King of Monsters

Prologue: Past Scars

Unnamed Island, Pacific Ocean, 1979.

He was close. He was so close to finally glimpsing the legend again. He hadn't seen it since that day in 1954, but he knew that the legend had reawakened.

"Dr. Serizawa?" his associate, James, asked.

"What is it?" the old scientist replied in his thick Japanese accent. He never did like English all that much.

"Are you certain he's here?" James asked. He was a young scientist, new to the Monarch division. He was distinctly American. At first, Serizawa wasn't looking forward to having to work with the man on his hunt.

Serizawa still had apprehension towards Americans. He would never get over that apprehension, even if he had grown to trust some of them. Surviving Hiroshima had that effect on him. He fingered the stopped watch in his pocket, his memento of that day.

"I am certain," Serizawa replied. "All of the readings point to his movement."

James didn't seem to like that response though. "It could have been another mega-fauna," the young man stated. "It's our job to study creatures like that, so it's conceivable that Monarch sent us here to catalog and contain whatever creature is here."

"You have not seen Gojira with your own eyes," Serizawa replied. "It is an experience that never leaves you."

The two continued to press through the island's jungle in silence, each left to their own thoughts. They had gone on like that for a quarter of an hour. I am too old for this, Serizawa thought to himself as he helped James cut through some foliage.

Boom. Boom. Boom. BOOM. BOOM.

"He is here!" Serizawa exclaimed, following the booming, unmistakable sounds of giant footsteps.

"But I thought we fried him 25 years ago!" James exclaimed.

"He survived," Serizawa told James while quickening his pace. "I never doubted it."

Then, the jungle parted, revealing their geographic location on the island. They were on a cliff, overlooking the entire western half of the island. The island itself was a breathtaking sight, but that was not what held the two scientist's attention.

Standing in the surf, water still cascading off his mountainous form was Gojira himself. He was just as massive as Serizawa remembered. The monstrous reptile stood nearly 120 meters tall, and was built like the mountains he so resembled. His head and snout reminded Serizawa of grizzly bears, but the rest of him was more akin to a dragon.

A light was reflected into Serizawa's eye as Gojira began to move onto the shore, shaking the earth with every step. Serizawa turned to the source, and was greeted with a new mega-fauna. This creature was covered in shining, golden scales that reflected the sunlight brilliantly. It stood on four limbs. Its rear legs were thin, but powerful. Its forelegs connected at the back, and looked like they concealed wings. Its neck and tail were thick and powerful. The head was horned, and looked a dragon out of every legend Serizawa had ever known.

Serizawa got the feeling he was looking at a true dragon. Only, this monster was massive. He wasn't as large as Gojira, but at three quarters of the giant reptile's size, the golden-clad beast was a force to be reckoned with.

"What is that?!" James exclaimed in awe, referring to the dragon.

Serizawa thought for a moment. That creature, while very alien to his eyes, seemed eerily familiar.

"I don't know," the old scientist replied at last. "But it reminds me of an old Japanese legend."

"What legend would that be?"

"The legend of Ghidorah."

Both scientists went silent as the titans approached one another to battle. Gojira wasted no time in using the most powerful weapon that Serizawa knew of. The jagged dorsal spines on Gojira's back began to glow a patchy blue, starting at the tip of the tail and moving up his spine as the dragon approached ignorantly.

Serizawa shielded his eyes from the initial flash. When he looked again, the dragon, which Serizawa would call Ghidorah, after the legend, was under the intense blue energy of Gojira's fire blast. Ghidorah shrieked and balked, trying to hide itself from the intensity of Gojira's most powerful weapon. Serizawa could see the scales beginning to glow from the intense heat.

Serizawa felt the hair all over his body stand on end. It felt like the air was suddenly charged with energy. Serizawa saw Ghidorah begin to emanate yellow electricity bolts from its body. Ghidorah opened his maw and sent a massive bolt into Gojira's face. The bolt stopped Gojira's fire barrage.

The two scientists watched in awe as Ghidorah spread its massive wings, and became airborne. Something that large should not be able to fly! Serizawa thought to himself. Another bright flash of light followed.

When Serizawa could use his senses again, he heard his Geiger counter ticking at a rapid pace. He was stunned to see that there was no sign of Ghidorah. The creature had just vanished. As the Geiger counter was winding down, Gojira let out a frustrated roar to the skies where Ghidorah had vanished.

Ishiro, Serizawa thought with worry. He knew that he had just been hit with a large dose of radiation. At his age, there would likely be complications, and he'd be dead within a year or two. It's time to tell you everything I know.

"Dr. Serizawa," James's panicked voice cut in, "the radiation! It destroyed the camera! Everything we just recorded was wiped out!"

"That is the least of my worries," Serizawa said, thoughts of his son heavy on his mind.

Tokyo, Japan, 2009.

Ford stepped off the airplane into Tokyo. As he took in the sights of the airport, he realized that his Japanese was extremely rusty. He slightly dreaded what he was about to do. But there was nothing he could do to turn back now.

The cab took him into a cheaper part of town. It had been two years since Ford had last seen him. Could he handle it? For eight years, he'd grown up under an obsessed father. Joe was once a refined, dignified, and proud man. Then the reactor melted down in the earthquake. Ford's mother had died. Joe went crazy, and Ford was left virtually, if not physically, alone.

Ford had been extremely relieved when he finally left his dad in '07. He had immediately signed on to join the Navy. He created a stable life for himself. Then he met Elle. She changed everything. It was then that he realized what his father must have been through when his mother died. To love someone so much, and then lose them in a freak accident… It was a lot. Ford's heart softened towards his father some.

Elle talked Ford into personally inviting Joe to their wedding. Ford, despite what he felt, still thought that it was a bad idea. He may have partially forgiven his father, but Ford wasn't so sure about letting the older man back into his life. Joe was still crazy, regardless of Ford's feelings about the reason for the older man's craziness.

He stepped out of the cab in front of a run-down apartment building. The place had definitely seen better days. Ford recalled the house his family had lived in before the meltdown. It wasn't large, but it was nice, sporting traditional Japanese architecture and was located in a wonderful neighborhood. Now his father had been reduced to this dump.

Ford carefully entered the building, trying not to touch too much, as it obviously wasn't well kept. The lobby was manned by a single clerk, who looked like she would rather be doing something else.

'I am here to see Joseph Brody,' Ford said in Japanese. He was slow and careful with his words, as his Japanese was extremely rusty.

The clerk spoke rapidly, with many words being indistinguishable to Ford. However, he got the general gist of what the woman was trying to say. He left her with an "arigatou" and left to find his father's apartment.

The Navy officer took a deep breath as he stood outside his father's door. Joe had no idea that Ford was coming, and Ford wondered how his dad would react. Hopefully, the older man wouldn't start rambling about his conspiracy theories. Why he couldn't accept the simple truth of what happened that day was something Ford would never understand. After several more breaths, Ford knocked.

The noises of several rusty locking mechanisms could be heard, and the door opened, revealing Joe's tired, unshaved face. The older man stood in a daze for a second, struggling to believe what he was seeing.

"Hi dad," Ford stated simply.

"Ford," Joe said as he let out a breath.

The older man quickly rushed forward to embrace his son. Ford, caught off guard, took a moment to react to what was happening. However, the Navy-man hesitantly returned his father's embrace.

"It's so good to see you!" Joe exclaimed, a light in his eyes.

"Yeah," Ford replied simply.

"What brings you all the way to Japan?"

"Can we step inside?"

Joe realized that they were still in the hallway of the apartment building. "Oh, yes of course," the ex-engineer replied.

Ford followed his father into the apartment. It was a small apartment, with only a main room, a small bathroom, and a bedroom. As Ford examined the place, his heart sank. Newspaper articles, notes, and all sorts of data was scattered about the room. Joe hadn't given up his conspiracies.

"Excuse the mess," Joe stated. "It's just research data I've been collecting."

"Right," Ford stated quietly, hoping that his father wouldn't go any deeper into it.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two men. They hadn't seen each other in two years. Ford knew that Joe had returned to Japan to further his search for his crazy theories, but a part of him always hoped that Joe could find a way to give it up.

"So, what brings you out to Japan?" Joe asked again.

"I'm getting married," Ford stated simply.

Joe was taken aback. The older man wasn't sure how to react to the news. However, once he was done processing his thoughts, he let out a tentative:

"That's… great!"

"I think so," Ford stated, more to himself.

"Who's the lucky lady?" Joe asked, his voice growing more lighthearted.

"Her name's Elle Martin," Ford responded. "She's…" Ford hesitated. How did he describe someone so perfect? "She's," he tried again, "an amazing woman. Kind-hearted and caring, but very motivated in her own right. She's actually a nurse at San Francisco General Hospital."

Joe gave a genuine smile. "I'm glad you found someone as dedicated to helping others as you are. So, why tell me in person? I'm sure a phone call would have sufficed."

Ford took a deep breath. "It was Elle's idea. She wanted me to personally invite you to the wedding."

Joe's face darkened. "I take it you've told her, then?"

Ford nodded. "She thought it would be good for us if I did this."

Joe nodded in response. A tea kettle started whistling on the stove, and Joe rushed to get it. Ford watched as his father took the kettle off the stove, and poured himself a glass. Joe looked at Ford, silently offering some tea, but Ford declined with a shake of his head.

"When's the wedding?" Joe asked after taking a small sip.

"It's in two weeks," Ford replied.

"Why so soon?" Joe asked, his eyebrows scrunched as he was thinking. "Wait. She isn't…?"

"No!" Ford replied sharply. "The wedding is so soon because I leave for my first tour of duty in three weeks."

"Ah," Joe replied.

There was an awkward silence as Joe continued to sip his tea. Ford heard a clock ticking from somewhere. A radio was quietly going on about something in Japanese.

"Dad?" Ford finally said. "Will you come home with me? Please? There may be some… difficult things between us, but I want you to come home and be a part of this."

"When do you leave?" Joe asked after a moment of thought.

"My plane departs tomorrow night," Ford replied, allowing a glimmer of hope to well up in him. Maybe his dad would finally come to his senses.

Joe shook his head, crushing Ford's hopes. "I can't leave that soon. I'm on the verge of uncovering something big. I have to be here for it."

"Dad," Ford said desperately.

"That day ten years ago was no ordinary accident!" Joe exclaimed, the flames of passion in his voice. "No earthquake could have caused that meltdown! The reactor housings were simply too strong for all but the worst of quakes, and the readings from that day weren't even a 4.0 on the Richter scale! I'm telling you, there's something off about the whole thing!"

"It was an earthquake!" Ford yelled, his emotions boiling over. "Why can't you accept that?! There was an earthquake and a landslide together! I saw the slide with my own eyes!"

"Then you have to know that the official story is a lie!"

"Move on!" Ford yelled in Joe's face. "That's why I didn't want to do this! I'm trying move on from the loss of that day! But every time your 'research' comes up, you drag me back! I'm going to have a family of my own soon! I can't have this hanging over them!"

Ford began to stomp towards the door, enraged. He knew this would happen. He tried to tell Elle, but she wouldn't hear any of it. Against his better judgment, he'd caved to Elle's request. But, more and more, it was looking like a wasted plane ticket.

"Ford!" Joe called. "Don't walk away from this!"

"If this is how it's going to be, then stay here!" Ford told his father. "I don't want any of this in my life anymore!"

With that, Ford left, slamming the door behind him. He stormed off, hoping to never have to hear about his father's crack-pot theories again.

San Francisco, USA, 2015.

Ford shot bolt upright, drenched in sweat. He'd been reliving his past in nightmares once again. It had been happening ever since the events of a year before. The realization that his father was right coupled with Joe's immediate death had been a cause of constant emotional grief for Ford.

In this particular nightmare, he had been reliving the day he had met his father in Japan, back in 2009. The conversation had played through in his dream, in horrible clarity. Every harsh word in the memory had hit Ford in the gut. He wanted to say something, anything to change what had happened that day, but he could do nothing. He watched helplessly as history played out again. Then, to add to the pain, his nightmare included a new detail, a MUTO leg crashing through the apartment, killing Joe as Ford walked away in disgust.

Ford felt a pair of arms embrace him gently. He released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as he melted into Elle's embrace. Although, he still felt guilty for waking her up, again.

"What was it this time?" she asked gently.

"Dad," Ford replied simply, feeling tears well up in his eyes. He let them go. These were the tears he never shed when his father was killed.

"Our wedding?" Elle asked him, concern rising.

Ford nodded.

"I'm so sorry," Elle said, her sympathy comforting Ford.

Ford sat in silence. He needed to find a way to deal with these nightmares. And the pain behind them.

Alpha Centauri Star System, 2015.

A massive golden creature floated in space. A planet wasn't far off. It was once teeming with life, but the golden dragon had laid waste to it, collecting the genetic information found there. The golden creature had evolved, growing two additional heads and gaining even more muscle. It was time to settle a score with an old enemy.

A/N: Well, this is the prologue of my first Godzilla fanfiction. Since I am such a huge Godzilla fan, this project was more or less inevitable. Although, it's probably the least developed of my stories, so it likely won't see as many updates as my other two projects. As for the content of this chapter, I used several sources, including Dr. Serizawa Sr. from Godzilla: Awakening. And I pulled Elle's maiden name from the Steve Martin character from 1956's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as tribute to the classic film. Please leave a review to tell me what you think. Also, since I don't have a clearly ironed-out plot as of yet, story ideas are welcome. That said, don't be offended if an idea goes unused, as it has to fit with what I'm going for.