earlier years of the decade we never tried the bacterium again directly on the second Godzilla because it would require getting it through the thick hide and later methods like the shock anchors on Super Mechagodzilla and M.O.G.U.E.R.A’s spiral-grenades proved more promising ventures for… direct termination. Still, the antinuclear bacteria was the whole reason we were able to clean up cities like Osaka and Hong Kong after its rampages.”
“So you’re going to get someone to shoot rockets down his throat again like in ’89?” Yuji huffed.
“Nothing so primitive,” Katagiri chuckled as he used a remote control on a television an aid had brought over.
“Type 99 Full Metal Missile Launchers outfitted with partially hollowed heads filled with ANEB Anti-Nuclear Bacteria Type 89,” Katagiri noted as the screen showed one of the same mobile missile launchers Yuji had seen rolling down the road.
“Special reinforced alloy, same materials reverse engineered from the Mysterian Moguera’s excavation drill. Unlike most missiles, the payload is only mildly explosive. Instead it’s almost entirely solid metal, like a giant rocket-propelled spear,” Katagiri hit play and saw a demonstration of one such missile being fired at a target of which, by the looks of it, was a solid mass of reinforced concrete a dozen or so meters thick.
As the slow-motion video played, the projectile launched in a plume of fire and sped into the target, barely slowing down after a shower of sparks blasted out from the impact. It then proceeded to gouge right through metal and rock, blasting out the other side with its rocket still ignited.
“At full capacity they were designed to go through things like Godzilla like crap through a goose!”
Katagiri felt two pairs of eyes on him and realized Yuji and Commander Aso had caught him grinning. Katagiri coughed into his hand and recomposed himself.
“We’ve diminished its thrust capacity to slow the missile down, this way it should get lodged inside Godzilla instead of trying to blast through it. From there the container housing the ANEB bacteria will be expelled into its bloodstream, making the whole system work like a giant tranquilizer dart. Bacteria will begin sapping away at any nuclear fusion happening inside Godzilla’s body and force its reactor of a heart to cycle down,” Katagiri put the remote control aside and stood before his group’s creation as one of the Full Metal launchers rolled down the road behind him, “If it it all behaves like the second Godzilla, it’ll be forced down into the depths of the ocean where the cold water can keep the bacteria controlled. Out of sight and out of mind unless further measures are needed.”
“And it wouldn’t escape the depths this time like its predecessor did because there’s no unlicensed nuclear submarines roaming the oceans on my watch,” Aso stiffened as he crossed his arms, “Shindo’s submarine was a PR nightmare waiting to happen if it hadn’t been for the chaos of the Futurian incident and desperation, I’d have skinned him alive for creating something like that under a private company.”
He sighed and looked to Yuji, “Godzilla, would be allowed to live, allowing it doesn’t threaten the human race again. It can live in the company of giant squid and angler fish without hurting anyone.”
Yuji wasn’t given the chance to speak even though he knew Aso was being courteous enough to try and wait for him to. All of their attention was quickly taken away when a loud burst of ocean water was audible even from a few kilometers away. He knew exactly what it was breaking the surface even before turning around to look at it.
This plan to effectively imprison this creature in the depths of the ocean was the most humane solution he could’ve asked for given circumstances. But he knew the unspoken consequences. He could trust Aso to keep his word on being willing to let Godzilla be if his hand wasn’t forced, he was an honorable man and reasonable commander would never one to instigate a battle that could threaten men and women under him when there was no reason to. But he also knew Aso was putting at least some of that goodwill on the possibility the titan in the ocean before them was the same being Aso himself saw as a harmless infant in Kyoto and not another individual. It was the difference between launching an armed hunt to kill a wild bear roaming a village and staging a capture operation for an escaped zoo bear who wasn’t known to be threatening. It was still keeping something contained, just with the bottom of the ocean as the new exhibit.
And even through the distance Yuji could see the massive eyes stationed on a towering form, almost imagining those eyes looking at him.
Io was convinced it was Junior, her childhood friend all grown up.
Yuji wasn’t sure if he should be praying that it was or not.
G-Force personnel operating the monitors were all reporting in the numbers from Amami Ōshima, broadcasting to the entirety of their collective across Japan. Numerous commanders and veterans from the conflicts throughout the 1980s and early 1990s were beginning to feel their sweat build up, especially when the fearsome looking photographs were being projected to them across the Internet by the staff on the island. This wasn’t a blurry image from a distance, nor a nightvision visual taken in a moment of motion. These were clear as day photographs and video showing a Godzilla unlike anyone had seen before.
"Oh my God...."
“Gamma, Alpha, and Beta radiation readings spiking past the records!”
"Look at the size of those teeth!"
“Mass estimation at over 65,000 tons based on displacement!”
"Holy Father who art in Heaven..."
“Estimating 250 meter length and-"
"How can we win against that?!"
"-between 100 and 110 meter height!”
Dorsal spines, not at all the smooth and medium to small length maple leaves seen before, were jagged and bladelike with some being extremely long. The skin lacked the warty, irregular texture seen in both the aged photographs from the 1950s and video collections from the second individual, instead the hide was organized with rows of overlapping plates and scales. Whereas the second Godzilla was bulky to the degree of being effectively corpulent especially around the midsection and thighs, tightened muscle and animalistic leanness was visible with every movement of a limb on the new individual. Eyes situated under an armored brow crowned with small horns, were a blazing burnt gold surrounded by fiery red. Prominent fangs stuck out from shortened lips that occasionally glimpsed rows of pointed teeth. There was a sense of raw power but also majesty to it, like a sea dragon of legend come to life. The same sort of visage one might imagine on a tiger, bear, or bird of prey; intelligence and cunning far beyond most herbivorous animals. But, also the promise of danger which made it terrifying.
The fact Godzilla was making no effort to hide himself while approaching the island only made it more intimidating. It was, simply put, gigantic. It was visible from more than a kilometer away with clarity, something that should have been reserved for the largest of buildings, mountains, or forces of nature like storms. And yet it was animate, alive, mobile with intent. Even to those who’d seen kaiju before and knew of what they could reap, it was horrifying to think of something so unnaturally huge as alive.
Commander Aso often wondered about what to feel upon seeing such animate, reptilian enormity. A whale or an elephant might be intimidating, but there was a sense of pride and wonder at how a beast not that different bodily from a human could exist. A sense of unity in common mammalian features and emoting. Even the glimpses of the dinosaurs upon Isla Sorna collected a few years back could still invoke a sense of wonder as their bones did in museums. They had bones, skin, organs, bled, and lived or died not all that different from the wise ape called man.
But this… this thing that was as much an entity as it was a creature. It was almost nothing like the tame beast he’d seen hatch in Kyoto. It was born, truly born, from the very force that was the antithesis of all life. The force that scarred his country in the 1940s and terrified even its creators. This was a being who thrived in what meant death for all else. The old Shinto priestess Hina’s Odo island poetic chant echoed again through his mind, even as he told himself he was witness to just another freak mutation in a series of freak mutations which died before it.
Rise from the depths, kami of the sea
Incarnation of destruction from eternity
Pride has reigned so mercilessly
And so the dragon shall ever be
It kept its torso above water while thrashing its tail to propel it forward until it started getting to the shallows enough that 15 story tall legs could allow it to walk across the bottom, getting visibly larger and larger as more of it started to appear out of the water and close the distance to the photographers. Like it wanted them to see it coming.
The G-Force command post where Commander Aso stood was at the cusp of the Amami highlands, the visage of the near 700-meter Mount Yuwan 3 kilometers behind him. Before the command post was the wide, snaking harbor leading out to the ocean where Godzilla had just entered and was rapidly making its way through. The shores of the harbor were riddled with artillery, tanks, and the Full Metal launchers. A low rumble from the saurian echoed across the harbor. It had clearly noticed them and was making no effort to stop, heading straight for the command post at the mouth of the harbor.
It comes with strife, as it did long ago
And wherever its storm may blow
We beg innocent shelter from its revenge
As nature will be avenged
Its dorsal plates started to flash before building up to a persistent glow of radioactive azure death. Eyes were transfixed upon the direction of the command post as any thoughts that this creature might be of a different type than what came before were quashed by the massive roar it let out. Reverberating echoes and shuddering air carried the noise across the whole island. The same type of noise that echoed across a blazing Tokyo, the same variety of shrieking utterance that started chasing the Super-X, the very same Yuji heard on the cliffside with his daughter directly in front of it.
Yuji knew the moment was coming and closed his eyes.
Commander Aso, silently praying to any deities that might hear an agnostic out, raised his arm and called into a common link.
Wild and strong, it can't be contained
Never bound, nor ever chained
Death is not destruction’s end
So Gojira will live again
It shouldn’t exist. No Godzilla ever should have. No one had yet fully explained how they had either. Maybe some things weren’t for mankind to decide or determine. The chant warned of that. And yet here he was, trying to contain what shouldn’t be. Chain it to the bottom of the ocean with a blow it couldn’t recover from. He’d either be the savior of mankind, or the greatest of fools for this. In many ways though, Aso hoped it wasn’t the gentle beast he knew from Kyoto afflicted by such a fate. And if it was, he prayed to Godzilla, as bizarre as it seemed, that it might forgive him.
He found himself asking the same question he once had in 1954 as a youth, and in 1984 as a weary commander. Why a being like this had to exist or if it did, why did it need to intrude upon the realm of mankind.
Why couldn’t it have just stayed in the ocean?
Aso yelled out his command, “All artillery batteries, open fire- Fire for effect!”
Or in plain terminologies, hit it with everything they had.
======================
Io was finishing off a few algebra problems when her nerves suddenly convulsed with a jolt. It was so sudden, so unexpected she didn’t even register what it was at first. The young hybrid only did when a second jolt traveled through her body like she’d just been jabbed with a shock prod.
“Aughg!” Io yelped as she shot up from her chair, half expecting to have leaned on something sharp or perhaps some stinging insect had snuck into the GPN’s abode.
Only she found none upon checking the offending, throbbing site. Instead her chalky gray skin started to darken from a small bruise seemingly from nowhere. Then more came, Io crying out as she convulsed off her chair and nearly tumbled for the floor had she not caught herself on the table. The stabbing like by a dozen needles or hornets. Stinging, nipping, pain. She could feel it all! So much pain... so much anger.
It broiled, and she pleaded for it to stop.
Good work on the the Sunshine 60 scene. And I knew you were going to use that line eventually. I also noticed you seemed to have buffed Godzilla's size somewhat & did a bit of a re-design with the description given in this chapter.
It really sucks that Io has synchronized with Junior.
So when will Orga make an appearance?
That connection at the end, very interesting.
Wow that’s quite the chapter. Love Aso as a character when he shows his worries about either risk the lives of his men by fighting a possible peaceful Godzilla or do nothing and let a possible dangerous Godzilla roam around. His inner thoughts about the morality of his actions and his experiences with the history of Hideki Tojo were an entertaining read. The description of the Anti-Godzilla weapon and people’s reactions to first meeting Junior were amazing, though the ending was a cliffhanger with Io feeling what’s happening to Junior after being attacked by the people at the base.
Outstanding work as always Tarb. I was really moved by the inner thoughts with Commander Aso, that was very well-done. And that cliffhanger at the end... oof!
Love how you've done the internal conflict Iso is having
Alrighty, finished this one, I did like Yuki’s bit of still wanting to help to take care of Io, only to told Io can handle things herself, for a 14 year old she puts up a lot.
The bit with Aso’s conflicting thoughts of being a leader and trying not to think he is similar to Tojo. Is nice touch to understand Aso.I’m quite surprised you didn’t use this song in Aso’s dream sequence https://youtu.be/X3GY2DzCVH4
Also,
5428530
Huh, you know I actually hadn't heard that song in quite some time; but it is coming back to me now. I'll see if I can utilize it or other similar tracks in related vids later. Thanks!
Tis good to see Aso's part was well received, it literally was a last minute addition.
And yep. From the very moment I was gonna adapt Godzilla 2000 I just had to put that line in there somewhere. Tem would never let me hear the end of it if I didn't :P
One thing I didn’t comment on before with this take on Orga is that he also feels alien in not only powers & appearance, but through his mindset. He gives no regard in assimilating sentient life, potentially attacking children & teens, and views everything in calculations even more so than Xiliens.
The ties to 54, the emphasis on remembering Japan’s war crimes in WW2, and the dangers of rampant nationalism & unchecked hubris, along with the added mysticism to Goji. It all gives New Era a theme similar to GMK. And this was a good scene adding to Aso’s character.
I don’t even have to say anything. It just speaks for itself.
Yet another point in a Godzilla movie that I never see brought up. Like, it’s terrifying if private companies were able to build their own nuclear stockpile. Strange how often we end up thinking a lot alike, Tarb.
I feel like you buffed up Junior’s size than what it was established before. Or was it always like this?
Even in-universe, we must reference Senior’s thunder thighs.
The scene at Amami did a good job of looking at Junior from a Human’s perspective where it’s difficult to tell exactly what he’s thinking at a given moment, and it gives him an air of mystery & menace despite knowing his heroic nature. And the establishment of Io’s Gamera style Link with Goji raises some interesting questions for Io’s future in this Rewrite.
Overall, this was a good Calm Before The Storm chapter as the Penultimate part of Arc 1 for New Era.
Ah I see the connection with Junior is starting to really get to Io. This is concerning. Maybe they can talk to the Priestess about this.
Another really great chapter. My favorite part was how you drew parallels between Tojo and Aso. How the past still haunts some people and how they believe they'll be better then it. Time can only tell. I think it's a brilliant idea and I'm really glad to see it executed here phenomenally.
I like the continued banter between Yuki and Io, it shows they've definitely bonded, even if they still snark at each other. the introspection is also really nice, as is them still having some snark.
I like the moment of introspection and trauma. I also like the, while he doesn't admit it, the fact humanity's sword against Godzilla was ultimately destroyed by something that could be considered a testimony to Japan's pride.
But also highlights how much this would effect someone. How he can't help but compare himself to someone who he isn't exactly proud to potentially be compared to.
Help explains why Aso has the beliefs he does, and why he almost viewed Godzilla as a personal nightmare.
I also do like that on some level, Aso realizes that Yuji might very well be right and the current Godzilla might be friendly and thus they might simply enrage and do a self fufilling prophecy.
I do like this conflict, it makes Aso an extremely complex character.
Meanwhile, Yuki finds herself meeting Yuri, having barely escaped thanks to Belvera.
Hard to blame Yuki for thinking she's drunk, but naturally she decidedly is not.
Of course that soon changed.
'pipsqueak giant squid she tasered'
That line is a rare sentence, but I love it.
I do like Yuji's introspection and wondering what exactly is happening. While he an Katagiri have very different beliefs, they both have points of view, but Aso being reasonable.
However, the whole thing highlight's Katagiri's ego and hubris. He is very asured.
I DO like the use of the Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria in the past to clean up radiation.
And there's the line. I like how it's kinda used in universe as Katagiri making a corny joke.
While yes, Aso is right about the nuclear submarine...there's also the fact that despite the destruction he'd caused, Senior was the only thing that stopped the Futurians.
I do like the panic that showed when Junior appears, as well as the descriptions of how vastly different Junior is from his predecessors in appearance.
I also like that Aso can't shake off the Odo Island prayer.
I also like that rather than just firing, Junior is actively letting them see it coming and seems to be doing what looks like warning display rather than just blasting.
And Io ends the chapter feeling a pain as Aso reluctantly launches her attack on Godzilla.