Humanity's Stand

Chapter 3

Eye of Destruction

The sky shook. The earth split apart. The very air itself was infused with the feeling of violence as multiple armies of monsters fought each other, the island they were on tearing itself asunder at the sheer force of their collective power. Gamera wondered if there would even be a Solgel left to defend after this night was over. He didn't allow himself long to ponder that thought, as it was clear that order needed to be imposed upon this chaos if any of them hoped to see through to the morning.

He opened the mental link to his brothers and sisters, saying, 'Guardians, we need to choose who we are fighting! Contain the strongest enemies so they don't rampage freely.'

'You're the one who can see up there,' Anguirus said. 'Call them out.'

Gamera felt a momentary pang of pride at being trusted by their eldest so quickly, but he pushed that feeling to the side so he could focus. He studied the battlefield as it was shaping up, trying to see who was where and paths and sightlines. The two sons of Godzilla Senior were making a beeline straight for each other, pushing aside or cutting down any monster that got in their way, respectively. The aliens were still huddled together in their group, seemingly unsure of where to go in the melee. Did they not have a clear objective in mind in coming here? The human mechs were already splitting up, two pushing towards the aliens and the one with the drills taking to the skies. And meanwhile his siblings were spread out all over the place, far less cohesive than he would like.

'Godzilla will handle Xenilla,' Gamera said, the urgency of the situation making stating the obvious a necessity. 'Anguirus, you're closest to Destroyah, you need to contain her. Rodan, go help him.'

Both kaiju gave their mental confirmations, only to be joined by a third that surprised the turtle guardian.

'I'll help them,' Mothra promised. 'I'll keep her oxygen destroyer blasts from hitting the rest of the island.'

'Good idea,' he returned, switching focus to the rest of the battle. 'Yon, Raiga, Varan, you're near those alien kaiju. If you team up with the human mechs you should be able to take them on safely.'

'If those humans even so much as glance in my direction I'm taking them on too,' Varan warned as she leapt up and glided over the battle.

Gamera groaned and tried to hold in his exasperation. 'Just focus on fighting the enemy and I'm sure they will too. Manda, Baragon, the three of us will try to help everyone else keep the rest of the monsters busy. If we see an opening to dive in and help the others we'll take it.'

'Got it!'

'Understood Gamera.'

Shaking off the weird feeling of him being the one to give out orders Gamera swooped down to follow his own advice. He'd done the best he could to direct everyone towards the best targets he could think of. Now all they had to do was fight and pray everything worked out.

**HS**

Gabara ducked under a jab from the frilled dino's disgusting tongue while knocking away a jet of fire from the other dino's maw with a bolt of suped up lightning. He smirked to himself as the two fighters backed off, giving him room to strike a menacing pose and do his skeletal lightning trick again. The resulting wave of fear from the two brainless idiots was very refreshing, making up for the cuts and scrapes they'd managed to inflict thus far.

'It's a good thing these two are idiots who don't know how to work together,' he reflected as he tossed several balls of lightning their way while charging forward. 'Otherwise they might be trouble.'

While he set about the task of pummeling the two dinos for their stupidity he let a separate mind track look back to Gorgo to check his status. The kid was giving off powerful waves of fear, only some of which seemed to be coming from Gabara himself. The rest was fear for his mother, which was entirely understandable given how massively the noise from the outer valley had gone up since the storm arrived. Both the literal one and the storm of monsters that had all shown up practically all at once.

Whatever the cause, Gorgo's fear was just the fuel he needed to make him jump up in power to a level he hadn't felt since… since that day that he didn't really want to think about right now. Gabara's thoughts were forcibly jolted from that train of thought as a tail smacked him hard across the face, knocking him off his feet.

'Battle now, think later.'

Gabara dodged the follow up stomp from Zedus, grabbing the saurian's ankle and pouring electricity into it, shocking the monster something fierce, but that left him open for Agon to land a bite on his shoulder, Gabara biting back a hiss of pain. It was hard for him to become intangible when he was in contact with another creature, but he managed it just in time to avoid having his flesh cooked by a gout of flame, slipping out of Agon's jaws so he could back away and sock the dino across the jaw in retaliation. He had only just managed to fully reconstitute when Zedus nailed him with his tongue right in the chest, the sharp appendance stabbing into his hide and hooking into his flesh. Gabara snarled in rage and put every ounce of electricity he could into the wet flesh, causing Zedus to spasm in agony as its nerves were set on fire, but Gabara could feel the injury draining away his energy in his attempt to heal it closed.

The fear Gorgo was giving off wasn't enough to keep up with the damage he was sustaining, and Gabara was running out of voltage.

'Shit, I might be in trouble.'

Gabara groaned as he ripped Zedu's tongue out of his body, his chest heaving as trails of shadow leaked out of the hole before it slowly sealed up. The two mutant kaiju shared a look of triumph and roared at him, to which Gabara snapped a small bolt in their faces to shut them up.

'Fuck off you weak shit bitches!' He said with a growling rage. 'It took both of you to even stand a chance against me, and just because you land some lucky hits you think you're hot shit?! FUCK THAT! Now you've made me mad!'

Gabara pushed himself to the limits of his reach, drawing on every piece of fear and emotion he could reach, only to find himself swamped with the unfamiliar energy of anger emotion forming a new power within him. His lightning changed color from blue to red and a lightning aura formed across his body.

'Fight me you weak shits!'

The two mutants changed their roars to a challenging sound, moving to rush at him. Gabara flung his arms out, a giant beam of blood-red lightning blasting into the pair and sending them flying away onto their backs.

'There! Not so tough now a-'

Pain, sharp and violent, jabbed into Gabara's back, driving the wind from his lungs and the thoughts from his mind. He was sent to his knees by the force of the blow, spewing out a gush of black spirit-blood.

'Gabara!'

Gabara looked to the side, groaning in both pain and frustration as Gorgo stepped out of the cave he'd been hiding in, fear and worry painted on the young kaiju's face.

'Gabara, that big bug has got you!'

'B-bug?' Gabara twisted his neck all the way around, removing his neck bone to do so, and felt another thrill of fear as he realized just who had ambushed him. Megaguirus, with her stinger tail. The stinger tail that absorbed energy.

'Oh fuuuuck.'

Gorgo, bless his small, dumb heart, picked up a sizeable rock and tossed it at Megaguirus' face and shouted, 'Leave him alone you bully!'

For her part the insect queen looked at the tiny creature with as much incredulity as a bug face could express before laughing in whatever weird bug language she spoke. Gabara felt tremors through the ground, forcing him to look back and see that Zedus and Agon were getting back to their feet.

'Gorgo… run! Get out of here!'

'But…'

Gabara growled, drawing up every bit of fearful aura he had left. 'LEAVE, NOW!'

The rush of fear the child felt filled him up, giving him at least enough energy to try and send a stunning wave of electricity into Megaguirus, but she refused to remove her stinger from his back, riding through the pain.

And still Gorgo refused to move, instead growling at the insect kaiju. 'No, I can't leave you behind! I'll… I'll stay and fight!'

Gabara wanted to roar, to scream, to tell the stupidly brave little snot that he was just going to get himself killed over nothing… but in that moment all Gabara could think was that this was the first time since he'd become conscious that cared about him enough to risk themselves for him.

It felt like he wasn't worth it. Not like this.

'HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAAAAAAY!'

Gabara felt Megaguirus' stinger ripped out of his back as the insect queen was flung away by a big brown mass crashing into her from the side, smashing her into a nearby rock face.

'Fucking finally,' Gabara complained, feeling his energy drain back into him. He got to his feet slowly, watching as Gomora - because who the fuck else would come in saying that? - was busy handing the two saurians their collective asses while Megaguius beat a hasty retreat. Gabara staggered, still unsteady, when he felt a small paw land on his leg, pressing emotion into him. He looked down disbelievingly at Gorgo, at the emotion that was coming from the child. It was still fear, but it was fear for him.

'Remind me to teach you a few things after this, kid,' Gabara said slowly as he felt his body repair itself, the kid having the gall to smile up at him hopefully. 'Most importantly knowing when to get the hell out when someone tells you to.'

'Nope!' The kid said far too cheerfully.

Gabara groaned, looking up as he noticed Gomora striking a dumb 'heroic' pose in front of them. Gorgo clapped enthusiastically, to which Gomora laughed and patted the kid on the head.

'And thus you are saved! You're welcome.'

'Yeah sure, thanks,' Gabara said as dryly as possible. He then picked up Gorgo and bodily tossed the kid back into his hiding cave. 'STAY IN THERE! Me and Go More here need to help out in the bigger battle. We'll come find you when this whole shitshow is over, got it!'

A faint, 'Got it!' could be heard from inside as Gabara rolled a large stone over the entrance, hiding it from sight.

'Will that be enough to keep him safe?' Gomora asked in a much more serious tone, to which Gabara huffed.

'Should be, unless too many of us die and those mutants get the run of the island. So let's make sure that doesn't happen, yeah?'

'Yeeeaaah that'd be bad.' Gomora turned to leave, then looked back. 'Hey, you need a pick me up? I've got a whole bunch of, like, pride or something you could eat.'

Gabara tried to resist the urge to gag. He failed. 'Yeah no. Pretty sure if I tried to eat that I would choke and die. Try…' He paused, considering what he'd done just before Megaguirus impaled him. 'Try anger.'

'I thought you fed on fear?' Gomora said, confused.

'So did I, but there might be more to me than I ever knew…' Gabara offered a paw to Gomora, holding back his disdain for the friendly action. 'Let's go find out.'

Gomora smiled back, smacking his own paw into Gabara's. 'Let's!'

**HS**

Varan snarled as the alien brute she was fighting tried once more to flail its claws and wings at her, only for it to miss every time due to her mobility. She peppered the ugly creature with spikes from her tail as she flipped over it, landing on the far side of it as it clumsily turned around. Varan glanced at the kaiju's feet and saw that several trees were still standing nearby. Pouring her power into the ground around her those trees rapidly grew and wrapped around the behemoth's legs, trapping him in place.

Then her 'ally' took advantage of the momentary weakness to hit Gryphon with a maser blast, knocking the chimera off its feet and blasting a huge chunk of its shoulder and wing away. As much as Varan didn't care for human war machines in general she was forced to admit that this one, at the very least, knew how to tell friend from foe, having not shot at her a single time and concentrating its formidable weaponry on the real threat. The machine was fast, moving about on weird moving treads, but it seemed like it was awkward in close quarters, so she was keeping herself busy holding Gryphon back, which was easier said than done when the beast knew which one of them was the dangerous one and was steadily moving closer to the mecha.

Varan watched as Gryphon's missing flesh grew back into place as if it had never gone, the beast letting out its vicious hiss as it held both its forward paws towards the mecha. Varan knew what was about to happen and moved to stop it, flipping over the beast and trying to pull its aim to the side, but it refused to budge, instead grabbing her by the wing and flinging her away. A second later its electricity fired, the beam aimed right at the mecha. To Varan's shock the machine suddenly blurred to the side as the beam missed entirely, the mecha returning fire with a barrage of missiles and maser that melted away Orga's flesh wherever they hit.

Huh… how about that?

Varan leapt back into the fight, a bit more confident now in her ally and ready to punish this invader for daring to attack her home.

**HS**

People had always wondered why a woman with so many responsibilities as Miki had pushed so hard to be accepted as a mecha pilot. She was one of the most experienced telepaths in the world, had a seat on the GDF council, and was administrator for the UN Telepathy Academy. Yet despite all of her other roles, Miki had refused to give up her chance to work in the pilot's seat of a mecha, for one simple reason.

A telepath controlling a mecha made it a vastly more effective fighting force, due entirely to the fact that she could feel the minds of the monsters they fought. And their intentions.

"Flight of five coming from the rear quarter, 30 degrees down," she warned the crew around her, updating the position mapping to mark them more clearly.

"Roger, shifting dosal maser pods," Captain Luna Pentecost, the tactical officer, said as she took direct control of the weapons and fired off at the approaching flock. The blasts knocked two of the creatures out of the air immediately, forcing the remaining three to split away with shrieks of terror. "Two down, rest scattered," she reported.

"Good call Miki," Colonel Kazuma Aoki shouted. "Now where's Gamera? Wherever he is that'll be where the majority of the gyaos are."

Miki closed her eyes and reached out with her mind, fighting to keep control of her focus so that she wasn't overwhelmed by the sheer amount of presence that existed on the island below them. She quickly located the soothing mindscape of the familiar guardian, but then noticed a more malicious shape approaching him from behind.

"Megaguirus is about to attack him! We have to stop her!"

Aoki gave her an affirmative signal, saying, "Lead the way, Miki."

At her console Miki programmed in a flight path leading them around and above the turtle guardian, perfect for intercepting the insect queen trying to ambush him from above. Once the path was set Miki switched her focus to warning Gamera they were coming, trusting her fellow pilots to handle the rest.

MechaG twisted about and aimed higher into the storm night sky, thrusters flaring to push it faster through the air. Sensors located the flying kaiju through the clouds above, dive bombing straight towards Gamera, who was busy fending off a pair of super gyaos, only just able to hold himself in place with his own thrust. The moment Megaguirus popped out of the clouds MechaG aimed its shoulder masers at the target and let loose with twin blasts, forcing Megaguirus to dodge out of the way. One of the beams clipped her wing and burned a hole along its edge, drawing a roar of anger and pain from the kaiju as she turned away and fled back into the storm.

"Well done everyone," the Colonel praised. "Now let's see if we can't get Gamera out of his current scrap."

"Time to help big turtle guy!" Luna cried out as her fingers danced over her console.

Miki smiled, both at their success and also the enveloping wave of gratitude Gamera had sent towards her for the warning. She settled into her seat as she reached out to feel the flow of the battle again, hoping that the cacophony of pain and fear she felt below wasn't beyond salvaging.

**HS**

On the far side of the mountains from the sight of the battle the landed Jaegers spread out along the shoreline, each set of pilots having to resist the urge to forget their orders and charge right back into the center of the island and get stuck into the fighting. Hearing the reports from the three kaijuform mechs in the battle only strengthened that urge.

"This is such bullshit!"

Most of the pilots held back a sigh as they heard the younger Hansen curse for the most recent time, and waited for the reply from the chorus.

"Yeah, we're here to kill monsters, not stand around in the surf!"

"Eren, just shut up," came the immediate response from the hot-headed pilot's partner. "The fight will come to us soon enough anyway."

"Someone has to be here to intercept those Anteversers," Herc reminded them all. "Or if there are any unexpected stragglers showing up to the party late."

The group settled into silence again, each Jaeger patrolling its section of beach, waiting for something to happen, all while muted booms, roars, and crashes echoed across the island from the battle happening behind the mountains.

Inside their cockpit Gypsy Danger's pilots were making a bet, guessing between each other how long it would take until either Chuck or Eren lost their patience again. Mako was very sure that Eren would break first, but Raleigh was adamant that Chuck's concept of patience was nonexistent. Before either of them could be proven right, the Jaegers all heard the chirping of the command radio in their cockpits.

"Warning, Ant signs approaching! Total targets marked up to eight units, all in the Category 3 size range."

"How is that possible?" the leap pilot of Cherno demanded. "They've never been able to send that many through the rifts before!"

"Seems they've figured out how to stretch the boundaries," Raleigh said.

Command came back on the line, cutting off their speculation. "Initial satellite readings suggest the new rift is unstable, it might not last beyond the deployment of those ants. Sonar readings say they're already almost at the island, get ready for them!"

All across the beach each Jaeger readied their weapons, standing in formation and prepared to fight. And in unison over the coms every team could hear, "Finally, some action!"

Gypsy Danger's pilots both shared a look, agreeing within their link that they'd both won the bet.

**HS**

Gigan was beginning to really hate this planet. He'd only been here twice, but the first time was enough to form a bad opinion as it was. That whole invasion had been a crapshoot, done on a whim with no prior planning or intel, and as a result they had not only failed to control the planet but were even repulsed with completely unacceptable losses. Gigan cared little for the damage dealt to armies and ships, personally… but the injury his adoptive brother Megalon had suffered stood out stark in his mind.

And now that same beast that had maimed his closest kin was on this same island, battling away with the freakish twin that had blown up half of the Xillian invasion fleet.

Hang them both, we are NOT getting involved in THAT!

He had told X as much after they landed, though whether the mutant being had listened to him he wasn't sure, as they had split up soon after being engaged. And that came to the new reason he had to hate this world.

"CHEATING ASS MAGIC POWERS!"

He didn't know what exactly was causing his body to spasm out of his control every time he swung at this particularly annoying titan, but whatever it was messed with his sensors whenever he tried to isolate it. And it ensured that every swing of his blades, every projectile fired, even his lazers would be dodged, deflected, or otherwise defused before they could come close to harming his target.

And the damn bastard was LAUGHING AT HIM FOR IT!

For his part Yonggary was praising his luck that he'd managed to encounter the perfect opponent for him, and was doing everything in his considerable abilities to delay the fighter and keep him from engaging anything else. So far it seemed to be working, but it was only a matter of time before the alien machine wised up and started trying to find new targets. Hence Yon had to do everything possible to make the alien think only of him.

He ducked under a blade swiped at his neck, using his magnetic powers to deflect it higher up so it would just miss his crest, then pushed Gigan away with a palm strike imbued with magnetic potential, enough to repel Gigan several steps. This had been going on for several long minutes now, and Yon was no closer to changing this stalemate. But that was fine by him, as he could see that Raiga was having 'fun' with the other of the two alien machines.

Raiga ducked under a stabbing drill bit, punching the bouncy beatleborg away, her retaliatory bolt of lightning sent at the machine being absorbed by those drill bits, causing her to snarl.

'Oh damnit all, aren't machines supposed to be weak to lightning!?'

She retreated into a guard as she waited for the machine's next move, only to boggle as it dove into the ground and swiftly disappeared from sight. But rather than be worried, she just smirked and readied herself, cocking her fist back at just the right angle. Sure enough, a few seconds later the borg was blasted out of the ground right into the path of her flying fist, knocking the machine away and right into an unaware Gigan, sending both kaiju to the ground. Raiga rumbled in victory, reaching out to meet Baragon's waiting fist bump as the latter kaiju rose to the surface.

'Three versus two, I like these odds,' Baragon said.

The gathered guardians jumped as a third, much heavier monster, was flung towards the pile by a heavy blue beam of maser energy, planting Gryphon right on top of the other two. Varan flew in to stand next to her fellows, casting a nervous glance back at the hefty armored behemoth behind her, which turned away and trundled off to another part of the battle.

'So, how did your first fight alongside a human mech go, Varan?' Yon asked, to which Varan shrugged.

'It didn't try to fire on me and did its job fighting the bad monster. I accept that it wasn't causing problems, that's the most I'll offer it.'

'Eh, fair enough.'

Raiga punched her fists together, unleashing a small burst of electricity at the contact. 'Now it's 4 versus 3, even better odds!'

The four guardians prepared to move in to continue the battle as the alien monsters got back to their feet, but came to a sudden halt as a bone-white form landed on the ground between them and the enemy kaiju. A thrill of fear washed through the group as they recognized the form of the kaiju that had beaten its way through half their number back in Final Wars.

'4 vs 4 now…'

'Raiga, quit while you're ahead.'

Monster X took a stance while his fellow finished getting ready to get back into the fight. And then the guardians staggered as they heard Monster X speak.

'We shall not fight alone. And neither, it seems, will you.'

'You came to our home, invaded our planet,' Baragon said with a snarl.

'And so we shall defend it,' Yon finished.

Monster X nodded stoically, holding his hands out at the ready. 'Fight for it then.'

The two groups of four stared each other down for a moment in silence, then rushed in, and the battle started up again in earnest.

**HS**

Many battles between equals were happening across the island, duels and engagements of differing but similar powers, creating multiple stalemates and tug-of-war fights. Kiryu was not engaging in those kinds of fights. Rather, it was hunting down every weakened mutant or unaffiliated monster it could find and putting them down with prejudice. As it pulled its energy blade from the neck of a lifeless category two beast while masering down an immature super gyaos that tried to come at it from the side, its pilot Akane was having the time of her life.

For the first time since she had become the lead pilot of the most advanced kaijuform mech the GDF had she was finally let off the leash, allowed to use her skills to destroy the enemy as thoroughly as she could, where always before the mission had prioritized evacuation and redirection first. She knew the reasons for that and fully agreed with them, people always came first after all. But now, finally, she could engage on a battlefield that had zero chance of collateral damage. Allowing her to let loose with all of Kiryu's destructive power. And it was working brilliantly.

Kiryu turned about, seeing a pair of category three mutants bearing down on it, and within her cockpit Akane smiled.

For my family and siblings in arms, I will ensure you can never harm them again!

**HS**

Destroyah was having the time of her life, it had to be said. Oh she wasn't having an easy time of it, not at all. The combination of two fast fliers with ranged attacks and one tanky ground fighter who could waltz through most of her oxygen beams to batter her with his shell made this fight anything but easy. But that just added to the thrill for her. She was getting angry, feeling her rage rise up within her, furthering her power even more. After weeks of no action at all because of Xen's weird orders, she was finally able to cut loose and have fun. And there was much fun to be had here.

Destroyah shielded her flank with a wing as Rodan swooped low overhead, trying to blast her with his concentrated beams of fire, moving right out of the defensive stance to batter the onrushing Anguirus with her other wing and punching him in the gut with her claws, only for the monster to roll up into a ball and move out of reach of further attacks. His retreat was covered from above by Mothra sending a trio of rainbow covered beams at her face, which Destroyah intercepted with micro-oxygen bursts. Fighting outnumbered might as well have been the norm for her, given how her own faction behaved. She laughed as the attacks all failed to hurt her, calling out to her attackers, 'Three on one? You think this is new to me?!'

Rodan held back his caw of anger, remembering Mothra's warning not to play into Destroyah's taunting. While it was true that they weren't doing much if any damage to Destroyah, they were also minimizing the damage she could do to anyone else. A juggernaut like Destroyah being able to butt into other fights by surprise could easily cause critical or lethal injury to someone who wasn't ready for her. And while Rodan knew Mothra was easily Destroyah's equal in power, at least in theory, Mothra couldn't use everything she had on the mutant crustacean without potentially hitting someone else on her own side. Hence keeping her locked into an unending battle against them was the best they could do, at least for the moment.

Come on, Boss. Finish off Xen already and get your tail over here! Between the four of us we could finally take this crazy monster down for good!

But as Rodan glanced down at the center of the island where Godzilla was fighting he realized that wasn't happening any time soon.

**HS**

He knew there was a war going on. He knew that his chosen home island was in danger on all sides, that monsters even more dangerous than the one he was fighting were here, ready and waiting to hurt his friends and followers, and that he should be doing something to prevent that. He knew all of this, but he knew something else as well. The monster he hated most in the world was here, right in front of him. And he wasn't going to let him get away again. It ended here, on this night, once and for all.

I'm going to kill you, Xenilla. I'm going to kill you for all that you've done to this planet, to humans, to my friends. To me.

The two saurian titans clashed, and the island shook with the force of their anger.

**HS**

They all watched with bated breath as the satellite footage played across the screens, each one showing a different point of view of the battle. Drones had been sent in but the sheer chaotic destruction of the fighting had knocked them all out of action within the first hour. On other screens the Jaegers' conflict was playing out, thankfully in their favor, but the majority of attention was on the titans themselves, fighting in the center of the island. Some people cheered as the mecha and friendly defenders pulled off a successful hit, while others called out warnings of enemy attacks despite being impossible to hear. Gordon was keeping one eye on the fighting and the other on his console, relaying constant orders to the command plane flying in Solgel's airspace, trying his best to give advice to his men and women on the ground. And through it all Pentecost had his eyes on only one part of the conflict. The one that would potentially decide the fate of the battle.

Pentecost knew both of the fighters he was watching intimately at this point, for entirely different reasons. One was a close ally, an individual he had come to trust deeply, to the point of defending against his detractors and basing the entirety of his defensive strategy for humanity around. The other… The other was the cause of the majority of Pentecost's nightmares and responsible for the current state of war humanity was perpetually faced with. And they were locked in a struggle to the death, with everything hinging upon the winner. If Godzilla won, then the war might finally turn towards an ending, giving humanity a chance for some kind of peace, allowing them to finally finish rebuilding from the damage of the Final and Kaiju wars. But if Xenilla won…

Pentecost's eyes trailed towards the crystalized titan, narrowing in a subtle showing of the hatred he bore for the monster. Xenilla… What a name for his tormentor. Metaphorical 'brother' to the world's greatest savior, and the source of so much pain and death in the alien creature's attempts to usurp his sibling from his title of king of the monsters. Xenilla's mutants had trampled cities, killed thousands, and cost billions of dollars in weapons and machinery in the vain attempt to hold them back, and it was only Godzilla's direct intervention and the help of his allies that humanity hadn't collapsed under the pressure. Pentecost knew this, but so many others failed to see it, as the association of Godzilla with his family's past and present kept them from seeing him as the hero he was.

If only you had stayed dead when Senior killed you.

Godzilla was flung back by a hefty blast of crystalline energy from Xenilla, only for the kaiju king to step right back in and blast the alien monster with a nuclear pulse to the chest. As in every fight they had been in previously the two siblings once again seemed equally matched. Pentecost had lost count of the number of times that the two had clashed, with both coming away with injuries and scars but neither getting a solid win on the other. In times past it wasn't an ideal outcome, but it was acceptable, as the defense of human cities had always been achieved, handing Godzilla the moral victory, if little else. But in this fight, with so much more on the line… a coin flip wasn't good enough.

Once more Pentecost ran the numbers and considered his options. The Jaegers were already fully engaged with the surprise appearance of the Antversers, so sending them into the melee wasn't feasible, setting aside the far too high likelihood of critical damage being incurred just by them stepping onto the field. The three kaijuform mechs were all engaged in their own bouts, and while they could attempt to order them into the fight any of them leaving their current targets might destabilize the conflict and lead to an even worse outcome. The Gotengo was half a world away, and even at full speed wouldn't get there for another day. Use of nuclear weapons was an iffy prospect at the best of times, but now, in this carnage? There was no guarantee a launched weapon would even survive getting into range, especially if they used a weapon large enough to guarantee a hit. But there was one weapon… one accurate enough to hit just the right spot yet powerful enough to ensure its target was eliminated.

And it was hovering over the island right now, waiting to be used.

Pentecost closed his eyes, wishing with all his heart that the solution staring him in the face could be set to the side… yet knowing it could not. Too much was at stake, too many lives on the line if the side they needed to win failed. Pentecost knew he could trust Godzilla with the lives of humans, the defense of their cities and the casting away of their enemies… but that trust, as far reaching as it was, had its limits.

His eyes opened again, in time to see the two saurians launch into a heated beam struggle that ended with a massive explosion knocking both off their feet. The island around them was burning, even in the hurricane that was drowning the island in torrents of water. If the battle continued as it was there likely wouldn't be an island left for the two monsters to fight for. His gaze flicked to Xenilla, watching as the beast stood, ready for the next round.

It all comes back to you. You… vile, destructive, evil monster. You're a threat to everything we stand for, everything we've fought to defend. Everything HE has done to protect us. … This must end.

Pentecost turned and walked back to his command console, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room.

It's time to turn the tide.

"All council members, to me," he ordered in a flat calm, his voice audible in the sudden silence. "It's time to call a vote on the use of the Dimension Tide."

A chill ran through the people around him, everyone reacting in their own quiet ways to the announcement. Gordon and Tachibana traded a look of concern, Stenz inclined his head in defeat, Ozaki clenched his fist… but Serizawa stood silent, looking at Pentecost through quiet, dead eyes.

"Let the record show that two of our number are currently unreachable at the time of this vote," Stacker stated as he tapped the commands on his console, bringing up the hologram showing each of the council seats, with two already greyed out. "Stenz, your vote."

Stenz's face grew pained, shaking his head softly for a moment before he gave a reluctant nod. "Aye."

The admiral's seat turned green to show his ascent, prompting Stacker to turn to the next in line. "Tachibana?"

"Aye," the man answered swiftly, creating another green light.

"Ozaki."

The younger man didn't answer initially, his gaze locked on the screens. "Is there really no other way, sir?"

Pentecost felt his resolve falter, his eyes flicking to see Godzilla on the screen once more, followed by the other monsters fighting alongside him in defense of their home. This was perhaps the worst betrayal humans could inflict upon their erstwhile allies, a breaking of trust on the most fundamental level. But the alternative…

"We can't leave things to chance," Pentecost said. "This battle has to end now, before… before things get worse."

"Like we're about to do," Ozaki said, folding his arms. "I vote no. I can't agree with this… not when so many of our allies are in the blast zone."

"Allies or not, they're still monsters Ozaki," Gordon said with steel lacing his voice. "Taking out the leaders of the mutants is the only way to end this war once and for all." Gordon turned to Stacker and gave a firm nod. "Aye."

Only two votes remained, and the two remaining council members looked to each other to see the thoughts of the other.

"Serizawa?"

The doctor said nothing, instead holding up his small pocket watch, rubbing the surface with his thumb. Everyone in the room knew what the trinket meant, some looking away in shame, while others glared at the seeming indecision.

"Your vote, Ishiro," Pentecost restated, his tone softer now than before. The man looked back at him, eyes full of sadness and regret.

"No. I cannot countenance this… As much as reason and logic suggest it to be the right path… I stand by my faith in our allies, no matter the outcome."

Pentecost understood, though he spoke no reply as he confirmed the doctor's rejection with a red light. Now the deciding vote was his. A no meant an abstention from a decision, while a yes… confirmed the action. As always, the choice of how to best defend the world came down to him. Stacker turned inward, away from the judging looks of everyone in the room around him.

No one man should have to decide so much by themselves…

The only sound in the room was the humming of the television screens. He looked one last time, hoping against hope that Godzilla would pull through, would eek out an advantage that could put this vote to rest. But the fight was still as even as before. Their savior and their destructor, locked in a battle that could end in either's death.

At least this way he will have a chance to live away from us… us who repaid his sacrifice with betrayal.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed to himself, then looked up across the room, catching the gaze of everyone looking at him.

"I vote aye. We will use the Dimension Tide. Send out orders to our units to withdraw the moment they are able. Once they are clear… we will fire."

The room exploded into action again, everyone moving to enact his orders, even as each of the council stood still in place, looking upon Stacker with their own thoughts.

"We better hope the rest never find out this was us," Ozaki said in muted disgust, to which Gordon grunted dismissively.

"They won't as long as we don't tell them."

"Miki and Theodore won't like this," Tachibana warned. "They're going to raise hell when they get back here."

"I'll take whatever they want to give," Stacker said. "It was my decision in the end, my responsibility."

"Let us pray it was worth it," Stenz said in a hollow voice. "And that those we strike have a better life on the other side."

"One can only hope," Serizawa said, putting his watch back in his pocket. It was a sentiment that Pentecost shared, though it was hard for him to do so.

Hope was in such short supply these days. His choice in this showed that much.

**HS**

The order was sent, transport planes moving in from their distant holding patterns to pick up their charges. The Jaegers were away first, having ganged up on their anteverse assaulters and taken them down, leaving them free to hitch up and leave the island behind, splitting up to head to their various home bases. The three kaijuform mechs took longer to respond, locked into battle as they were. Kiryu broke away first, having clashed maser to graviton blast with Monster X but pulling away as they got separated by other combatants, Akane cursing his lost opportunity to take down the powerful alien warrior. MechaG was next, forced to halt in its work in clearing the skies with Gamera, Miki caught between raging and crying while the pilots flew away in silence, their own thoughts kept to themselves. Moguera took the longest to react, having to be contacted directly by Kiryu to be ordered away. The mecha sent one last blast of its masers into the mutants it had been bombarding to force them skittering away before lifting off into the night, its crew somber as they realized what was about to happen. All the while the titans raged on in their fighting, until twin blasts of energy from the center of the melee drew all attention to the two monsters at the heart of the battle.

Far away and above a machine spun to life, energy pouring through its circuits as it harnessed the most powerful gravity manipulation human and mysterian technology had yet devised. Particles collected and condensed into an ever smaller and smaller space until at last they broke through the veil of physical understanding and forged a singularity, contained only by the extoic matter being created to sustain the reaction. At last the weapon was ready, a coil of electromagnetic energy flinging the projectile down toward the planet's surface below, aimed precisely at the centerpoint of the clash of titans at the center of Solgel. For many long, agonizing seconds the projectile traveled, sucking up tons of gas and vapors as it hit atmosphere and absorbed all it passed. Then, at last, it made landfall.

And everything was swallowed in a wave of dark light.