"Hey, newbie!"

Martin was not ashamed to admit he'd been gawking. Kaiju were incredible, but mechas were something to behold. The Moguera, as banged up as it was, was still a marvel of engineering, something that looked like a giant steel animal but could transport dozens of people across the solar system.

"Newbie! You're going to see that thing so often if you're working here, okay?" Errol Smith appeared, a satchel across his shoulder, with a shorter, dark-skinned woman following. "Now look alive, we need a lift."

Not long after returning to the campus, Martin was off again, taking the wheel in another truck with Errol and his friend. The jungles on Ogasawara Island were full of worn paths, and UN researchers had mapped out dozens of safe routes across the island over the years. In that respect, it was like being back in Washington. But then, it was hotter here. And stickier. And he had been trained to look out for the occasional bear or moose, not giant monster.

Today, he was going, yet again, to see one of them. His chatty acquaintance seemed to know where to go better than he did, making it a wonder, albeit one he was determined not to speak, that it was necessary for him to drive them.

"No license," Errol said.

"Huh?"

"No driver's license, sorry," he corrected himself. "It's why I can't take myself. And I just don't make her drive."

"He's quite the gentleman like that," Pari muttered, mostly intent on jotting something in a notebook.

The man was going to make Martin's head hurt. His intuition was getting more than a little unnerving.

"Remember what the 'E' on my nametag stood for?" Errol asked. Martin nodded. "Do you know what that means? 'Empath'?"

"Honestly, man, I have no idea," Martin said.

"It means I can know things," Errol said. "Things people aren't really supposed to know, I just don't always have a choice."

"He means he can read your thoughts," Pari added, still buried in her notebook. "He can naturally pick up on the thoughts of others, human, animal, anything. It's why he has a job here."

"You're…"

"I am not shitting you in the slightest, sorry," Errol interjected. "You're on an island monster hub, dude. This can't be the weirdest thing you've ever heard of."

"You're doing it again," Pari said.

And so that first portion of the trip went.

His young companion having taken off, as he sometimes did, Godzilla was free to roam further from his territory than usual. Zilla preferred warmer waters almost to a fault, something Godzilla had grown out of years ago. So he had gone north, and made landfall in a wooded area devoid of humans. It was an area he he'd been to a few times before, and was generally unpopulated by anything that would trouble him. But not by things worthy of his notice.

After a moment, Godzilla leaned back his head and roared. The high-pitched, modulating cry was his custom entering what he knew to be another monster's territory. It could mean a few things: Either another monster was being warned to avoid him as he passed through, or was being challenged, or, rarely, it was an invitation to socialize. This was that unusual case of the latter. Normally his cry here was met by a shrill chirp, and a winged giant flying into view. Rodan was occasionally known to roam, he'd only claimed this area in the last decade as it was, so it wasn't so unusual that he didn't appear.

A smell stuck out to Godzilla first. A smell, and then a column of smoke. Godzilla approached, and found an area where the woods had been charred and smashed. The smell was stronger here, but there was still more for him to find, he knew. So he walked on, trampling trees and scaring away animals so small they barely registered to the dark green behemoth. More scenes of destruction, less the signs of a giant monster living in the area, than evidence of conflict. Godzilla raised his tail, then thumped it on the ground, and roared again. Still nothing. He wandered on, his curiosity piqued. And then there was the scream.

Godzilla looked up, and finally saw Rodan. The winged monster cried again, and zoomed past him. The sonic boom came seconds later, staggering Godzilla. Rodan flew on, and twisted in midair. He flapped his wings, lifting himself higher in the air, and flew back towards Godzilla.

The second monster was not as fast, or as graceful. It dropped out of the air, held stable by small wings on its back. It snarled through a hooked beak, and spread its arms. Each curved past the elbow into a cruel, scythe-like blade.

Rodan landed next to Godzilla. Out of the air, he looked haggard. Blood trickled from one of his eyes, and there were marks all over his armored chest. His wings were singed in various places, not that it seemed to have affected his flight. The winged monster screamed at its assailant, but backed up cautiously. Godzilla took the hint, and began to approach the new creature. It banged its sickle-shaped arms together, screeched and charged. Godzilla raised his hands and crouched slightly. The new monster lunged and tried to swing its arms, but Godzilla caught them. The scythes were sharp, and dug into his hands, but Godzilla held on. He yanked the attacker towards him and headbutted it.

An image flashed in Godzilla's head. This new monster, flying through the dark night sky, alongside several others. Behind him, Rodan squawked and shook his wings. The new monster took advantage of the distraction and wriggled free.

Godzilla, regaining his composure, braced himself for another lunge. Instead, he was assaulted from a distance, his enemy firing a thing, but painful beam of heat from a red dot on its forehead. The attack left a singe on Godzilla's chest that stung badly. Godzilla roared, and the sails along his back began to glow. Rodan hopped back again, then flapped his wings and took to the sky. Godzilla unleashed his atomic breath, and knocked the new monster off of its feet.

Rodan circled overhead, looking for an opening to swoop in and attack. The monster that had attacked him was still on the ground, and Godzilla was repeatedly blasting it. When, finally, one missed, and Godzilla paused to catch his breath, the monster sprung up, and fired the ray from its head one more time. It caught Godzilla in the face, causing him to cry out and stagger. The wings on the monster's back began to beat furiously and it leapt into the air. Rodan dove, trying to tackle it, but it spun away. A blue flame shot past the massive pterosaur, followed by Godzilla's distinctive roar. It clipped their enemy's foot, but it didn't slow down. Rodan flapped his wings again, but the monster had picked up speed, moving straight into the air, and he could not muster the speed pursue it.

Frustrated and exhausted, Rodan landed near Godzilla, splayed out on his feet, knees, and the clawed joints in the middle of his wings. He looked up at Godzilla, then to the sky where his assailant had fled, then collapsed.