Disclaimers: Gojira and all related characters TM and ©2001 Toho Productions, LTD. Some characters ©1998 Sony Pictures Studios. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations and story are the property of the author.
Author's Notes: To avoid confusion the original Godzilla will be referred to by his proper name, Gojira; Forgive me if it wrecks the story for you but I'm going to try to write out the two monsters' roars (y'know, instead of the usual "he roared" dialogue).
Author's Commentary: I liked Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's Godzilla! There! I said it! Nyah nyah! In fact, I'll reiterate! I loved the Sony Godzilla!! The effects were great! The action was great! The story was great (and contrary to popular belief, stuck closer to the original story than EVERY OTHER SEQUEL!!)! The purpose of this story is simple: My guy versus everybody else's guy (you know, the clod in the rubber suit). I guarantee the best lizard will win!
Godzilla: LAST MONSTER STANDING!
by Darrin A. Colbourne
They were the finest ships in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. Designed to incorporate the American Aegis Fire Control System and armed with the latest anti-ship and anti-air weapons, the five destroyers of the Kongo class represented one of the finest task forces in the world. Now, the ships were the lead elements in the defense of the city of Tokyo against the greatest threat Japan had ever known.
The other elements were moving into place. Four of the JMSDF's conventionally-powered attack submarines were taking flanking positions around the target and coming up to periscope depth. Meanwhile, ten F-4EJ Phantom aircraft came screaming over the mainland and out over the water. Their weapons were already armed and waiting to be launched.
The attack was being coordinated by the Air Defense Force's AWACS 767 aircraft and was exquisitely timed. The controller aboard watched all the pieces of the complex puzzle fall into place, and at just the right moment said into his radio: "Now, now, now!"
The airplanes launched, the ships launched and the submarines launched, and soon the air was filled with white blurs riding streaks of fire. The combined force had managed to launch fifty-six Harpoon missiles in perfect synch, and over twenty-two thousand pounds of high-explosive was now hurtling toward the target. It simply continued on, oblivious to the massive threat.
All the missiles struck home, creating a thunderous racket that shattered windows and rattled teeth as it deafened anyone close by. For a moment the massive assault seemed to have worked. The target had halted its advance, and was completely obscured by fire and smoke. The commanders of the force held their breath, hoping to have at least staggered the juggernaut with their blows. All was quiet in Tokyo Bay for the briefest of moments...
"YAAHRRRRAARRRRNGH!"
The sound and the ambling forward motion of the shadowy figure emerging from the smoke clouds could only indicate one thing: The target wasn't impressed.
As its field of vision cleared it eyed the source of this latest assault upon its person. Tall enough to stand on the floor of the bay and still be only waist deep, the towering, scaly form advanced on the destroyers step by earth-shattering step. The ships tried to back off, but were too close to the shallow part of the bay. The submarines escaped underwater into the Pacific, while the aircraft retreated to their base to rearm.
That left the task force alone as its would be victim reached point blank range. Lookouts on the bridge wings noticed the way the invader's back spines glowed, and the more knowledgeable dove for the water as the creature inhaled sharply.
Its exhale shot a white-hot jet of flame at Kongo that melted the hull of the ship in its path. The blast penetrated all the way to the destroyer's diesel fuel tanks, and the resultant explosion sent pieces of the ship into the stratosphere. The monster repeated the action four more times, destroying the cream of the Japanese fleet.
"HRRRRRAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNGH!" It roared into the city, announcing its arrival. In seconds its feet would be on dry land, bringing terror to a city that had endured such woe many times before.
Then, suddenly, it stopped. It looked around and sniffed the air, then looked out to sea. "Hrrr..." it snorted, bewildered. Then it seemed to make a decision.
In the city, the few people left behind after the evacuation watched the monster in amazement. A reporter on scene narrated what they saw into a tape recorder for use in the story he was about to file. "...then, with inches to go before he reached land, the monster dubbed Gojira turned back into the bay. His steps took him farther away until he ducked out of sight beneath the waves, presumably to make underwater passage into the Sea of Japan. Thus was the city saved, not by the weapons of the military, but by the monster's apparent show of mercy-or his distraction by something that he considered more important."
"Damn, damn, damn!" Colonel Hicks grunted. The look on his face told the whole story. I never should have listened to them, he thought, I should have killed the sucker when I had the chance! "Any change in the target's course?" He said into his headset mike.
"No change." A voice answered back. "Columbia reports that they still have the target on course 350, speed sixty knots. Wait one...okay, he just passed one of our sonobuoy lines."
Hicks grimaced. He was in his C-130 flying command post 10,000 thousand feet above the North Atlantic. 5,000 feet lower and fifty miles away was the Navy P-3 Orion sea control aircraft he was talking to. It was laying patterns of sonobuoys in the water, trying to keep track of an elusive target. Nearby, below the surface, the Los Angeles (Improved) class submarine Columbia was running its reactor and engine flat out, working in vain to keep up with its quarry.
And a mile ahead of the sub, a giant, streamlined figure coursed through the water, tail whipping it through the deep. It sailed on silently, relentlessly, tracing the currents of the ocean back to its birthplace.
Godzilla was heading home.
"How did I ever let you two talk me into this?!" Hicks said, glaring at the two scientists that were causing all his problems.
Drs. Nico Tatopolous and Elsie Chapman looked at each other sheepishly before Tatopolous answered. "Colonel, we needed to study it, observe its growth rate, the development of all its abilities, the effects of mutation on his generation-if something like this could happen once, and if the lifeform that results can breed, we may be in for an evolutionary upheaval. Can you imagine the variety of mutations we could be facing if every species in the same area that Godzilla's forebears came from were affected in the same way?"
"Besides," Chapman put in, "even if Godzilla is one of a kind we'd have to know how he got that way, so we could prevent the same thing happening to another species."
"Yeah, sure." Hicks chuckled, shaking his head. He'd always assumed they just didn't have the heart to kill it. Sgt. O'Neill and his men had discovered the Baby Godzilla while doing a Bomb Damage Assessment of Madison Square Garden. Instead of trying to kill it, Tatopolous and Chapman had convinced Hicks to try and contain it. Luring it to an evacuated container ship in New York Harbor had proved to be a comedy of errors, but it had been managed, and the young beast was taken to a secluded island where it could grow and develop naturally. It had only taken a few months for the monster to grow to its full adult size, but it seemed content to stay on and near the island under the watchful eye of the strange, small lifeforms that it didn't know had been responsible for the death of its parent and siblings.
That was until two days ago, when Godzilla suddenly dove into the sea and started making a beeline for Manhattan. Something had happened to draw the monster back to what it instinctively considered its territory, and nothing would draw it off or stop it. The Mayor of New York had been notified, and after complaining "We just got started rebuilding the Goddamned Chrysler Building!", began making plans to evacuate.
Hicks checked his watch and did the math in his head. They'd never finish before Godzilla made landfall. "Well, Mr. And Mrs. Science, your pet project is about to tear up Manhattan-again-and I'm the lucky sonuvabitch that has to find a way to stop him-again!"
Tatopolous and Chapman stayed quiet as a sergeant came over and handed Hicks a phone. "For you, Sir." He said. "Says he's with the Japanese Defense Forces."
"The JDF? What do they want?" Hicks took the phone. "Who is this?"
Thousands of miles away, in another C-130 heading across the Pacific, a Japanese officer answered: "This is Colonel Ichiburo Koza of the Japanese Self-Defense Force. I was told that Colonel Hicks was who I should speak to. Are you Col. Hicks?"
"Yeah, but I'm a little busy right now!"
"You'll be a lot busier soon. I think we should talk."
"Listen, it can't be a bigger problem than the one I've got right now!"
Koza chuckled. "So you'd think, Colonel. But you'd be wrong." He checked the monitor nearby. It was showing a live feed from an optical sensor mounted on an E-2C sea control aircraft. The camera was looking down, keeping pace with a massive shadow just beneath the waves that glided through the water like a giant duck. That duck, Gojira, let nothing stand in its way as it pressed ever onward.
After a few hours and a long conversation with Colonel Koza, Hicks decided he couldn't let Godzilla reach New York, and Tatopolous and Chapman agreed once he explained the situation. All of them understood the implications if the monster reached its goal.
"Orion 53," Hicks said into the radio, "are you still tracking the target?"
"Yes, Sir." The Orion called back. "Target is still headed 350, speed now 65 knots."
"Take the target, 53!"
A pause. "Aye, Sir!"
The commander of the Orion and the commander of the Columbia conferred on how to attack. Neither was in a perfect position for an intercept alone. The sub wasn't moving fast enough to get into firing position before the monster reached shore, while the Orion didn't have powerful enough weapons. They decided the Orion would herd Godzilla back to the sub.
The plane sped into position and dropped one of its Mark 46 torpedoes. It descended into the water and went deep, heading straight for Godzilla. The monster turned, as the plane crew hoped, and slowed enough for the sub to gain on him a little. Godzilla swum around in circles and spirals, trying to shake his little pursuer. The Orion dropped its other torpedo, just to make things a little hotter, and the giant lizard finally settled on a course--away from Manhattan.
"Aspect change on target!" The sonar operator called out. "Now heading 175, speed 70 knots, range 9.5 miles and closing. Torpedoes inbound, locked on the target."
"It's working." The XO said.
"Is that a good thing?" The commander wondered out loud. The last time Godzilla swam toward a sub with two torpedoes on his tail..."Flood tubes 1 and 4 and open the outer doors! Let's get those firing solutions working right now!"
The monster sailed right on, keeping ahead of the torpedoes and powering right on toward the submarine. He didn't know what the two little things were, but he could sense that they were dangerous, so he decided to lead them back to the big thing that had been following him home. Then bubbles came from the big thing, and two more little pursuers came out of it. The little things were attacking front and back now, and coming on fast. Every now and then his hypersensitive hearing would pick up their high-pitched screams. So they hunted with sound, eh?
He could deal with that.
"All fish closing." The fire control officer said. "Impact in thirty seconds!"
"Aspect change on target!" A sonarman called out. "Target going deep, new course 160!"
What? "Are the torpedoes still with him?" The commander said.
"Torpedoes still locked on." The fire control officer said. The two Mk46s from the plane and the two Mk48s from the sub were following the monster into the deep.
Godzilla charged straight down, head for the sandy, marshy bottom of the Atlantic, until he decided he was just deep enough. He sucked in a rush of oxygen-rich water.
"HHHRRROOOAAARRRRR!!!" His roar echoed through the sea, loud enough to kick up a cloud of silt and almost deafen the sonar operators and, most importantly, created enough reverb and debris to fool the torpedoes into thinking they had solid targets. Their proximity fuses detonated, setting off their warheads and roiling the water with the explosions.
The sonar picture was a mess. Columbia slowed to a halt so that the sonarmen could get their bearings again, while the P-3 veered off to lay a new pattern of sonobuoys. Before they could get themselves back into the hunt, Godzilla had slipped away along the ocean floor, unharmed.
A major weather front had hit Southeastern New York a few days before, dousing the Empire State in a constant deluge of rain. Severe thunder and lightning had accompanied the downpour, making conditions for the evacuation tumultuous to say the least.
Yet Manhattanites did evacuate, again. At least they were somewhat in advance of the threat this time, though that was small comfort to those evacuees jammed onto the bridges and into the tunnels out of the city. The bridges were worse, because they left everyone exposed to the elements, and many of the evacuees were on feet. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, even more screaming, and not a few threats to find the dumbass that managed to pull this practical joke twice and cut his balls off.
The people on the Queensboro Bridge would soon be convinced of the reality of the danger, as those on Eastbound side stared wide-eyed at the large swell of water slowly advancing up the East River. The swell sprouted large, bony fins as it got closer to shore, and a general panic ensued as more of the body emerged from the water. A massive, wet, scaly figure made landfall with a thud, slamming a three-toed pit into the surface of the FDR Drive, and announced its presence to all within earshot:
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRAARRNNGGH!!!"
Godzilla was back!
"Where is he now?" Colonel Hicks' voice called over the radio.
"He's crossing Panama right now." Koza said, wincing as he watched from a nearby Land Cruiser. Gojira wasn't so much crossing Panama as going through it, blasting and tearing his way through the Canal. It was being rendered useless, and its loss would affect shipping and economies from all over the world. The JSDF was working in conjunction with Panamanian armed forces, but combined attacks by F-15J ground attack jets and Army rocket artillery did little more than annoy the creature. "And yours?"
"Believe it or not, he's just been sitting on the end of the bridge all this time, as if he's waiting for something." Hicks said.
"We both know what he's waiting for." Koza said, as he watched Gojira decimate an artillery emplacement with a fire blast.
"Well, at least it's given us time to deploy. I've got a National Guard Unit on its way and will have an Armored Cavalry Regiment moving within the hour, as well as a squadron of Marine aircraft from Cherry Point."
"It won't be enough." The woman sitting next to Koza in the Land Cruiser said. Dr. Kimiko Takashima was the leading researcher on the Gojira Project at Tokyo University. She was acting as Koza's science advisor. She was transfixed by the scene as the monster wreaked havoc on the Central American country. "He's planning to battle the wrong target."
Nick Tatopolous was telling Hicks much the same thing. "Colonel, I really think you're going about this the wrong way."
"Don't worry, Nick. We know where all the mistakes were made the last time. Once we get our forces in place that thing is toast."
"But we may end up facing a bigger threat afterwards. Killing Godzilla won't necessarily stop Gojira from coming, and even if it does that still leaves a big monster running amok in the world, one that seems even less vulnerable to your weapons than the one we're facing now."
"So what are you suggesting?"
"You think we should let him reach you?!" Koza said.
"That's what my people think. The idea is to let them duke it out, then take out the winner."
The JSDF Colonel was incredulous. He watched as Gojira battered his way through the last lock, then tried to recall the file he read on the monster the Americans called "Godzilla".
"Are they crazy?" He asked Takashima.
"Maybe not." She said. "Even if the plan fails, the United States has more space and resources to devote to a battle against two monsters, but their current plans will guarantee failure. They may actually kill Godzilla, but they'd never be able to amass enough resources in time to defend against Gojira when he arrives, and if killing Godzilla makes Gojira back off, there's nothing to stop him from returning to Japan and finishing what he started days ago. But if we let them fight, then they do most of our work for us. If Godzilla wins, he's easier to kill. If Gojira wins, he may be so weakened from the battle that our combined forces can drive him back into the sea."
"But the battle will level New York!"
"To be blunt, Colonel, better New York than Tokyo, and the Americans seem willing to risk it."
"YAAAHHHHHHRRRRAARRARAAARRRNGH!!" Gojira's roar drew their attention. The monster was through the Canal and was wading out into the Atlantic.
Koza sighed. "It's not like we could have stopped him anyway."
"I hope you know what you're doing, Tatopolous." Hicks said, after he finished his conversation with Koza.
"Right now Godzilla's not a threat," Tatopolous said, "and he may be the best weapon we have to use against Gojira when he shows up."
"Nick's right, Colonel." Chapman said. "We've just got to have faith that Godzilla will come through for us."
For the most part, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the New York National Guard 53rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade managed to deploy without attracting Godzilla's attention. The ACR's air units and the Marine Squadron weren't quite so lucky, but had yet to provoke the monster to act. The ACR Apache helicopters, armed with Hellfire anti-armor missiles and 30mm rockets, kept close watch on the monster at low altitudes, while the Harriers the Marine Corps had deployed watched from on high. The VTOL planes were much more useful than the F-18s that had killed the first Godzilla, since they could be used in the urban warfare that monster fighting turned out to be.
Yet they had little to do but watch, for hours on end, as Godzilla lay prone on the 59th Street entrance to the bridge, sleeping with his eyes half open, waiting for what the soldiers had heard was an even bigger monster. They sincerely hoped that one never showed up.
Their hopes were dashed when they noticed Godzilla's head spring up and look south. The monster immediately got up and walked onto the bridge, straining the structure with every thunderous step. He stopped at the first support and perched it, then again turned his attention to the Atlantic.
"Holy shit!" The Marine Pilot said as his Harrier dipped low over the water. He was trying to get a better look at the dark shape rising from the ocean. It was only a head and shoulders, but it looked like the tip of a really big iceberg.
"Second Target Sighted!" The pilot reported over the radio. "Target partially surfaced and heading north in the East River."
Hicks was now in his command track and en route to his previous command post on the Jersey Shore. "Track it, but do not engage." Hicks said. "Let it get where it's going."
"Aye, aye...hey, those things on his back are glowing--"
Hicks growled when static replaced the voice on the line. "All units, This is Command. Prepare to observe and track Targets One and Two but do not, repeat, do not engage or provoke them!" He then switched channels. "Koza, where are you?"
"We're just descending into Newark right now." Koza said. His C-130 had tracked Gojira all the way from Panama, making sure he wouldn't stray from his destination. "I have a squadron of F-15s en route to operate with your Marines, and I'll be at your command post as soon as we touch down!"
Gojira shrugged his way through the ruined span of the Brooklyn Bridge and pressed on, seeing and sensing his quarry further up the river. This was what had brought him all the way from his home waters, this flea, this gnat, this annoyance that would dare confront the King of the Monsters.
Godzilla watched as the other monster ducked under the Williamsburg Bridge and came on, and had only one thought on his mind: Big, dumb, seafood.
Gojira was half out of the water by the time he was close to the Queensboro Bridge. Godzilla stood as high as he could without falling from his perch. The two monsters stood still when they were a mere hundred meters from each other. They scrutinized each other, each examining every inch of his opponent. Then, they both took a deep breath.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRR RRRRRAAAAAARRRRRRRNNNNNGGH!!!!" Their combined roar rattled windows for a mile! The challenges had been issued! Gojira lunged in and slammed his fist onto the bridge, shattering the span and tossing abandoned vehicles into the air. Godzilla leaped from the top just as the support teetered down, landing with a thud on Manhattan Island before the Eastern end of the bridge collapsed.
The battle was on!