Title: In The Eyes

Category: Pokémon: Detective Pikachu/Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Genre: Drama

Disclaimer/Author's Note: I own none of these characters or the films they appear in. Both films just happen to be copyright to Warner Bros., Legendary and Toho Co. Warning, this does contain big spoilers, so don't read this if you haven't seen the films, and yes, I mean both films. Also, you guessed correctly, I am referring to the fact that Ken Watanabe appeared in both films. It was only a matter of time until someone made that connection.

Lieutenant Hide Yoshida found himself standing in this dark and unusual cave. It must have been a volcanic area because the only light was from the red and flowing magma that dripped down the rocky walls. He realized that he was wearing a hood with a mask that fogged with his breath. Looking down at his hands, he noticed that he wore gloves and he was wearing a protective suit.

There were even more things strange about the cave. Yoshida found himself standing on a platform atop of a set of stone stairs. Within the glow of the magma, he could see sculptures on platforms similar to the one he stood on. On the walls were carvings depicting an ancient civilization. Could he have been in what was once an ancient city that was destroyed in a cataclysmic event?

At his feet was a device that resembled a bomb, or a warhead, the timer was slowly ticking down to zero. Yoshida considered running before the timer reached zero, but he didn't know exactly where to run. He could have run down the stairs, but the stairs ended in a pool of dark water and any chance of an exit underwater was very slim.

Through the mask of the suit, Yoshida saw the most bizarre thing in the cave. Nearby on the platform was a creature, bigger than anything he had ever seen before, lying on its belly. The creature reminded Yoshida of the reports of giant Torterras within the restricted area around the lab where malicious experiments were conducted on Pokémon. However, the creature looked different from all of the Pokémon known to mankind, it was bigger than what the Torterras were described to be and something very different. It was reptilian in appearance with dark green-grey scales, slit-like nostrils on its square shaped snout, a wide mouth lined with sharp teeth, thick forearms that ended in clawed hands, and three rows of large jagged spines ran down the creature's back. Even though the creature's lower body was obscured in the shadows, Yoshida could make out the creature's thick legs and a muscular long tail. The creature must have been sleeping, its eyes were shut beneath thick and scaly brows.

Yoshida stared silently at the creature, frozen in both awe and fear. Whatever this creature was, it was both magnificent and intimidating. Suddenly, the creature opened its eyes, as if it sensed Yoshida's presence. Staring back at Yoshida were two gold-red orbs that glowed like the dripping magma.

For a moment, Yoshida thought that the creature would simply crush him for disturbing it, but the creature did not even budge as it stared him down. If the creature wanted to crush Yoshida, it would have done so, but the creature stared with curiosity rather than hostility. In the creature's eyes there was something deep, like some form of intelligence or experience shaped from many years since ancient times. Had this creature been living down in these ruins for thousands of years?

Glancing at the bomb, Yoshida noticed that it was nearing zero, there was no point in running. Removing the mask and gloves, Yoshida decided that he could not escape the inevitable. He set down the gloves and mask and walked towards the creature. There was something about the creature that was familiar to Yoshida, like someone he had met a long time ago. The creature's nostrils flared as it watched him, yet did not move another muscle.

Staring up into the creature's gold-red eyes, Yoshida reached his hand out to touch the creature's scaly skin. The creature's skin felt warm and like volcanic rock in texture. At Yoshida's touch, the creature's only reaction was the narrowing of its eyes, as if squinting like someone reading small print on a document.

As the bomb ticked down the last seconds, Yoshida felt like he had made an emotional connection with the creature.

"Goodbye," said Yoshida in Japanese, "old friend." Then everything flashed white.

Yoshida bolted upright behind his desk with a gasp. Looking around his office, he realized that he dozed off at his desk while going through paper work and had one bizarre dream. He checked his cell phone lying next to the stack of papers, the time read five after ten in the evening. He looked out the window, the sky was dark and the neon signs of the city were glowing furiously bright.

There was grunt at his left and Yoshida noticed Snubbull staring at him with its head cocked slightly. His Pokémon companion often had a grumpy expression, not uncommon to the species, but Yoshida could tell that Snubbull was concerned.

"It's late," Yoshida said to his Pokémon, "perhaps we should go home for the night."

He stood up from his desk chair, grabbed his coat, his hat and his phone from the desk. As he reached for his phone, he noticed the newspaper he had set aside for reading later. The headline on the cover story read: Mysterious Ruins of Ancient City Discovered. The headline was accompanied by a photograph of engravings within ancient ruins, oddly similar to the ones in the dream. The engravings in the photo depicted what resembled people kneeling to a large creature that did not resemble any known Pokémon. The creature looked like the one that Yoshida saw in the dream.

Yoshida shook his head, believing that the newspaper probably triggered his imagination while he dozed off. He shrugged on his coat, turned off the light and walked out of his office door with Snubbull behind him.

The End.