Author's notes: Sorry, folks. No monster fight in this chapter. This just provides insight into our two main protagonists Godzilla and Kasumi. I took Godzilla's first and Heisei origins and sort of combined them and mixed some material form an original story I'm still trying to flesh out. Kasumi's history includes a very popular character from the Godzilla series. I'll let you figure out which. Monsters...Fi--oops! Never mind....
CHAPTER 9 - Legacy of Pain
Long ago, there was a great and terrible war between the armies of the East and the armies of the West. Their wars dragged on for years with each army committing different forms of atrocities upon their enemies, especially those they captured. Then one day an army from the West created a terrible weapon that spread faster than wildfire and left the land a charred, barren wasteland. Though this army was not the only army to seek and try to harness this power, they were the first to use it. However, in doing so they sowed seeds of destruction that would bear fruit years later when another of man's great fires burned the home of a dragon. The dragon's body was destroyed, but its spirit lived and sought retribution for what had been done to him. "I did nothing to these destructive little creatures," said the dragon, "great deities of the heavens, grant me the power to use this fire against these humans; let me punish them for their selfish and arrogant behavior." His wish was granted, and his body was revived and transformed to harness the fire that man had made. He traveled to the lands of man and destroyed their cities, their farms, their temples, and their land with their own fire, which the dragon spewed forth from his mouth. The armies of man banded together to destroy the dragon, but they could not win using their weapons. Then one day a one-eyed monk appeared. He knew a spell to seal the dragon in the sea; however the spell came with a costly price that even the monk did not fully know. The people begged the monk to use the spell on the dragon, anyway, and the monk did so. The dragon was sealed at the bottom of the ocean, but at the cost of the monk's life. The people rejoiced at the dragon's defeat, but their rejoice is short-lived, for the dragon may yet return one day should man's arrogance and selfish lust bring harm to the earth. This is the legend of the dragon of man's destruction; the legend of Godzilla...
Seattle, Washington 8:45 PM
The crew of the Super X-III waited anxiously as both Kasumi and their enemy Godzilla seemed to be locked in a deep trance, wondering what Kasumi was still doing inside Godzilla's mind. "I hope this isn't going to be a repeat of when she tried getting inside Destoroyah's twisted head," said Captain Stephanie Templeton, "I'm not sure if she ever got over that incident." "Don't say that," said Major Takashi over the radio, "she's a strong girl; she'll beat him yet!" The first time they confronted Destoroyah in its final form, Kasumi tried to reason with the beast, only to find that its mind was the mind of a purely destructive demon, relishing in the death it creates. She had nightmares for almost a month after the incident. Daniel Sheperd stood beside the still motionless psychic woman, holding her hand in his. "Come back to us, Kasumi," he said, "come back to me, please."
Godzilla's Mind
Kasumi struggled in vain against Godzilla's mental grip. He held her by her right shoulder with one hand while holding her throat with the other, not choking her but not allowing her free movement, either. The saurian looked down upon this woman who dared enter his mind once more, his catlike eyes burning with contempt. "You...are called a human," he said more as a statement rather than a question, "my enemy, yet you've helped me twice now. WHY?" Kasumi 'gasped' for air as Godzilla loosened his grip on her throat. "I *gasp* wanted to... to know.. something about you," she replied, "who you really are. Why you are the way you are. I need to know the truth as you know it: why you are as you are now!" Godzilla seemed suspicious of this at first; he wasn't sure he understood her or should believe this creature to be so sincere, and yet he could not sense any deception from her presence like he could from the one that had previously controlled him. "You wish to know me," he chuckled, "fine. Then you shall find out exactly what I have had to ENDURE!" Godzilla's grip tightened on Kasumi's shoulders as they were teleported to a different part of Godzilla's mind: his memories!
Kasumi shut her eyes tightly, resting her body against Godzilla's as she felt herself being rapidly carried off until they stopped above a tropical island. Lagos Island. She opened her eyes and peered down to see American and Japanese forces engaging each other in combat. "I had encountered your kind before," said Godzilla to Kasumi, "in my old life. They were bringing their war to my home, and I would not allow them to destroy it in their lust for battle." She watched the battle below as a strange giant dinosaur lumbered through the forest, driving the two warring factions, who fired at him repeatedly, to the beaches of the island before returning to the forest. "I had hoped that would have been the last time I would have had to deal with your kind," he continued, "I just wanted to live with the rest of my kind in peace." The image below altered to show the passing of time; now the Godzillasaurus that had fought off the two warring factions was with a slightly larger one, and both were laying beside their main priority: a nest full of eggs. "You were going to be a father," Kasumi whispered. Just then she heard the sound of propeller engines above her. Godzilla and she looked up to see an B-52 Bomber over their heads. "No," she gasped, "Go away! He just wants to be left alone with his family!" Godzilla watched her with a hint of surprise as her eyes began to water with tears while history played itself out. In the summer of 1954, US tests of the H-Bomb occurred on the islands in the Bikini Atoll region. Those who were caught in the fallout included the crew of a Japanese fishing boat and the last of a rare species of dinosaur. Kasumi tried to look away, but Godzilla powerful hand forced her to watch as the blast devastated Lagos, killing all living things in sight. All except one. As Kasumi watched, a burnt Godzillasaur rose from the ashes of his now-barren home and let loose a agonizing roar. As the wounded animal tried to walk toward his fallen mate, he began to twist and contort himself violently as his body underwent dramatic changes: his arms grew longer, his legs became more humanoid, the bumps on his back growing into irregular spikey violet plates, his ears growing pointed, his scales changing in color to match the greenery that once covered his home, and he got bigger. Much bigger. Kasumi grimaced as the poor creature underwent these violent changes; she could almost hear the cracking sound of bones as his body structure continued to change. "I felt as though I was on the brink of being ripped apart and kept at that brink," said Godzilla once more, "and while the changes in my body may have stopped, my pain would not." Godzilla and Kasumi watched as the former dinosaur rose up in its new body. He looked around him, seeing the devastation brought to his island by the H-Bomb, and then looked down at what remained of his mate and future offspring: charred remnants of a life that was no more. The nuclear beast roared in anguish to the sky, pleading for a reason why he had not at least died with those he loved. When no answer came, his eyes burned with rage as he sought the source of this destruction. Godzilla and Kasumi watched as the beast stormed across the beach and disappeared beneath the waves before moving ahead in time to the series of ship attacks, his arrival on Odo island, and when the US Navy tried to destroy him with depth charges. "I vented my rage for a time, hoping that would make you understand what I had suffered," said Godzilla as he continued to hold Kasumi by her shoulders, "but you humans would not accept your crimes as you attacked me once more! This time, though, I found I could recover from injuries far faster than I could have ever done before, as well as use the very fire that destroyed my home upon anything that crossed with me; I intended to use this to destroy your home as your kind destroyed MINE!!!" His grip tightened on Kasumi as she watched Tokyo being destroyed by Godzilla in 1954.
Godzilla continued to recount the events from half a century ago as he recalled them. "After I had destroyed your city, I returned to the sea, believing that I had finally gotten through to you. Yet again, however, I found myself letting my guard down too soon." The scene shifted once again to the ocean floor in Japanese waters as Dr. Serizawa prepared to use his secret project on Godzilla in the hope that his discovery could save mankind. "The Oxygen Destroyer," said Kasumi as she watched the young scientist carry the giant capsule that would hopefully end Godzilla's reign of terror. Hearing a familiar growl, she turned to see Godzilla lumber toward Serizawa and his invention. Accepting the fact that she could do nothing inside Godzilla's memories, she watched as Godzilla stepped on the Oxygen Destroyer and activated it. Once more Kasumi felt Godzilla's pain as she felt herself being ripped apart this time. "This is how I felt when my old life was lost forever to that fire!" Godzilla scowled as his grip tightened again, "Once again your kind tried to burn me to death, and I thought they had succeeded that time. But fate seemed to intervene once again." Kasumi looked back down at the ocean floor; at first Godzilla's body seemed to disintegrate save for his bones, then, after the Oxygen Destroyer had run its course, something was moving from underneath the bones! From his heart, the only thing that seemed to have been sheltered from the Oxygen Destroyer's effects, the rest of Godzilla's body began to reform. "I soon realized that I could be hurt severely, though I could not be killed," said Godzilla as he loosened his grip on Kasumi's shoulders, "Upon this realization, I discovered my true fate: I was doomed to walk the earth until your kind walks the earth no more." After he said this, the memory world faded, and they returned to the charred ruins that now represented the mind of Godzilla. He let go of Kasumi completely, and she fell to her knees and wept at his feet.
Seattle, Washington 9:03 PM
Tears streamed down from Kasumi's still-closed eyes as her once statue-stiff body began to crumple to the floor. Daniel caught her before she hit the floor, however, and held her tightly in his arms. "Kasumi," he cried to her, hoping for a response. Nothing. Nothing but the tears that slipped through her closed eyelids. Breathing heavily and looking frantically, his gaze fell upon the still-entranced Godzilla. "Let her go, Godzilla," he said angrily, then again pleadingly, "Let her go. Don't take her away from me." While everyone else could tell that Daniel and Kasumi were more than friends or colleagues, neither he nor Kasumi ever told the other how they felt. Don't leave me, my love. "Do not give up on her," came tiny simultaneous cries, "Mothra has faith in her ability to mend Godzilla's tortured soul. You should, too." "Who said that?" said Peter Carson. Everyone looked around, trying to find the source of the tiny voices. "By Rick's feet!" exclaimed Joseph Wormwood. The crew all turned to Rick to see their surprise guests: two six-inch twin women dressed in simple red garbs. "Mothra's Shobijin!" said Benjamin Wells. The Shobijin were tiny women who would accompany or precede Mothra, particularly during times of crisis. Daniel leaned forward to face the Shobijin, being careful not to disturb his beloved, and asked, "What do you mean by all that? Are you saying that Kasumi's supposed to heal Godzilla? That Godzilla's some hurt animal?" "Godzilla was deformed by your atomic tests," they explained, "Since then he has had to live with the pain of being constantly hunted and attacked by humans; to him, all he has to live for is to destroy all that was built by man, to make human suffer as he has suffered. Omori-chan has a chance to use her powers to mend his soul and give him at least some measure of peace." "But Godzilla-" "There is more going on here than any of you could fully understand. Please have faith in Omori-chan." With that they disappeared under a console. Rick bent down and tried to crawl after them, but they disappeared without a trace. Then he got stuck when he tried getting back out. "Help," he cried. His boss begrudgingly went to help pull him out as Daniel looked out the window at Godzilla, then back to the woman he held tightly in his arms. He closed his eyes for a moment, to contemplate all that had just been said, then reopened them and lightly smiled at Kasumi. He wasn't completely sure if he could put all his faith in what the Shobijin had said, nor in Mothra, but he knew he could trust Kasumi's judgment. "Alright, Kasumi. I'm trusting you on this; don't give up on me. On all of us."
Godzilla's mind
Godzilla watched as the psychic woman wept at his feet with a mixture of emotions that he had not felt in a long time, but he pushed those feelings aside as his anger took hold once more. "Weakness in the face of the pain you've been forced to endure will not spare you from my wrath," he said, "you will ultimately share the same fate as the rest of your kind." Kasumi managed to regain her composure by this point, enough to reply, "It is not from the pain I have suffered from you that causes me to weep; it is the pain you've had to endure because of my species that bring me to tears." Godzilla blinked in surprise upon hearing this. This human weeps... for me? he thought as Kasumi tried to wipe the tears from her eyes and get back up on her feet. "Yes. I weep because you have lost something I have barely had a scrap of: a normal life." Those words seemed to sink into Godzilla's head and heart as one question came to mind: what could she have suffered? "Do you want to find out," she asked to Godzilla's surprise, "if so, then take my hand." Godzilla watched her as she stretched out her hand to him in invitation. At first he hesitated, then he clasped her soft hand with his clawed, scaly one as they ventured into her memories.
Kasumi's memoryscape
Kasumi led Godzilla to her old house in 1991 Tokyo, when she was eight years old. A bruised little girl, a much younger Kasumi, ran into the house crying while an equally younger Shogo fought off some slightly older children until Kasumi's mother came out and shooed the bullying kids away. Kasumi's mother then took the two children into the house and sat them on the couch in the living room; afterward she got out the first aid kit and tended to them while she tried to find out what happened. "Those bullies were going to trick Shogo into hurting an old man with a gun," cried little Kasumi as her mother tended to her. "How do you know that?" her mother asked, "did they say anything to you?" "I knew what they were thinking," replied Kasumi. Her mother looked at her as though she were making things up, then Shogo spoke up. "The moment she said that, they started hitting her to make her take back what she said. Didn't you say, Mrs. Omori, that some people lie and you can't always tell until they go out of their way to deny it?" little Shogo asked. Kasumi's mother wasn't sure what to make out of this mess, but she did know her daughter wouldn't lie about something so serious. She held the two children tightly to her bosom to reassure them that everything would be alright. After that moment, Kasumi took Godzilla to another moment in her past, seven years later where this time while she was in high school. Shogo's family had moved to America, but they tried to keep in touch through letters and, on rare occasions, phone calls. She was sitting on a bench just outside her school reading one such letter when some girls and boys from her homeroom class encircled her. She had caught them cheating their way through class with her powers for several months, but didn't have physical proof to expose them until recently. "What's Ms. Mindreader up to today?" one girl sneered. "Maybe she's having fantasies of her boyfriend overseas," replied one of the guys. "It's not like that between Shogo and me," said Junior Kasumi as she tried to get up from her seat and away from the unwelcome crowd; one of the guys grabbed her hand that held the note and took it from her. "Since you can read his mind, you should have no trouble finding out what he's thinking," said the guy sarcastically. "Give it back," Junior Kasumi cried as they threw the crumpled letter to and from each other, making sure she didn't catch it. When it seemed as though Junior Kasumi would give up on it and try to leave again, they began to shove her and tear her clothes to humiliate her. Junior Kasumi collapsed on the ground and tried to cover herself, but that didn't stop them from kicking at her. Rage continued to build up in her like a boiling pot of water. Then suddenly the bench she had been sitting on ripped itself from its foundation and imbedded itself in a nearby tree like an arrow in a bulls eye. The group of bullying students immediately stopped and ran off, calling her a freak and a monster as they ran. Junior Kasumi felt so angry and yet so ashamed of herself. She looked at the bench stuck in the tree. "Was that me?" she asked herself out loud, "am I really a...a...a freak!?" Just then a lovely young woman with black hair held back in a ponytail and a business dress walked up to her. She knelt beside her and said, "Having telepathic powers does not make you a 'freak'. You simply need to learn to control your gift and focus it appropriately." Junior Kasumi looked up at the older woman and asked, "You know what I have, Ms...." "It's Saegusa," replied the woman, "Miki Saegusa."
Kasumi turned to Godzilla, who was absorbed in the spectacles he was watching, and said, "Until Ms. Saegusa came into my life, I thought I was a freak...like I didn't belong. She made me feel that, for the first time in years, I was normal." She smiled as she said this, but the smile faded quickly. "But that happiness wasn't to last. She eventually retired from the school for reasons she wouldn't explain to me. All she told me was to suppress my powers whenever I was outside the institute. Then several days later I was informed that she and her family were dead. The cause of death remains unknown to this day, but how they died just seemed…unnatural. I though it had to do with a fellow student at first, but I would find out I was wrong." They went forward another seven years to the day after graduation at Miki Saegusa's School for Psychic Children. The setup was at the old G-Force HQ where those who were taught to harness their special powers could use those abilities on the monsters and/or control future Mechagodzillas. There Kasumi had met other people with similar abilities, though their abilities weren't as advanced as Kasumi's, as she would find out. The exact moment Kasumi wanted Godzilla to see was on the night of a graduation party. She was leaving a friend's house and was on her way to her apartment when Yoshitsu Banno popped out from behind a corner. He was once considered top in his class, until Kasumi breezed by him in grades, behavior, and performance. His lack of humility and oversized ego played a key role in his being held back another year at least. Kasumi stopped in surprise, but tried to remain calm. "Yoshi, what are you doing here?" she asked pretending not to smell the alcohol all over him. He scowled at her and said, "You think you're sooo special, just because you thought you could best me. Well, I know how to fix that, you little WITCH!!!" He broke the bottle that he was holding against the corner and lunged at her. Unable to gently push him away with her mind fast enough, she simply blasted him with a powerful burst of telekinetic energy, sending him smashing into a pole that bent over and fell over him. Kasumi gasped in shock at what she had done, and quickly ran to him. His back was shattered. She couldn't think of anything she could do to help him, so she began screaming for help. She thought about what needed to happen for him to recover and walk again, and then the most unexpected, phenomenal thing happened: his back began to realign itself and heal! She couldn't figure it out at first; the only explanation for what happened to him was that she simply thought it, and it happened. Yoshitsu wouldn't remember what happened to him, and no one else had seen the incident, so she wouldn't have to worry about any inquiries or anything like that. After that, Godzilla and Kasumi left the memory world and returned to their mental link.
"You're the only one I've told about that incident. Do you know why I showed you that, Godzilla?" Kasumi asked, "It's because I want you to see that the only way to let go of the pain from the past and move on with your life is to forgive, even if you must forgive your enemy. If you don't, then you will be angry and spiteful for the rest of your life." Godzilla looked straight into her eyes, his stare calm and collective. "How can I forgive a species that does not repent their actions?" he asked in a sharp tone, "What good would forgiving the humans do ME!?" Kasumi stood her ground despite Godzilla's vindictiveness. "No one wants to spend the rest of their life fighting a meaningless battle," she replied, "I know you want to find peace, to find something that will help you heal your pain and defeat your demons; if you don't let go of all this anger...all this HATE...then your battles will never end, and you'll forget what even made you fight in the first place." She looked at Godzilla pleadingly, hoping the radioactive saurian would heed her words. "I don't want to be your enemy," Kasumi continued, "I know what it feels like to want to protect the ones you love." As she said this, their surroundings changed again to show her first days on Monster Island, where she was reunited with Shogo, pilot of the last Mechagodzilla and current pilot of the new one. She also showed Godzilla memories of her first encounters with Daniel Sheperd: when he accidentally walked into the wrong shower room because he was still half asleep and stumbled upon a still showering Kasumi, when he tried to make it up to her by buying her dinner, how awkward they both felt when they had to work together, and how much things had settled down between them when they were alone in the main observatory watching the monsters roaming the island. "There are people I love and will do what ever it takes to protect them," she said firmly, "because I don't know if I could go on without them. Without him." Godzilla understood what she meant. He contemplated for a moment, then he looked at her and said, "I lost everything because of the very fire that I draw strength from. I will not intentionally let that same fire take away your loved ones." Kasumi managed a small smile, though she knew this didn't change Godzilla's feelings. "I will not, however, help you any further against these invaders. I've had enough of your battles. Leave me out of this one." With that he let out a low bellow and turned around. Kasumi began to go after him. "But the Vortaak tried to control you," she argued, "they are your enemies, too." Godzilla turned his head toward her and let out a threatening growl. "I will not help the humans," he said, "Despite your kindness, Your kind is still dominated by their arrogance and self-righteous hypocrisy until it destroys them! I shall never forgive them, nor will I willingly help them." Kasumi lowered her head and relented. She had done what she had come to do: Godzilla was free of alien influence, and he would not harm the ones she loved. That was more than she felt she could ask of him.
Seattle, Washington 9:16 PM
Kasumi's eyes opened slowly as her mental link with Godzilla was severed. As she regained consciousness and held her hand to her head, Kasumi realized that Daniel was holding her in his arms. As she lowered her hand Kasumi couldn't help but blush, and neither could he as he helped her back up. "Godzilla-," she began before Templeton answered her question. "He's heading out to sea," said the security officer, "I don't know what went on in there, but you gave us quite the scare." "Mechagodzilla 3 will need to be pulled out from between those two buildings before it can use the Absolute Zero Cannon, "grimaced Dr. Wormwood as he turned back to his computer, "thus Godzilla escapes yet again." Peter Carson walked up to Kasumi before she could get behind Daniel. "What happened in there?" the reporter asked, "Did you convince Godzilla to help us against the Vortaak?" Kasumi looked out the window at Godzilla's receding image as he walked into the bay and disappeared beneath the waves. "I think he will not fight against us," she said grimly, "but he won't fight with us, either."