Chapter 22: Family Ties (Part 1)

Madison Square Garden, about five minutes earlier, August 16

As Nick had expected, Junior the baby Gojira had followed him all the way back to the elevator. And, again as expected, Victor had a… "defensive" reaction.

"Holy shit!" he had yelled, snapping his arms up and aiming a pistol at Junior. "Watch out! There's one of those fucken creatures behind you!"

Fortunately, Nick had planned for this reaction. He placed himself directly in front of Junior, hiding him as well as he could. Of course, there was no way he would be able to hide Junior from Victor. But all he needed to do was keep Victor from firing the gun long enough for Roache to calm him down. And that was exactly what he did.

"Calm down," Roache had said, rushing forward to push the pistol away. "This one's not dangerous."

"What the fuck do you mean 'not dangerous?'" Victor had howled, yanking his arm away from the French agent.

"Look, Victor," Nick had said, stepping forward. "Let me explain. This animal hatched from the egg me and Audrey went to investigate. But, unlike before, some embryonic fluid got onto my shirt." Nick gestured towards the yellowish goo staining his military jacket. "This creature, who we're calling Junior, has confused me for being his mother."

Victor gave Nick a dumbfounded look, but slowly lowered the pistol. "Wait… what?"

"It's true," Audrey had said. "Junior doesn't think we're food, he thinks we're family!"

"Thinks Nick is family," Roache had corrected, glancing back at Audrey. "He wouldn't let you pet him. Just Nick," he then said with a quick glance at Junior. But then, returning his gaze to Victor, Roache had said, "But, the animal is most certainly docile. And, as it so happens, a possible key to escape."

Eventually, after explaining the plan, Victor gave a shrug and said, "Fine. But keep the damn thing away from me. I am in no mood to get drooled on, even if I wasn't getting eaten in the process."

Junior had actually given a huff, almost in response, to Victor's quip. As it seemed, Junior was perfectly fine with that arrangement. Of course, while Victor had reluctantly agreed to the plan, actually getting Junior into the elevator was another issue. It took quite a while to even get Junior into the unfamiliar space, especially since Junior only allowed Nick to touch him. But, eventually, they were able to get Junior in. It was a tight squeeze, of course, but they were soon able to get the elevator doors closed and the lift moving up towards the required floor.

And that was where Nick was now, pressed against the control panel for the elevator and Junior's body. Despite the cramped space, Nick had an odd sense of comfort wash over him. He had even begun rubbing Junior's snout, to which the animal purred with content. Meanwhile, Nick watched the animal with interest and awe.

What an amazing creature! Nothing else on the planet was anything like it. Sure, it purred like a cat and seemed to have the loyalty of a dog. Sure, it even resembles a dinosaur. But even then it was quite unique. Now that Nick was closer to the animal, he could tell that, on either side of its neck, were two sets of small gills, enabling it to breathe underwater. And then, of course, there was the fact that it would eventually grow into an eighty-foot tall titan. What's more, it is the offspring of an entirely new species of animal. Its mother was the first of her kind, mutated from radiation. And while they may appear like dinosaurs, the true dinosaurs are long gone. The closest things left are birds. Of the organisms living today, there was nothing that could compare to the animal that Nick now petted.

And yet, they were on their way to killing them all.

Nick glanced down at his shoes as the grim reality set in. Their mission wasn't just observing these animals. Their goal was to kill them. He glanced back at Junior, who was sniffing at the control panel. Did they really have the right to kill these animals? It wasn't like humans were food items for Gojiras. The Gojiras were actually quite docile. Junior was proof of that. Less than a dozen of the over two hundred individuals actually attacked and ate humans, and that was simply a result of infantile innocence. A mistake that can be fixed by nurturing from their mother.

Nick looked at Junior once more, watching as the animal investigated the elevator like a curious child. And Nick released a resolved sigh. He was not going to stand by and watch as the animals - these unique and amazing animals - get hunted down by humans. These animals had every right to live on this planet along with humans. Nick was going to fight for coexistence, not for extermination.

The elevator dinged, but before the doors could slide open, Nick calmly pressed the button that would keep them shut. He then stood in front of the control panel, keeping the doors shut and blocking it from anyone trying to open it.

"What are you doing?" Roache asked, raising an eyebrow to Nick's maneuver.

Nick sighed and said, "I think we need to change our plans."

"What do you mean?" Roache asked.

"I think we should just leave here," Nick said. "We don't need to call in some airstrike. We can just get out of here now. Leave the city and alert the military when we find them."

"But that will give the damn things plenty of time to escape!" Victor said.

Nick glanced at the cameraman. "I know."

"Are you suggesting that we let these animals go?" Roache asked.

Nick nodded. "Yes."

Victor almost immediately rolled his eyes. "God damn it! Those things are dangerous, Nick! They kill people!"

"Not this one," Nick retorted, gesturing to Junior, who seemed uninterested in the current conversation.

"That was an accident," Roache pointed out. "It confused you for its mother."

"And the ones that attacked us confused us for food," Nick countered. "These animals eat fish, not humans. The dozen that are aggressive only think were food, similar to how Junior thinks I'm its mother. And with proper guidance from their actual mother, I'm sure that the aggressive ones will learn better, just as Junior would learn that I'm just a stranger. And I am positive that the rest will be docile."

"But even if they are docile," Victor said, "giant dinosaurs and human civilization aren't good bedfellows."

"Gojira was once a marine iguana," Nick said, "I know that doesn't really matter now that is mutated, but they both seem to be adapted to marine environments." Nick glanced at Junior. "If you look closely at Junior, you will see that he has gills. He can breathe underwater. And it's safe to say that the others can as well."

Nick returned his gaze to Victor and Roache, and said, "I think that these animals will head to the ocean. Maybe even return to the same island Gojira came from, assuming she's there to lead the way. I think that they will stay far away from human civilization."

"But they will be invasive," Roache countered. "They will have no natural predators. And what's worse is that they lay over two hundred eggs a litter. Even if it's only once, that's still a lot of babies. Even if they stay away from civilization, a lot of marine animals are going to go extinct."

"A lot of them are already going extinct, thanks to humanity," Nick said quietly with a sigh. "And besides," he said louder, "we found eggs that had already hatched before we even got in this mess. Likely, several of the animals have already left Madison Square Garden. And if that is the case, then blowing this building up will be null and void."

"But at least we can kill some of them," Victor said, "maybe even most of them. And these things aren't exactly like Godzilla. We can kill them just easy, even when they're giant-sized."

Nick was about to make a retort but was interrupted by Audrey, who was watching Junior. "I agree with Nick," she said. "If Junior can be friendly, even if it was by accident, why can't the others?" She then chuckled. "And besides, I highly doubt there will be anyone ready to take our broadcast. Everyone's probably busy with whatever's going on at the surface."

Roache began glancing between Nick, Audrey, and Junior. Then, with a sigh, he said, "I lost good men today. All of them were killed by those animals." Nick, for a moment, thought Roache was about to force them into going through the original plan. After all, he had the guns. He could easily force them to. And with the men he had lost, he would have the right to want vengeance.

However, the old agent turned to Nick and gave him a small smile. "However, I agree with Nick."

"What?" Victor said, shocked.

Roache turned and calmed down the cameraman. "I agree that these animals should be destroyed. However, as Nick has said, I think it's too late for that. A few of those things hatched before we got here, and they have probably already left the building. And besides, with Godzilla, Gojira, and the UFO, the military probably has their hands full. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have anything left to destroy this building with. And even if they did, if I were them, I would pull the troops out before there were none left."

"But -" Victor protested.

However, Roache cut him off with a wave of his hand. "This city is doomed. I think we should try to get out of it before we're doomed too."

"What about your country?" Nick said, suddenly remembering the whole reason for the French Secret Service's involvement. "Don't you want to help fix their mistake?"

Roache chuckled. "Again, it's kind of too late to do anything about that. But I think my country will survive."

Victor sighed. "I still think we should kill these things while we have the chance," he said with a glance at Junior. "But it seems that I've been outvoted." Victor walked up to the control panel. Nick, stepping aside, watched as he pressed a button and the doors slid open. Victor walked to the exit and turned back.

"Let's get the hell outta here."

Manhattan

As the flying rock and strange beast battled through the rock jungle, she watched with interest. She observed the fight from behind whatever cover she could find, only leaving it when it was in danger of being destroyed. This actually ended up occurring quite often. The beast, fighting a foe who kept above its reach, used its main weapon frequently. But the flying rock would always dodge the attack and the weapon would sometimes hit clusters of rock trees instead.

However, that was far from the weirdest part of the battle. During the fight, rocks of varying size and shape would lift into the air and pelt the beast, as if they had a mind of their own. These weren't like the rock monsters. These were just lifeless objects that magically rose up into the sky and attacked the beast. However, they never attacked the flying rock. In fact, as the beast was pelted with rocks, the flying rock simply hovered nearby, watching.

She had no clue how, but the only logical explanation was that the flying rock was controlling the environment to attack the beast. And this only made her distrust the thing even more. The thing already had the strange feeling of wrongness. And with such strange and impossible abilities, trusting it was even more tedious, even if they technically shared the same enemy. In fact, she even began rethinking her fight with the beast.

The beast had been fighting the flying rock first without showing a sign of aggression towards her and her young ones. And while it had endangered them, she was beginning to consider the notion that this threat was unintentional. The beast may have actually been continuing its attack on the flying rock and had simply strayed too close to her nest.

But, even then, she couldn't exactly trust the beast. Even if unintentional, the beast could have easily destroyed the nest and killed her little ones. It may even attack them on purpose now that she had attacked it, assuming it won its fight. The beast was probably more trustworthy than the flying rock, with its strange abilities and sense of wrongness, but not by much.

In the end, she decided that she would leave the scene. There was no motivation for her to join the fight. This isn't her territory, and she had plenty of food back at the home island. The only thing of value was her young ones, and she decided that now was the time to collect them and bring them home.

As quietly as she could, she began making her way around the battle and towards the nest. Towards her young ones.

It was time to go home.

Madison Square Garden

Oddly enough, Nick and the others had no run-ins with any baby Gojiras, let alone any that intended harm. The only baby that was in sight was Junior, who had loyally kept to Nick's side. In fact, when Nick had expected mayhem, getting from the elevator to the building's front entrance couldn't have been any smoother. No one was attacked. Roache didn't have to fire his gun. Junior had begun to allow Roache, Audrey, and even Victor to get closer to him, though he still clearly preferred Nick's company. But, in the end, nothing had gone wrong.

Not until they finally arrived at the entrance to Madison Square Garden.

They arrived at the top of a set of stairs that led down to a large room. A series of three chandeliers loomed from the ceiling, their lights distinguished from the lack of power. Two either side of these chandeliers were two lines of three metal support columns, holding up the building's roof. And, at the opposite end of the room from the stairs were a few sets of double doors leading to the outside. Leading to their escape. However, there was another, far more problematic feature of this room.

It was full of baby Gojiras.

"Shit," Victor muttered angrily. "Now what do we do?"

"We could try to find another exit," Audrey suggested. "One of them's got to be clear."

"I don't think that's necessary," Nick interjected, scrunching his eyebrows as he gazed into the crowd of Gojiras. There had to be fifty of them, perhaps more. And while the room was large, it was only barely large enough to squeeze so many large reptilian animals. The animals were packed together, side by side, like they were stuffed into a package. Several were pressed up against the doors, sniffing the glass windows.

Nick began to wonder exactly why all of these Gojiras were gathered here. There probably several other exits from this building, including the tunnel they had birthed next to. And they had plenty of room if they just came up the stairs, of which Nick guessed they could climb. So why were they here and packed so closely together?

But that didn't matter. Turning back to the group, he said. "Remember, we have Junior and the scent of his mother on me. We can probably sneak through the pack without confrontation."

"But won't these things confuse you for their mother?" Roache asked. "Having one follow us around is bad enough. We do not need mommy's entire family clinging to us."

Nick glanced back at the animals. It seemed that several of them had already taken notice of them, giving the group looks of curiosity. However, none of them actually came to investigate them. None of them perked up and rushed over to cuddle with him. The animals seemed to only feign interest for Nick before returning their attention to the doors.

"I think these animals can tell the difference between their mother and other individuals," Nick suggested after some thought. "After all, they all probably had the smell of their mother on them when they first hatched. And they didn't confuse each other as their mother. They may think that we're simply other siblings. Odd-looking ones, for sure, but just siblings."

Then Nick remembered his theories, or perhaps his hopes, that only a select few of the animals would actually hurt them. "Maybe," he said, "they do smell past their mother and Junior's scent, but simply ignore us because they are also able to differentiate between us and food."

Nick turned back to the group. "We may be able to sneak past without getting too much attention drawn to ourselves."

Roache and Victor glanced at each other and Audrey gave Nick a doubtful look. But then, with the shake of her head and a sigh, Audrey said, "I guess you're right. It's not like those things are attacking us right now."

"But wouldn't it be easier, and perhaps quicker, if we just searched for another exit?" Victor asked.

"We can't run the risk of running into the aggressive ones," Roache said, readjusting his hold on his gun. "Our escape is right here, and I'd rather fight my way through friendly animals than man-eating ones."

Nick nodded to the old agent and said, "It's settled then." He turned back to the exit, grabbing a hold on the railings. "Follow my lead." Nick began to carefully make his way down the marble steps, watching for any sign of aggression from the animals. A huff came to his left, and Nick glanced to see that Junior was following him down the stairs. Hopefully, Junior's presence should ward off any aggression.

Glancing back, Nick saw that, though reluctantly, the others were slowly following as well, keeping close to Junior's wagging tail. He looked ahead once more and saw that he had just reached the bottom of the stairs. Several Gojiras were grouped before him, a few giving Nick brief glances. It seemed, as Nick had suspected, that these Gojiras weren't paying much attention to them. In fact, the most attention was probably on Junior, a fellow sibling. There was, of course, curiosity for what Nick and the others were. But, unlike their more aggressive counterparts, these Gojiras only waned curiosity before returning to their prior focus: the doors of Madison Square Garden.

Nick turned back briefly to wave the others on and, with a deep breath, took a step into the horde of animals. The animals gave Nick a few more curious glances but, to his relief, he was able to push his way into the horde. Nick could feel scales rub up against him as he made his way through. Nick could feel the air hit his arms as the animals sniffed him as he walked past. Nick could feel the curious stares as he walked past.

"Holyshitholyshitholyshit," Nick heard Victor say rapidly, clearly uncomfortable with so many potentially dangerous animals squeezing against him. And though Nick knew that these animals had no interest in attacking them, even he felt uncomfortable being surrounded by so many reptilian bodies. Even Junior, who eagerly sniffed his fellow siblings seemed to keep especially close to Nick, apparently not wanting to get lost in the unfamiliar crowd. Junior was born alone, after all. While they were siblings, he did not yet have any special connection with them. Only with Nick.

Nick focussed on his steps, making sure not to step on any reptilian toes. The exit was just a few feet away. He began extending his hands, trying to carve a path through the animals to the exit. They were almost there…

There was a sudden snarl that echoed from behind them.

Whirling around, Nick's worst fear appeared right before his eyes. The docile animals cleared the way to reveal a pack of six Gojiras standing a few feet away. They were giving Nick and the others cold, stares. Menacing stares. Hungry stares. Their teeth were bared, pulled back in wicked, hungry smiles.

They had been caught.

"Shit," Roache muttered as he raised his gun, entering a protective stance. Victor, pulling Roache's pistol from his pocket, entered a similar stance, raising the pistol like a cop. But Nick knew that this would be futile. Sure, they only had to face six of the animals, but even that outnumbered them. And that was without considering two dangerous possibilities. The possibility that the bullets wouldn't even do anything to the Gojiras, and the possibility that the other animals might join in.

Nick glanced around. The other Gojiras had cleared away from the confrontation, putting Nick and the others in a small clearing with the aggressors. The bystanders seemed to only feign interest at best. And Nick didn't expect these bystanders to come to their rescue. They may not be aggressive towards humans, but there was no reason for them to be rescuers. And if Nick's fears were true, even a few of the bystanders could turn aggressive, seeing how their hungry siblings could easily kill and eat humans.

Nick considered trying to run for the door, but he doubted that they were faster than the Gojiras, who were built like the fast raptors from Jurassic Park. And even if they did reach the doors, Nick wasn't sure if they could open it before they were eaten. Considering how the Gojiras here hadn't already forced the doors open, it was likely that the doors were locked. Hell, for all Nick knew, they could be blocked by debris from whatever was going on outside.

Either way, they were well and truly trapped. There was no escape.

But then, before anything could occur, another growl reverberated around the room, this time coming from behind them. Nick glanced back in time to see a shape walk past him. The figure took a few steps before stopping in front of Roache and Victor, eliciting surprised gasps and lowering their weapons. Nick, however, upon realizing who it was, was not surprised in the slightest.

It was Junior, the animal taking a protective stance in front of the group, snarling at the aggressors.

Amazing, Nick thought to himself. Even when against his own kin, Junior is loyal to us. This, of course, made sense when considering that Junior thought that Nick was his mother. But even then Nick was still surprised to find that Junior would stand in the way between the Gojiras and the others. Nick expected Junior to at least defend him, assuming that Junior hadn't realized his mistake and left him to die with the others. But it seemed that Junior had grown close to them over the short period they were together. Whether he realized the differences between them or not, Junior was loyal.

But they were still outnumbered. While they now had a Gojira on their side and two guns, Nick and Audrey were still defenseless. Even assuming that none of the other Gojiras joined in, or even that the guns are effective, it would still be a hard fight. A fight that would most likely end in death.

Junior and the opposing Gojiras held their ground for several tense moments, growling to each other. At first, the opposing side had been taken aback that a member of their own species was defending their prey. Perhaps they were currently in a verbal argument, speaking to each other with their growls, snarls, and snorts. But whether or not a fight was about to break out could not be determined.

Suddenly, in a low tone, Roache said, "Victor, if a fight should break out, I want you to take Nick and Audrey and escape. Break down the doors if you need to. Just get out."

"What about you?" Nick asked. Was he really saying that they should...

Roache, to their surprise, suddenly chuckled. "If you're worried about me, don't be. I'm an old man. I've lived a nice life. And, honestly, I wouldn't mind going down in a blaze of glory. Especially if you guys were rescued in the process."

The growls and snarls were getting louder and louder by the moment. It seemed that peace was not going to be settled and a fight was about to break out. And Nick had already predicted the outcome of such a fight. Glancing at Roache, he saw that the agent had turned his head, looking at him from the corner of his eye.

"Nick," he said, "I'm afraid to say that I don't see any way for all of us to escape. I don't know how well Junior can fight, but I don't think he will last very long. You guys will need more time to escape, and I'm the only one who can provide it. Go. Get out of here. Live out your life. Survive."

Time seemed to slow as Nick pondered the situation. Was there any choice in the matter? The fight was about to start at any moment, and Roache was probably right in assuming that Junior wouldn't last long. Nick tried to find another way to escape, a way they could all escape. But there was none. They were surrounded by Gojiras, and even if they didn't attack, they would definitely prevent a clean and quick escape. The door was only a few feet away, their best chance was to hope that Roache can hold the hungry Gojiras off long enough for them to break through the doors and escape.

With a regretful sigh, Nick looked down at the floor and nodded. Victor nodded a moment later, giving Roache a sad look. "Good luck," Victor said. "I think you'll need it."

"Thanks," Roache said with a chuckle, "but I think you will need it more."

With a nod, Victor turned away, grabbing Audrey's hand.

"Wait!" she said, "We're not actually doing this, are we? We can't just leave him behind. "Roache is right," Nick said regretfully. "Our only option for escape is through those doors, and we won't make it there in time unless they are held off. And I don't think that Junior will last long in a six-on-one against its older and larger siblings."

"But -"

"Come on," Victor interrupted, "we are wasting valuable time. Let's go."

With a saddened sigh, Audrey looked down at the ground and gave a reluctant nod. There was a sudden roar that reverberated around the room. Nick looked back to see Junior and Roache facing off against the six Gojiras. The lead Gojira bunched its legs, aiming to pounce, and…

And suddenly, completely out of nowhere, the ceiling caved in above them.

She could tell, thanks to her great sense of smell, that a large group of her young ones were bunched together at one side of the nest. It seemed that they were trying to get out, but couldn't. She didn't know why they didn't just take the tunnel she had carved out for them. Perhaps they smelled her and wanted to go to her. She decided to oblige them in their request.

But, for a moment, she hesitated. There was another smell mingled with her young ones. A smell very similar to that of the rock monsters. Were the rock monsters in there with her little ones? Were they attacking them? She gave another whiff and calmed down. No, this scent was different. It was a scent that was plastered on the rock monsters, but it was not the scent of the rock monsters themselves. This was different.

And she suddenly remembered exactly what that smell was. It was the smell of those odd pink creatures that liked to hang around the rock monsters. She had no idea why those creatures would like to hang around such monsters. But she remembered back to just before the rock monsters first attacked her. She had come very close to one of the pink creatures. Practically face-to-face. She had been curious about it at the time, and it hadn't done anything to hurt her during that moment. A few moments later, the rock monsters had attacked.

This made her consider the possibility that the rock monsters were actually protectors of the pink creatures. It certainly made sense. The two were almost always seen together. The scent of the pink creatures was all over the rock monsters. Perhaps the rock monsters attacked her to protect the pink creatures.

Just as she had attacked the beast to protect her young ones.

She suddenly realized though that, while she knew that the pink creatures were harmless and unless she wanted to face the wrath of the rock monsters, shouldn't be messed with, her young ones may not. They may see the pink creatures as food and try to eat them. This would normally be fine, but she began to fear that, by eating some of the pink creatures, her young ones would be targets for the rock monsters.

And that was something she couldn't allow to happen. She had to stop her young ones from eating the pink creatures. And so she rushed over to the giant hollow rock that held her nest and tore it apart.

Nick and the others quickly covered their heads as rubble began to rain from the sky. Chunks of debris hit the ground with rhythmic thumps, forcing the Gojiras to back away in surprise. Several crashes echoed out, and Nick realized that this was the sound of the chandeliers falling to the ground. But, as quickly as it had begun, the raining rubble came to a quick stop. Nick, pulling his head out of his arms, glanced around at the scene.

Chunks of rubble and broken glass were scattered throughout the room. It seemed that none of the Gojiras had been harmed, though they did seem seriously confused. Even the aggressive ones seemed stunned, glancing around in confusion. Junior did so as well, though Roache remained still, his gun aimed at the creatures before him.

But there was suddenly a new sensation Nick felt. A sensation like a thousand water droplets cascading down onto him at every moment. Nick quickly realized that that was exactly what was going on. When, a moment ago, they had been inside, Nick realized that they were suddenly in the open rain. And, looking up, Nick saw exactly what had caused this sudden storm to rain down upon them.

The roof of Madison Square Garden had been ripped away, revealing a pair of azure blue eyes gazing down at him. Nick shuddered in shock when he realized whose eyes they belonged to.

It was the mother Gojira, looking down on them from the world above.

"What. The. Fuck?" Victor muttered, staring in shock at Gojira.

The giant leaned its head down into the building itself, seemingly trying to get a better look at her babies. The babies, seemingly realizing who it was that was looking down upon them, rushed forward to gather beneath her snout, chirping gleefully. Even the aggressive babies, which had been close to harming them only a moment ago, had seemingly forgotten their prey and had gone to join their mother. Only Junior stayed, glancing between Nick and its real mother, seemingly dazed in confusion.

Gojira then glanced at the doors, noticing that they were what was keeping the babies inside, and the creature pulled her head from the building. A moment later, with a crash, the doors were torn away by a set of large claws, giving the Gojiras an opening to the outside world. And the animals quickly took it. Even the Gojiras that had been hunting them moments prior bolted out the opening without care for their existence, focussing on reuniting with their mother.

Nick heard someone walk up beside him and he turned to see that it was Roache. "Looks like you're not sacrificing yourself today," Nick said with a smile.

Roache chuckled. "Who said I was going to sacrifice myself? I could've taken those things on."

"Come on!" Victor said, standing beside Audrey. "This is our chance to escape. Let's go!"

Nodding, Nick and Roache followed as Victor led the way out of Madison Square Garden and, at last, into the outside world. Nick wasn't sure what he was expecting when he finally stepped out of Madison Square Garden. He had no idea what had or is occurring. He had heard that Godzilla had arrived in New York City, and he had personally seen the UFO fly by. And, of course, he knew that the military had been preparing to trap Gojira again. Clearly, that either hadn't worked or hadn't occurred. But when concerning Godzilla and the UFO, he had no clue.

However, it soon became obvious what had happened when Nick finally saw the outside world.

It was like he had stepped out into hell. Fires were scattered everywhere, illuminating a devastated city and filling the skies above with thick black smoke. It rained so hard that Nick felt like he was in the ocean, but the fires were so strong that they didn't seem to waver, clinging to buildings like a tick to a deer. Lightning flashed every so often in the sky, adding to the nightmarish effect. But, most of all, rubble and debris was scattered everywhere, the demolished buildings appearing like dead bodies in the night.

"Jesus…" Victor muttered. "What the hell happened here?"

"Probably Godzilla," Roache said curtly.

"The UFO may have been involved too," Nick added.

"Looks like you were right, Nick," Victor said, glancing in his direction. "I doubt we would have gotten any military support with what's happened here."

"Is it over, though?" Audrey asked. "Is Godzilla still here?"

"That doesn't matter right now," Roache said. "Right now, we need to focus on getting out of the city."

"Wait!" Nick said, catching Roache's attention. He had just spotted Gojira, who huddled up the street from the intersection before them. She was leaning down, her head barely a foot from the ground. And in front of her were her babies, gathered before her like baby birds begging for food.

Suddenly, though, Gojira lifted her head, and Nick realized that her azure eyes were looking in their direction. There was an almost confused chirp, and Nick looked over to see Junior step forward to confront his true mother. Junior walked over to Gojira slowly and carefully. Gojira bent down, giving a few comforting chirps in Junior's direction. Nick figured how confusing this must be for Junior. Ever since he was born, Junior had thought that Nick was his mother. It had even stood in the way of his siblings to defend him because of that belief. But now it was time for Junior to learn who his real mother was.

Junior stepped cautiously forward, taking in violent sniffs as he did so. Gojira leaned her nose forward, giving Junior a few whiffs, before giving what seemed like small purrs. Junior sniffed his mother's snout and began looking back and forth between Nick and Gojira. Gojira gave Junior another, confirming chirp, and Junior finally seemed to realize his mistake. He gave one final glance at Nick, before, with a happy chirp, began snuggling into his mother's snout.

"Mother and son reunited," Audrey said, watching the scene.

"More like united than reunited," Nick said. He then glanced down solemnly at the ground. "Honestly, I think I'll miss the little guy," he admitted. "We may be two completely different species, but it would have been nice if we could have kept him around. To learn more about him and his species."

"And he seemed quite loyal," Audrey added. "Almost like he's a dog. At least a very large, reptilian dog. We could have even made him our pet."

"Perhaps," Nick said, "but this is better. He belongs in the wild with his real family."

Nick was about to turn away and prepare to set off for the nearest bridge to escape the island. But at that moment, a screech filled his ears, like tires on asphalt, and a shout echoed from behind him.

"Nick?"

Nick turned around and froze in shock at the sight before him.

Driving up the road, swerving around abandoned cars and fallen debris, was a red convertible. And in the driver's seat, bleeding from several wounds and soaked to the bone was…

"Yuji?"

What was Yuji expecting when he finally arrived at Madison Square Garden. Nothing much. More rubble and ruined streets, perhaps a destroyed Madison Square Garden, but not much else. Hopefully, Miyasaka and Katagiri would be there, but with everything that was going on, Yuji would not be surprised if they were absent.

What he was not expecting, however, was to find Nick Tatopolous standing outside of the building's entrance.

"Nick?" he called out, driving up to the intersection that Nick was standing by.

The scientists turned around and said with equal shock, "Yuji?"

Yuji parked the car and, with a pained grunt, jumped out of the car. He was greeted by Nick a few feet away from the vehicle, a confused look on his face. But if anyone had to be confused, it was Yuji. The last he had seen of the 'Worm Guy,' he had been kicked out of CCI and ordered back to Chernobyl to finish his worm tests. Of all the things that could have happened, running into Nick was definitely high on Yuji's unexpected list. And Nick's look only added to the surprise. The man was wearing military clothing, which was being soaked by the rain. But while the rain was pounding hard, there was an odd slime on Nick's shirt, yellowish in color, and being slowly swept away by the downpour.

But, of course, while Nick's look was surprising, Yuji was sure that his look was even more so. After all, his clothes were torn, revealing an assortment of cuts, bruises, and scrapes that adorned his body. Yuji looked like he had been to hell and back, assuming hell could get any worse than what the city already was.

"What are you doing here?" Yuji asked once he got to Nick.

"I could ask you the same thing," Nick responded.

"You could, but I'd like to know first," Yuji countered.

"Alright," Nick said with a nod. "It's a long story, but -"

"Who is this?" said a voice. Yuji looked over Nick's shoulder to see three people walking over. Two men and a woman. Each of them was wearing military clothing and only the woman was without a gun, but one of the men, who held the pistol, seemed more like a civilian then one of the soldiers Yuji had seen. The other, though, clearly was a soldier, holding an assault rifle at his side like he had many times before. The only thing odd about him was the fact that his hair was grey and his face visibly older than any of the others. He appeared like he was in his sixties, though very in shape for one. The woman, like the man with the pistol, seemed more like a civilian than a soldier, which only added to Yuji's questions.

Nick turned around and faced the older soldier. "Oh, this Yuji Shinoda, a scientist in CCI." Nick then turned back to Yuji and introduced his companions. "This is Audrey Timmonds, Victor Palotti, and Philip Roache of the French Secret Service."

Yuji glanced at each person in turn before facing Roache. "What's the French Secret Service doing here?" he asked.

"We wanted to help fix our mistake," Roache replied. "I believe you know which mistake I'm talking about."

"The nuclear test on Mehetia?" Yuji guessed.

Roache nodded.

"And what about you guys?" Yuji asked, turning to Victor and Audrey. "Are in with him?"

Victor chuckled. "Do I look like I'm with him?" he said in a hard, Manhattan accent.

"I'm an assistant reporter," Audrey explained. "Victor's a cameraman. We work for the WIDF news."

"Where's your camera?" Yuji asked, noticing that the cameraman lacked such a device.

"It got destroyed," Victor said simply. "We haven't exactly been taking a walk in the park."

"Ya, but what are you guys doing here?" Yuji asked. "What are you accomplishing by being here of all places?"

Nick sighed and said, "It's kind of a long story. Basically, we came here to find the nest."

"And did you?" Yuji asked.

Roache chuckled and nodded at something further up the street. "Ask them."

Yuji turned to where Roache had nodded and gasped in shock. In the chaos of the storm, as well as the distraction caused by finding Nick, Yuji had completely missed a very important detail of the road ahead. Further up the road stood Zilla, who was sitting close to the ground, her snout close to the Earth. And around her snout, chirping excitedly, were animals that seemed like miniature versions of Zilla. Baby Zillas, Yuji soon realized.

"You found Zilla's nest? And her eggs hatched?" Yuji asked. He knew that answer already, of course, but he felt like he needed some more confirmation. Even with everything that was going on, everything that he had seen and learned, Yuji couldn't really believe his eyes.

However, Yuji got a different response than expected. "Who's Zilla?" Nick asked.

Yuji released a sigh. "Sorry. Shiro, Mitsuo, and I decided to rename Gojira to Zilla."

"Wait," Nick said, his eyebrows raised. "They're here too? And why did you rename her Zilla? Why are you guys here at all?"

Yuji sighed again. "It is, like yours, a long story. Basically, we came here to do some research on the Millennian - I mean the UFO. However, Godzilla showed up and the two began fighting. We followed them to see if we could learn anything, but then Zilla arrived and began fighting Godzilla. Zilla, despite being half of Godzilla's size, was actually putting up a good fight, and they looked similar so we decided to call her Zilla."

"But where are Shiro and Mitsuo now?" Nick asked.

"We had to separate," Yuji explained. "The UFO left the fight and flew over to the World Trade Center. I followed it to see if I could learn anything."

"Did you?" Roache asked curiously.

Yuji nodded vigorously. "Definitely. I can't explain it all right now, but the Millennian wants to -"

Yuji, before he could explain the Millennian's plan, a shout interrupted him. "Yuji!" shouted a very familiar voice.

Yuji turned to his right and, to both his delight and surprise, saw Miyasaka and Katagiri bolting towards him. Yuji, upon seeing his old friends here and alive, ran over to greet them.

"Thank goodness you're alive," Miyasaka said, relief washing over his face.

"Though a little worse for wear," Katagiri added, scanning Yuji. "What the hell happened to you?"

"It's a long story," Yuji said. "What's important is that -"

"Is that Nick?" Miyasaka asked, pointing over Yuji's shoulder.

Yuji glanced back to see Nick walking over, followed by his company. "I assume that these are those Shiro and Mitsuo fellows you mentioned," Roache said.

"Yes," Yuji nodded, gesturing towards his friends. "This is Shiro Miyasaka and Mitsuo Katagiri. They're with me."

Katagiri gave each of Nick's company suspicious look-overs. "And exactly who are they?"

Yuji sighed. He was starting to get tired of explaining everything. He had valuable information that needed to be attended to. The military needed to know the Millennian's plan. But, as to not be rude, Yuji said, "This Phillipe Roache, Victor Palotti, and Audrey Timmonds. Audrey is an assistant reporter, Victor's a cameraman, and Roache is an agent for the French Secret Service."

Katagiri turned his suspicious gaze over to Roache and said, "What's the French government doing here?"

Yuji gave an exasperated sigh. "Again, it's a long story, one that can be told later after we -" Once more, Yuji was interrupted. However, this time the interruption did not come from anyone in the group, nor some random stranger stumbling upon them.

This time, the interruption came in the form of a piercing, horrid roar. A scream that reverberated throughout the city. It sounded like Godzilla, oddly enough, but, at the same time, there was something off about. Something distorted and alien. The roar forced the entire group into silence.

"What the fuck was that?" Victor eventually said, glancing around the city.

Yet, when Yuji looked at Miyasaka and Katagiri's face, there wasn't confusion or bewilderment. There was recognition and, in the face of Miyasaka, even fear.

"That," Miyasaka said, turning to Yuji, "is something we need to warn you about."

Yuji remembered what he was about to tell Miyasaka concerning the alien's plan, and it suddenly clicked. "Wait, was that the Millennian?"

"Is that what you're calling it?" Katagiri asked.

"No," Yuji said, "that's what it calls itself."

"Wait," Miyasaka said, shaking his head. "What do you mean 'that's what it called itself?' Are you saying you talked to it?"

Yuji opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Nick. The scientist, rubbing his forehead, asked, "Wait, what are you guys talking about? What exactly happened here?"

"Yuji," Miyasaka said, grabbing his attention, "while you were away, the alien - or Millennian - came back and attacked Godzilla. There was a fight and…"

"And what?" Yuji asked, though he already had his suspicions on what was going on.

"The Millennian was able to deliver a devastating blow on Godzilla, and was able to drop the Empire State Building onto him."

"Wait," Victor interrupted, "you're saying that that Millennian motherfucker destroyed the Empire State Building?"

"He did more than that," Miyasaka replied. "He dropped it onto Godzilla. He's buried under what has to be two hundred thousand tons. But that's not all. Whether Godzilla is dead or just unconscious, the alien sent out some wire things and -"

"And absorbed some of Godzilla's DNA?" Yuji concluded.

Miyasaka gave Yuji a surprised look. "How did you know."

"It told me," Yuji explained. "It tried to kill me because of it. It said that it was going to take Godzilla's power and use it to conquer the world."

"Shit," Katagiri cursed.

"Well, it took more than his power," Miyasaka said.

Yuji cocked his head at the remark. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Miyasaka began, clearly intending to explain his meaning. But before he could do so, several rhythmic thumps began to echo throughout the city, getting louder and louder as time passed. A moment later, a massive explosion rocked the city.

Everyone looked down the street the way Miyasaka and Katagiri had come up. And almost simultaneously, each of their eyes widened. About four hundred meters down the street, several buildings were crumbling down into an engulfing fireball. And stepping through the fireball was a massive creature. It had a large, humped back and a menacing, reptilian head connected with a thick neck. It had a short tail and stubby but powerful legs. It had two enormous hands, each adorned with wicked claws, and two beady yellow eyes.

"Is that the Millennian's true form?" Yuji asked, his voice quiet and shaky with shock and awe.

"No," Miyasaka said, his face showing a similar emotion. "This is the Millennian's mutated form."

The Millennian halted for a moment, lifting its head into the sky. Its mouth parted to reveal a ghastly set of wicked teeth, each shaped and positioned in both a unique and ugly way. A terrible screech echoed from the Millennian's maw, filling the air with its whining, almost pained roar. A sound that seemed to be a mix of a pained animal and, of course, of Godzilla.

The Millennian's initial reaction to its mutation was fury. Pure fury. It wasn't just fury at the pain it went through when the mutation occurred. It wasn't fury at Godzilla for having such volatile genes. It wasn't even fury at itself for not considering such a possibility despite knowing its background and origin. It was simply furious at the fact that, even if it went on to conquer the planet and perhaps even defeat the Beast, it had lost something that made Millennians special. Their unique and quite beautiful looks. It was the last Millennian in the universe, but it no longer truly represented the race.

But, after a moment, the Millennian calmed down and reconsidered. Yes, the Millennian had lost something unique to its race, but it gained so much more in return. It gained Godzilla's powerful regenerative abilities and the ability to survive in this planet's atmosphere. It gained more powerful hearing, seeing, smelling abilities. And while it no longer could fly, it realized it had retained its telekinesis and its energy cannon, something that its true form did not possess. Yes, it had lost something special, but it was well worth the sacrifice.

There was, of course, the pain that the Millennian still had to deal with, but it decided that the pain was only temporary, and could be handled at a later date. For now, there was something more important it had to handle before it could begin conquering the planet.

The destruction of Zilla.

Sure Zilla was a very small threat if she could be called a threat at all. Even compared to humans, Zilla wasn't as threatening. However, it was still a threat. Perhaps not for its size or strength, but for its speed, agility, and the element of the unknown that it possessed. The Millennian had been able to defeat Godzilla, but Godzilla was still quite a powerful foe. But even then, Zilla had been able to put up quite the fight against him, despite Godzilla being twice her size. Indeed, while weak, the Millennian couldn't afford to underestimate an enemy.

So, it decided, Zilla would not survive long enough to see the coming dawn.

She watched as her young ones played with each other at her feet, chirping as they did so. Though she had wanted to leave immediately, she couldn't help but stay and watch as her young ones played before her. Besides, she was still waiting for the rest of her young ones to appear. She had returned to the nest briefly to call to the rest of the young ones, waiting patiently near it for them to arrive. And that was what she continued to do.

Meanwhile, she was glad that she was able to get to the nest before her young ones would have eaten those pink creatures. She didn't want the rock monsters to come after them, obviously, but there was something more than that. She considered how one of her smaller young ones, possibly the runt, had seemed to grow an attachment to the pink creatures. She wasn't sure how it had happened. Perhaps it had something to do with the odd smell that coated one of the pink creatures, which smelled oddly similar to herself. But either way, the pink creatures had not harmed her young ones, which made her trust them more. She was certainly going to teach her young ones that the pink creatures weren't food, both to protect them from the rock monsters and as gratitude for the pink creatures keeping her young one safe.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud, terrible roar. She lifted her head up in fear, thinking that it was the beast she had fought against. It sounded awfully like him, after all. But there was something about the roar that seemed… off. It had a vague similarity to the beast's roar, but it was also mixed with some sort of alien whine. There was no explanation for it. But somehow, deep in her subconscious, she knew that the roar did not belong to the beast.

Suddenly there was a large bang, a ball of fire grew seemingly from nowhere. She looked over at the ball of fire, watching as it consumed several of the metal trees around it. And there, coming through the fire, was a large creature. It looked like nothing she had ever seen before. She could probably say the same for the beast or the flying rock, but this thing, in particular, was weird. It was a reptilian creature, but one larger than the beast she had fought earlier. But at the same time, this thing was a lot more… disgusting. It looked deformed, a blob of damaged flesh strung together to make a mockery of a living thing.

And yet, despite its grotesque appearance, she oddly had a feeling of familiarity. Not from its looks, definitely not. But from her senses. In fact, after investigating these senses, she realized that they were oddly a mix of the flying rock and the beast. It smelled like the beast but lacked the smell of the island home that the beast had possessed. And while it had the teeth, claws, scales, and jaws of the beast, it had that hole in its shoulder that resembled the hole in the flying rock. And then there was that odd feeling she had gotten from the flying rock. That feeling of oddness. That feeling of wrongness. That feeling that told her that this thing, whatever it was, did not belong on this world.

And it was this feeling that made her believe that the disgusting creature before her was, in fact, the flying rock she had seen earlier.

How it became what it was now? She had no clue. But there was no denying that this creature was once the flying rock. What happened to the beast? Again, she did not know. All she knew was that this was the flying rock in a new form.

And it was looking right at her.

After a few minutes of searching, the Millennian was finally able to find his next target. But in doing so, it also learned that destroying Zilla was not going to be as easy as it had first thought. It had always considered how fast and agile that Zilla was. Catching her in this form would particularly be hard since both it was no longer as fast as it once was and it was now forced to stay on the ground where Zilla could attack it. But with Godzilla's abilities, namely his regenerative one, the Millennian never doubted that victory would be inevitable.

At least until he saw that Zilla had offspring.

The Millennian had lost the ability to use sensors when it became its true form, let alone when it had mutated. But it would have remembered sensing two Zillas before the transformation. And the human named Yuji hadn't implied that there was more than one Zillas, though, of course, the Millennian didn't ask.

Either way, having to deal with both Zilla and her offspring was far more… complicated. Sure, killing the offspring was easier than killing the mother, but if any of the offspring escaped, then they could grow up to full size. And while Zillas were weak, the Millennian did not want to fight while outnumbered. Fortunately, it seemed that all of Zilla's offspring were gathered in one place. And even more conveniently, Zilla was standing before them. All it would take is one surprise attack with its cannon, and it could obliterate the entire species.

That is, of course, assuming there aren't more out there.

Whether or not there were more Zillas out there did not matter though. If there were more, so be it. There were billions of humans on this planet, and their weapons would be just as dangerous in this form as Zilla if the Millennian didn't have any regenerative abilities. It would take over the world, maybe not as soon as it would have liked, but eventually.

For now, it was time to destroy this family of Zillas.

Yuji's eyes widened when he saw a light begin to glow from the Millennian's shoulder cannon. It wasn't the same yellow glow though. This time the glow was an almost yellow-ish orange color, possibly representing the mixture between the alien and Godzilla's DNA. Either way, Yuji knew what was about to come, and it only took a moment for him to guess the Millennian's target.

"We have to move. Now!" Yuji yelled, pointing at the Millennian's charging cannon. They were out of the way of the Millennian's target, but after what Yuji went through already, he would rather be safe than sorry. But there wasn't much time to move. Clearly, the Millennian had been intent on a surprise attack. Yuji and the others were only able to run for a few seconds before, with a loud bang, the Millennian fired its shoulder cannon.

With a loud crash, the Millennian's beam hit the ground right in front of Madison Square Garden. But the beam did not stay idle. It quickly rushed forward towards Zilla, plowing through the famous arena and obliterating it instantly. The beam then continued on, rushing straight towards Zilla.

Whether by instinct or luck, Zilla jumped away from the beam's path right when it would have hit her. She sidestepped and fell against a hotel but otherwise survived the attack.

Most of her children, though, were not so lucky.

As soon as she could, Zilla jumped to her feet and rushed over to where she had last seen her young ones. A massive fire raged where her nest once was and a large ditch was carved into the ground. But she ignored these details, sniffing vigorously as she searched for her young ones. The scent was still there, but it was tainted with the smell of fire and smoke. And, even worse, there was another smell.

The smell of death and destruction.

Eventually, she was able to find one of her young ones.

It was not a happy occasion.

She whimpered deeply as she expected the grotesque body of one of her young ones, twisted and deformed, part of its form set aflame.

It was dead.

And as she looked around, she realized that all of her other young ones had met the same fate. To her horror, she began to discern stray carcasses, strewn organs, and severed limbs, all either alight or smoking. Even the young ones in the nest were probably dead, she realized, for she looked over to find that the entire structure was set ablaze. Completely destroyed.

For a few moments, she stood there, gazing around at the destruction around her, whimpering and crying at the loss of her young ones. She shed tears, real tears, for their loss. For the loss of companionship and company. For the loss of family.

She then remembered the cause of that loss, and whipped her head around, turning to face the evil creature that destroyed them. The thing simply stood there, gazing expressionlessly at its work.

This only made her angrier.

How dare it just stand there, as if it had done nothing at all? It had killed her young ones! It had destroyed them! This was her one chance to have family and companionship, and they were all gone. Destroyed at a whim by that creature!

She remembered when she had once left the flying rock alone. Even considered joining its fight against the beast. Oh, how stupid she had been! The beast had not been the enemy! It hadn't even directly attacked her family! It had merely come too close. This was not entirely forgivable, but it sure made the beast far more preferable than this monster.

And whether this beast was, in fact, the flying rock, or just a random creature, it had to die. It had to be destroyed. It had to be ripped apart into a million pieces, all so it could feel pain worse than that she felt right now.

She gave the evil creature her most fearsome roar, hoping to instill it with realization with what it had done, and fear for what was about to come to it. She quickly took a crouched position and charged, screaming fury as she did so.

It was time to tear this cursed thing to shreds.

A/N - And that was chapter 22! Sorry that it took so long for this chapter to be published. I don't want to talk too much about my private life, but let's say that I was extremely busy for the entirety of last week, and I was too tired to do anything when I came home each day. So I wasn't able to get much done during that week. But I worked hard over the past few days and here we are! Yuji and Nick's groups finally found each other and the fight between Zilla and Orga has finally begun! I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this chapter of Mutants and Monsters. And, of course, I hope you all have a great day!