Chapter 10: Somewhere I belong

It was night, the village had already come to rest, only a few guards were still on the wall to watch out for further danger. But one person was still walking through the tents, right next to Godzilla. Aaron was assigned to watch over Madison overnight, because the Iwi usually sleep in the trees where there was no danger.

But he had decided to stay down with her, so Godzilla wouldn't be angry if he woke up.

Aaron picked Madison up and carried her in his arms, she was completely gone, she was so exhausted from everything, it's lucky she didn't bleed to death, her wounds were very severe, the jackals had inflicted very deep wounds on Madison.

It was strange for him because one of his friends was mauled by these animals when they landed here on the island. But for some reason they had held them back from Maddie. Maybe they sensed that she was different than the others?

Ikimi and the other Iwi kept him out of the story for a large part, despite the fact that Madison had been here much shorter than him. He felt a little jealous at those thoughts, but he just figured there must be a good reason.

Probably because she arrived with Godzilla who was worshipped by the Iwi as a god, even more than Kong. He couldn't quite remember his time with Monarch, but Godzilla was always a focus of them.

All he knew was that Gojira's species came from a time long before humans, the earth filled with radioactive energy, and an environment similar to Skull Island, the last natural site of this ancient flora and fauna.

A tent located on the left side of Godzilla's was made for Madison to sleep in and receive medical care. He went inside and put her on a pile of straw in the right corner, she was still fast asleep. Carefully he looked around the tent, looking for a cure to her wounds, the few lights from the torches helped him to see, with difficulty. He found a bowl that had been mixed with a yellow paste, this should help the wound to heal faster.

Quietly he knelt down, put the bowl aside and carefully removed the bandage, the wound was still fresh, so it was not allowed to lie open for long, an inflammation would be fatal for anyone who had already lost a lot of blood.

But when Aaron had completely unrolled her shoulder, he was a bit shocked. There was nothing wrong with the wound, on the contrary, it had healed very far, too far. When they took Madison away from the field, the cuts and bites were obviously very dangerously deep. But now these had turned into very shallow wounds that appeared almost like big scratches. Within a few hours, she had already regenerated herself by a good deal.

"Who are you?" he asked himself.

Carefully he smeared the wound and looked at Madison, who was still sleeping. She was quite pretty for her age he had to admit. He was sure the other kids at school would like her. Well that if she ever went there again.

At least he hoped she would. He was young while arrival on this Island, but still much older than she was. He didn't want any child to spend the rest of it's life here, especially one who was not even from here. This island was like a nightmare sometimes, but even this nightmare had its beauty and calm side sometimes.

Aaron bandaged her wounds again and put some more straw under her head. Then he left the tent and sat down to keep watch. He didn't think there was any danger in the vicinity of Godzilla now, but still, it couldn't hurt.

He thought about some things, like going to bed every night. But in this time it was even more so. Madison partly reminded him of him when he came to this island, determined but unsure what was happening around it. His life had been completely turned upside down, as had hers. He had to learn to survive, to find his place in this world.

For him it was the decision to pay his debt and to protect others. The Iwi were unique in this world, the last race left in the natural order of the Titans. But mistakes from Aaron's past had almost made them disappear, so he felt obligated to help them in exile on this island. And now he was to protect Maddie because the Iwi said she was unique. Whoever she was, something big was going to happen to her.

Madison ran through a jungle, the lush green of the vegetation crossed with the blood red sky. She was hunted again, she didn't know what, but everything in her told her to run away as far as she could. She heard a mighty roar that roared through the forest, making the earth tremble. But her determination prevailed, she ran as fast as she could, jumped over tree trunks and slipped under thick undergrowth. She felt so light as a feather, everything she did was instinctive.

But then she came to a dead end, a cliff. In front of her was the green island, where smaller areas of forest were set on fire. There was no way out, she couldn't go on, but instead of being afraid, something inside her said to hold her ground. The earth trembled as the massive steps came closer and closer.

Over the thicket of the forest, a tall, dark figure slowly appeared, Madison couldn't make out anything more about her except that she appeared somewhat humanoid. Flame and devastation followed his path, and the forest she ran from quickly turned into a Blazing Flame Sea, the heat around her making her sweat profusely.

The mysterious figure towered hundreds of meters above her. Madison gritted her teeth when she looked up, she couldn't make out the exact figure, only she knew it was staring at her, with two completely white eyes. She clenched her fists and held her ground.

As the flames began to climb slowly up the creature's legs, making them seem even more terrifying, as none came reactive, it drew out its fist to strike her. But Madison didn't think about running away, she was ready to fight. The fist struck close to Madison, almost knocking her down, but she didn't hesitate and reached out with her fist to hit it.

But something pulled her back and she moved it a lot. A part of the cliff on which she stood broke off and she had to go down a lot of rocks into a very deep crevice. She closed her eyes and waited for an impact, infinite pain, but it never came.

Instead, she opened her eyes again. When she looked up, she realized that she had landed in some kind of ravine or something, a few dozen meters separated her from the surface. She stood up carefully, it was very dark, she could hardly see anything.

"Am I in hell" she said as a joke. Her voice held through the cave and drew the attention of something. Crawling noises, like insects could be heard, and other, almost demonic-like roars. From the deepest and darkest corner Maddie saw yellow lights, eyes flashing, they didn't dare to go out completely, but she saw the creatures' approximate outlines, they seemed to be strangely built, many legs and eyes up to a neck or something. She turned around, behind her were also these yellow eyes.

Madison quickly noticed that she was surrounded by this insect-like creature climbing the walls.

Hectically she looked around, ready to defend herself, trying to see where the first attack would come from. But instead she heard a lightning strike, immediately she looked up, it began to rain, another thunder sounded, followed by another lightning bolt, yellowish in color.

Something grabbed her by the back of the neck, someone squeezed her and lifted her up, she struck backwards but nothing could hit. A deep, demonic laughter sounded and with a jerk she was pulled out of the ravine again. Rain was pouring down on her at a massive rate that made it feel like rocks, and suddenly she was back on the surface high in the sky.

She was released, down into a field. She fell with her back to the ground, and again she was unharmed, but it felt like something was tearing apart the very reality she was in.

Something or someone was pressing on her head and back. It seemed as if someone was trying to break her spine and skull, slowly she got scared, she tried to defend herself, to escape near death. She screamed and roared in rage and despair. Once she hit something with her arm, it felt like a leg. Then it stopped, whoever had done it let go of her, and a deep, threatening laugh sounded, and then it disappeared, whoever it was.

For some time she just lay there and did not dare to get up again. The sky was completely cloudy and black, every few seconds it thundered or lightning struck. The grass she was on felt soft, something positive about her current situation.

But she noticed someone coming up behind her. Like lightning, she jumped up, no chance would she give, she was ready to fight.

She turned, and wanted to rush out and attack immediately. But what she saw kept her from doing anything, let alone saying anything.

In front of her stood someone in a black jacket, blue shirt and jeans. It looked just like her, it was the same clothes she was wearing in Boston. The hood was over her head and looking down at the floor, her face was not recognizable.

"He-Hello?" Madison stuttered, she felt fear, bigger than ever, something felt very threatening about this thing. Slowly she walked towards the other person, one step at a time she laid down on the wet grass. When she was about 2 meters away from the other person, she started to laugh. It sounded like her own laugh, only more spiteful, like she was crazy.

"Hello, sister." She said. Madison froze where she was standing. She was shivering, she was afraid of what was in front of her stance, what it would mean.

Her other self raised her head, and a terrible grin, with two yellow eyes, Ghidorah's eye, golden scales that started at the neck, and horns growing on the head, also from Ghidorah. It was as if she had connected with Ghidorah.

"No, no, no, no!" Madison screamed and squeezed her eyes together and tried to escape this nightmare. She suddenly became very warm inside her, heat came out of her body, she felt it spreading up her back and into her head. With her eyes closed, she could only recognize a bright blue light.

"Do you really want to do this?" Asked the other Madison, and slowly walked towards the Real Madison, clawed hands ready to strike. "NO." Roared Maddie and released the heat that was inside her. The whole room around her was bathed in a very bright blue light until there was no more of the dream. The storm, the thunder, all the sounds and voices she heard disappeared.

She did not know where she was now. She closed her eyes and curled herself up to sleep. She felt like in the weightlessness of space, she didn't care what was coming, she wanted and needed to rest. Beautiful things, she had to think of that now. Her favorite things, she thought of the melody of her favorite songs, what she always listened to, to calm down. But at some point he thought of Godzilla again. How she was close to him and how he looked after her. This made her even more relaxed, knowing that someone was there to watch over her. She came to rest and disappeared this dream.

Her eyes opened, it was the middle of the night, all the lights were out, the air around her was very cold, but she herself was sweating heavily and felt hot. Her breath was hectic, this nightmare had been strange, to think about it made her panic easily again.

"Hello?" She asked if anyone was there. She was afraid to be alone in the darkness, the only thing she saw was the light star sparkle that went through the ceiling of her tent. She closed her eyes again, trying not to think of anything, but the thought of it reminded her of this nightmare. She squeezed her eyes together and turned wildly back and forth, from side to side. Her injured shoulder, however, hurt too much and she lay in bed breathing heavily.

She moaned, started to cry again. "I want to go home." she sobbed.

Steps came from outside, out of fear she held her breath, even though she had nothing to fear. A candle was lit, and the light gave a shadow over the tent. "Madison?" Aaron's voice asked. She did not answer back. However, she took another deep breath to get some air.

"I'm coming in now." He said softly. With the candle in his right hand he pushed the entrance of the tent to the side.
"I heard you crying. Are you okay? Is it something with the wound?" She was silent, not a word came out of her mouth, she turned her head to the side, away from him. Aaron sighed, "Please, you can trust me, talk to me. She took another deep breath.

"I had a nightmare, it was, strangely, somehow like I had seen it all before. I had panicked, scared of it, like maybe something like this would happen to me. I want to go home to my dad."
She sounded quite exhausted; her wounds had given her a slight fever. Aaron did not know what to say to that.

"Do you know what that feels like?" She asked.
"Yeah. All too well. I had tried to resist my father, because I disagreed with him that nature can balance itself. That we must have control over these things."

Madison remembered back to the day Godzilla took her from Castel Bravo. She and her father had also argued, for the exact same reason, only she believed it was good that the Titans were out, and that they had brought order to the Earth. He thought they should be controlled, not left to their own devices.

"Do you miss him very much?" she asked.
"Yes, very much. I regret what our last conversation was, I never got to say goodbye to him. I had sent him a message with a cassette tape out to sea, hoping it would be found. But who knows if he is still alive."
Madison knew Brook's father was alive, having visited the facility and been present at Mothras Awakening. And indeed, the tape had reached him, and that he might have gone looking for him. But that was all she knew.

Next Morning, Castel Bravo

Still very sleepy, Ilene woke up, woken by the alarm clock from the cell phone that was on the table next to her. It was a classical Japanese music piece, but it was giving her a bit of a headache right now.

Her head was booming, and she felt very sleepy and emaciated, the taste in her mouth was very bland and dried out. It took some time to reorient to the environment around her. As she looked around, Ilene realized that she was not in her own quarters, but in Marks. She turned around and couldn't see him, but he was not lying next to her, she got a little nervous about what had happened.

"Mark? Mark are you there?" She shouted across the room, but no answer. "Take it easy Ilene, maybe he's out in the fresh air."

She got out of bed, but only now did she notice that she was not wearing any clothes. She quickly grabbed and wrapped the blanket around her, she was a little embarrassed and didn't want someone like Ford to just barge in again. "What happened yesterday?" She thought to herself. As she tried to remember last night and searched for her clothes in the room, she came across something hard with her foot.

When she looked down, she saw a vodka bottle, no, two completely empty. "Oh no." Now she remembered a little bit of what happened yesterday.

She had entered Mark's room to talk to him, but he almost returned to the bottle again.

"Ilene what are you doing here?" "I came to see you, to talk to you how you are...Mark, please don't tell me that's what I think it is." He said nothing and kept quiet when he had just opened a bottle of vodka and put another one next to him on the nightstand.

Ilene immediately went up to him and ripped the bottle out of his hand. "Give me that back!" he said with an aggressive tone. As it seemed, he already had a drink before. "Mark, I don't want you to fall into that again. I know it's hard for you, but you can't do this to yourself or your family again."

"I don't have a family anymore!" He yelled. Ilene recoiled, never before had she seen Mark so aggressive towards her. Her eyes were shocked, Mark realized that. There was a strange tension in the room that they had never had together before.

She took a deep breath and gathered all her courage. Her gaze quickly changed from shocked to angry. "What am I to you then?" She asked it with full conviction. He averted his gaze, too ashamed of what he had done.

"Mark, I know what you're going through, I can't imagine, but we're together, I'm here for you." He looked at her, he regretted what he had done again, he would make the same mistake as before, shutting himself off from everything around him.

"I'm leaving. If you need anything, you can call me." Said Ilene, walking towards the door with a narrow, dishonest smile.

"Wait!" Mark called after her. She sighed, on the one hand reassuringly, on the other uncertainly.

"Maybe we can drink it together. I know, not a good solution, but I'd rather do it with you." When she turned to him and he held the other bottle in his hand, she raised her eyebrow a little thoughtfully, but thought what could be so bad about it.

Afterwards everything becomes a little convoluted. The last thing she could remember was them bumping into each other with two shot glasses and a long discussion about any animals or dinosaurs that came to her mind.

Ilenen shook her head. At least she had partially remembered what had happened, and she could already guess what kind of night that was likely to be. She searched the room for a moment, and found her clothes and some fresh clothes stacked on an armchair, with a note from Mark there.

She picked them up and blinked a few, "I'm busy for a while, have been doing your laundry." She looked down; the clothes looked very fresh.

After she changed, she got her cell phone to check the time. It was 10:30. Breakfast in the cafeteria will be over soon. Before she went out, she knocked the vodka bottles into the garbage and changed the bed.

She ran straight to the cafeteria to make herself another breakfast. Nothing special happened along the way, it seemed to be a normal day here, no stress or pressure from any titans or similar incidents. Today she would have had the morning off anyway, maybe that was one reason why she decided to drink with Mark.

Actually, having a day off in Monarch wasn't really like a free day of normal job, you're still technically on duty and if something happens, you have to be ready, no matter what state you're in.

When she arrived at the cafeteria it was about 10:40, which is 20 minutes before breakfast. There were hardly any people left, except for a few soldiers and other scientists, who also had their day off. She poured herself a coffee with 2 sugars and a sandwich.

Ilene sat down on a table away from the others. Normally she didn't mind chatting with others a little bit, but she felt a little bit carded and she also enjoyed a little space because now when it was crowded she had to squeeze in between some other soldiers to join her group and she didn't really like that.

While she was drinking her coffee she took her cell phone out of her bag and put some things on it. Nothing exciting or thrilling had happened, no Titan seemed to have attacked nor had she missed any important meetings. Relieved, she breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she did not have to go on a mission hungover.

For a few minutes she just ate and drank happily and listened to music but when she saw the canteen door open in the corner of her eye, looked up and saw that it was Rick, she sighed again. He walked right up to her; Ilene feared something had probably happened. Actually, she didn't want to be seen by someone who knew her well, but the coffee was starting to look like it wasn't so bad.

She immediately asked him, "Good morning Rick, what's up?"
"Not much, have you seen Mark, I really need to show him something." She shook her head. "Damn."

Escape Rick quietly.
"I've been looking for him for two hours now, where the hell is this guy?" Ilene's face became worried, she feared something had happened.

"Where the hell have you been looking?" "Everywhere, in the archive, on the roof, in the reading room in the control room, I even called the Argo to see if he might have gone aboard.

"Hmm, have you already looked in his lab?" "You know he never goes there." Ilene nodded at him and thought about where else he might be. She didn't like it at all.

"Let's ask Foster, maybe she knows, she should be in the control room by now." Rick grabbed his forehead. "Good idea why I didn't think of that." They immediately made their way to the control room.

Ilene was really hoping he hadn't done anything bad. Maybe Madison's pain was deeper than she thought.

Castel Bravo Control Room

The two of them stormed into the room, Rick first and Ilene a bit behind, she still felt a bit heavy on her legs with her hangover. Rick frantically looked around for Foster, while Ilene immediately went to a control pad and looked in the system for incidents about last night. Accidents are always reported quickly as there are cameras almost everywhere except in the living areas, although it is rumored that even there there may be some surveillance.

Ilene breathed a sigh of relief, there were no accidents or anything like that, so the chances of the worst happening were relatively low. She didn't think that Mark would do anything like that, but it could be assumed.

"Foster! she heard Rick call out as she walked through the door into the control room, accompanied by Barns who had just given her a tablet with some information from the mission reports of the past days on it. The two ran toward her, Foster noticed the two of them raising their heads but not as they let their reports through.

"Good morning Rick hadn't seen her yet today, what's up?" she said in a sarcastic tone. "We're looking for Mark, do you know where he is?" Ilene asked. "I mean I've been looking for him all day, he can't just disappear. Everywhere he usually is, he's not."

Foster raised her head and looked at him questioningly. "Didn't he tell you he'd be in his lab today?" Rick suddenly looked all beat up while Ilene had to hold it in, in order together to keep herself from laughing. "No..."

"Interesting. Anyway, he had asked me for the key card for the lab for the first time today, it seemed strange to me, but he said that he wanted to work on something.

Ilene nodded smiling, "Thanks, we were worried about him. Come on Rick." She pulled him along with her, he felt pretty stupid.

Rick and Ilene arrived at the Labor Sector. Everything here seemed a bit more sterile and quiet, largely because every major scientist working directly with the Titans was given a small laboratory and workspace, but few actually used it and Mark was the last person they expected to see.

The walls around the door were made of glass, but they were just covered, and only a little light from a lamp or something shone through.

Rick knocked on the door. "Let's see if he's in." They stood there for a while. Ilene leaned against the wall and looked to her right, where there was a large glass wall in the large cavity where the Mutos were stored, and thought.

Rick knocked on the door, three times in a row. Ilene began to worry that no one was answering. Suddenly they heard someone unlocking the door, the keys on the collar rattling against the wood. "Mark?" Ilene called out, loud enough for him to hear her. "Yes, just a moment!" He called back loudly. She took a deep breath, the worry that something had happened to him was gone. Still a little shaky on her legs she leaned against the wall behind her again.

"And how was last night?" Rick asked, quietly enough for Mark not to hear, Ilene looked over at him. "How's it going?" "You look a little like you've been drinking." Ilene grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "Yesterday Mark tried to get drunk again, alone, thought I'd join him."

"And?" "And what?" "Did something happen?" Ilene shrugged her shoulder again. "I can only remember a little, the rest is blurry or just gone. That's why I was a little worried about him, you can imagine what he's going through right now."

Rick wanted to throw something in, but Mark, who had just almost hit him with the door, interrupted him, it opened to the outside. "Careful old friend." Rick said. Mark nodded at him and Ilene. "We've been looking all over for you."

Mark had a slight smile on his face. "Hello, come in, I've made some coffee."

Rick and Ilene walked into the room, Mark seemed to be just setting up. On the right side from the entrance was a rather large window, which in turn gave a view of the other large glass wall towards Muto's skull. In the middle was a round white table on which Mark had just placed a package, paper and other things, as well as his laptop. On the walls were empty shelves where Mark had just taken down the plastic sheets, the one on the left was about two and a half meters high, that in the middle was about one, and above it a screen, probably for meetings, on the right window side was a desk on which there were already some documents and a coffee machine layers.

"It's all new, I've been helping with the preparation for some time and I've been doing some research on my laptop."

He poured two cups of coffee and handed them to the two of them. Rick sat down at the table and put his laptop on top of it once, Mark sat down at his desk.

"You didn't really want the lab, why now?" Ilene said. Who was just looking around.
"Yes, that's true, but since I don't really have many chances of finding Maddie anywhere right now, After Foster had to call off the search because it was more of a favor.

He took a sip of coffee cup and put her beside him."

"So you're still determined to find her?" "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she survived, she had it out for Ghidorah even then. Godzilla wouldn't kill her, he had no reason to."

Ilene nodded and took another sip from her cup.
"So what were you working on just then?" asked Rick who was preparing something on his laptop himself.
"Well, I was trying to analyze Godzilla's physiology and psychology." He got up from his desk and started typing on his own laptop a few times.

"We know that Godzilla is related to the Permian archosaurs, and today's other animals include crocodiles and birds. One could assume that he is very similar to the crocodiles in physiology, but his psychology is far more complex than that."

"So you're trying to figure out what he's up to with Maddie?" "Exactly, the King theory that Ilene had told me wouldn't sound too different, but I'm still a little skeptical about it. Anyway, I'm just at the beginning of it."
He crossed his arms and looked at his screen. Ilene smiled slightly, at least she saw that he would not give up.

"Maybe I can help you out with that." Rick said, and slid his laptop over to him. Mark folded up his and pushed it away. "Are those the territorial routes of Godzilla?" He asked. Ilene walked up to him and leaned over his shoulder.

"Exactly. I compared them, we could never tell exactly where he was swimming to but it gives us an approximate course."

He pushed a button and saw Mark's eyes widening in shock. Ilene looked over his shoulder and almost choked.

"Skull Island?"

When Mark pronounced it, an uncomfortable mood went through the room.
"What is he doing there?!" "We don't know, although I could imagine something."
Rick said and picked up his laptop again, immediately started typing something.
"Everything here at Monarch is based largely on speculation, and I'm doing the same here." He plays a recording, Mark stands up and looks over his shoulder.
"When Ghidorah awakened the other Titans, contacts with all the bases either broken off or kept sending us recordings."
"On Skull Island, we placed sensors and some cameras on drones."

Rick typed in some more input, now it showed the last sensor readings. These were responsible for the underground of the island, because it was suspected that there is a large cave system underneath. It also showed possible dramatic changes in vibrations. Rick pointed to the seismographic waves and how they rose from one to the other.

"This is the data the sensors picked up, we have a hunch that this is the large skull crawler population there. We didn't get anything after that, so we don't know anything about the condition of the island."

"Kong is at the top of the foodchain there, but maybe this time it was too much even for him." Ilene said. "That might explain Godzilla's route, after all, he has a very strong desire for order whenever a natural balance is broken."

"It's possible that this insect also came from there." Said Mark. Ilene and Rick looked at him in surprise. "What insect?"

"Well, the research I started today also involved this Titan that recently visited our base." Mark went to his desk to get his notes. Ilene saw that Serizawa's notebook was next to it but didn't say anything. Mark flipped through the notes. "The lab wasn't quite sure what it was because there wasn't much material. Anyway, they said it was probably arthropod DNA, probably an insect. That would explain the rapid wing flapping and maneuverability."

Ilene was thinking. "Like a dragonfly." Mark looked behind him at her and nodded. "At least there seem to be great similarities between the two species." "And let me guess, you're already pretty sure that there's a connection between that and what happened on Skull Island?"

Rick asked with a more confident smile. Mark was a little predictable for coming to conclusions quickly. "I would be very surprised if there was no connection between the two events."

"It was probably too much for the big ape." Joked Rick. "And Godzilla will probably take his place if he is defeated." Ilene said. Mark crossed his arms and gritted his teeth again, thinking about what he should do now. "We should start an expedition there." Rick raised his eyebrow, Ilene sighed.

"You know that Foster called off the search for Maddie without much evidence." "I know, I'm still not giving up. Let's just say we go on a mission to put the sensors back up, so we can look for her."

"Sorry to disappoint you... well, not entirely." Mark looked at Rick confused. "what do you mean?" "Well, there's actually a mission scheduled for it, but not for another 10 months. They want to wait until the situation on the island calms down."

Mark's reaction came as no surprise to anyone. Frustrated, he sighed and rubbed his hands across his face, exhausted, tired and hungry, he got up and walked over to his desk and put his arms on it, looking at the papers and documents in front of him, up to the window where the Mutos' head was being transported.

Rick leaned his arm over the armchair and said, "Look Mark, Maddie's a pretty smart girl when she's on Skull Island, she probably already knows a few basic things about the island, the best thing she can do is find the people's village.

Ilene looked over at Rick, she found him a little tactless sometimes, but this time Mark seemed to agree with him. "You're probably right, we can only hope." And Mark said. "I will continue to work on it as soon as we have a clear indication of where she is I can take it to Foster and start a mission. Today though...I have to hit the hay...the last one after was...a little exhausting." He yawned and walked out of the room. "If you're looking for me, I'll be in my quarters." he called after them.

Rick turned with a grin to Ilene, who scratched her neck in embarrassment. "Anything to say or-" "Oh, shut up, Rick."

The next day, Skull Island

She felt something wet touching her head, and from her forehead down to her face, she opened her eyes, this time she did not hesitate and opened her eyes, immediately she felt how much more energy she had in her.

The Iwi Woman who was taking care of her got scared when Madison straightened up in a flash. Maddie saw around her, she was back in a tent, but heard a heavy rumble from outside, followed by a small tremor. Maddie jumped up, feeling herself at full strength again, she looked down at her bandage, no pain came away. She heard another loud rumble from outside, it was Godzilla. She ran out of the tent, the sun shining in her face a lot, blinding her for a brief moment, but a large shadow just passed the wall. She turned to him, Godzilla was walking along the wall and looking for something.

"Hey Godzilla!" Maddie called to him, high, loud enough to hold it through the valley. Godzilla stopped, turned his head over to her and pushed a contentedly lying humming sound off him. Madison smiled and waved to him, in response he raised his neck and pushed a low roar out and continued walking along the wall.

"Madison!" She heard Aaron's voice behind her. He and some other Iwi, including Ato and Ikimi, ran to her and said, "Maddie what are you doing here, your injuries may not have healed yet."

Only now did she remember the injury she had, probably her adrenaline had just been pumped up so much that her pain was relieved to a point she no longer felt it. Her heart was beating strongly, now she expected the pain to come, but it never came.

She looked down at her bandage and tore off the piece that was supposed to keep her arm stable. "what the hell are you doing?" Aaron yelled, which briefly scared the Iwi around him. "I want to try something." Maddie said, moving her arm back and forth, it felt normal again. "What the fuck?" Aaron cursed softly, shaking his head. "Anyway, go back to the tent, we'll check it out in a bit, but we have a lot of preparation to do."

Maddie looked up at Aaron from her arm in surprise. "What's going on here?" She asked. "Godzilla seems to have stirred something up." Said Aaron, who turned briefly to Ato and the others. They didn't say, and just nodded. "They say something's coming, something bad. And he seems to feel it." Madison turned her head to Godzilla again, she felt it too, something was coming.

"Come on, let's get the bandage off you first, the elders want to talk to you right away."

He said, trying to drag Madison by the arm towards the tent. "I'll do that." Ikimi spoke in a gentle voice. Aaron looked down at Madison, who nodded to her in agreement.
"All right, I have to make some preparations." He said, and immediately walked through the village, making no effort to hide the fact that he was stressed, all the Iwi except Ato and Ikimi following after him.

She reached out her hand to Maddie, but she shook her head "I feel fine, don't worry."
Ikimi nodded and pointed to a log lying next to them, which was to serve as a bench. They sat down on it, Maddie made her shirt free in the place where the bandage was, and Ikimi carefully began to remove the bandage. Usually, she had always felt pain from such things, but now she didn't feel anything.

"How long had I been asleep?" She asked Ato, who was rubbing his chin and watching Godzilla, "How long was I asleep? "Two nights long. Maybe that's why the shadow came back." "The Shadow?" She asked.

Ato was silent for a brief moment, he had become nervous, something Maddie wouldn't expect from an Iwi, especially one like him. "The elders and we will have to explain. A journey lies ahead of you."

She got a queasy feeling about it, her heart began to beat strongly again, so far her experiences with the oldest had been anything but pleasant. When Ikimi had removed the bandage, she looked down at her shoulder. The wounds were gone, only a slight scar had remained. "How the hell?" Escape in Madisons thoughts.

"Let your powers come to light." Said Ikimi. She didn't answer, the whole situation was still bizarre, she didn't really know if she would be able to cope with it, but she got new hope that it would all be over as soon as she came back home.

She got up, pulled up her shirt again and made her way to the tent. "What are you doing?" Ato asked her. "I'm changing." She called out.

Madison entered her tent and took her backpack and sat down with it. The laundry she had put in should have been dry by now. Out she took her jacket, her blue and red Boston Socks T-shirt and her jeans. After she changed, she took her backpack and went out of the tent, looking like she did back in Boston. She let the sun fall on her face, took a deep breath of the humid warm air, and got ready for whatever was to come.

A few minutes later Aaron walked towards her again, the gravel crunching under his boots. She just wrote down a few things from her notebook what she had and then looked up at him. He had firmer boots, like Old Monarch's jacket for expedition, which was already slightly torn, like Tactical Pants, around which was a belt with an ammunition pocket, and around his chest across he had a band that held an old Ak47 on his back.

Madison swallowed briefly, she had been near guns before, she didn't like it and most of the time it meant only one thing: that the situation was serious. "Don't worry, hopefully we won't use these." He said. Obviously, he realized Madison didn't like it. "You don't like guns?" "No." She said quietly. He nodded, agreeing with her with a narrow smile on his face, his experience with guns was also anything but good. "Well come along, we are expected already." She nodded and stood up, throwing her backpack around her shoulder.

Aaron was still very surprised how well she was doing, the little one wasn't as normal as he thought at first. As they walked through the village and the tents, Maddie asked, "I don't want to see those visions again. He looked down at her and patted her gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry, the oldest ones promised me, you've already more than proven yourself to them. By saving the children, you have gained their complete trust."

"Perhaps you're right." Her gaze was directed to the ground and followed small stones that she pushed in front of her, she was no longer interested in her surroundings, even the impressive landscape of the island could not help but voice her inner desire to be with her father again, to return home in safety and peace. Homesickness had caught up with her, a feeling she couldn't suppress, despite her newfound closeness to Godzilla.

Aaron noticed her whispering some words to herself, it still worried him a little bit that this might be too much for you here, maybe she would end up with a mental breakdown. But Madison was doing well, better than many adults who had seen. Ricco, one of the others who arrived with him, went crazy from the short time he spent here. He himself often had a problem with something else here and isolating himself from everyone else by being assigned to protect them gave him a direction to go in a long time ago.

The two of them walked the way up to the ship, the weather changed, it became cooler and much drier, but no rain announced itself. Madison looked up at the sky, the sun was still shining and giving warmth, the wind around her felt like early autumn. "Do you feel that too?" She asked Aaron. "If you mean wind, yes. There's never been weather like this here before."

Madison remembered Ghidorah, even though she didn't want him to, he could create thunderstorms with the beat of his wings alone, and around him, whirlwinds were gathering that could surround him. The thought of that made her nervous that something else might be nearby, maybe that's why Godzilla was so upset today. Maddie herself sensed that something was in the air - you could say her gut reaction alarmed her.

She didn't notice how they had walked up to the ship without much effort. Madison looked down on the village, the residents continued with their daily chores, but this strange weather change unsettled them too. Down in the center of the village, a few residents had gathered in a circle, kneeling down toward the wall, toward Godzilla, and holding their heads down. A prayer to one of their gods.

Godzilla, however, did not pay much attention to them, he still walked nervously up and down the wall, growling loudly, and humming out through his throat. Every now and then he sniffed around in the air and pushed out a soft roar. He wanted to prevent a fight over anything, not near people and not near her.

She looked at him, watching his movements, how he bowed his head back and forth. Then her eyes crossed again. He stopped his head and eyes were now fixed on her alone. Despite the enormous distance between the two of them, he could see extremely well through his sharp eyes, could still recognize her exactly and make her out.

Her vision was not nearly as good as his, but she could still see his orange flaming eyes. For a while they looked at each other, neither of them made a Muchs. Aaron turned and saw how she and Godzilla looked at each other, he watched what she was doing, since the 2 day ritual he wasn't quite sure what her relationship was with Godzilla, especially after she woke up and started talking.

"Give them hope, be good to them." Madison thought of the villagers as they prayed to him, they deserved to feel reassured at that moment. Godzilla lifted his neck and left a gentle humming sound. He turned to the wall, toward the inhabitants, and his back plates began to glow, Godzilla bowed his head down and pulsed with a gentle rumble.

Maddie stood there somewhat shocked, she knew this was not his attack, it was like when they first met at Castel Bravo, it was there to calm her down. She had a light smile on her lips. So he understood her.

"What is he doing." Asked Aaron unsettled, Maddie looked behind her shoulder. "He's answering her prayers, they deserve it." Aaron just nodded confused, unsure what to make of it. "Well, we gotta get in, they're waiting for us."

Madison smiled and sighed again, and followed Aaron back through the entrance to the inside of the ship. They passed some guards, Madison kept her gaze low and avoided eye contact.

As she glanced at her shoes and looked down at the rusty floor where she was deliberately stepping into small puddles to distract herself, she noticed how slowly the dripping noises and her footsteps were holding, her eyes turned forward again as they entered the hall where the oldest ones were already waiting, along with Ato and Ikimi.

Aaron bent slightly as a sign of greeting, the elders did the same. He stepped aside and Maddie walked forward, but he was standing right behind her in case something happened, she just nodded briefly.

"A great journey awaits you and our friend Aaron." She heard an unknown voice speaking into her head. She was confused at first, looked around the room, but it was neither Atos, Ikimi nor Aaron's voice.

The oldest one of the elders went to the front. He was an older man, about as tall as Maddie herself. His clothes were dyed turquoise, his head had no hair, and his whole body was covered with blue body paint. Next to him stood a woman dressed very similar to him, but her clothes were blue and she seemed a little younger since she still had her hair.

"We want to apologize for previous actions that happened to you. We all had to be sure that you will be the one chosen by the gods to defend us with them."

Madison already knew what was meant by that, the visions here, the ritual and the conversation with Emma, everything to follow in Mothra's footsteps. Emma had said she was getting stronger and creating, but she didn't realize it, she felt mentally quite weak and doubted herself-

"So you talk to telepathy." "You're not surprised about that."

"After all that's gone through my head, I don't have a good reason for it either. However, how do you understand me?"

"This kind of language is ancient, and there are only a few left in this world who know it, but deep inside of everyone lies it, and the words spoken are universal to everyone."

"So, they do not speak in my language, but what they say translates for me, let's say directly...interesting."

She thought about it but shook her head briefly when she noticed that she was absorbed in it again.

"So, what kind of a journey is this?" She crossed her arms, went into a defensive posture, the elders nodded slightly.

"A shadow has settled over our island, he has woken up, the devil's right hand, his queen wants revenge for him. He has put our old king to flight, and in return she wants to steal what is yours. Your place in the line."

"Another titan, then." Also awakened by the calls of Ghidorah to help destroy this world. But the Iwi's description of this one was different; she made Madison wonder about it, a queen they said. Perhaps it was like Mothra to Godzilla, a creature that was in symbiosis with Ghidorah to fight with him. This thought aroused a certain fear in her.

The Titans quickly joined Ghidorah, but not because they were in symbiosis with Godzilla and Mothra. No, they did it because he was the Alpha and their instincts told them to do so, and they changed at will and position to those they followed.

If what Madison thought is true, then there could still be something out there that follows Ghidorah's orders. It probably also meant that she was lucky not to meet Ghidorah in Boston, possibly thanks to Kong.

You could tell Madison was nervous again, her heart was beating a little stronger, but she tried to hide it. The elders continued.

"Now you must return to the place where all of your predecessors have played their roles. In the direction where the sun goes down, at the other end of the island, there is a temple, built by the people who lived here even before us. There is the fountain of your power."

"And why didn't the other whatever there is grab it before?" She asked the elders, she took a step forward, she wanted answers.

"Only you can set it in motion, but you must be careful, for she will watch for this moment, and strike until she gets what she wants."

"What is 'you'? What is this dark shadow you're telling me?" Her tone changed, she got angrier.

"An old enemy of your ancestor, and the other gods. And your task is to join him in defeating them."

"I am a fuckign human being. I don't want to be a part of this thing, I'm not the one you need!" She screamed.

Aaron got a little nervous, he didn't know what to do, if Madison got aggressive with the oldest ones, there could be serious consequences.

"So you want to abandon people again? Even when you swore to help? You were willing to stand up for others, but now you want to give up?" Ikimi said she confronted Maddie directly. Her words felt like ice-cold knives stabbing her.

"No, I..."

"You say these words as if you don't care what happens. You doubt yourself and your abilities, your potential, despite everything you had seen. And yet you're drawn to him, and you want to be with him."

She was talking about Godzilla. Madison refused to admit it, but she knew herself that she was lying, since she had just asked Aaron to take her directly to Godzilla two days ago because she felt safer there.

"We have seen that you want to make a difference out there, that you want to help gods and humans alike. You are now being given the chance; will you take it?" The elders looked at her. In fact, everyone in the room looked at her expectantly. Maddie felt pressured, the pressure on her was too much. She pressed her hands over her ears, squeezed her eyes together and turned away from everyone, her head against the wall.

Silence prevailed for a moment, a moment of breathing. But it was broken, with a loud roar, Godzilla's voice. It sounded like it did back then when it gave her strength to hold on. She opened her eyes, took her hands off her ears and looked around.

Only she had heard it. No one else.

"So, what are you gonna do?" Ato asked her. Madison took a deep breath and then decided to put it all on one card.

"I will travel there with Godzilla and see if I am part of this ritual, get rid of the shadow, then I will leave this island, go back home.

The elders nodded. "So be it. Everything is already done; they are waiting for you both at the wall. We will go with you if this is the last moment, we see you."

Guards went forward and before they knew it, they accompanied everyone out of the ship. Madison stayed closer to Aaron, avoiding eye contact with anyone else.

As they stepped out, she saw Godzilla leaning down against the wall, and when Maddie stepped out, he looked up at the ship expectantly.
A horn was blown nearby, the deep sound echoing through the valley and sending a signal to the village. The farewell was ready.
They walked down the hill, Madison did not look up, but again only at her feet, and the stones flying in front of her. When she reached the bottom, she looked up again, everyone in the village had stood by the tents and looked at her, no expression had changed, the emotions were gone. But she felt that they were saying goodbye, even if she did not hear it.

It hurt her somehow, even though she had almost argued with her leaders just a few minutes ago. The eerie silence made the whole thing even more unpleasant for her. Quietly, she could hear drums from the distant drums, apparently that was part of it.

Godzilla followed her slowly, his head following her everywhere. He looked worried, Madison didn't look up at him, and tried to avoid eye contact for a moment. There was a connection between the two of them, it just took Madison a while to get used to this fact.

They had reached the wall, a staircase went up the side, it had been rebuilt, the wood looked fresher than the rest of the wall. Ato and Ikimi nodded to the oldest and guards. These guards carried the group, now consisting only of Ato, Aaron, Ikimi and Madison, further up the stairs.

They rose a little groaning when you stepped on them, but Madison didn't care much about that, she just watched them come up and the journey began. She was the first to reach the top. Right in front of them was Godzilla's head hanging over the wall, turning to her and emitting a gentle hum. Madison looked him in the eye again, and walked forward carefully and slowly a few steps, reaching out her hand and touching his muzzle.

"Hey Big G. I think you know what happens now." She whispered. Godzilla tilted his head slightly to one side, carefully pushing his head forward and rubbing his face a little against Maddie. He was so gentle with her.

"You two must ascend to him now, you must leave soon." Said Ikimi. Madison turned around. "You're not coming?" She asked. Ato and Ikimi shook their heads. But rest assured, we are with you in spirit and praying to both of you." Madison sighed.

"All right, then, Aaron, ready?" He nodded. "Man, I haven't been outside the village in a long time, and even then, not far." "Excited?" She asked him jokingly. "A little bit."

She smiled, if only slightly, to lighten the mood. She looked at Godzilla. "Okay, head down." She pointed back at Godzilla and then with her arms down. He followed her, surprisingly this went smoothly, his head deep enough for Madison and Aaron to climb up. His snout touched only gently the tops of the wall. Carefully and not to slip, the two climbed up on his head, down to his neck. There they found a good foothold between the plates on his neck.

"Here we go." Said Madison, Godzilla slowly rose and the two were lifted several feet into the air. The wind was much stronger up above.

Godzilla looked down at the village and let out a roar, it was his farewell from here. Slowly he turned around, in the direction where the sun had set. He knew instinctively where they were taking her. His ancestors had already made them there.

Madison looked behind him, the village wrapped in a soft orange by the slowly steadily setting sun. She looked down, could see Ato and Ikimi on the wall, like the rest of the assembled village. She did not wave or call out to them. She just nodded gently and whispered something again.

Godzilla turned his head slightly to one side, covering part of the sun, but she shone through as he gave one last roar.

"Skreeeoongh!"