Well, here I am again. I don't have much to say this time. I have just one thing – as the title suggests, someone is getting betrayed, but you might be surprised who it is.

I would also like to mention that Mecha-Godzilla II is down, but not out, so he technically isn't 'dead'. Thought I should let you know that.

Chapter 9: Betrayal

No one would be living in San Francisco for a little while. It wasn't just destroyed like most cities attacked by giant monsters; it was frozen. The entire city looked like it had been hit by the absolute zero cannon a few times. Even though the sun was now shining, the layers upon layers of frost refused to thaw. That was Ghost Godzilla's effect on the world around him. But to Akane and Godzilla, the only other living things left in the long abandoned city (except for Kazuma, who was unconscious), the most amazing thing about Ghost Godzilla was that he was no longer a ghost. Gorjira, the original Godzilla, wavered from side to side as he walked forward. He was still filling disoriented. The last thing he remembered was having his flesh melt off his bones. No, he was in a metal cave while tiny mammals were attaching things to his skin, which now seemed to be metal as well. More memories came flooding in – a female of those mammals (weren't they called humans?) was inside his head, he was flying. Wait a minute, flying? Now he was fighting a member of his kind that had been changed in a similar to the way he had been. Wait another member of his kind; all this time he had though that he was alone. Finally, his head began to clear. It was then that he noticed the other one of his kind. The other had just removed his leg from a huge crystal spike that was stuck to the ground. The other's leg slowly began to heal. Couldn't he heal like that? The two dinosaurs slowly approached each other.

Akane just stared in awe at the gargantuan grey and brown creatures. All she could do was whisper, "Kiryu." Other than that, she just sat there. The two mutant dinosaurs walked up to each other and just stared at each other. Akane couldn't help but wonder what would happen next. There were some who thought that they might be related, but Akane wasn't sure. For all she knew, they were about to try to kill each other.

Godzilla was certain that he recognized Gorjira from somewhere, he just couldn't figure out where. He knew that another mutant gorjirasaurus had appeared in Japan before him; he could feel the leftover radiation, but since none of his kind was radioactive before the bomb, he wasn't able to tell it was someone he knew. He knew that all of the members of his tribe were killed in the blast, but there were other tribes living on some of the nearby islands. He knew some of them, but not well enough to know if any of them survived the blast (The deadly radiation covered several islands in the chain). All he knew was that between the time of the blast and when he first appeared in Japan, he had not seen another living member of his species. Even now, they wouldn't be able to visually recognize each other because they had been so completely changed by their mutation. Luckily, they could use each other's sent (which had not been changed so much) to identify each other.

Well, Godzilla would have to figure out by Gorjira's sent. Gorjira could recognize those burning orange eyes anywhere. Orange eyes were so uncommon among his kind that he only met one person with those eyes. Godzilla also figured out the other's identity. Akane watched as the two dinosaurs turned around and briefly touched each other's tails. Akane guessed that that was the gorjirasaurus equivalent of one of those lame man hugs. Does that mean that they are related? Akane thought.

No, they weren't related, but they were good friends. Godzilla and Gorjira lived on different islands, but their respective tribes were on good terms with each other. Godzilla and Gorjira were actually very similar to each other. They both became chief when their fathers died – Godzilla when his father was killed by the humans during World War II; Gorjira's father died of natural causes when he was still very young. They were both considered to be very strong by their people. One of Gorjira's family members once said that they could have been brothers. Godzilla remembered laughing at that, not because it false, but because it was true. Finally, they both had their entire families taken away in that one blast. Gorjira may not have had a mate like Godzilla, but his loss was still terrible. It was no wonder that they had the same idea in mind – go to the humans and make them pay. But that time of anger had long passed. It was time to move on.

Akane was finally able to take her eyes off of the titanic creatures. She had to contact GDF headquarters. She looked at the fallen Mecha-Godzilla II. She needed to get over there. One, she needed to determine Kazuma's condition. Two, there might be a working radio there. So she started her long journey there – the giant machine was well over a mile away. She had barely been walking for a minute when the ground shook beneath her feet, and a giant shadow came over her. She turned around very slowly, afraid of what was behind her. It was Gorjira. She was terrified. What was he going to do to her? Slowly he got down on one knee and began to slowly lower his hand towards her. Akane blinked a few times, not believing what she was seeing. Gorjira had his hand on the ground with its palm facing up. He just left it there while he stared at Akane. Does he want me to get on his hand? Does he remember being Kiryu? Akane thought.

After a few second, Akane mustered up the courage to climb up on top of the hand. Gorjira took a few moments to make sure that she was safely in place, then he got up and started heading towards Mecha-Godzilla II. Akane had to admit, riding on the hand of a giant dinosaur was a completely different experience from being in Kiryu's cock pit. In there, one could only see the outside world through a few computer monitors. Here she could feel the wind on her face. After just a few minutes, they had reached their destination, and Gorjira gently set Akane down on the fallen mech.

Akane looked up at the giant brown dinosaur. "Thank you… Kiryu," she said. He looked at her for second. It took him a moment to remember that that was what she had called him. Finally, he nodded to her and walked back towards Godzilla. Akane wanted to take a minute to assimilate all that had happened to her, but she didn't have the time. She opened up a hatch in Mecha-Godzilla's neck and went inside. It wasn't long before she was in the mech's control center. She could see Kazuma was unconscious on the ground. He was still strapped to his chair, but the chair was no longer attached to the floor. She ran towards him.

"Kazuma, can you hear me?" she asked.

Kazuma slowly regained consciousness. "Uhhh, you don't have to shout."

"Are you hurt? Is anything broken?"

"Just my pride… and my leg, and I think a few ribs. What happened while I was out of it, and why aren't you in Kiryu?"

Akane laughed weakly. "Well, let's see: Spacegodzilla flew off with Godzilla Jr. and Zilla right behind him. The elder Godzilla was temporarly disabled. He got himself loose, but because of it, he's still here. 'Ghost Godzilla' won't be a problem anymore. As for Kiryu… Kiryu is gone."

"He was destroyed?"

"No, he wasn't destroyed. In fact, something very different happened."

"What?"

"I'll tell you in a little bit. Now, where's the first aid. Also, you wouldn't happen to know if the radio is working."

Kazuma pointed towards a small hatch in the wall. "The first aid is over there. As for the radio, I don't know, but considering our luck, I doubt it."

Akane opened up the small hatch that held the first aid (all mechs had one). As she headed back towards Kazuma, she stopped for a second to check the radio. It was just as she had feared. The radio had been torn to shreds. "It looks like we're going to be stuck here for a little while."

Outside of the giant machine, Godzilla had just finished explaining to his old friend some of the important things that had happened while he was, well, dead. Gorjira still couldn't believe all that had happened to his friend over the course of these many years. First, he was a father. Second, the humans basically considered him the most powerful creature on the planet. And finally, for generations, the adults of their kind had told stories to their children about the terrible three-headed one who had decimated the world long ago, and Godzilla had actually faced the King of Terror and won. Despite all of this new information, Gorjira understood what they needed to do. Junior and Zilla wouldn't be able to defeat this 'Spacegodzilla' by themselves. They needed to follow them and do it soon. Luckily, their scents and radiation signatures were still very clear.

Gorjira had one last thing to do before they left. Gorjira stood above the pieces of metal and plastic that used to part of him. He was looking for one piece in particular. He reached down and picked up the giant sword that used to be attached to his wrist. He thought about his whole experience as Kiryu. That entire part of his life seemed like a dream, yet it was still part of his life. Who knows, this sword might prove useful.

With that situation taken care of, Godzilla and Gorjira headed out of the city.

The two Kings were off.

GDF HQ

"So let me get this strait," Randy said, "Godzilla, Junior, Zilla, all three Mecha-Godzilla, Spacegodzilla, and the ghost of the first Godzilla all dooked it out at the same time, and by the time it was all over Spacegodzilla had ran for the hills with Junior and Zilla right behind him, the first Mecha-Godzilla has been blown to bits, the second Mecha-Godzilla has been incapacitated, and the third Mecha-Godzilla and Ghost Godzilla have merged to become the first Godzilla, any you know all of this because after Ghost Godzilla disappeared the psychic disturbance that he was creating disappeared so that Godzilla could tell you all of this."

"Well… yes," Miki said.

Randy seemed to take all of this in for a minute. "Okay, I'll buy that." Randy then looked over at Nick, who was still pacing back and forth. "Dude, if you keep doing that, you're going to dig a hole in the floor." Nick kept pacing. "Nick, can you hear me? Nick. NICK!"

Nick finally seemed to notice that someone was talking to him. "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. It's just that I should be there with Zilla. I feel so helpless here. Why did Red Bamboo have to leave the Heatseeker in New York when they kidnapped us?"

"Nick," Randy said, "They were kidnapping us. I don't think that they cared about our travel needs." Miki couldn't help but laugh at this. "Don't worry Nick, Zilla will be okay. He has two Godzillas…"

"Three Godzillas," Miki corrected.

"Right, He has three Godzillas with him. They can't lose. Besides, Captain Gordon promised that as soon as he was done with the aliens in space, he would personally take us to Zilla in the Gotengo. Haven't you ever wanted to travel in a flying submarine? Trust me, we can't lose, right Miki."

Miki didn't respond. Anyone with any kind of common since would say yes. With three Godzillas, Zilla, all of the monsters on Monster Island, and the monsters that Dr. Goro Ibuki had gathered, they outnumbered their enemy three to one. There should be no way they could lose. Yet Miki felt like something was very wrong. Something very bad was about to happen. She looked around to see that the rest of the H.E.A.T. team, who had all stopped their various activities to pass the time and started listening to the situation, also seemed to have the same bad feeling.

"No Randy," she said, "I think we can lose."

The depths of space (Just outside of earth's orbit)

Captain Gordon was unnerved by the way the Gotengo creaked and groaned. It was only designed for space travel for short periods of time. There were moments when Gordon wasn't sure if it could make the journey all the way to Mars. He quickly put those thoughts aside. She knew that this old girl could do it. The Atragon, he wasn't so sure about. He turned on the Radio. "How are you holding up over there Katagiri?"

"General Katagiri here," came over the radio, "I'm just fine and so is the Atragon. Now stop calling me about it. Honestly Gordon, I don't know why I put up with you."

Gordon smiled. "It must be my magnetic personality." Gordon could practically hear Katagiri roll his eyes over the radio. "Besides, I can't help it if I want to make sure if the Gotengo's sister ship can make it. It's a long journey to Mars."

"Sir," the soldier piloting the Gotengo said, "I am picking up something on the sensors."

"What is it Mr. Ozaki?" Gordon asked.

"Sir, I don't think you have to worry about making it all the way to Mars." He activated the view screen and zoom it in as far as it could go revealing a giant disk-shaped structure in the middle of space.

"The enemy has come to us," he said.

Inside the control center of the massive alien ship, there was an awkward silence between the alien leaders. If there was anything the Xillien Controller hated more than anything, it was when things did not go as planned.

Things were not going as planned. They had lost Mecha-Godzilla, Spacegodzilla had gone AWOL, They now had three Godzillas to worry about, Belvera was missing and possibly dead, they still couldn't find King Ghidora, and now the humans had come to them. They had to finish this.

"Then it is agreed, we stop the humans here, and then we skip to the final part of our plan. We unleash all of our forces on the major cities of earth, and then we move over the U.N. headquarters and make our demands – Absolute Surrender."

"About time," the Sapien Commander said, "I, for one, am tired of all of this hiding. It is time for action!"

"Agreed!" were the cries of the various alien leaders, except for the Nebulan Leader. They all stared at him.

"What? I prefer to take care of things from behind the scenes. I'm a cockroach, it's what we do."

The Xillien Controller ignored the uncooperative insect. "Very well then, it is decided." He pressed a button that opened up the speakers to the entire city-sized spaceship. "Attention to all personnel, go to your stations, ready all fighters, and power up all weapons. We are going into battle!

Captain Gordon stared at the massive ship with a multitude of smaller ships flying out of it. "Are you ready for this, Mr. Ozaki?"

"I was born ready," He said. And then it began.

The smaller Xillien fighters were the first to reach the earth forces. Each one fired a small blast from its single laser cannon in the center. Luckily, the Gotengo, the Atragon, and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. had armor designed to resist these weaker blasts. It was truly amazing; a few years ago, humanity would have been helpless against such forces. When the Sapiens first arrived, they actually claimed that the only thing on earth that was powerful enough to stop them was Godzilla himself (which is why they built Mecha-Godzilla). Now, humanity was ready to fight back.

"Ozaki," Gordon started yelling, "Use the mini-lasers on the fighters; save the mazer cannon for the larger ships."

Ozaki complied, activating the Gotengo's various smaller lasers, and blasting several fighters out of the sky in the process. The fighters were soon followed by several Sapien ships (which were the classic flying saucer shape). Upon command, the Gotengo used its powerful mazer cannon. Orange energy erupted from the Gotengo's drill, causing one of the Sapien ships to explode. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was also firing at several fighters with its autolasers when a swirling mass of fire hit in the back. It was one of the Kilaak's ships, often referred to as fire dragons because of the flaming shields that surround them. Unfortunately for M.O.G.U.E.R.A., it did have the right weapons to combat such a weapon. The Atragon, however, had its zero laser. The mighty ship's drill glowed with a blue light. That blue light soon hit the fire dragon, freezing it and dousing its flames. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. then smashed the ship into bits with the plasma lasers that come from its eyes.

"General," the Atragon's pilot said, "We have more incoming bogies. I don't recognize these ones."

Katagiri looked at the view screen. He saw several insect-like ships that, he to, did not recognize. "They must be Nebulan ships. We didn't see any of them when they first invaded. It doesn't matter! Blow them out of the sky!"

Several lasers fired from the Atragon, heading towards the Nebulan ships. The Nebulan ships must have been extremely maneuverable, however, because only a few of them were hit and destroyed. The nimble ships then surrounded the Atragon and landed on the ship's hull. The ships then activated the drills that lied on their undersides.

"Sir, they're drilling into the hull!" cried one of the Atragon's bridge crew.

"I can see that soldier!" Katagiri yelled. "Now tell me how are we supposed get them off!"

Just as he said it, several missiles struck the smaller ships, blowing them off of the Atragon's hull. The Gotengo's lasers finished off the rest.

"You know, you could have cut it a little closer," Katagiri said sarcastically.

"You're welcome!" Gordon said over the intercom.

Katagiri and Gordon's conversation was interrupted by even more enemy fire. No matter how many ships they shot down, more came. They came, and they came, and they came. It wasn't really that surprising – their home base was the size of a city.

"We're not going to be able to take much more of this!" Ozaki screamed. His voice was nearly drowned out by the sound of laser fire hitting the hull.

"She'll hold!" was Gordon's reply. "I know the Gotengo, and I know what she can take! She'll hold!"

Ozaki pointed towards the screen. "Sir, will she hold against that?"

Gordon looked at the screen and saw four huge objects speeding towards the battle. But Gordon didn't care about three of the objects. His eyes were fixed on the golden creature in the lead.

King Ghidora

"It's about time he showed up," the Xillien Controller said under his breath. He and his fellow commanders had left their meeting room and were now in the command bridge of the entire mothership. This bridge was nothing like the Gotengo's. It was completely circular, with the Controller in the center. This was the Controller's 'natural habitat'. Here, he was at the center of all information, the center of everything. "Where has he been?"

The Controller was currently facing the screen that showed King Ghidora, Death Ghidora, Mecha-Ghidora, and Monster X heading towards the battle. He smiled wickedly. Now there was no way they could lose. But then something strange happened. Death Ghidora, Monster X, and Mecha-Ghidora broke formation to attack the earth forces, but King Ghidora kept moving forward.

Strait towards them

"What is he doing?" The Kilaakian Matriarch asked. "It is strange, I am using every one of our mind control techniques to tell him to turn back and fight, but none of them seem to be working."

Ghidora was getting closer. "I have a very bad feeling about this," the Nebulan leader said nervously.

The Futurien Leader was getting tired of the giant cockroach's constant whining. Still, it was troublesome. "Controller, what should we do if he continues on this course?"

The Controller thought about it for a second before he turned to the officers at the weapons terminals. "Turn all of your weapons on him if he gets within five kilometers."

Sure enough, King Ghidora reached 5 km, and the alien mother ship opened fire. Ghidora avoided some shots while taking others without flinching. Either way, he didn't slow down.

4 km

3 km

2 km

"Someone stop him!" the Controller shouted in uncharacteristic anger.

1 km

"Nothing's working!" the Sapien Commander shouted.

The entire mothership seemed to shake when King Ghidora landed at lightning speeds, causing massive amounts of damage to the area he struck. The King of Terror then moved strait towards the command center. The Controller heard the sound of tearing metal and the sound of rushing air. He realized that Ghidora was ripping the roof off the bridge. Luckily, the computers instantly activated a force field to stop the escape of air.

"What in the six levels of Heden is he doing?" the Sapien Commander shouted. Everyone in the room looked up to see that King Ghidora's central head was visible where the roof used to be. The terrible space creature then lowered his head past the force field like it wasn't even there (the room was, in fact, large enough to fit his entire head). The King of Terror focused his eyes on the Xillien Controller and smiled wickedly.

The Controller resisted the urge to let his knees buckle at the sight of the terrible creature. "I command you to go leave here! Go back! Destroy the earth forces! Go!" When Ghidora did nothing, he ever so slightly tilted his head towards the Kilaakian Matriarch. "Why isn't it working?" He said as quietly as he could and still be heard by her.

"I don't know," she said, "We have always been able to control him before."

That was when they heard it. It was Ghidora's high-pitched, bell-like roar. That was when the awful truth dawned on the Controller. Ghidora's roar was not a roar at all.

It was laughter

All of those times he had thought that Ghidora was roaring in anger or challenge of his enemies or in agreement with his 'masters', he had been laughing at them – mocking them. They had never controlled Ghidora. He had been using them to further his own goals. "It was you! You somehow implanted the idea of attacking Monster Island! You killed Belvera! You've been manipulating us! You've planned this from the start!"

Ghidora's grin got wider, and his laughter got louder. For the first time in his life, the Controller understood why he was called the King of Terror. He was too scared to move, none of them could. Then a golden glow filled the entire room; it was coming from Ghidora's mouth. The Controller looked around at his fellow alien leaders as the golden glow grew brighter.

His last thought was what a fool he had been.

"Ozaki," Gordon said, "Did you just see what I saw?"

"You mean Ghidora destroying the center of the alien mothership? Nope, I didn't see it."

With the leaders of the alien alliance finished, King Ghidora moved on to his next target. He headed towards the most heavily populated region of the mothership. He tore through ship's hull with his claws, teeth, and gravity beams, sending thousands to their deaths. Gordon and Ozaki could only watch in horror as the aliens tried desperately to try to defend their grand space city (and failed miserably). By the time Ghidora was finished, a half-mile wide hole had been torn into the ship's hull. When he was satisfied, he turned around to see that many of the alien's ship had turned around to attack him. He was going to fight back, but he wanted to do one thing first. He tore into the very center of the ship until he found what he was looking for – the ship's power core. He unleashed all three of his gravity beams upon the device, causing a massive explosion. Now, the core had shields to protect the rest of the city in case of an explosion, but that was not what Ghidora was hoping for. Without the core, the entire base lost power, and the inhabitants would slowly freeze to death.

King Ghidora realized the alien ships were almost on top of him. That meant that it was time. He sent out three short blasts of his gravity beams from his right head. It was a signal to the other Ghidoras, and upon it, the monsters began to attack the alien ships as well as the human ships.

"Damn it!" Gordon shouted, "I should have known that King Ghidora was controlling the other Ghidoras. Tell the rest of the fleet to stop attacking the alien ships. They're no longer the enemy! Focus on the Ghidoras!"

No sooner had he finished saying than the entire bridge crew were almost thrown across the room (luckily they were wearing their seatbelts). It was Monster X. The cloned creature began to beat its massive fist into the side of the Gotengo, until he got a face full of missiles. Before he could recover, the Gotengo turned around and rammed its spinning drill into the monster's abdomen. Monster X roared in pain as black blood splattered everywhere. Then he felt a cold numbing feeling; the Gotengo had activated its zero laser. The Gotengo would have continued to do this, but Death Ghidora collided with the mighty machine at amazing speeds.

M.O.G.U.E.R.A. and the Atragon tried to come to the Gotengo's aid, but they weren't going to get anywhere close. King Ghidora slammed into the edge of the Atragon at many times the speed of sound, sending it into a violent spin. While the Atragon was incapacitated, He and Mecha-Ghidora sent six gravity beams into M.O.G.U.E.R.A. Sparks flew as the beams hit the giant robot. Before its crew knew what was happening, the two Ghidora's had latched on to M.O.G.U.E.R.A. and started dragging it backwards. A multitude of explosions happened as the Ghidoras forced the machine into several alien ships. When it was all over, M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was badly damaged and its armor was severely compromised. Mecha-Ghidora stuck two of its heads into gaps in the machine's armor. There was a small glow inside of M.O.G.U.E.R.A. before the entire thing exploded. Mecha-Ghidora did not even pause before he went on to other ships.

The Gotengo's mazer cannon hit Death Ghidora in the chest, throwing the monstrous beast of it. Captain Gordon started shouting orders as fast as he could, hoping to prepare to attack before another Ghidora could get to them.

"Captain," Ozaki said with the sound of shock in his voice, "We've lost M.O.G.U.E.R.A."

It was slowly dawning on Gordon that they were fighting a losing battle. M.O.G.U.E.R.A. was one of their best weapons. It had stood against Spacegodzilla himself, and two of the Ghidoras had taken it out in a few moments and destroyed over a dozen alien ships in the process. He opened up the radio to the Atragon. "Katagiri, we can't win here! We have to order a retreat."

"No! We can't let these creatures reach earth!" Katagiri shouted.

"Katagiri, listen to yourself! Godzilla can do much more to stop these them then we can! We have to risk it!"

"No! I trust that mutant lizard about as far as I can throw him." Katagiri then shook in his seat as Monster X's eye blasts hit the Atragon's side, causing a small explosion. "Fine then, we'll go."

No sooner had Katagiri said this then Gordon had contacted the rest of the crew to tell them that they were retreating. He then turned towards his communication officer. "They may be the enemy, but we can't let the aliens be mercilessly slaughtered by the Ghidoras. Signal their fleet and tell them that if they come with us, we will give them sanctuary."

"Yes sir," the communication officer replied.

"Captain," Ozaki shouted, "Look!"

Gordon looked at the view screen and was struck with shear horror. King Ghidora, Death Ghidora, and Monster X were all heading towards the Atragon. Gordon had the Gotengo try to intercept, but Mecha-Ghidora was in their way. He turned on the radio connecting him to the Atragon. "Katagiri, get the hell out of there!"

Katagiri did not even have a second to react to what Gordon said. Three monstrous creatures rammed themselves into the Atragon's side, causing such an abrupt change in direction that even the people strapped into their seats were nearly thrown across the room. Those who were not strapped down were not so lucky. All three monsters followed up their attack with their energy weapons. Six beams of pure gravity and three beams of unnatural fire struck the earth machine in nearly the exact same place. Not even the Atragon's powerful armor could withstand against that. One of the Atragon's engines was completely blown off, as well much of the surrounding area.

Katagiri did not have time to ask for a damage report. "Fire all weapons! I don't care which one you hit, just hit one of them!" The weapon's officer acted immediately. The ship's mazer cannon was able to blast Mecha-Ghidora off of it, but the mini-lasers and missiles had little effect on King Ghidora and Monster X. Monster X pummeled the Atragon with his fist while King Ghidora bit down on the machine with his terrible teeth.

King Ghidora then bit down on the Atragon's drill with all three of his heads. The drill activated and tried to spin, but Ghidora held fast. The King of Terror refused to bulge; his body wouldn't spin, but his heads did begin to pull away from the Atragon's main body. If it was not in the vacuum of space, one would hear the sound of snapping cables and grinding metal as the Atragon's trademark weapon was slowly removed the machine. With one final snap, King Ghidora ripped the drill off, but it wasn't just the drill that was torn off. Several steel walls were torn off in the process; steel walls that lead to the engine room; an engine room fool of personnel.

Katagiri couldn't believe what was happening. One of mankind's greatest weapons was being torn apart. Sparks were flying from nearly all of computers. He couldn't seem to find anyone on the other end of in-ship radio. They had lost. It was with a heavy heart that he made his next command. "Abandon Ship! Everyone to the life pods. I repeat – ABANDON SHIP!"

What was left of his crew did not hesitate to follow his command. Katagiri waited for the rest of the bridge crew to exit before he headed towards the door.

"Eh, eh, eh, Captain goes down with ship."

Katagiri spun around. Where had that voice come from? He was certain that he was the last person on the bridge. No one was there. It was as if the voice was in his head. That was when he saw it. Staring into the camera that connected to the Atragon's view screen was none other than King Ghidora himself.

Katagiri suddenly found himself remembering something that Miki had once told him. King Ghidora is not truly telepathic, but that horrible mind of his is so dark and powerful that it seems to reach out to all those around it, whispering to them and trying to strangle them in blackness.

"You," Katagiri said as stared at Ghidora.

"Me," the voice said as Ghidora smiled, confirming that it was, indeed, him who was speaking.

"Do you want me? Is that what you want? You can have me, just let my crew go."

"Don't be presumptuous. The only reason I'm talking to you is that it's fun to break your pathetic creatures' spirits. As for your crew, I assure that not one of them is going to make it out of here alive."

"Go to hell, you bastard!"

"I've been – it's overrated."

Katagiri hoped that that was just a figure of speech, but then again, everyone thought he was dead after the Kilaak invasion. If any creature could crawl itself out of hell, it would be Ghidora. "Why are you doing this? Why kill without remorse? Why destroy your allies?"

"I kill because none of you pathetic balls of slime deserve to live. You know how alien invaders will often say that they are as far above you as you are above the amoeba. Well I am as far above them as they are above you. As for why I destroyed those pathetic creatures, they were no longer of any use to me. You see, I knew if I got all of you together, I knew you would all kill each other off. And when you all of you are gone, there will be nothing left to stop me from taking my revenge on the only one who has truly stood up to me."

"You mean Godzilla."

"Yes, Godzilla. That cretin has defied me to many times. In all of my existence, only he has truly apposed me, and for that he will suffer greatly."

"What about Mothra, I heard that several of them took you down the first time you came to earth."

Ghidora just laughed. "You think those stupid insects truly defeated me. Ha, I let them win! True, I had never come so close to defeat, but when it was all over, there was only one Mothra left, but I still had enough strength to finish her off. And when that happened, no one would be left to stop me. But no, if this planet wanted to live so much then I would let it live – for now. I promised myself that I would return, and I would crush it for even thinking about defying me!"

For the first time since this 'conversation' started Katagiri smiled. "But you weren't expecting Godzilla, were you?"

Ghidora gritted his teeth. "It doesn't matter, with what I have in store for this planet, not even the so called 'King of the Monsters' will be able to stop me.

Katagiri thought about what Gordon once told him. There are two kinds of fear. The first is terror, the kind that most people think of, to truly be scared of something. The second is respect. As in when the Bible says, 'Thou shall fear the Lord.' That is what it means. I have found that whether you mean terror or respect, everyone fears Godzilla. "He scares you, doesn't he? Godzilla scares you."

"What?" Ghidora said with a voice so icy that it could freeze hell over.

"It's true, isn't it? He terrifies you because he is the one foe you ever encounterd that could truly defeat you. I can tell because he scares me to. Yes, I admit it! Godzilla terrifies me and I know that he scares you too!"

The King of Terror's face was filled with such fury that Katagiri was certain that if he looked directly into the creature's eyes, he would have been killed on the spot. "I do not fear that pathetic freak."

"You're lying! A wise man once told me that everyone either is afraid of Godzilla, or they respect him, and the people who say that neither fear or respect Godzilla are usually the kind of person that fears him. So yes I'm afraid of him and so are you, but I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU! WHO CAN FEAR THE SO-CALLED KING OF TERROR WHEN HE HIMSELF FEARS ANOTHER MONSTER!"

Ghidora bit down on the Atragon with his side heads. "That is what you humans call BLASPHEMEY!" With that he bit down with his final head, began to pull, and ripped the Atragon into pieces.

The entire bridge crew of the Gotengo was in shock. Gordon couldn't believe that had just happened. Everyone on the Atragon was dead. Mecha-Ghidora had finished off all of those who had made it to the escape pods. They tried to stop it, but Death Ghidora wouldn't let them pass. With every fiber of his being Gordon wanted to ram the Gotengo's drill into King Ghidora's head, but he knew they were outmatched. The best thing that they could do for them now was to get back to the earth and prepare a counterattack there.

"Get us back to earth. I don't care how you do it but get us past the enemy and get us home. We can mourn later," Gordon said.

"Yes sir," Ozaki replied half-heartedly.

All the Ghidora's except for their leader charged the Gotengo. If anyone else had been at the Gotengo's helm, they would have been torn to shreds, but Ozaki was the GDF's best pilot. With amazing skill and precision, Ozaki turned and twisted the Gotengo around the attackers, flying right past them. The terrible space creatures turned around growled at their slippery foe before speeding off after him.

"We're almost there." Gordon said. "All we have to do is go just a little bit farther. Use every missile we have left to keep them off of us."

Ozaki didn't have to be told twice. He pushed the engines as hard as he could and released the last of the Gotengo's missiles on his pursuers. They close to the earth that the wonderful blue and green planet completely filled up the screen. Ozaki could almost feel the air coming around the Gotengo's hull. They were so close.

Then several gravity beams took out most of their engines.

"DAMN IT!" Gordon shouted. "We were so close." He looked around at the faces of his crew and could see the sorrow in their eyes. It couldn't end like this. The three space creatures surrounded the Gotengo like jackals closing in on a kill, ready to finish it off.

"Wait!" was King Ghidora's call to his minions. "Don't destroy them just yet. I want them to see what happens next."

King Ghidora flew back towards the crippled alien mothership. He tore through several monster-sized hatches on the bottom of the city-sized ship. For each one he opened, something came out. Gordon was once again shocked at what he saw. The Xilliens had not just made their own version of the Nebulans' Gigan.

They had made several Gigans

About a dozen of those black and silver monstrosities poured out of the ship. With their masters dead, the Gigans turned towards the next source of leadership – King Ghidora. Ghidora motioned with his heads to the crippled Gotengo. His message was clear. Take care of them for me.

Before the crew of the Gotengo could react, the ship was surrounded by blood red energy from the many creature eye beams. Finally, one of the Gigans flew right by the Gotengo, slashing it with his buzzsaw in the process. After that, the Gigans stopped firing. They didn't have to anymore. That last hit had sent the ship spiraling towards the earth.

"Captain!" Ozaki screamed, "We only have minimal engine control. I can't control out descent. We're going to crash!"

"Do your best, soldier! Keep her together! We have to make it out of this and warn everyone else!" Gordon ordered.

The Gotengo continued to speed up as it fell. The metal hull quickly became red hot. Chunks and pieces were torn off of it. If the drill hadn't made of solid space titanium (so far earth's only weapon to be made of the substance) it would have warped and deformed.

"Keep her steady!" Gordon shouted over the deafening roar coming from outside. "She'll hold! She has to hold!

The ground below them grew closer and closer…

"Everyone, brace yourselves for impact!"

…and closer…

"I repeat…"

…and closer…

"Brace for impact!

A massive explosion rocked the ground as the Gotengo crash landed. The booming sound could be heard for miles. And then, there was only science.

King Ghidora now, for all intensive purposes, had his own private army. Krystalak, Megalon, Spacegodzilla, Destoroyah, and Bagan were already on earth, and before him were Mecha-Ghidora, Death Ghidora, Monster X, and a dozen Gigans. King Ghidora couldn't help but smile at this. "My fellow Ghidoras will stay with me for right not. As for the rest of you, go the earth. Ignore the cities for right now; we will have time for them later. Right now, I want the monsters. Wherever you find them, destroy them, but leave Godzilla alive. He is mine. Now go – I want to see this planet red with blood!"

Upon command, the wicked cyborgs flew off. With that, Ghidora released his bell-like laugh. It seemed to echo through the depths of space. There is an old saying that whenever a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.

Not for this bell, not for this bell

To be continued in chapter 10

Next up, the final battle quickly approaches as the Gigans attack.

Until next time!