[Author's Note: Added translations for the Japanese text in brackets. While the movie never translated anything, people tell me they'd rather read it than look it up.]
World of New Legends, February 2016
In the Southern Ocean, near Antarctica, fifty miles North of the Ross Ice Shelf.
In serene and beautiful dark navy waters a single ship plied the waves. The large vessel, nearly seventy meters of bright blue metal, with REASEARCH prominently displayed in white lettering on the side, slid across the waters at a leisurely pace. Her solid presence a reassuring facet of humanity's power out even on these far seas.
"Kore.[There.]" a man on the high bow of the ship said as he pointed, getting a second sailor's attention, "Yaku shihyaku mētoruda to omoimasu.[About four hundred meters I think.]"
"Masu shihyaku mētoruda to omoimasu.[You think four hundred meters.]" the second man parroted, nodding and turning the device he was manning, a large and powerful harpoon launcher, to the hunt.
"Ii, ii.[Good, good.]" the first said.
The man, Japanese in manner and aspect, turned and took a risky hop over some equipment that had been hastily placed near his perch. He headed back to the bridge and waved the attention of those on the bridge just to be sure they'd catch him talking. A wave back confirmed that he had been noted. Smoothly pulling up his microphone he glanced left and right, then nodded to one of the five security men that were nearby before pressing the talk.
"Shihyaku mētoru, azuma· tōnan wa, sukoshi ugen watashitachi o motarasu.[Four hundred meters, East South East, bring us slightly starboard.]" he spoke into the mic.
"Azuma· tōnan, ugen mawashimasu ai ai.[East-South-East, turning starboard, aye!]" a voice called back over the speakers, "Kita no owarine ni rēdā sesshoku.[Radar contact to the North closing.]"
Grumbling the man on the fore deck looked down and thought a moment, then came back with, "Tāgetto ni suru tame no jikan? Renraku suru jikan ni kurabete?[Time to target, compared to time to contact?]"
"Yodanwoyurusanai.[Too close to call.]"
"Sore wa kareradesu ka?[It's them?]"
"Massugu watashitachi ni kuru? Koko ni?[Coming straight at us? Here?]"
"Sou, karera wa. Watashi wa chōdo nē. Watashi no ki no shigoto o suru koto wa dekimasen.[Right, them. Can't just do my damn job.]" the man said a bit upset, then turned back to the gunner and hopped up near him "Sore o anata no saikō no shotto. Saichō han'i o ataemasu.[Hey! Give it your best shot. Longest range.]"
"Hai![Yes!]" the gunner confirmed with a nod, sighting in as the ship began to turn.
The first man gripped his microphone tightly then let it back on its strap. He glared in front of the ship as a whale there surfaced, its breath spouting in the distance.
Out to the North the bright blue whaling ship had been spotted. Looking for all the world like a grayish white arrow a vessel sped at astonishing speed towards its target. The eyes of all on the deck and the bridge of the trimaran locked onto first the massive blue harvester, and then to its target.
"The Yūshin is on one." the man at the wheel pointed out, "There."
Another man with binoculars put them down and without a second thought ordered, "Block their shot." his words brimming with a subtle malice.
"On their timing." the helmsman responded, pressing the throttles forward.
"Bridge to crew, we're at battle stations." the other called over the loudspeaker, "Clear the stern and watch for flying objects."
Deep in the Southern Ocean two ships closed on each other. One moving with calm diligence, the other at breakneck speed. Both crawled with activity. Crew members racing around, all but preparing for combat. In the bridge of one ship, and the bow of another, two men held a tense competition. Their eyes were set, the rest of the world didn't matter. Only their own personal quests drove them, one for protection, one for duty. The rest of the world be damned.
The gray-white dart, a type of ship called a stabilized monohull, because why keep names simple, cut through the water, trying to do the best version of a power slide its light construction could handle.
The gunner on the blue ship targeted carefully. He was taking a shot at the best range he could. His finger preparing to trigger his launcher as the other ship began sliding just into the edge of his tunneled perceptions.
With a stern scowl the gunner pressed the trigger. The harpoon flew through the air, riding the blast from its launcher. It's cable trailing behind it as its owner called to his ancestors for luck.
With a stern scowl the helmsman pushed his boat to the limit. The sharp blade cut deep, sliding towards the whale. It's owner whispered a quiet prayer to God for deliverance.
Then a mouth wider than a city bus emerged from the water, snapped shut around the whale and disappeared below the waves.
The men on the bow of the harvester dropped their jaws in shock.
The men on the bridge of the other vessel glanced around in confusion.
The harpoon pierced the gray-white ship high on the superstructure and deflected slightly before continuing on, uselessly to the sea. It was debatable if anyone noticed till later.
As to whether or not the whale would have been hit… sort of an academic question really.
Only the people on the bridge of the Bardot had even enough of their wits about them to talk.
"Was that… was that?" the helmsman stuttered.
The other man looked over at him with a shrug then added, "Maybe it's actually a good thing we changed the name of the ship."
An hour later the gray-white trimaran was abuzz with activity. Floating still in the water the crew rushed back and forth along the deck struggling with a thick cable that was stretched across their ship from front to back.
"Come on, pull carefully." one of the hands said as he worked on the cable in the front, "If we pull too hard we could cause more damage."
"Got it, got it." a girl in the back responded, threading the cable around the back and away from fouling the engines, "No hurry."
"We don't want them to move to far off." a man next to her added, pulling the cable away from the radar equipment.
The girl just smirked and nodded at the big blue boat about a half mile away from them, "Even if they do move, doesn't look like they'll be catching any more whales."
A glance in that direction and the fellow had to agree. It was neither hard to miss the three rows of enormous spines sticking out of the water from behind the blue boat, nor the sound of loud exasperated cursing wafting over the wind across the distance.
"Watashitachi kara sore o nigeru! Sā! Sore o oiharau![Get it away from us! Come on! Drive it off!]"
"Anata wa sore ga totemo kantanda to omoimasu ka? Watashi wa sore o ya~tsu te koko de anata no ue ni hyōji sa renai![You think it's so easy? I don't see you over here doing it!]"
A dozen men, many using gaff hooks, others using random things as push poles, were poking and prodding at the gigantic gray flank alongside them. The ship rocked on occasion as Godzilla settled in.
"Ah! Gojira! Gojira!" just too many people insisted on shouting. On the deck the lead man shook his head and looked at the whole scene from underneath the bridge. A swarm of men near him were talking their options over.
"Wareware wa sore o utsubeki ka?[Should we shoot at it?]" one of the security men asked, "Do no yōna mizu no taihō wa dōdesu ka?[What about the water cannons?]"
"Dare kangae wa arimasen.[No idea.]" the man apparently in charge responded then weighing the chances, looked over towards the men manning the harpoon, "Anata ga shotto o shutoku suru koto wa dekimasu ka?[Can you get a shot?]"
The harpoon man signaled negative and pointed back, "Kare wa chikaidesushi, haigo ni aru, wareware wa hi ni fune o idō suru hitsuyō ga arimasu.[He's close and behind, we need to move the ship to fire.]"
Dashing over the catwalk the man in charge motioned the bridge to get the ship moving. The helm was only too happy to get away from their giant guest.
"Watashi wa kare ga kujira no chi o nioida to omoimasu.[I think he smells whale blood.]" the gunner pointed out the slick of red on the front of their ship, "Kare wa yori ōku no shokuryō no tame no watashitachi ni tsuiseki.[He's following us for more food.]"
"Kare wa kubi ni era o motte imasu.[He has gills on the neck.]" the first man said, looking closely at Godzilla's bulk, "Hitto suru no wa muzukashī subekide wa arimasen.[Shouldn't be hard to hit.]"
As the vessel and the giant pulled apart, Godzilla not quite maneuverable enough to keep tight with his target, the gunner managed to get the harpoon launcher around over the high sided bow and aim it towards his target. Someone started shouting from the bridge.
"Ōkina mokuhyō o mita koto ga nai.[Never seen a bigger target.]" the gunner remarked with a grin, and triggered the harpoon. The flying spear flew true into the space between Godzilla's gills.
"Anata wa shōki ka![Are you insane!?]" the ship's captain screamed, storming up the catwalk and pointing over at Godzilla, "Anata wa Gojira ga kono fune ni nanigadekiruka shitte imasu ka?[Do you know what Gojira could do to this ship?]"
"Eh?" the man and the gunner looked at each other, then at Godzilla, then back, and blanched. It seemed to be the first time they'd noticed that the giant monster was more than four times as long as their vessel.
"Wareware wa amarini mo ōku no watashitachi no shigoto ni shūchū shita.[We were focused too much on our work.]" the first man said, bowing his head in shame, "Anata wa watashi no mottomo seijitsuna shazai o motte imasu.[You have my most sincere apology.]"
"Anata ga shita baai wa···[If you've...]" the Captain started. His tirade was interrupted by a shout from the men nearer to Godzilla. A hand the size of their bow had risen from the water and was looming over the vessel. Crying screams of one sort or another sounded from half the people there, quiet prayers were on the lips of the rest.
After a few moments of floating above the whaler like the Sword of Damocles, dripping seawater onto the deck, Godzilla's giant, clawed hand reached over to his neck and gave his gills a drawn out scratch. In a few movements the remains of the harpoon came free from where they were stuck and splashed into the water.
The gunner leaned over his launcher, breathing a sigh of relief. The Captain fell to his knees, finding his breath after holding it for far too long. The first man just stared in disbelief for a second before he found his voice.
"Wareware wa yori ōkina fune o hitsuyō to shite imasu.[We're going to need a bigger boat.]"
Scaring the hell out of the men standing there, and setting their already frayed nerves just on the edge of sanity, Godzilla's huge head rose from the sea. He glanced to the right, away from them and with a splash that could have easily been mistaken for a rogue wave, dove. It took only a minute for the spiraling giant to dip all but his spines below the waves and reverse course.
The men on the whaler started to cheer, but the sound died in their throats. Over the sounds of the seas and even Godzilla parting the waves a frightening, unmistakable sound could be heard. The sound of metal, buckling and tearing en masse, brought another panic to all the seamen in sight. This time it was not themselves they were concerned for. Somewhere nearby a ship, a large one, was dying.
Wheeling about in the sky a white helicopter, piled full of people, tried desperately to gain altitude. It's pilot had managed to get at few hundred feet into the sky even with the load. Desperation could do that to a person. Somehow, maybe because of how loud the screams were, or maybe because of his fevered imagination, the pilot could swear he still heard the people left behind.
"Come on! Come on! Get out of there!"
"Watashi no ashi wa, watashi no ashi ga kieta!"
"Sorehanandesuka?"
"Nigeru! Nigeru!"
"Run! Run!"
Below, in the dark blue ocean, miles from anywhere, two vessels sat side by side. The pair were both dead in the water, stopped still. One was a long black vessel with a large deck and many protruding structures. The other a ship was less than half as long, colored in a strange urban camouflage scheme. Crew scrambled around both ships and there was a mad dash to get as many people from the larger vessel to the smaller.
"Come on! Come on!" a balding man was still shouting in English, pushing people towards his boat. He flinched as another one of the taller nearby structures came crashing down, pulling the radar mast and a number of connected wires with it.
A man was screaming on the far deck. The falling wires had caught him and taken a chunk out of his body. His blood mixed with the rest, for the ship had been covered with blood, even before the attack. Maybe the blood pouring out of the spillage ports had attracted it in the first place. None of it mattered now, just the dying and the fleeing.
The whaling factory ship, a vessel bloodied by its own duty in the dispatch and dissection of giant whales, now was beginning to tilt away from the vessel, normally its enemy, that was trying to save its crew. A few men slipped, many held on. Others dragged them up, most of the time they came back with a seaman, other times only half or less.
On the far side of the vessel it was like the blood itself, cast incautiously into the water, had come alive seeking revenge. A breathtaking wave of viscous red fluid stood as if frozen over the deck and poured itself onto the ship, In defiant denial of gravity the red mass strove up the sides of the factory vessel and lashed out at anything moving, trailing sparks and bleeding smoke.
The man, cut by wires just a moment earlier, was touched by the thing. In seconds there was nothing but electrical arcs and bones where he lay. In a few more moments even that was gone. It had been like that with everything. The balding man averted his eyes and knew for sure the reason there where no whales on the deck, nor even half the crew here there should have been.
Above them, latched onto the side of the stricken ship for support, the wave of red fluid reached upwards to the height of the tallest mast. It towered above all of them and many screamed, afraid it was about to fall forward and wipe them all from the world.
Looking back the Captain of the second ship glanced down to see how far a jump it would be to get back to his vessel. He'd probably break a leg not using the ladders, but it would most certainly be worth the pain to stay alive. A few of the Japanese had tumbled off in the shaking and his crew were tending to some and pulling the rest out of the waves. It was only a matter of seconds before he would have to leap too, but like hell would he desert any living being to die while he could help pull even one more man to safely.
The ship shook again. Everyone looked up, expecting the wave to fall past the remaining masts and onto them all, but the great red expanse was retreating. Flowing away it took more than a minute for the entire mass to disengage itself in an almost painful looking series of wrenching movements before the boat was clear. Without the tons of extra weight pushing it off-balance the factory ship bounced upwards and righted itself so quickly it hit its neighbor with a resounding bong like some lone bell sounding out from the deep.
Grabbing a boarding ladder to hold himself steady the rescuer looked around with confusion and concern. The screams of pain had not let up and there was a lot of work to do. He and half a dozen Japanese men crossed the ship while others broke out every emergency kit and first aid box on both vessels. The deck was still a whirl of confusion.
"Kore da!" one of the Japanese men called out, pointing and while the Captain hadn't caught the words he didn't need them to know the meaning. Out in the sea, already almost a half mile away from the two ships, a slick of red colored the waters. The way the whole thing stuck together and moved faster than many speedboats unnerved him.
"Why did it leave?" he voiced, almost subconsciously, not expecting an answer.
"It's a predator." a voice with a strong Japanese accent responded from beside him, and the Captain noted to his surprise that one of the people he would never have considered a true researcher actually spoke halting English as the man continued, "The only reason it would leave, would be, if it sensed prey, something bigger than us."
"That doesn't leave many things." the Captain said, mulling it over, "What's a bigger concentration of life than us out here?"
"We're about, to see." the researcher replied, pointing towards the sea, "It's boiling,"
The man's words rung true. Out nearly a mile from the paired ships the water was a churning red soup. Something large was struggling just beneath the surface. The battle was joined on the scale of ancient colossi as the great red mass bubbled, slithered, fretfully over something that wasn't quite falling as fast as a man or a dead whale, something with a hint of scales and spine.
When Godzilla broke the surface, bellowing like all the beasts of Africa had decided to scream obscenities at the sky in chorus, hell did finally and truly break loose. Roaring and scratching the great one shook and twisted, trying to get loose the horrid mass that coated him in connected red splotches. Arcs of electricity jumped from giant spine to giant spine while Godzilla's skin steamed like fresh lava touching seawater.
Tendrils of red reached up and wrapped themselves around Godzilla's neck, burning at him with their strange touch and fighting to get into his gills. The great saurian behemoth used its mass and tail to push itself upwards, ripping at the offensive gunk that attacked it. Back down the mass pulled at him and he roared again. Up Godzilla strove and down the thing pulled. The ocean around them boiled as more and more of the red gunk reached up to topple the titan in its grasp.
With a strong heave Godzilla flexed his back and pulled at the lassoes of syrup confining him. His nostrils flaring Godzilla let loose and even louder roar of indignation as his foe pulled him down. Pulling to the left and the right the red stuff got Godzilla's chin to the water, then sunk his head. The spikes on his back began to disappear under those crimson seas. The giant's head broke the surface again as he struggled. The look on his face, even as animalistic as it was, read as incensed rage for a moment before he was pulled back under.
The men on the factory ship gasped in amazement as the giant beast sank further into the water. Their eyes were open wide, their jaws slack in amazement. The battle before them was incomprehensible, the scale, the mass, and now… that strange blue glow.
The spines at the tip of Godzilla's tail lit. The inner fire caught with the sound of grinding gears meshed in under that of a charging dynamo as it traveled from one spine to another, ascending the giant's back. The tip of his tail sunk below the waves but the red slime was no longer following it. It breached the surface in a mass that quickly turned into an expanding red ring. The substance of it lapped over itself, spreading as if each part of that fluid was trying to get as far away from what lie beneath as fast as possible. It wasn't enough, not nearly enough.
Godzilla burst out of the water, his spines glowing blue, his chest burling as air filled his lungs, then with a sudden lunge forward he let fly the beam. Swinging his shoulders and head from right to left, his tail pushing him to complete the arc his blue plasma flame scoured the ocean's surface. The red slick burned like oil.
Finishing his circle Godzilla set the world aflame.