"Cut!" The director shouted at us, and I undid my pose and ran off the set.
"How was that take, Kurosaki-san?" I nervously asked the director, as other people walked off the set and talked amongst themselves. Some people were helping to move the set.
"Excellent, just as you always are." He praised, and I looked down.
"Come on, I'm not that good at all." I protested.
"But you are, Emiko-san. Why do you think I asked for you specifically to be involved on this project?" He asked.
"Hey, Emiko-chan, we're going to go get some dinner to celeberate the movie's completion! Want to join us?" My best friend, Rica-chan, asked me. I waved at her.
"Sure. Just let me get my stuff." I started to walk away when the director called me back.
"You have several more scenes to do, so please come back tomorrow. After that, however, you're free." He directed, and I nodded. I then ran over to my dressing room. I grabbed my phone and backpack and whirled around to find a guy about my age standing in the doorway.
"Hey, are you Emiko-san?" He asked nervously, and I nodded.
"What are you doing back here? You're not allowed to be here." I stated, laying down the rules.
"Oh, I'm actually working on the movie too! I'm the costume guy. I'm Keita." He bowed politely to me, and I bowed back.
"Really? I never see you around here." I wondered.
"I'm always backstage. Hey, want to see some movie history?" He asked, a small grin forming on his face.
"I really shouldn't, I have to go to dinner with my friends to celebrate the movie's near-completion." I explained, walking out of my dressing room. "I'm sorry, Keita-san. Maybe tomorrow?"
"You sure you don't have any time? It'll just take a minute." Keita-san asked, a note of pleading rising in his tone. I looked back behind me, seeing Rica-chan chatting with another one of her friends. Clearly she still wasn't ready to go. I looked back at him.
"Alright, but only for a minute." I finally agreed, and he brightened. Keita-san grabbed my hand and started walking me over somewhere.
"Well, here we are!" Keita-san announced, throwing opening a door. He let go of my hand and turned the light on, bathing us in dark yellow light. I coughed from all the dust in the room.
"Where are we?" I asked, still coughing.
"A magical room." Keita-san laughed. "It's where they keep a lot of the costumes and suits from the old Godzilla movies." He walked over to one of the racks and pulled an Ebirah costume off its rack. "Fancy some seafood?"
"Be careful not to touch that stuff!" I scolded. "It could damage it! A lot of this stuff is almost sixty years old!"
"I was just joking," Keita-san protested, carefully hanging the costume back on the rack. "You're a huge stickler for the rules, aren't you?"
"There's nothing wrong with some authority!" I insisted, glancing at the racks. Some of the heavier costumes were standing up instead of being hung on the racks, and I had the unfortunate luck of running right into the old Mechagodzilla suit. I screamed and ran away from it.
"Hey, calm down! It's just a suit!" Keita-san said, walking over to me. "It can't hurt you."
"I know." I said, trying to catch my breath. "I'm terrified of giant monsters, and I hate the old costumes they used to use. They're just so cheap and scary-looking. Their eyes are so soulless!" I explained.
"Well, they are monsters. Having a pair of soulless eyes would make sense for them." He shrugged. Even though I managed to catch my breath, I was still shaking. "If you're so scared of them, why are you starring in the new Godzilla movie?"
"I thought it would be the best way to conquer my fears! Plus, the new models don't scare me. They finally fixed the soulless eye problem." I walked over to a Mothra puppet and looked at it curiously.
"Anyway, it sure was fun showing you these things, but I can't make you any later for your dinner." Keita-san stepped out of the costume room, and I followed him. He shut the door behind us. "But first, would you mind if I got a picture of you?" He pulled his phone out.
"Sure! Anything for a fan!" I smiled and did a peace-sign, and he took the picture.
"You look great as always, Emiko-san." He put his phone back up. "Well, have fun at that dinner of yours."
I suddenly felt very tired and fell to the floor, watching Keita-san's face quickly turn into a worried expression. He ran over to my side.
"Oh my gosh, are you about to have a seizure? Please don't! I'll go get help for you!" He cried. His voice sounded like it was underwater to me, and my head felt like it was about to split open. I slowly closed my eyes, the last thing I remembered was being picked up by someone.
#########
I woke up all by myself inside a large ditch. My head felt a lot better, so I assumed I just fainted from a bad headache. I looked down at my clothes and found them to be replaced by a yellow sundress, a white sunhat with a yellow ribbon tied around the center, a white pearl choker with matching earrings, and yellow flats. I also had white leggings under my dress.
"Haha, very funny guys!" I announced to nobody, slowly standing up. Of course this was just a cast prank, they were quite common around the set. Someone clearly changed my clothes and dragged me into the middle of nowhere while I slept off my headache. It was a pretty interesting prank, but now I was awake and it was time to take me back to the studio. "Alright, I'm awake. Now come on out and take me home!" I checked my backpack and found everything still in there, including the outfit I had on earlier. I pulled my phone out and found there was no service out here. Well, looks like I was going to find my own way back. I started walking with a determined step, making sure that if anybody was watching that they wouldn't think I was discouraged from their prank.
The city's outlines were in the far distance, so I knew I was somewhat still close to civilization. I kept walking, soon catching sight of a giant white rock ledge leaning up against the ditch's opening. Perfect, an easier way to climb out! I ran over to it, my spirits rising, and gently placed my foot on the rock's back. Soon my whole body was resting on the furry surface, and quickly reached my hand out to grab the ditch's opening when suddenly the 'rock' grew giant wings and started to beat them.
I screamed and held on as tight as I could to the furry surface, trying my hardest to not get blown away by the strong gusts of wind the wings were producing. Finally, the beating stopped, and the rock gently lifted itself up in the sky and started to fly smoothly. "You're not a rock! What are you!" I demanded, feeling silly just for doing it. I looked over at the being's wings and realized they had a very familiar-looking pattern. "Mothra? You're Mothra! But how? Am I in a movie? Am I in a dream? I saw that Mothra puppet earlier...or maybe this is all part of the prank! My cast members are just using that puppet and controlling it to take me back to the city! Of course!" I gazed down at the ground. "Well, stealing this puppet and taking it out of storage out in the middle of nowhere is illegal! I hope you get scolded for it!" I yelled down at the ground in case anybody was down there.
Afterwards, I laid down on Mothra's back and enjoyed the flight, feeling quite soothed by both her fur and her speed. Soon I dozed off, only to reawaken when she landed.
"Huh? Where are we? Back home?" I asked in a groggy tone, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Mothra lowered a wing so I could slide off her back without getting hurt, and I took in my surroundings. "Wait, this isn't the city! Where did you bring me?" I demanded, looking around at the seemingly barren island. Mothra simply wiggled, probably trying to tell me something but being unable to communicate due to a language barrier. "Fine, I suppose I'm supposed to find my own way home." I started walking away from Mothra, only to bump into something long and scaly. An inky, glassy eye stared down at me, and I promptly screamed.
"IT'S A MONSTER!" I screamed, running back over to Mothra and hiding behind her. I expected Mothra to fight the imposing threat, but she just stood there. Finally I peeked out from behind her and found Anguirus staring at Mothra, apparently confused about where I went. I slowly slid out of my hiding place and he walked over to me, giving me a nod. "I'm sorry for scaring you, but you scared me." I lamely apologized. He nodded again. "I wish there was someway I could communicate with you guys! Where am I? And why are you guys here? If this is a prank, it's a very elaborate one that's going to get several people in trouble."
Suddenly, a white light flashed in front of me, and Mothra's twin priestesses appeared in front of me. Since they were so small, I easily picked them up in my hand.
"Do not be afraid!" One of them whispered to me.
"Why am I here?" I asked.
"You were brought here for a reason." The second whispered to me.
"What reason?" I wondered, but they both shook their heads at me.
"We cannot tell you..." They whispered cryptically, hovering out of my hand and into the air.
"Is all this real?" They nodded. "Well, at least nobody will get in trouble."
"You will be fine here, none of the monsters here on this island want to hurt you." The second fairy reassured me. "Unless, of course, you hurt them, but I sense goodness in your soul. They sense it too, and therefore will treat you kindly."
"However, several powerful enemies exist in this world as well. Have faith in your monster allies, and you will be alright." The first warned.
"Defeat these enemies, and then you shall return home." The second explained.
"But how will I be able to communicate with these monsters? I can't speak whatever language they're speaking!" I protested.
"Close your eyes." The first priestess directed, and once I did, I felt something being blown into my face. "Now open them."
"What did you do?" I asked in curiosity.
"I cast a spell on you that will last for as long as you stay here. It will allow you to communicate telepathically with these monsters. Be warned, however, because your enemies might try to take advantage of this. Do not let on that you can understand them." The second priestess warned gravelly.
I nodded. "Well, I still don't know why I'm here, but I'll try my best to defeat these monsters and return home."
"Good luck, and do not fail." The two fairies vanished just as suddenly as they appeared, leaving me alone with the two monsters.
"Can you understand me?" I asked at the same time I thought it, just to check how exactly this new method of communication would work.
"Yes, we can." Several monsters' voices echoed in my head, catching me off-guard. Who else was on this island with me?
"Well, let's go defeat some monsters!" I laughed nervously, climbing back onto Mothra. She slid me off her back.
"Not yet. We first must go find our other allies." She directed, and I nodded. I walked ahead of the two of them, trying to keep the determined step I entered this strange new land with. I noticed the two had soon caught up with me, but they both seemed to be walking very carefully, trying to keep the ground from shaking and knocking me down.
We soon came across Rodan, sleeping in the sun with its wings covering it.
"Just wondering, but what gender is this one?" I asked. There were several different portrayals, after all, and none of them made the gender very clear.
"That one? That one is female." Anguirus answered for me helpfully. I looked at the two helplessly, being way too small to properly wake the monster up. I should've asked Mothra's priestesses for a spell that would've made me grow as big as these monsters. Anguirus swiped his claw across Rodan's wings, making the dinosaur-like monster wake up quickly and screech at him.
"Rodan!" I cried, making her stop and stare at me.
"A human! What do you want with us?" She demanded, and I quickly explained everything about my vague quest.
"Also, my name is Emiko..." I finished nervously, figuring I owed my new allies at least a name.
"What a lovely name. The girls of this planet always seem to have the loveliest." Mothra praised, and I beamed a bit.
"I don't think it's very pretty," I replied.
"I don't care about your name, human! You shouldn't even be on this island! Or even understand us!" Rodan yelled, looking ready to attack me.
"You think I want to be here? I'm terrified of monsters! The only way to go home is to defeat your enemies!" I shot back, suddenly covering my mouth. "I'm sorry, the worst thing I could do is scream at a monster..."
"Ignore her, she's very hostile towards humans. She's nothing compared to Godzilla though." Anguirus explained, starting to walk forward again. I followed, and so did Mothra, and finally Rodan decided to come along as well. The silence was starting to get to me, but I was too afraid of Rodan to make attempt any more conversation. Hopefully these other allies would be a bit more social.
Soon we approached another monster, this one with his back to us. His back was extremely furry and included a tail, which looked like a lion's. I called out to him, and he turned around to look at us with glowing red eyes. I screamed loudly again and hid my face.
"I hate this monster! Make it go away!" I ducked behind Mothra.
"This is why I didn't want her to come along!" Rodan griped.
"Relax, he means you no harm! He is on our side, Emiko-san. That is King Caesar." Mothra's voice cooed in my head.
"I don't care, his eyes scare me!" I cried.
"What is a human doing here? He is not going to like this." King Caesar stated calmly. His voice had an edge of wisdom to it, and I slowly came out of hiding and explained what I was doing.
"A strange sort of quest you've been sent on then. I'm not quite sure how he'll react to having a human with us, but as long as you stay quiet, he should have no problems with it," King Caesar explained and started walking away. I followed him, and so did the other monsters.
"I'm assuming the last monster we have to find is Godzilla, right?" I asked nervously, and Anguirus nodded. Soon we came to the edge of the island, which dropped off into the sea.
"I'll go get him." Anguirus said before rolling into a ball and diving into the water.
"Be careful!" I called after him, worried that he would drown.
He did not, however, because a few seconds later, he resurfaced and told us to stand back. Mothra swept me up onto her back and flew several yards away. Before I could ask anybody what was happening, something grey started to surface out of the water. It slowly revealed more and more of its body as it walked onto the shore, letting out a really loud roar that made me cover my ears in pain.
After Godzilla finished roaring, he caught sight of me on Mothra's back and stared me down. I stared too deeply into his eyes and screamed loudly.
"Terrible eyes!" I yelled, covering my own up. Mothra started to calm me down.
"Is she going to be this way around everyone today?" Rodan demanded.
"You cannot blame her, humans are very intimated by our size." King Caesar explained.
"Is that a human? What is it doing here? This island is supposed to be kept secret from humans!" Godzilla demanded, making a start for me. Mothra kept him away by beating her wings.
"Don't touch her! She is here to help us defeat several of our enemies. Her name is Emiko." Mothra calmly explained. I glanced up at Godzilla and saw that disgust was clear on his face.
"Fine, but don't let her touch anything." Godzilla turned away from us.
"Where are the enemies?" I asked.
"On the mainland, most likely." Anguirus speculated.
"So let's go!" I announced, making Mothra beat her wings and take off into the sky, hovering above everyone. Rodan beat her wings as well and shot up into the sky like a missile. Both Godzilla and Anguirus jumped into the water and started to swim, while King Caesar simply vanished in a bright flash.
Rodan flew off at a super-sonic speed, but Mothra kept a steady pace with me on her back, probably so I wouldn't fall off.
We kept flying together for a while, and I figured that since Mothra had been the nicest to me so far that I should try to talk to her.
"How are you?" I asked awkwardly, unsure of how to start a casual conversation with a giant monster.
"I am very good, how are you? Do you get motion sick easily? If so I can put you down." She offered, but I declined.
"I'm fine too, I guess..." I laid down on her and gently petted her furry body. If she appreciated the gesture, she didn't say anything about it.
"Here we are." She said, landing on the shore of Japan's mainland and letting me jump off. The other monsters were already there, Godzilla looking quite displeased with how slowly Mothra flew for my sake.
"Who will we fight first?" I asked, before hearing a metallic-sounding roar.
"That must be Gigan!" Mothra announced, and everyone except me took a fighting stance.
"I'll deal with him." Godzilla growled.
"What is he doing revived?" Anguirus wondered.
As we all watched, Gigan came out of the shadows and pointed a hooked hand to Godzilla.
"Godzilla, the so-called 'King of the Monsters', we meet again! This time, I won't go so easy on you!" He laughed menacingly, before focusing his attention on me. "And I see you've brought a human here as well! Gone soft? Or is she some sort of sacrifice? In that case, I think I'll take her and be on my way!" Without warning, Gigan advanced quickly towards me, waving his sharp hooks.
I screamed and ducked behind Mothra again, while Anguirus rolled himself up into a ball and threw himself at Gigan's feet, knocking him off-balance.
"Do what you want to us, but do not hurt the human! She is our business, not yours." He commanded after unrolling himself.
Gigan simply pulled himself back up and ran at Godzilla, and the two started to fight.
"What can I do to help? I need to get back home!" I asked Mothra, who simply nodded in the direction of the sea. I snuck my way over there and cupped my hands inside the water, coming up with a handful of it. I glanced over at Gigan, wondering if Mothra was suggesting I throw it at him. He was a cyborg, after all, so water must have some sort of effect on him.
Right as Godzilla knocked Gigan over with his tail, I threw the handful of water at Gigan, making a puddle at his feet that he didn't pay much attention to.
"I can't do anything because of my size!" I noticed, already thinking about how to make a puddle of water big enough to short Gigan out, or at least weaken him. I scooped another handful of water into my hands before remembering I had a large thermos in my backpack that I stored my leftover soup from lunch in. I quickly took it out and dumped the leftover soup into the ocean, watching it float away. I then scooped in sea water quickly, soon overflowing the thermos. I looked back at the monster fight and realized Godzilla was slowly losing.
"Soon, you'll lose this fight, and I'll destroy the rest of your allies and that human you seem to hold so dear to you!" Gigan mocked. I slowly walked over to him and threw the top off my thermos, dousing his foot in sea-water. The volume still wasn't enough to make him hurt, so I ran back and forth from the sea to Gigan several times, eventually forming a large puddle at his feet. "Ouch! What's this on my foot..." Gigan looked down and saw me standing at his foot, still holding the thermos and looking quite proud of myself. "You cocky little-!" He started to swing at me with his hook, only to have Rodan fire her Uranium breath on it at the last second. I ran and hid behind Mothra again.
The breath managed to dissolve that hand, leaving Gigan distracted long enough for Godzilla to knock him out with a punch and throw him into the ocean. Godzilla looked back at me, and I looked back at him. "Don't get too comfortable." He simply growled at me.
"Let's spend the night here on this beach. We'll leave at dawn. There's no reason to alert the humans to our presence just yet." Anguirus suggested before laying down.
I was feeling quite exhausted from everything that had happened to me as well, but just as I laid down,my stomach growled loudly. "Oh yeah, I didn't eat dinner..." I remembered in embarrassment. "Before I came here, I was going to eat dinner with my friends, but of course I never did."
"What should we do about that? We cannot just walk into the city and buy some food for you. If you go by yourself, you might get killed or captured by another monster." Anguirus asked.
"The better question is, why should we care? You basically did nothing today but scream and run away from monsters. And to make matters worse, you subside on a diet so vastly different from ours!" Rodan scoffed. "Things would be much easier if you could just eat radiation, like us." With that, she beat her wings at a speed that not only pushed me back a few yards, but also blew off my sunhat and shattered all of the pins that kept my hair up in a bun. My silky black hair cascaded down to my waist.
"My hair!" I cried, retrieving my hat.
"I don't care about such a minor thing." Rodan shrugged. I put my hat back on.
"I don't require very much to eat though. I really like fish!" I announced. At this, Godzilla strode over to the ocean and jumped in, showering us in fish of all kinds. He climbed back out just as I grabbed a fish that was near me. It slipped right out of my hands, and I ran after it: "Got ya!" I carried it back over to my spot and started gathering up sticks and leaves and throwing them into a small pile to make a fire.
After that pile was done, I just got the primal idea to rub two sticks together, and as soon as I had my fire, I slid a small, flat stone on top to cook the fish on. After that, I got to work gutting the fish with a sharp stick, deboning it the best I could, and then I set it on the stone and flipped it a few times to cook it.
"You humans have so much preparation to do for your food," Rodan scoffed. Still, she and the other monsters look on with interest.
Soon, my fish was done, so I peeled it off the stone and took a big bite of it.
"Does that satisfy you?" Anguirus asked, and after I swallowed, I nodded and explained that there was enough fish to keep me satisfied for a few days, if they chose to keep me here that long. After I finished that fish, I did the same for four more, eventually finding myself full. I put the fire out and found the sky to be very dark and the wind very chilly. I shivered. "And now, we rest." Anguirus announced, laying himself out on the sand.
Rodan laid down too and covered her whole body up with her wings, much as she was when I first found her. Mothra simply folded in her wings as she laid down. I lost sight of Godzilla, so I didn't know where he slept at. Probably in the water. I laid down as well and soon found myself at an inconvenient position since I had no giant wings to wrap around myself and keep myself warm. I didn't have a sweater since we had been filming in June and the studio got very warm during the day. Now, at night, the temperature had lowered significantly and I found myself shivering.
Eventually, however, I found an easy way to snuggle with myself, and soon I had fallen asleep as well, utterly exhausted from everything that had happened to me that day. I had no idea what monster we would fight next, or if I would even survive it. All that didn't matter at that moment, however. I just kept sleeping soundly on a beach, surrounded by giant monsters.
###########
I woke up the next morning, finally believing that this wasn't a dream. If it was, wouldn't I just have woken up in my own world? I looked around and found Rodan standing up, having just returned from a flight. I sat up and asked her where she went.
"Why does it matter to you, human? If you must know, I went out to look for some nuclear energy to feed off of. It's very hard to find in this time period." She flapped her wings.
"Wait, this time period? It should still be 2015." I stood up slowly, still very groggy and unused to sleeping on such a rough surface. Instead of answering my question, however, she simply turned away from me, and I could tell she was scoffing at me. Well, at least the somewhat-dated clothes were starting to make sense, but that still doesn't tell me what time period I was in. Clearly I had landed in the 20th-century if nuclear energy still isn't very common yet.
I looked over my clothes and found them to be thoroughly stained with yellow from the sand, but instead of my inner actress freaking out over my disheveled appearance, I simply shrugged. Did giant monsters really care that much about my looks? I figured not.
I cooked two more pieces of fish for breakfast and looked over at the sea-water, wishing there was a way I could drink it. Oh well, if we were going into the city today, I could just get something to drink there. The smell had roused the others, and soon they were all awake and walking around.
"We're going to the city today, aren't you excited?" Mothra asked me happily. I simply nodded and pulled my cell-phone out again and found that I had two bars of reception. Clue number two, at least this time period had technology. Or at least phones. I put it back, put out my fire, and stood up quickly.
"Ready to go?" Anguirus asked, clearly ready to get underway. I looked around nervously and shook my head.
"Before we go, I have one last thing I have to take care of," I answered nervously.
"Humans and their unnecessary preparations for everything." Rodan scoffed.
"I have to...well..." I wasn't quite sure how to explain this a group of monsters. Sure, it was clear mutated monsters ate and slept, but did they actually use the bathroom? "I have to use the bathroom. You know, pee?" I asked, trying to make it clearer. "So, you know, could you maybe give me some privacy?"
"Humans and their needs!" Rodan scoffed. "I'll go check the city and see what sort of monstrosities have been unleashed there. You guys join me when you're ready." Without waiting for an answer, she took off at a supersonic speed.
"Here, hide behind me." Mothra offered sweetly, and I nodded graciously and ran behind her. She turned sideways and started preening her wings, something I didn't know moths could do. I pulled my thermos out of my backpack, finding another use for this contraption, and I pulled the top off and quickly and loudly peed inside it. Afterwards I stood back up and simply topped the thermos again and put it back inside my backpack, not wanting to simply dump it out on the beach but not finding a use for it yet.
"Alright, I'm done! Let's go to the city!" I announced, and Mothra nodded and I got on her back again. She took off and flew very fast to the city, setting me down in the middle of it. I looked around in confusion. "Hey, what happened? A lot of the buildings are really low-tech!" I noticed.
"That is because you are no longer in your time period. It is still June 26th, but not in 2015. Instead, it is June 26th, 1992." Mothra explained.
"What was the point of sending me back in time?" Nobody had an answer for that.
At that moment, the imposing figure of the original Mechagodzilla stepped out from behind a building and roared at us. I took one look at its glowing yellow eyes and screamed loudly.
"Scary!" I hid my face in Mothra's fur.
"There she goes again," Rodan growled. Meanwhile, Godzilla walked past us and started to confront his mechanical double.
The fight was pretty basic, just the two monsters throwing punches and occasionally Godzilla swinging his tail at Mechagodzilla, but I knew I had to intervene in someway if I ever wanted to go home. I slid off of Mothra and started to look around for something I could use to my advandage, and soon found several knocked-down telephone wires near the sparring monsters. That could work, if I could somehow touch them without getting electrocuted myself. I stood there and kept thinking about it, all the while as the two fought.
At some point Mechgodzilla gained the upper-hand and stared at me with his piercing yellow eyes, making me scream again. "Stop that!" I cried. Godzilla knocked the monster down with his tail, and I could tell by his many dents that he was starting to weaken. My plan would surely be the last straw for him. I suddenly remembered my thermos in my backpack, and in a rush I took it out and spilled the urine out into a puddle that resembled a running stream. I made sure it was touching the power lines and was in a place Mechagodzilla was sure to step in it, then I ran away as fast as I could so I wouldn't get hurt by the result. I climbed back onto Mothra's back and she took to the air, hovering around so I could see if my plan worked or not.
Sure enough, Mechagodzilla's foot stepped in the puddle, and his electricity meshed with the power line's and threw it out of whack, resulting in him getting electrocuted. He leaned forward as he finally shut down. Sure, someone could turn him back on, but hopefully I would be long gone before that happened. Godzilla stared at me, and I stared back.
"You are either very smart or very dumb, human. Your ideas all involve shorting out these monsters. Don't get comfortable, my many enemies aren't all robots and cannot be defeated so easily." He growled at me.
"I'll figure out plans for all of them. And my name is Emiko." I growled back at him.
"Let us go look for more threats," Anguirus suggested, and we all agreed. We left that devastated part of the city behind, and as I saw more of the city, I couldn't help but wonder where all the people were. Did they all get killed by the monster attacks? Or were they all just hiding? Or maybe this was an alternate universe where the monsters rule and I was just unfortunate enough to stumble upon it? I decided to ask Mothra.
"There are some humans here, yes. A lot of them were killed in the monster attacks, especially when King Ghidorah released his reign of terror onto this nation and killed millions with his monster attacks. He's now the king of this nation and plans to rule the entire world. He has a deep dislike for humans and won't hesitate to kill you on sight. We must protect you from him." Mothra warned gravely. I nodded in understanding. So, King Ghidorah was behind all of these monster attacks and general uneasiness? It makes sense, he's known for his hostility in the movies.
"How many monsters do you have to fight before you can go home?" Anguirus asked, and I realized I had no answer for that. The priestesses told me I had to fight several, but that could've meant any amount. I should've asked way more questions earlier.
"Four, maybe? That sounds about reasonable. Or maybe three?" I speculated. As I sat on Mothra's back, thinking, a loud echoing roar made us all jump. The roar sounded vaguely bell-like. I looked over at the direction the roar came from and found King Ghidorah flying straight for us at a breakneck speed.
"So you all want to do battle with the true king of the monsters, hmmm, is that it? Well in that case, I'd be foolish to not accept it!" He came to a stop and hovered in the air in front of us. "What's this? I see you've brought a human with you! Maybe I should just let you go and take the human with me?"
I wondered if maybe he was being controlled by aliens like in most of his film appearances, but there was no outward sign that he was. Although, would something like that be so easy to detect outwardly? As I was thinking, he snapped his middle mouth at Mothra, and I accidentally caught myself looking into his eyes and promptly screamed as loudly as I physically could as I result.
"FLY, FLY, FLY!" I screamed, tugging on Mothra's fur to make her fly. She did, zooming out of there as fast as she possibly could with her hurricane-force winds. However, King Ghidorah soon caught up to us and snapped again, this time the force strong enough to knock me off Mothra's back and send me spiraling to the ground.
I closed my eyes and prepared myself to become sidewalk goo before a red blur flew past me and threw me onto its back. I clung onto its neck in a panic, temporarily not caring if it was an ally or enemy. The figure soon set me back down on the ground and scoffed.
"You could've held onto Mothra tighter!" She scolded me, and I found myself looking up at Rodan's imposing figure.
"Hey, that wasn't my fault! King Ghidorah knocked me off!" I shot back, sick of these monsters thinking they could just yell at me.
"That's no excuse." Rodan scoffed again before taking to the skies and continuing her battle with the dragon.
It was clear King Ghidorah was mostly only interested in me, and would soon overpower my temporary allies unless I quickly thought of a way to weaken him. I started looking around for things to combat him with, first thinking that maybe electricity could have some sort of effect on him despite not being mechanical.
"Hey, King Ghidorah!" I pulled my phone out of my backpack and hurled it at the monster, managing to shatter my phone on his knee. He briefly looked down to see what happened, but quickly resumed fighting. Alright, so that didn't work. My next tactic was to find a way to immobilize him by injuring or even cutting off his wing. I figured ice might do the trick, and luckily, I remembered an old ice-cream parlor several kilometers down the street that would work. I ran down the street as fast as I could possibly could, ignoring the loss of one of my shoes and hat in the process.
I finally threw myself into the ice-cream parlor and thankfully, found the place open but empty of people. I ran into the kitchen and poked around for an ice machine big enough to freeze King Ghidorah. I soon found a freezer filled with six large bags of ice and a huge ice machine, and luckily for me, the ice machine has a nozzle attached. Probably for making snow cones, but I didn't have enough time to speculate. I hurriedly ripped open the bags the best I could with a knife I found and carelessly dumped them into the machine, knowing King Ghidorah could return at any second.
Sure enough, just as I cut open the last bag, the roof of the kitchen collapsed in and I got knocked over by the debris. I realized that meant my foe was there and I desperately tried to crawl away, only to have a golden tail whip out, throw me into the air, and get my body wrapped around something gold and even tighter.
"Foolish human! Don't you realize why so few of your kind are left in this city, this nation? It's because they were all just like you, too clever for their own good. No mere human can take me down! I'll make sure you understand that too." His middle head roared at me as I slowly came to realize I was wrapped up in his first head's neck. He set his feet down on the ground, and I realized how close I was to the hose. If I could just trick him...
I screamed really loudly again, making the dragon smile. "Yes, that's right! Scream human, before I choke off the air to your lungs!"
"Wait, before you kill me...!" I shouted, making him look at me. I noticed that when he grabbed me, my other shoe had fallen off and lay at his own feet. "Could you let me die with just a bit of dignity? Let me grab my shoe and put it back on, then you may kill me." I asked sweetly, turning on my acting charm.
"Fine, but make it quick. I like fresh snacks." True to his word, he set me down and started preening his wings as I slowly made my way over to both my shoe and the hose. After checking to make sure the machine was on, I hid the hose behind my back and put my shoe back on. He looked back at me. "Ready to die?" He asked evilly, and I nodded nervously. "Good! Ah, you foolish humans are all the same. Always so accepting of your impending death."
"Just one last thing?" I asked.
"What?" King Ghidorah asked impatiently, and I pointed the hose's nozzle right at his wings.
"My name is Emiko!" I threw the switch on and the hose sprayed King Ghidorah's wings with frozen ice, pelting him and even getting some tiny crystals to latch onto him.
"You foolish human! What have you done to me?" He demanded in anger, but I simply kept freezing his wings. Mothra showed up and sprayed a silky web onto him and flew me away on her back as he fell to the ground, immobile due to the silk. Godzilla came over and finished the job, breaking the wings and throwing the body into the sea.
And with the final monster defeated, we all returned back to the island I had came to this world on.
"I suppose I should go home now, but I have just one last question." I asked.
"Of course, anything. Ask away." Mothra answered sweetly.
"What happened to that creepy guy, King Caesar? I saw him yesterday here but he never participated in any of our battles. It's a shame, despite his fearsome appearance, he looked like a strong fighter." I shrugged, partially glad I only had to encounter him once. Those eyes alone seemed to bore into my soul way more than any other monster I encountered these past days.
"He must be summoned into battle with a special poem. You never sung the poem, therefore, he never came."
"Huh. That sound pretty stupid," I commented. Suddenly another flash of light appeared in front of me, and it revealed again Mothra's twin priestesses.
"Congratulations, you have passed and may now return home." The first happily cooed.
"You have conquered your fear of these legendary beasts and therefore can live at peace with them." The second explained.
"Remember, however, that does not mean you are free. If they or we ever need your help again, we shall send you into this world once more." The first warned.
"Now, close your eyes." The second commanded, and once I did I felt a weight being lifted from my shoulders. Once I opened them again, she explained that my ability to communicate with the monsters was gone, and I felt a bit disappointed at this. Now they wouldn't be able to understand my goodbye.
"Also, you might want to...change your clothes." The first suddenly suggested, producing a golden wall mirror for me to look into. She was right, my hair was tangled and had bits of melted ice in it, my leggings were torn in places and stained with sand, the bottom half of my dress had been shredded when the debris fell on top of me, I only had one shoe on, and there was a bleeding cut on my cheek.
"What do you expect when you travel with monsters?" I shrugged. The second priestess blew a golden dust onto me, and I spun around as my clothes changed again.
Once I stopped spinning, I found myself in a flowing white evening gown, white heels, a silver, sparkly wrap, and my black hair pulled up into a tight bun and held with silver chopsticks. Diamond earrings and a choker were my selected jewels, and my lips and eyes had faint traces of rosy pink on them.
"What a perfect outfit for an actress." The first smiled, and I smiled back.
"We hope to see you again soon," The second said, and I nodded.
"I hope that when a disaster strikes here, I'll be the first person you call! Although, make sure it's a monster I'm not scared of anymore, alright?" I asked nervously. "I'm still terrified of Destroyah, Biollante, SpaceGodzilla-"
The two priestesses giggled.
"Wasn't the whole point of this? To face your fears?" The first continued to giggle. "Now, go home, and enjoy your dinner." They clasped their hands together and whispered a prayer, and soon I found myself becoming very weak and falling to the ground. The last thing I saw were my monster allies staring at me, wondering what was happening. I only wished I could say goodbye to them...
######
I woke up on the couch of my dressing room, my head spinning still. I looked up and found the worrying faces of a nurse, the director, Keita-san, and Rica-chan staring at me. At my awakening, they seemed to visibly relax.
"Oh, thank God! I thought you had a seizure or something! Keita-san was screaming that and I got insanely paranoid! I'm so glad you're alright!" Rica-chan explained in a rush, finally hugging me tightly. "Do you feel alright? If not, I'll call our dinner off."
"No, I feel alright. Just give me a moment to compose myself, then I'll meet you out front." I said shakily, and Rica-chan nodded and left. The nurse left as well, and the director left after telling me to take it easy. Only Keita-san remained.
"Are you alright? I mean, I know you are, but-" He cut himself off nervously. "I'm sorry for whatever I did to you by taking your picture. I'll probably never understand it, but just know that I'm sorry." He sighed and started to leave my dressing room. I grabbed his shoulder.
"Hey, want to go out to the celebration with my friends tonight? It'll be a lot of fun! We're going to pop champange and everything! And the glasses will have pictures of the classic Showa era monsters on them!" I offered excitly, and to my delight, he smiled.
"Sounds nice. I'll meet you outside." He waved to me before he left, and I waved as well. After he left, I stood up wobbly and found myself in the clothes I wore to the shooting today. So, was it all just a dream? Only one way to find out. In a rush, I threw open my backpack and found the glittering dress, along with a brand new phone and a note. Curious, I pulled the note out and found it to be written in very fancy characters.
Dear Emiko-chan,
We are forever eternally grateful to you. Please wear this dress whenever you can and spread a little bit of your courage onto others in your own world. Your allies already miss you and await your return. Ah, Mothra does anyway. The others are reluctant to admit it, but they miss you too. Rodan hasn't stopped pacing since you left.
Your guides and friends,
The Shojibin.
Also, we felt sorry your phone had been broken in the battle. Despite its futuristic look, we seemed to find a model that perfectly matched it back on our island. Use it well.
I smiled a bit at the letter, then carefully folded it back up neatly and placed it on my vanity. If anybody questioned it, I'd say it was a fan letter.
Not wanting to keep my friends waiting any longer, I zipped my backpack back up, sprayed some perfume on, slipped my backpack back on, and ran outside. I wondered where my next adventure with my new friends would take me...