Thanks so much for all the love an support! I'm happy to see lots of familiar names leaving reviews! I have another surprise too! I think I'm going to make this into a trilogy! But I'll try not to get too ahead of myself for now.
I am thinking of checking out the novelization of GvK (I read the first few chapters online already) but I already have ideas and theories that may not line up with all the novel details, so just letting you know as a fyi.
But yeah, thanks again! Enjoy! Mwah
The Impossible Proposal
…
A deep bang woke Amara from her sleep. Then another, and another.
"What on earth," came Mi Sun's drowsy voice from the futon beside her.
Amara stretched out on her futon. "Drums," she replied through a yawn.
Mi Sun sat up. "Don't tell me, Godzilla's back?"
"Yes, the oversized lizard has returned." Amara ran her fingers through her hair, getting the damp strands off her face.
"When did you go see him?" Mi Sun asked, eyes on Amara's hair.
"I don't know, two am? He's still not talking to me."
"But you knew when he was here?" How?"
Amara got up, going to her dresser. "I don't know, magic, probably." Mi Sun sent her a look. "I can still feel him. Like when you're in a house with someone and know they're home even if they're not making any noise."
Mi Sun rummaged around her duffle bag, pulling on a white tee shirt over her tank top. It read Free the Titans in bold font across the front and back.
It was a popular movement that only gained momentum in the past few years. Nearly half the globe now protested for it. But no matter what, people were always divided. For every person who wanted them free, one wanted them dead. Containing them was at best, a compromise.
"Are you even allowed to protest, you know, being a Monarch employee and all?"
"I wear sunglasses." Mi Sun grinned. Her cell phone audibly buzzed and she picked it up, scrolling though it in silence.
Amara resumed getting dressed. Godzilla was back, which only meant one thing on Yonaguni Island.
…
"It's a full on festival." Mi Sun stared at the crowded beach. Beyond the entire population of the island, Godzilla's dorsal spines towered out of the water like a floating mountain range.
Like most of the people, Amara wore her yukata, a summer kimono made of cotton. An old woman specially made hers as a gift a couple of years ago. The light material was ocean blue with navy accents and obi belt.
The humid air smelled like seafood. Stands were set up selling an assortment of breakfast foods. Locals swarmed the temple prayer area, some took pictures near the tori gates that looked out toward Godzilla, and some sang and danced with the drums.
"Yeah, happens all the time. Don't tell, but Godzilla likes it," Amara said with a smile. The people really do spoil him.
Amara stayed back from the crowds. They tended to swarm her, asking questions about Godzilla or giving her gifts. It was a lot, even countless times later.
Gojira no koe they would say.
Speak of the devil, a group of kids ran up to her. High pitched screams of excitement filled her ears as they surrounded her, holding up Godzilla shaped trinkets and talking too fast to understand.
Mi Sun checked her phone again. "Hey that little Suzuki you picked me up in yesterday, can I borrow it?"
Amara glanced away from the hyper kids. "The truck? Yeah sure, the keys are on my table." A girl pulled on her sleeve, exclaiming something about having a similar yukata.
By the time she looked up again, Mi Sun was gone. Where was she going anyway?
Tao came up and coaxed the kids away with a lazy grin. He leaned in an gave her a kiss on the cheek, greeting her. He was in traditional clothing too, blue with white patterns.
Then he asked where his truck was going.
"Oh, Mi Sun is borrowing it." Amara followed his gaze to the street she drove down and out of sight.
Tao frowned with a look of utter confusion. "Naruhodo," he finally said.
They walked on the grass hand in hand. It was always nice chatting with Tao.
At first, she only spent school holidays on the island, so she stayed with him. He took her out on his boat to the cavern, or just out to go diving. Sometimes she went fishing with him and his dad.
It was only a couple of months ago she made the permanent move. The town practically gave her the tiny home she now lived in. It was an easy choice to make, especially when Monarch agreed to make it an outpost, even if it was mostly unknown, even to its own employees. Fine by her. If people found out, it would be impossible to keep tourists away. It was lucky enough that Yonaguni wasn't a huge destination to begin with.
They stopped for food and sat at a nearby bench to eat. Unlike everyone else on the island, Tao didn't bombard her with questions. He sat relaxed, eyes closed bathing in the sunlight.
As people passed, they stopped and bowed. Amara nodded back, returning their kind smiles.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mi Sun approach. Two men at her side, their Caucasian faces standing out from everyone else.
Amara stood, nearly stumbling on her sandal.
"There you are," Mi Sun said. She gestured to one of the men at her side. "Dr. Rey, Dr. Russell. Dr. Russel, Dr. Rey."
Mark Russell, the director of Monarch, held out his hand. She lifted her arm only to realize it was the wrong one, then quickly lifted the other to shake his hand. "Hi—nice to meet you Dr. Russell."
Mi Sun knew he was coming and didn't say anything? Or get him to wait till after the festival? Amara was basically as unprofessional as she could possibly be, wearing a yukata, hanging out with her boyfriend at an impromptu festival.
"I'm Dr. Emms," the second man interjected, grasping her palm in his moist one the second Dr. Russell let go. He had graying curly hair and a gaunt face. His teeth were yellow and the bags under his eyes were dark. The picture of poor health.
Amara pulled her hand away. Who was this guy?
"Not what I was expecting," Mark said, surveying the beach. "When I was told Godzilla frequented this island, I didn't realize he was out in the open like this."
"Yeah, it's pretty normal here."
Mark frowned. "Humph, interesting." He led the way to the shore. "You checked his vitals already? Any movement, unusual behavior?"
"Nothing formally. I'll have Tao get the boat ready and we can go out." Amara nodded at Tao who caught up, suddenly looking wide awake.
He nodded and veered off towards the dock.
"I see, too busy having a festival to do your job." Dr. Russell faced her with a stern frown. "I don't know if you know this, but Godzilla just levelled two cities. I have the Secretary of Defense and the UN on my ass right now to make sure Godzilla doesn't do it again."
Woah, no need to bite her head off. "I assure you, Godzilla is behaving perfectly normal. And off the books, I did check on him last night. I don't need to read his vitals to tell you he's sleeping right now."
Or a mental connection for that fact.
Dr. Russell raised a brow sending her a look. "Where's your office?"
Amara took lead of the small group, changing course to her place. She walked quickly, the others falling behind. Dr. Emms faint mumbling reached her ears as he talked to Dr. Russell. Something about her being underqualified for her position.
She opened her door, everyone following her into the main area of her house. Dr. Russell and Dr. Emms took a moment to look around. They didn't seem to notice the mess of living in a home with two rooms, rather the variety of Godzilla artwork that covered most of her walls. Everything from children's scribbles, to traditional Japanese artwork, to Whyley's fully realistic charcoal sketch.
Both the men's eyes then landed on the window over her kitchen counter. It looked out to the tori gates that were dwarfed by Godzilla's massive spines in the distance.
"Nice view," Mark commented after a long silence.
Amara put on a pot of tea while Mi Sun, Dr. Russell, and Dr. Emms sat on the floor around the table. Mi Sun made idle chatter, asking about their flight and the weather. Dr. Russell gave short responses, his eyes constantly glancing out the window.
Dr. Emms was more focused on Amara's makeshift office, which consisted of a work computer, a personal laptop, and a filing cabinet with more papers on it than in it.
Another reason it would have been nice to have some notice.
Once the water was on the stove, Amara headed over to the work computer and opened up the program that measured Godzilla's vitals. It was a relatively cool piece of technology seeing as it was a small satellite dish mounted to her roof that pointed out towards the water.
His heartbeat thrummed through the cheap speakers. Slow and steady.
"See? Sleeping," she announced, turning back to the others.
"You'll have to excuse the fact that we can't take your word for it," Dr. Emms said with a sneer.
Amara went back to the kitchen area and leaned back against the counter. "Just because I'm new to this position, doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. Half of Monarch did recommend me for a reason. I've been working around Godzilla for five or six years now."
Sam, Ilene, Ling, Mi Sun, even Rick all put in a good word for her.
She continued, "Yet, when Godzilla starts to attack two cities with what initially looked like no cause, no one called me for my opinion." She raised her voice. "Or tell me about moving another titan across the ocean to another unknown location for that matter."
"There was nothing you could do differently than anyone else on the team." Dr. Russell said. "I'm not risking any more lives than I have to, and that means no rookies."
"I could have told you what would happen." She crossed her arms. "In fact, I did email you, specifically to tell you that he was agitated."
"He was acting within our established tolerances."
Amara opened her mouth, but Dr. Russell cut her off.
"It doesn't matter now anyway, what's done is done. We have a new dilemma now. The UN is pushing for a new containment facility for Godzilla, which we well know isn't going to happen, especially now that we don't have Apex to help build and maintain the containment tech."
Amara straightened. "They want to what now? Are they nuts?"
Even if they did manage to put Godzilla in a containment facility, there was no way they could keep him there. Unlike the other titans, Godzilla was much stronger, more aggressive, and had atomic breath. The ocean was his territory and the planet was his home. The second humans tried to contain him, all hell would break loose on a level humanity hadn't seen yet. It would be the last straw.
Mi Sun and Dr. Russell looked grim while Emms shook his head.
"It doesn't help that Godzilla and Kong's fight upset a lot of the other titans," Mi Sun said. "Mothra attempted to escape and they had to sedate Rodan when he started going for the observation windows," Mi Sun pulled up pictures on her phone, holding it out to Amara.
Sure enough, there were scratches along Mothra's biodome. In the next picture, Rodan was lying on the ground with chains around its ankles. The next few photos displayed other sedated titans and various damages that they caused to their facilities.
On one side, keeping the titans contained probably saved thousands of lives. They would likely have headed to Hong Kong to intervene or possibly even join the fight. But on the other side, as animals, they shouldn't be held captive, chained and sedated.
The tea kettle began to whistle. Amara took it off the stove and poured the hot water into the tea pot. She sat down, placing on the center of the table and handing out cups.
She looked directly at Dr. Russell. "Did Kong destroy his containment facility? Is that why he was moved?"
Emms sent Dr. Russell a sideways look that the latter didn't acknowledge.
Dr. Russell leaned forward. "You've heard of the Hollow Earth Theory?"
"Yeah lots since I started my research on ancient civilizations." Amara took a sip of tea. Strange topic to bring up.
"It's real. Kong's there now."
The tea cup shook in Amara's hand. She put it down before she dropped it. The hollow earth was real? And Monarch actually made it there? How? He was pulling her leg, surely. There was no way.
She managed a strangled noise.
Dr. Russell continued. "It's a habitable environment perfect for titans, possibly even humans. It's the perfect place—"
The door whipped open and Tao came shuffling in. Amara flinched from the sudden noise.
Tao looked a little winded, like he speed walked, or possibly even jogged from the docks. He announced the boat was ready, which Amara translated for the others after a full minute of processing.
Everyone got up in unison and followed Tao out the door. Mi Sun smiled at Amara as they left the yard.
"The earth is actually hollow then? How does that even work?" she asked Mi Sun who walked beside her.
"From the pictures that I've seen, I think it's more like a huge cavern. We're not one hundred percent sure yet though. The expedition was cut short when Godzilla blasted Kong from Hong Kong."
"That's why he was attacking the ground. He was going after Kong…That's a big hole."
"It was an impressive feat, even for Godzilla. Luckily, the hole collapsed not even an hour later."
Still.
Dr. Russell's loud voice interrupted her thought. "Hey hey hey! What are those boats doing near Godzilla?"
Sure enough, as the ocean came back into view past the houses, multiple fishing boats were scattered around Godzilla's form.
Oh yeah, it was illegal to be that close to him. "It's fine. They're not there to disturb him. Godzilla attracts marine life."
Dr. Russell's brows furrowed. "He lets them fish around him?"
Amara couldn't help but smile out towards the ocean. "Yeah, Godzilla has single handedly boosted fishing exports and improved the island's economy. Beyond being a titan, they have lots of reasons to worship him as a god here."
Emms sneered. "I don't recall you sending in any of this research."
Amara looked back at the bitter man. "I wasn't aware that was my job, being a behavioralist now."
"A competent employee would keep track of all observations." Emms matched her tone.
"I do. And if anyone ever asks, I'm happy to provide them."
Lines deepened in Emms forehead as his brows rose. "Anyone?"
Dr. Russell abruptly spoke, "Emms, shut up."
Emms glared at Dr. Russell as he turned back around and completely ignored Amara's presence for the rest of the walk.
What was his problem? How could someone with his attitude be working so closely with Dr. Russell?
The boat sat ready and waiting. Tao helped Amara and Mi Sun up before giving a small bow to Dr. Russell as he climbed abord.
"I'm not getting on that thing." Emms said, staying on the dock. "I'm getting nauseous just looking at it."
"Suit yourself," was all Dr. Russell said, not so much as glancing back.
Tao looked between the two before hopping on himself. He went to the wheel and immediately set off. Amara untied the rope that attached it to the dock.
"Tell me again why he's here?" Mi Sun asked Dr. Russell.
"He practically cried at me to see Godzilla. Thinks he should have Amara's position."
That explained a lot. Shame, Godzilla would eat him alive.
It only took a couple of minutes to sail out to Godzilla's floating form. His dorsal plates cast a shadow over the boat and out into sea. Tao cut the engine, coming down the stairs and handing Amara the specialized instrument to read Godzilla's radioactive signature.
Amara turned it on and held it up. "It's reading lower than normal," she said. "Which makes sense. He used up a lot of his energy storages. It will probably take a while for him to recharge with solar radiation."
Dr. Russell came up to her side, craning his neck up at the massive spine. "He's using sunlight to recharge? I thought the titans used earths internal radiation."
"Godzilla uses both. Right now he's using his dorsal plates like solar panels. I believe his synthesizes sunlight like we do, but instead of converting it into vitamin D, he converts it into his own unique radiation. Same thing happens when you nuke him too," she added, sending him a sideways glance.
"Mi Sun's mentioned it a few times. Do you have any evidence of this yet, or is it another theory?"
"Just a theory," Amara answered lightly. She caught Mi Sun smirking behind Dr. Russell.
"So in other words, you're saying it would be more efficient if he could find a radiation source that matches his own biologically occurring one."
"Yes, that would be ideal, but I don't think one exists…"
There was something about the way Dr. Russell was looking at her that told her otherwise. Did Monarch find a matching radiation source?
Oh no. "The hollow earth."
Dr. Russell nodded.
"You're not proposing to move—" No, they couldn't. The surface was his home. He would never.
"We don't have a choice. You know as well as I do, there's no containing Godzilla. We have to get him down there."
"He won't go." Amara looked between the massive spine and Dr. Russell.
"How do you know that? It's perfect for him. Plenty of radiation. No humans."
Amara raised her hands, gesturing wildly to Godzilla. "If he wanted to go down there, he would already. He'd be there right now, recharging."
Dr. Russell's mouth remained set in a thin line. "I'm going to a meeting with the UN next week to discuss the terms. If you think you can convince them otherwise, you better start preparing now."
"With the UN?" Talking to the government on behalf of Monarch? "I can't."
Not even Dr. Russell took her seriously, why would the UN? She would just make a fool of herself speaking on Godzilla's behalf, or make herself look crazy. Having to lie. She'd probably make everything worse.
"You just said you wanted to be a part of this. Well, here's your chance."
…