Chapter Seven

In time, the feast ended and all fell to sleep. Those asleep included Miki and she tossed and turned in the sleeping bag she had bought with her. She knew that Godzilla could come at any moment; they had to be ready. Infant Island's scouting parties had promised to keep an eye out for anything unusual. Yet even their assurances weren't enough to assure Miki a restful night's sleep for she had gone into her sleeping bag with a worried feeling. And she had had her powers long enough to trust her premonitions.

In her dream Miki was wandering through a mist. The mist was a thick one and she couldn't see herself, but she could feel a presence. Who was it that Miki sensed in her dream? She did not know; her own powers were small, far too small to know what was happening. Then she heard it. It was so loud that it made her ears hurt, for it was musical thunder.

"Up here Miki."

She knew that the voice was coming from somewhere high and there she looked. It was the Elias, but huge beyond words. They would have matched Godzilla himself but Miki was not stunned. After all, she knew that she was in a dream and that the world of dreams was one of the mind. And the powers the Elias had of the mind were absolute. Such were the Elias's true selves and it didn't startle Miki anymore; she remembered when they first came to her like this. She had been so untrained in her powers then she hadn't been a tenth the size she was now.

The giant Moll lowered herself to the ground to see little Miki. "There you are. We've been looking for you."

"You have?" asked a puzzled Miki.

"Yes," said Moll's now equally titanic sister Lora. "You remember, of course, what we said. We would tell you everything once you reached the island."

"What is it?" asked Miki. "What must be told?"

Moll got up and looked at Lora. Then they both spoke simultaneously. "What's at stake, and why the battle will be waged. We came back in failure from trying to reason with the human but a few hours ago. He is determined to open the sphere and if Mothra should arrive too late to stop it from opening, then Oberon help us."

Miki craned her neck to look at them, with a look of confusion on her face. "Why? What's so horrible about the monster inside?"

The Elias grimly rumbled, "Come with us."

Lora knelt to set down her hand. Miki stepped into her palm and was raised up. Once level to Lora's chest both sisters looked at her. Moll said, "Of course you know of Godzilla's having lived since the time of the dinosaurs."

"Of course" replied Miki.

"Do you know of anything else? Did he ever tell you of where he came from, the places that he lived, the other dinosaurs he knew?"

Miki lowered her head. "Well, no. He never 'told' me. I ask him telepathically and he merely 'says' its not important."

The Elias said, "Then we will tell you."

Hurricane winds began to blow that left the mist they were all in began to swirl and spin like some kind of cauldron. Swirling and seething it continued until finally it stopped. When it did, the limbo in which they remained was still the same but there was a portal around which thick swirling fog formed a border. It was a round window that showed another world.

Looking at it, Miki felt herself drawn into it. It was as if she could see it all in her mind's eye. "What is this place? It feels familiar, somehow..."

Moll smiled. "That's because it's your home Miki. It's Japan, though several million years ago. And even that should be familiar to you. You've seen it several times in Godzilla memories."

Miki gasped in shock. "You mean this is, this is..."

Lora said serenely "Yes, it is Earth in the times of the dinosaurs."

Together they said, "The beast you call Godzilla is not of your world, far from it. He belongs to a far older world, one already old when the when that of the Elias was young. A world before your kind lived, a world before the ape and the elephant as well; before the wolf, the bison, the whale; before the mammoth and the mastodon; a world in the time of the dinosaurs.

"Now see with us this."

Miki paid close attention to whatever it was that the Elias had to show her and saw, on the beach of a swampy tropical land that would one day be called Japan, a battle. She looked closely and saw that one of the combatants was Godzilla. Shocked, Miki ran forward screaming "I've gotta save him!"

"You can't." Moll said. "We can neither be seen nor heard; we are ghosts in this place."

Frightened Miki looked forward to see whom it was with Godzilla battled. She had never seen the other kaijusaur. The other giant was something like a tan colored ankylosaurus for he walked on four legs and had a shell on his back, though the shell was covered with countless bone spikes. His tail had no club but was covered with more spikes from base to tip all sticking out to the furthest. A small horn was on his crocodilian snout and a spray of spines was at the base of his head. Miki knew from her psychic powers that his name was Anguirus.

He and Godzilla circled each other; neither willing to make the first move and neither willing to make the failing mistake. Both were possessed by a ferocious warrior's soul that would not cede so much as one inch to his enemies and fight to the last against them.

Then the battle was joined again. Anguirus lowered his head and charged but Godzilla saw this and dodged to the side. The spined kaijusaur saw that Godzilla had fallen and then raised himself up to deal a fearsome blow but the King of the Monsters spun on his back on the sand with his tail outstretched and tripped Anguirus. Turnabout fair play, the King raised both his fists to smash down on the spiny ones belly, but he rolled on his belly so that the fists fell on the spiny shell. Bellowing his pain at bleeding hands Godzilla nevertheless lowered his own head for a battering ram attack against his foe. Left sprawling, Anguirus got up and on his hind legs at that. Like a bear, Anguirus could rear up to do battle when the need came. Before the other could react Anguirus body-slammed his foe and was at his throat with fearsome teeth. When Anguirus sensed no resistance, he released his grip.

Horrified, Miki whispered "Godzilla..."

Moll smirked. "Don't worry," the giantess assured Miki. "He'll be alright."

Godzilla slowly got on his feet as Anguirus watched. It had been more than a good battle. It had been a great battle! He and Anguirus threw their heads back and roared. Miki looked on in shock but that shock quickly turned to resignation. Through her smile, she thought to herself that whatever the species, men are men!

It had been one big game, and it would be the last for a while. Godzilla would have to leave soon and it would be for an unknown time that he would not see his sworn brother Anguirus. Then they heard another call. Both kaijusaurs, along with Miki, turned to see what at was. While Godzilla and Anguirus were not surprised in the least, Miki was stunned at the sight.

At first glance it seemed to be another Godzilla! The basic shape was there, but there were several differences. She, the creature was female, was shorter than Godzilla. She didn't even reach his shoulder! She was significantly slimmer and her skin was a bright smooth green rather than a rough black. Her whole face was, in fact, soft and gentle instead of savage. Her spines were in a single row and were sharp and sword-like but were shockingly purple. She walked on her toes like a normal theropod dinosaur and tail and body were both mostly horizontal. Her forearms were tucked into her chest. Her name was Gigantis, the Fire Monster, and she was Godzilla's mate.

Though he gave a final look as he left, Anguirus slipped away at this; he knew that the two would prefer to be alone. Soon enough the world seemed to grow silent save for these two. The two walked toward each other and pressed their snouts against each other. Godzilla ran his tongue against her face to comfort her for there was a great sadness in her eyes. Alone, the kaijusaur mates lay down alongside each other on the sandy beach. Their bodies were touching. Trembling, Gigantis rested her head on Godzilla's chest.

Godzilla nuzzled her head. Oh how he loved her so. They entwined their tails and Godzilla ran his tongue over her body. Gigantis was saddened because he would soon have to leave. She knew that guarding the Great Tyrannosaur's children was her mate's responsibility. She knew before she became his mate that he would have to leave periodically to fulfill his duties. She always worried for his safety, but it wasn't that this time. Their son would soon hatch from his egg. He would hatch any day now.

Godzilla knew that and hated it. He knew that he wouldn't be there when his son hatched. Having been stigmatized as a hatchling for his size by his fellow dinosaurs, he had always wanted to be a good father when his time came and thus it hurt having to leave. Only Gigantis's understanding eased his loathing of himself for having to leave. It would only be for a short while and when he came back their son, BabyGodzilla, would be waiting for him.

It was thus with a heavy heart that Godzilla finally turned toward the ocean. He waded until the water reached his waist and then dived underneath. Though even then Gigantis could still see his spines protruding from the surface until he went to deep water. She turned around and began to head back towards the pack. Her's had also been a difficult life from the start. Like her mate, Gigantis had been shunned as a young dinosaur for her enormous size. Even though she secretly prided herself on her size and strength, she had been quite miserable watching her ordinary tyrannosaur sisters gain mates. It was even more difficult when eggs were produced. Gigantis's heart had ached at the thought that she would never have a mate and hatchlings. But then Godzilla came.

Every dinosaur knew about him. Yet even though he protected all the dinosaurs, he took special care concerning the tyrannosaurs that had spawned him for they were his family. They were also the last and finest children of the Great Tyrannosaur, his chosen people. Yes, the Tyrannosaur had indeed spawned the King of the Monsters as it had his queen. He first found her securing the carcass of a Seismosaur for her by-then diminutive pack when they first met. At the time Gigantis did not know it but she had been born to be his mate. Godzilla was not immortal; he would die one day. Thus to carry on the legacy to serve and protect the children of the Great Tyrannosaur after he left this world to be at the Great One's side, Godzilla would need a son, an heir. Gigantis would be the one who would give him that heir. They each soon found themselves to be the other's only possible mate and from that time on stood by each other's side.

She was walking when she heard a shrill cry. Looking up she saw it was Rodan flanked by smaller pterosaurs. Gigantis was slightly happy at seeing it. She knew that Rodan, a kaijusaur, likewise guarded the children of the Great Tyrannosaur, father of all saurians. However, Rodan made especially sure to guard its fellow pterosaurs from spiteful Meganuron swarms.

But in any case, why did Meganuron's hate dinosaurs so much? Most likely because of how they were the last survivors of the earlier Age of Insects. If so, that showed them to be poor sports because their king, Inagos, had willingly ceded his reign for the Great Tyrannosaur's children to reign.

Perhaps this was so, but that was the least of Gigantis worries. In the sky with the Rodan, was a strange shimmering object. She thought that perhaps it was one of the stars that occasionally fell to earth. It had been in the sky for several weeks know, glowing slightly brighter every night. Now it would shine brighter than the moon. Gigantis knew it was nothing to worry about, however, just another falling star...

Turning her mind to more important matters, she made her way the sandy dunes where she and Godzilla made their residence. Gigantis recalled her mate's late parents, both normal sized Tyrannosaurs whose son was birthed to guard Mother Earth. Their names were Blood Fang and Pretty Kill and the Great One's blood was strong in them; their son had fought the good fight for centuries and they still lived to see him and know pride. The Great One's blood had been strong in them as it was in their son's mate.

Her steps making the ground shake, Gigantis went to a small mound. It was about three meters high as the a future species called humans would measure things. It was small next to a kaijusaur like herself, but huge compared to other nests. In it was her son, her only son, who would soon hatch. Crouching down she looked at it with great expectation. She looked at it and knew that he would prove a fine heir to his father's crown. It was the perfect picture of familial bliss.

Miki saw this. "His mate, his son, his best friend... Godzilla never told me this... Moll, Lora, why didn't he ever tell me this?"

The younger Titaness hung her heads. "Because it was too painful."

"Why?" Asked Miki. "What made it so painful."

"This."

On the beach, Gigantis was resting comfortably when she saw a shooting star suddenly fall and make a slight noise in the distance. The Fire Monster was puzzled. What could it be? She knew she should investigate. After all, as a kaijusaur she was a protector like her mate. Looking to the nest and certain that her scent would war off any trespassers, she left to see what had happened.

Over a hundred miles away was the newly spawned space demon. Some one hundred fifty meters tall with a wingspan of one hundred twenty meters, the freak was an armless, batwinged, three headed, gold-scaled devil. Each sinuous neck was spiked and the vaguely reptilian heads were crowned with backward pointing horns. King Ghidorah looked around at the wasteland he had produced by his mere presence.

To empower himself he had leached the land of everything it had and so had left ground zero was a blackened crater not fit to grow dust. All the mighty conifers and yew of a cypress swamp for miles around were reduced to shriveled skeletons. The dinosaurs that had tried and failed to escape were left as bleached bones. The predators that would try to gnaw on them in the days to come would fare no better. Their marrow was poisoned with Ghidorah's Taint and the carnivores that ate it would choke in agony. In fact, one pack of Velociraptors was sentencing itself to the end at that very moment.

This particular pack of five had sensed a commotion and had come to see. The savage, ugly, feathered, sickle clawed midgets. They were only four feet tall, as humans measure things. Their meanness didn't keep them from gnawing the bones of a tjungasaurus, a duckbill, that had died in the explosion. Perhaps the band thought to crack the bones open with its teeth and suck out the marrow. That was the last mistake they ever made.

King Ghidorah's right head shot down and clamped its jaws on the helpless dromeosaurs. The predators hadn't even had time to scream for the sheer force of it killed the creature instantly. All that was left of them was ruined limbs and bloody paste dripping from the demon's maw. Furious, the demon cast aside the remains of the liquefied corpses like so much refuse. He had hoped for some sadistic glee! Bah! If all the saurians were this pathetic, Ghidorah would spare the planet just to avoid putting it out of its misery.

He was about to walk away when he felt a horrific burning force push him to the ground and keep pushing against him. He screeched in agony as the pain and pounding continued. A red beam of fire kept blasting against him and that made him rage. When it finally stopped, the three headed monster, still smoking, got up to see who or what had done this.

He turned around and saw Gigantis to whom he narrowed all six eyes. Gigantis' eyes, on the other hand, went wide with shock. With chest heaving, the Fire Monster saw she had used her Red Fire at full force and the thing wasn't even hurt?! True it was not her mate's Atomic Ray but still... She had used all her energy with that attack in the hopes that it would be enough to destroy the fiend. Though her long purple spines were still glowing bright orange, the glow was fading. It seemed as if know the battle would be fang and claw. Then King Ghidorah launched a volley of fireballs at her.

The resultant scream was such that Anguirus heard it from far away and came running on all fours. Not fast enough, he vaulted heels over head, curled into a ball, and tucked his head forward. Now he rolled forward like a giant spiny fifty-meter high boulder with all speed to the rescue. Surely, whatever menace bedeviled his brother's mate could be overcome by their combined might.

But it was not to be. Godzilla had also seen the crash out to sea and had swum back to see what it was. When he arrived at the dunes of his home he saw every last laving thing was dead and their bloated corpses in flames. Blood painted the shoreline red and when Gozilla smelled it, he knew it was Anguirus'.The land, the trees, everything was torn down and ruined. It wasn't just the acrid smoke from all the burning corpses that made his eyes water. But the worst was the nest.

He saw it and could barely numbly register it. It was as if his soul had been torn out run through a meat grinder. The nest mound where Gigantis had left their egg was torn apart. There was no sign of Baby, his son, his only son. Whoever had done this must have killed the child as well, but what of his mother...?

Fearing the worst, Godzilla followed Gigantis' scent and hoped against all hope that at least she was still alive. But when he found her, it was already too late. Broken and bruised and bleeding, her face was swollen & raw. She was on her last breath when he found her and her blood stained the sand red. Anguirus was nowhere to be found and was surely dead. Terrified for her life, he knelt down and placed his muzzle next to the pulped remains of her own.

Millions of years afterwards, when a species of mammal called humans would continue their existence into an Age of Monsters, they would say to themselves that the kaiju were animals that couldn't talk. This was wrong. Many kaiju were sentient beings capable of thought and emotion at a human level. While it was true that giant monsters were unable to communicate verbally, they were capable of making their ideas known to each other, even abstract ones. This was done by a combination of calls and psychic interface as would one day be realized by a human called Miki Segeusa. So as a result if Gigantis last "words" could be translated into a human language, they would be this:

They took Baby...

Miki saw all this and realized what it meant. All her sorrows that she had ever felt for the beast were as nothing compared to that they were now. She numbly stared ahead as the world dissolved around her into mist and she whispered nothing but this. " Oh Godzilla..."

Still holding Miki in her hand, for in a dream world which one of the mind the power of the Elias would truly be great, the titanic Moll lifted Miki to her face. "Now you know. Godzilla and the other kaijusaurs fought Now you know the fury of the coming battle and why Godzilla will fight the King of the Terror to the last."

Miki wiped the tears from her eyes. "Why do you speak of it as if it will come no matter what?"

Lora moved her gargantuan face away. "Normally our powers are useless for prophecy. But we still can sense when some future event will happen. King Ghidorah will come, I can feel it in my bones!"

"Then why send Mothra if you know that she'll fail to stop the sphere from opening?"

Lora sighed. "Don't you think Me and Moll tried reasoning with her? There's another way, I know it but..."

Miki looked up at both of them. "And if she fails, Godzilla will fight the monster won't he?"

Moll said "It won't be that simple. Yes Godzilla will fight and you will be his guide. Miki Segeusa, after the extinction of his children, Draco Deus, the god of all reptiles, took pity on those of his kaijusaurs that still lived for their's was a great pain: to lose those whom they swore to protect. He made them sleep cocoons so they might someday awaken in a better world. It was Draco Deus who was old when the world was young andwho had forged pushed the continents together to make Pangea for his creations.

"When the Age of Men came, it was from he that Lemuria's highest prophetesses and our mother, Dragon Queen received this worse: After the oceans drink Atlantis, humanity would start anew but that when the race of man steals the fires of the gods, the Age of Men would end and the Age of Monsters would begin. Some of them would be guardians of the Ancients, some of them from before the Ancients. It was said that one of them would be Draco Deus' champion, Draco Paladin who would rise one to be their King and there would be none to sooth his savage heart save one. And that one is you."

Miki gasped. "ME!"

Moll rumbled, "Yes you."

"Why?"

Lora replied, "By the command of the Almighty, the dragon god gave his command by our mother, Dragon Queen. These words were blessed by the Almighty God and His judgments cannot be questioned. Such knowledge is neither for you to know nor we to say. He who created the Heavens and the Earth has decreed that it is you Miki who will guide Godzilla and sooth his savage heart. Godzilla is the only force capable of saving the Earth but the question isn't can he but will he."

The last words the Elias said were in unison. "You task is to save the Earth Miki Segeusa. And Godzilla will be the means by which you do it. He the Beast and you the Beauty, you must make him the hero he was always meant to be. No matter how hard it grows, no matter how desperate and dark it may grow, you must believe that you can do it and fulfill the task that God has given you."

And Miki woke up. Trembling and sweating, she threw off her sleeping bag and made herself remember that she was still on Infant Island. Racing out of the hut where she had been sleeping with the other members of G-Force, Miki made her way to a clearing and looked to the night sky. Now it begins.

/o0o\

The time had finally come. After months of protests and debates, the sphere would finally open. People around the world had been sitting around their television screens for hours listening to James Lawrence give the news report. He was a good reporter, one of the best there was. He had enthralled the world with his as-it-happens narration and personality. He had made the drama come alive for those at home, made them feel as if they were there with Astronaut Glen as he was placing the codes on the seismic charges. But what nobody knew would that after the day was done, the world would see the cruelest monster that ever was.

"Hello this is James Lawrence United World Television News with the latest update on the meteor. The NASA space team has just finished programming the last charges and will fire them at any moment. When that moment will be we do not know but have been told our by science correspondent on the scene that it will be very soon.

"In related news, Princess Selina Salno has set up a mass protest in America's capital, Washington DC, to protest this action. As you may already know, Salno has been one of the most outspoken critics of the President's course of action and recently held a meeting with him at Camp David. As part of her protest, Princess Salno has repeatedly stated that a monster called King Ghidorah is inside the sphere and will attack Earth if released. It should be noted that this reporter doesn't believe a word of- What? This just in... Mothra is approaching the meteor?!"

Yes she was. Though the screen was blurry, the figure of Mothra was evident. Angrily chirping as she swooped down from the starry darkness of space to the surface of the meteor making pass after pass, she began firing beams from her antenna on everything she could. First this crazy mission and now this? The meteor's landscape exploding around him, Astronaut Glen was shocked at the sight and prepared to run, the magnetic soles of his space suit's boots gripping the ground. He looked at the astronauts under his command frozen in fear and disbelief, why would Mothra do this? She was supposed to be a hero!

"Men c'mon!" he yelled at his men,telling them to get into the ship and the ship to get ready for rapid departure in need be. Slowly but surely Glen and his men space walked through the low gravity to the Space shuttle, all the while Mothra chasing the other astronauts toward it. Strangely, her attack ended as suddenly as it began when the last human was aboard the Shuttle. Fuji closed the door of their vessel and minutes later the shuttle was already lifting off. He was just taking off his helmet in the already pressurized, gravity generating cabin when he said, "I don't get it? Why was she trying to chase us? …No …no, no, no"

"Don't get what, sir?" asked a crewman. "You alright?"

"Nothing its just that…" Glen grew quiet when he looked at his crew. Its not like that Salno woman could be right... Glen shook his head and looked out the window; they were departing and the asteroid and Mothra were quickly growing smaller. "Yeah, I'm alright," he told his crew. Just gotta get my bearings straight."

Then President Emmerich's voice rang tinny over the Shuttle's voice speaker. "That's the spirit Glen. I knew I was doing something right when I chose to oversee this personally from Mission Control. Now," he smirked into the microphone he held on his end, "one more thing."

"Houston... er, Mr. President? What is it?"

Emmerich looked at the NASA logo to the right of him. "Are the charges still functional?"

"Yes Mr. President. Why do you ask?"

"Glen, I want you to detonate them."

"What?"

The Commander-in-Chief growled, "You heard me, detonate them!"

"But Mothra's there, sir," protested the Astronaut. "We do that it might kill her."

"And what was she trying to do just now?"

Glen blanched at the thought. Hurt Mothra after all she's done... Now I know why I never liked him. "Sir, she didn't hurt anyone and unless my crew suffer a real attack I cannot-will not-attack her! She's done too much for us."

Devlin Emmerich felt his blood pressure start to spike. "Damn Salno! This is direct order from your President! Do you obey it or not?"

"Sir-!"

"Do you obey it or not!?"

He felt his mouth grow dry. "I... I..." Then he knew what he had to do. "I'll shoot Mothra the day I spit on the American flag!" Screwing up his courage, he shouted, "No! If Mothra's here it's for a reason and I won't budge until we have that reason... And I voted for the other guy!"

Back at NASA Mission Control, yhe president was heard letting loose a strong of profanity that only the most drunken sergeant might use against the saltiest sailor in a swearing match. He stomped to the nearest computer terminal and demanded, "You! Can the charges be detonated remotely?"

Still intimidated from his boss's temper tantrum, the intern mumbled, "er... yes..."

After identifying the controller for the mission, Emmerich ordered him to prepare for manual override. It took some blustering and threats but on learning of the sphere, he had made sure in install yes men in NASA for just such an occasion. (He was crazy but he was't stupid.) Emmerich looked at Mission Control's main screen and saw the view from Glen's spaceship. The sphere was in full view and it was time to see what was inside.

"Time to earn my place in history." He put his finger on the button prepared for him and he pushed it.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment. In the years to come people would ask where they were when that day happened. It was like where were you when Pearl Harbor was attacked, where were you when JFK was shot. Many were watching television and saw it unfold before them because of the meteor's sake but hardly any of them could remember what they saw. People would remember seeing a blinding flash of light, then the light seemed to take shape. It definitely took shape as it took a reddish gold hue. Then from this atomic fireball took shape the stuff of nightmares.

The glare died down and they saw it; the whole world saw it, a creature the likes of which Dante could never have conceived. It was a one hundred fifty meter tall golden, two tailed, long necked, three-headed dragon. Scales covered the whole of its body and each sinuous tail ended in a spiked club. The beast was bipedal; its legs would be used for walking and its bat-like membraned golden wings stretched far across. On long snaking necks stood the heads each with a crown of horns.

But the eyes! Set in three hideous reptilian faces were six cruel and malicious eyes! The people of the world saw this and knew at that moment that the beast had come to kill them. This soulless murdering satanic thing was a terror from beyond a thousand stars whose kind had left whole arms of the spiral galaxy barren wastes and who's self had slaughtered and butchered and raped to extinction millions of worlds and trillions of lives. It was a demon that had decimated whole civilizations in the blink of an eye, an abomination that would descend on a planet to kill and kill until the sky rained fire and the moon dripped blood. Then when there was nothing left but dust, the unholy abomination would just move on and Earth was next.

The demon looked into the camera and through it at all the people of Earth. And he grinned. This thing cast out and damned turned to the world of men… and he grinned. He opened his maw and spat out a yellow lightning like gravity bolt, destroying it instantly. The people of the world panicked as they saw their television screens go mad with static. They were afraid and rightly, so for King Ghidorah had arrived.

Author's Notes: Game time!