Notes: And we're back! I've been waiting for a LONG time to write this chapter specifically, so hopefully you'll all enjoy it!
Shoutouts to edboy4926, wellingtonlucas282, 54godamora, Miss Queen B, and DRAGONDAVE45 for reviewing; you guys are awesome. :)
Music for this chapter is "Fog Over Fenway," "Battle in Boston," "Redemption," and "King of the Monsters," from the Godzilla KOTM soundtrack.
Also, once again, this chapter contains significant feels, so please proceed with caution. XD
Without further ado, let's get into this!
Chapter 8: Battle in Boston
Ghidorah and Rodan were flying north along the coast, heading towards the source of the mysterious Alpha call, when both Kaiju suddenly wavered in their flight paths as another call rang out across the ocean, coming from the southeast. This one, however, was far more recognizable: it was the unmistakable voice of the Lizard King, bellowing out a challenge.
All three of Ghidorah's heads were legitimately shocked for a moment, before their lips curled in irritated scowls. "Of course," Ni growled. "Of course he's still alive."
"To be fair, we didn't actually see his body or anything," San pointed out with a sigh and a rippling shrug of his neck. "So we kinda just assumed he was –"
"Oh, shut it, San," Ni cut him off with a snarl. "Really not in the mood for your shit right now."
"Quiet, both of you," Ichi ordered curtly. His eyes narrowed as he gazed off in the direction of the distant call, and he switched from verbal speech to the brothers' telepathic link as he continued. This is an additional complication, but it should not pose a major problem for us at this point. All we'll need to do is to call in the rest of our new servants, and then we'll be able to finish off the little King without any trouble.
Rodan, meanwhile, looked more alarmed than anything else, his own thoughts churning as he realized the ramifications of this. "You said he was dead!" he accused, flinching back a moment later as Ni's head snapped around and glared at him. "I – I mean, didn't you say the humans killed him?"
"We thought they had," Ichi replied coolly. "Clearly we were wrong about that: he definitely sustained serious injuries from the weapon that the humans used against us, but it seems that he managed to survive." He shook his head, his glowing red gaze focusing on Rodan and boring into the fire-wing's yellow eyes. "But it matters not. The humans are still a threat, and they will still be eliminated. And if the little King stands in our way again, he will fall, just as he did before." A faint, darkly-amused smile flickered across his face. "You can even help us dispose of him when the time comes, if you like. A fitting punishment for the role he played in your partner's death."
Rodan's eyes widened, his mind whirling. If the King was still alive, that could change everything… but maybe not. To suppress his nagging guilt, he had convinced himself that he was only helping Ghidorah because getting rid of the humans was the only way to get rid of the Golden One, but there was no way Gojira would believe that. He would see Rodan as a traitor, and he wouldn't care about whatever reasons or explanations he might offer. Even if he did turn on Ghidorah and helped Gojira to fight against them, and they did somehow manage to win, Gojira might still decide to kill him afterwards for his initial betrayal.
Which meant that, if Rodan wanted to live through this… his chances of survival might actually be better if he sided with Ghidorah. The sooner Gojira was out of the way, the sooner they could finish getting rid of the humans, and the sooner Ghidorah would leave this planet. And as far as he was concerned, his survival came before everything else, even a former friendship.
"…All right," he finally replied, nodding slowly. "So how should we do this?"
Ichi smirked, pleased that their self-serving minion seemed to be on board with their plan. "Simple enough. First, let's deal with whoever is making that other Alpha call. We'll handle them: you stay in the clouds, under cover, and only join in if we tell you to do so. The Lizard King will probably seek us out sooner rather than later, so the same plan will apply to him: we'll take him on first, and we'll call you in if we require any assistance. Once they're both dead, we can get back to work on finishing off the humans." He raised one eyebrow ridge, looking over at Rodan. "Understand?"
Rodan still didn't seem to be entirely on board, but he nodded again. "Yeah, okay," he agreed. "Sounds good."
"Excellent." Ichi's eyes gleamed like embers in the darkness of the storm, while his brothers' faces lit up with eager grins. "Let's get moving, then. We don't have much time, so we need to act quickly." With that, he took command of Ghidorah's wings and guided them back into motion, heading north once again. Rodan followed in their wake, glancing warily over his shoulder as he tried to calm his nerves.
Several hundred miles to the southeast, the King propelled himself through the water as he swam just below the surface, also heading towards the source of the distant call. Thousands of feet above him, the Queen soared over the top of the dense clouds, keeping pace with him while remaining in the calmer air above the storm. Despite the distance between them, their minds were hard at work, contemplating a number of different combat strategies that they might be able to use in the battle to come.
All right, here's how we'll do this, the King decided as he dove under a series of large waves. I'll go in first and take them head-on. You hang back and stay out of sight at first.
Hey! the Queen protested. You'll need my help, you know that! I'm not letting you face them by yourself!
Just listen, will you? The King let out an amused snort, his gills rippling as he took in oxygen from the water. The Golden One knows that I'm awake and alive, so they'll be expecting me to come after them. He grinned. But they don't know that you're awake yet… which gives us an advantage. Because if you stay hidden at first, we'll have the element of surprise when you eventually join the fight.
The Queen's eyes widened as she realized what he had in mind. Oh! Yes, you're right: that does make sense!
Exactly. The King's grin widened as he laid out the rest of his plan. So, I'll give them what they're expecting and attack them head-on, keeping them distracted. Meanwhile, you can watch through my eyes and wait for the right moment to strike. As soon as they're totally focused on me and I'm able to knock them off-balance enough to create an opening, that will be your cue and you can jump in with a surprise attack. Then, between the two of us, we should be able to take them down once and for all.
The Queen mirrored his smile, nodding in agreement as she glided above the clouds. Excellent! Sounds like a plan to me. Another thought occurred to her, and she tilted her head thoughtfully. Oh, by the way, I noticed something odd earlier. Is it just my imagination, or… have you gotten taller since we went into hibernation?
The King frowned. Taller? Since his kind were reptiles, they never really stopped growing (although their growth rate did slow down considerably once they reached adulthood), but he didn't remember undergoing any growth spurts since back before he'd gone into hibernation. I don't think so. Why do you ask?
Well, I just noticed it when we were talking earlier, the Queen explained. Here, let me show you. She sent a quick flash of her memories through their connection, showing the moment when he'd hugged her a few minutes earlier, and compared it to a quick snapshot of another memory from back before the Cold Times when he'd held her in a similar embrace. See what I mean?
The King's puzzled frown deepened. Huh. Just as the Queen had thought, when the two memories of her nestling into his arms and looking up at him were replayed side-by-side, there was a noticeable size difference between himself in the past and himself now. At a rough estimate, he seemed to be about forty feet taller than he had been before, and he felt stronger too, as if his muscles had also grown a bit. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, but it was a little disconcerting, because he had no idea how that could have happened.
It is strange, the Queen agreed. Unless… Her eyes suddenly lit up and she smiled as realization came to her. Oh, of course! It must have been that massive explosion of radiation that you absorbed, the one that my Singers' "Monarch" humans used to heal your wounds earlier. There was so much power in that blast that in addition to healing you, it must have triggered a growth spurt as your body absorbed all that extra energy.
Interesting. The King considered that idea for a moment, before he nodded as it started to make sense. That kind of thing could happen occasionally for his kind, when absorbing a large enough amount of radiation all at once could trigger a growth spurt to keep their bodies' energy from overloading. It happened in juveniles sometimes, but rarely in mature adults like him, so he hadn't even considered it as a possibility up until now.
Shrugging, he focused back on the task at hand. Well, if this extra power helps to take down the Golden One, I really don't care where it came from. All that matters right now is putting an end to this.
Agreed. The Queen nodded firmly, her eyes flashing as she readied herself for the coming battle. We can do this, Goji. I know we can.
Ghidorah sped along the coast, closing in on the scene of the competing Alpha call. A mass of churning clouds boiled around them, the storm racing northwards along with them. Each beat of their wings was a thunderclap, their eyes blazed with crimson light, and their necks and mouths were already crackling with the first arcs of golden lightning.
As they drew closer, Ichi curved his neck and glanced back over their body, his eyes seeking out Rodan where the fire-wing was trailing in their wake. "Break off here and circle the area," he ordered. "Remain within the clouds, and stay out of sight until we order you to join in."
Rodan nodded. "Right." With another crack of thunder, he veered to the right and clapped his wings, propelling himself off into the denser clouds and disappearing from view.
Left alone, the Golden One descended towards the ground, homing in on the source of the signal. It appeared to be coming from another human city, although this one was curiously undamaged: any city that was being occupied by an Alpha Kaiju should have at least some damage to the human buildings.
Something's not right about this, guys, San observed, frowning warily as they cruised in over the city. If another Kaiju is sending out this call, where are they?
I hate to admit it, but he's not wrong, Ni concurred grimly. Somethin' about this is very weird.
Indeed. Ichi's eyes narrowed and he peered down at the ground, trying to pinpoint the source of the signal. Perhaps they're hiding underground? Some of the Kaiju on this planet can burrow, so that would not be out of the question.
San shook his head. I don't think so. It sounds like it's coming from… He closed his eyes for a moment, listening intently, before his neck stiffened as he pointed his snout towards one of the biggest human structures below them: a large, ring-shaped building that, for some reason, had an expansive area of grass in the central open space. There.
Ichi and Ni exchanged a glance before focusing more intently on the building in question. Sure enough, San's acute senses hadn't lied; the ring-shaped building did appear to be the source of the echoing Alpha call. As they came closer, the call in question rang out again, louder than ever since they were so close to its source now.
"Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."
After circling over the building once for confirmation, the Golden One flared out their wings and flapped several times to kill their forward momentum, before tucking their wings in and dropping into the open space at the center of the ring-shaped structure. They slammed to earth with a thunderous impact, cracking the ground underfoot, their necks coiling and twisting as they looked around for any signs of their new enemy. Both of their tails flicked up, the curved spikes that covered them rattling in a threat display.
"All right, we're here!" Ni yelled, throwing his head back and letting out a challenging shriek. "Where are you?! Come out and face us!"
There was no responding roar: instead, the same call as before pulsed outwards again, mingling with the thunder overhead. "Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."
All three brothers were confused for a moment; the sound seemed to be coming from all around them, echoing throughout this strange building. Their heads craned back and forth, searching for some indication of where this challenger was hiding, but they were unsuccessful… until Ni's eyes fell upon something strange. "What…?" he murmured, leaning over to inspect something strange: a strange metal object that appeared to be some kind of artificial device, mounted atop one wall of the building. Bizarrely, it seemed like that last Alpha call had actually originated from this object.
"All right," Ni growled. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing with us, but I'm done playing along!" One quick snap of his jaws crushed the strange device, and he spat out the mangled remains with a disgusted snort.
A moment later, though, the call rang out yet again, although it was a little quieter this time. A quick glance around them revealed that there were a number of these strange devices, scattered around the perimeter of the building.
Some kind of… machines? San's frown deepened as he looked up at his brothers, unpleasant thoughts beginning to run through their minds. Making a fake Alpha call?
Ni scowled, and Ichi did the same after a couple of seconds as the logical answer came to him. The humans did this, he realized, his lip curling in a snarl. They've actually learned how to project false voices… to such a degree that they were able to block our control over our new servants. His expression darkened, as a rush of memories that had been buried for thousands of years came welling up. It's almost like…
…the Exif, San finished, his confusion replaced by a creeping, primal horror. Oh, shit.
Simultaneously, all three brothers burst into motion, their heads swinging back and forth as they began locating and smashing all of the other devices, one by one.
Not exactly like the Exif, though, Ni pointed out as he ripped another device from its mounting and flung it away. They could control any Kaiju, not just the lesser ones.
True, but that is hardly comforting, Ichi replied grimly. The humans are developing along the same path, and that is what matters. Given time, they could potentially learn how to control any Kaiju, even the strongest ones like us. The last device met its end between his crushing teeth, and his eyes flashed in rage as he looked up at the darkened sky. We cannot let that happen. We need to finish this purge, as quickly as possible.
Well, now that we've wrecked their fake Alpha call, the minions can get back to working on that, Ni pointed out. We'll just need to be ready in case they try that shit again.
Uh… guys? San spoke up, tilting his head. I'm pretty sure we've gotten all of them, but… the call hasn't gone away yet.
Ichi and Ni frowned, glancing around to make sure that they'd gotten all of the noisemaking devices. All of them had been destroyed, but the false Alpha call was still audible, although it was now much quieter than it had been before.
"Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."
In addition, the false call now seemed to be coming from one place in particular: a specific area in one part of the large building. All three brothers leaned in close, squinting as they tried to pinpoint its source, until their gazes locked onto what looked like some kind of small observation room at the top of the building, with a transparent wall that allowed them to see inside.
The walls of the small room were lined with mechanical equipment, but the brothers' eyes were drawn to the distinctive figure of a single human standing inside, holding some kind of small metal box. As they watched, the same false Alpha call pulsed forth again, now clearly originating from the device in the human's arms.
The brothers had seen something like this before, a very long time ago, and just the sight of it sparked a killing fury in their heart. Their teeth ground together, their normal emotions – Ichi's cool calculations, Ni's confident arrogance, even San's thoughtful curiosity – swept away by a tidal wave of overwhelming, all-consuming hatred, at the sight of this human and the knowledge of what they must be, sparked by long-ago memories of other beings who had used similar devices.
A Controller.
"No," all three voices hissed in unison, before their faces twisted and they shrieked out in rage. "NO!" All three heads reared back and snapped forward simultaneously, torrents of golden electricity erupting from their mouths even as the human raced out of the observation room. The lightning blasted into the building, tearing through its internal structure and disintegrating everything in its path.
It was possible that the human had been killed by that first blast, but the false Alpha call was still ringing out and the brothers refused to let up. Ichi kept blasting the same section while Ni and San fanned out to either side, arcs of lightning lancing out and bringing down other nearby buildings as they turned the ring-shaped structure into a cauldron of fire. They struck out physically as well, tails slashing and jaws snapping as they tore the building to pieces in a paroxysm of rage.
Finally, the false call reached their ears again, this time no longer muffled by the building, and all three heads immediately swiveled to lock onto its new position. The human, the would-be Controller, had emerged from the base of the structure and was staring up at them in obvious terror, still cradling its small device. As they leaned closer, the human tossed the device towards one of their feet: it bounced off a pile of rubble and then tumbled to the ground, its previous call now swelling into a piercing, wailing cry that sent a jolt of pain into their ears.
"I don't think so," Ichi hissed, his usual calm forgotten as his head snaked down towards the human. He took a deliberate step forward and brought one of their taloned feet slamming down, aiming to crush the little device. It was so small that he wasn't sure if he'd actually managed to crush it or not, but the strange voice did cut off abruptly, so he was fairly certain that he'd gotten it. With the device disposed of, the brothers' attention returned to the little human who had been carrying it, who was now attempting to back away, perhaps hoping that they would spare its life now that it had given up the device.
"Sorry," San muttered, even his usual cheer absent as his eyes narrowed in anger. "But we can't let you live."
"Indeed," Ichi replied coldly with a nod as he reared back again, electricity crackling as another blast of lightning began welling up in his throat. Ni and San did the same, their necks lighting up from within as they prepared blasts of their own, aiming to utterly annihilate the human.
As all three brothers prepared to fire, a single thought flashed through all of their minds: the same vow that they had taken so long ago, after they had finally been able to free themselves from the dominion of their former masters.
No more Controllers. Never again.
And then a bolt of blue-white fire hit Ghidorah squarely in the chest and knocked them clear off their feet, launching them backwards until they went crashing to the ground.
After several seconds of pain and confusion, the brothers picked themselves back up, shaking their heads as they clambered back to their feet. They'd been caught completely off-guard, but as a thunderous roar echoed across the city, it became obvious what had happened.
Oh, great, Ni muttered sourly. That's all we needed.
Ichi sighed heavily, shaking his head and resisting the urge to roll his eyes as his gaze fell upon the unmistakable form of the Lizard King. Is it even possible for anything to go according to plan on this stars-forsaken planet?
The King grinned as he waded ashore, his tail lashing behind him as a luminous intimidation display rippled up and down his dorsal plates. He could sense his Queen, circling high overhead above the storm: she was out of typical sensing range, but he could feel her through their connection.
In any case, she wasn't his only ally on the battlefield this time. For the first time since he'd emerged from hibernation, the humans were clearly fighting on his side in battle: dozens of their metal birds soared above him as he entered the city, led by an exceptionally-large one with wide black wings, and a group of their floating metal surface-fish had taken up positions just offshore to contribute their own fire-stingers to the attack. He wasn't sure how much they would actually be able to help, as most of their weapons still couldn't do too much damage to a Kaiju, but he appreciated the help regardless.
"GHIDORAH!" he bellowed, his voice booming out across the city as he strode towards the Golden One. "Stand and face me!"
All three of the False King's heads were scowling as they turned to face him. "Didn't we kill you already?!" the right head snapped.
"Didn't take," the King retorted, his grin widening as he deliberately echoed the taunt that they had directed at him back on the frozen continent. "Now let's finish this."
"Gladly," the middle head bit out, his eyes glittering with malice as they flared out their wings. "Come and get us, little King."
"With pleasure." The King sped up, crashing through smaller human buildings as he lumbered across the empty city. The humans' metal birds swooped past him, filling the air with a swarm of fire-stingers that detonated all over the Golden One's body, stinging and harrying them with a multitude of explosions. They screeched in anger, lashing out at the metal birds before focusing back on him with a trio of snarls.
The King roared again, accelerating into a trot as he barreled towards his enemy. Ghidorah accepted the challenge, scrambling over buildings on their feet and wing-claws as the gap between them shrank to nothing. They collided at the heart of the storm, slamming together with enough force to send out a massive shockwave in all directions.
In the past, the Golden One usually had the upper hand in their one-on-one fights, but this time the King's newly-increased strength gave him the power he needed to match them blow for blow, and they stayed deadlocked. Back and forth, attack and defense, they ripped and tore at each other with a renewed ferocity as the city around them erupted in flames.
While the King might be doing the brunt of the fighting, this time he wasn't fighting alone. The humans might not be doing much damage to Ghidorah, but their attacks were helping to keep the Golden One off-balance and unprepared, sometimes giving him the openings that he needed to land blows of his own. And in the back of his mind, he could feel his Queen's voice murmuring to him, watching through his eyes and giving advice whenever she noticed something that he hadn't yet.
In fact, it was the Queen who noticed something that could potentially be significant. Goji! she called into his mind as he deflected a swipe of Ghidorah's wing. We need to hurry. I'm sensing the Golden One's telepathy, and with the humans' fake Alpha call gone, they've been able to reassert their control over the other Kaiju. I can't tell exactly what orders they're giving, but as far as I can tell, it sounds like they're ordering at least some of the mind-controlled Kaiju to come here.
Great, the King thought irritably as he ducked under a lunging strike from the Golden One's right head, backhanding him away and spinning to deliver a solid blow from his tail that knocked them backwards. So we need to deal with them quickly, before reinforcements arrive.
Exactly. Luckily, I can sense the brainwashed Kaiju by following Ghidorah's telepathic links with them, and none of them are in the immediate vicinity, so we have a little time. But a few of their thralls could be here in less than an hour, so we'll need to hurry. The Queen tensed up, ready to dive into the clouds. Should I join in now?
Not yet. Wait a little longer, until I can give you an opening to exploit. With that, the King lunged back towards his enemy. Another volley of the humans' fire-stingers hit Ghidorah, causing them to flinch back as they were charging up another salvo of lightning, and the King slammed into them just as they let their blasts fly. With the Golden One's aim thrown off by the impact, the blast was erratic and unfocused, arcs of crackling electricity spraying out in all directions. They tried to counterattack, swinging their spiked tails like whips, but the King twisted sideways at the last moment so that instead of lashing across his flank, the tails slammed down on his dorsal plates, impaling themselves on the sharp points and edges of the plates. All three heads shrieked in pain, and Ghidorah yanked their tails back off, ripping open deep cuts in the process.
"Is that all you've got?!" the King taunted as his enemy stumbled back. "Come on!" He was taking some damage too, of course, but nothing serious. The energy boost that the humans' weapon had given him was miraculous: he was stronger than he'd ever been before, and so far he felt no signs of fatigue. The glowing blue bioluminescence from his plates seemed to be lighting up his scaly skin as well, and his eyes were constantly flickering from orange to blue and back again. He let out a wild laugh and bellowed a primal war-cry as he charged back into the fray.
High above, the Queen frowned as she kept remotely observing the battle through their connection. Her King was certainly more powerful now than he had been before, but something felt… off about this new power boost. His energy, the radioactive aura emitting from him, felt somehow… unfocused, unstable. As if he were one of the radiation-filled exploding-stones that he had told her about, with so much power building up within him that it was starting to overflow.
So far, it didn't seem to be a serious problem. But she decided to keep an eye on it, just in case.
To his surprise, the King was actually enjoying himself for a change. Normally, he always had trouble dealing with the Golden One, and he usually couldn't beat them by himself, but this time he was doing far better than he had in any previous fight with them.
There was always a price to pay, however, for underestimating one's opponent, or for overestimating oneself. And in this case, the King's growing overconfidence caused him to get sloppy. He slowed down a bit as he drove the False King back, raising his right arm high for a vicious blow from his claws, but by doing so he left himself open, and they took advantage. All three heads reared back and struck, one after the next – middle, right, left – the first two latching onto his neck and the third grabbing his upraised arm. They shoved him backwards, his feet sliding backwards as he dug in his heels, before a powerful beat of their wings lifted him into the air and they lunged forward, slamming him down on his back and dragging him painfully across the rubble.
Focus! the King irritably reminded himself. Stop showboating and just put them down already! His eyes flashed brighter as a pulse of energy rippled up his plates: he seized the back of the middle head's neck with his free hand, digging his claws in, and wrenched the middle head away, yanking the clenching jaws free of his neck. "My turn," he spat, before unleashing a full-force burst of his fire-breath that hit them square in the torso.
The force of the blast sent the Golden One skidding away from him, forcing the other two heads to let go as well. All three heads screeched in anger and pain as the blast burned into the scales of their chest and stomach, clawing at the ground as they tried to fight back against the beam.
This was the moment that the King had been waiting for. The Golden One was off-balance, struggling to hold off his blast, and totally focused on him. Now was the time to strike. Mosura! he called through their connection. It's time! Hit them now!
A moment later, the clouds above and behind the False King lit up with a new glow, a second aura of blue light piercing down from above. Broad, oval wings swept back, the orange eyespots at their tips shining like spotlights, as the Queen bulleted down out of the clouds with a ringing screech and the echoing crack of a sonic boom.
Just as she was almost upon the Golden One, the King abruptly cut off his beam, leaving the three-headed Kaiju staggering as they tried to reorient themselves. Just as they started to swing around to face their new attacker, the Queen's mandibles flared wide and a jet of silk sprayed from her mouth, enveloping all three heads and adding enough physical force to slam the heads and necks into the side of a large human building, sticking them to it.
"This battle will be the last, you monster!" the Queen called out loudly as she circled the area, her glowing aura shifting from blue to a fierce red as she flared out her wings. "Your reign of terror ends today!"
The left and middle heads were firmly stuck in place, squirming helplessly as they fought against the glue, but the right head had only been partially immobilized and was able to tear himself free of the webbing. He snarled and glared up at the Queen, before turning quickly to help his brothers. Just as he started ripping at the silk, however, he caught a glimpse of a reflection in the shiny surface of the human building, and he whipped around to see the King charging them from behind.
The right head let out a defiant screech, flaring out their wings in an intimidation display (which would have been much more impressive if the Golden One's body hadn't been facing the wrong way), but the King ignored it completely. Roaring, he lowered his head and rammed all his weight into the False King, smashing them into and through the human building. They took the full force of the colossal impact, and as he stepped back and they fell to the ground, the resulting avalanche of debris crashed down on top of them, partially burying them in a large pile of rubble.
"It's over," the King spat contemptuously as he stalked forward towards the fallen form of the Golden One, another blast of fire-breath starting to build up in his chest. The Queen circled overhead, ready to back him up, and he grinned as his eyes flicked briefly up towards her. "You can't even beat me when I'm fighting alone anymore, which means you've got no chance against the two of us." His eyes narrowed. "I suggest you give up and accept your fate, so you can at least die with some dignity."
In their minds, the King and Queen saw a split-second flash of how the rest of this fight would play out, their battle plan streaking through their minds.
The Queen would swoop back in and blind their enemy with one of her light-pulses, helping the King to pin them down long enough for her to deliver a full dose of her venom into the base of Ghidorah's central neck. With the middle head incapacitated, the King would tear off all three heads one by one, starting with the right head and working his way to the middle, while the Queen would use more doses of venom to disable the Golden One's wings and prevent any chance of them escaping. With all three heads removed, the False King would be completely helpless until their heads could regrow, which would give the King and Queen more than enough time to dismember their body and burn every piece of them to ash, preventing them from regenerating. Hopefully that would remove the Golden One's control over the other Kaiju, and this whole nightmare would be over.
But as the King stepped forward and the Queen circled in to join him, they both frowned as the King saw the look on the Golden One's faces. While their enemy was angry and pained, they didn't look defeated; far from it, in fact. They almost looked… amused. As if they were thinking of a secret joke, that the King and Queen didn't know about.
"Is that so?" the middle head replied, chuckling darkly as malice and amusement danced in his crimson eyes. "And who said that we were going to be fighting both of you?" With that, he tilted his head back and let out a long, rattling cry. "Fire-wing! Kill the bug!"
The King blinked, momentarily nonplussed. Fire-wing? What were they talking about? But then he sensed it: the radioactive aura of another Kaiju, rushing down through the clouds towards them. His eyes widened in horror and he whipped around, roaring out a warning – "Mosura, look out!" – but he was too late.
Just as the Queen was sweeping in to launch her next attack, the clouds next to her suddenly lit up from within, glowing a bright, burning orange. Her eyes widened in alarm and she spun in the air, just as Rodan burst out of the storm and dove straight for her, his wings flared back and his talons raking forward. She had just enough time to complete her spin and raise her clawed forelimbs in defense before he slammed into her, propelling her back through the air with enough force to slam her into a nearby human building.
Lashing out wildly, the Queen managed to knock Rodan away, forcing him to release his grip and giving her some breathing space. They twirled around each other, wings flapping and churning up the air, spiraling over the city.
"Rodan?!" The Queen's eyes were wide and astonished. "What are you doing here?! How did they… wait…" She couldn't understand what was happening. How could the Golden One have gained control over Rodan? She could sense their telepathic links with their other brainwashed followers, but she couldn't sense anything like that between them and Rodan… and besides, she'd planted a mental "shield" in Rodan's mind herself thousands of years ago, to protect him from any psychic attacks that Ghidorah might try to use against him.
So how could this be possible? Unless…
The Queen's eyes widened even further, her glowing bioluminescence flickering and darkening in shock. "You…" she breathed. "You're working with them willingly?!"
Rodan's only response was a shrug, his yellow eyes gleaming coldly. "Sorry, Mosura," he replied, his voice oddly flat. "Nothing personal. I'm just following orders." With that, his flames flared up and he dove towards her again, talons slashing as he let out a challenging screech.
"No!" The King's eyes widened in fury as he saw the Queen being driven back by Rodan's continued attacks. He couldn't fly, and a blast of his fire-breath could hit the Queen just as easily as the fire-wing, so unless they came down to ground level there was nothing he could do to help her.
Besides, he had his own problem to deal with. With Mosura occupied by Rodan, the Golden One had been able to pick themselves back up: they rose back to their feet, snarling and shaking off the rubble as their wings flared out again. They were still the worse for wear, but they certainly weren't done yet.
"Come on, little King," the middle head hissed. "As you said… let us finish this."
The King scowled, feeling conflicted but knowing that he had no choice. He had to focus on the fight in front of him, and trust that his Queen could handle Rodan. She'd been in plenty of fights without him in the past, and she could take care of herself. Right now, he had a more important fight to win.
"Gladly," he shot back. He roared, Ghidorah did the same, and they both charged simultaneously as their battle resumed.
"Rodan, stop this!" the Queen yelled, twisting and spinning as she deflected Rodan's incoming strikes one after the next. "I can help you! Just stop attacking me and, however they're controlling you, I can –"
"Shut up already!" Rodan screeched, whipping one wing across and sending an arc of fire in its wake, scorching the Queen's fur. "I'm so sick of hearing all your moralistic preaching, Mosura! You're such a hypocrite, always babbling on and on about how you 'never want anybody to die,' but when somebody 'needs' to die so the people you care about can live, you're just as willing to kill as anyone else! But heavens forbid that anyone else does that, or they're just a monster, right?!"
That hit harder than the Queen had expected, as she suddenly realized what he was talking about. "You… you're using Anguirus as an excuse for why you're working with Ghidorah?!" she demanded, her confusion slowly shifting into anger as the blue glow of her wings started to flicker into red again. "How could you dishonor his memory like that?!"
"Oh, don't you even start talking about his memory!" Rodan snapped. "You don't get to talk about him like that! Because in case you forgot, you're the one who let him die!" He lunged again, eyes blazing and wings trailing flame, but the Queen dodged around his next swing and countered with a vicious blow that snapped his head to one side.
"You really are doing this willingly," she breathed, her bioluminescence melting fully into a searing red as her eyes flashed with rage. "How dare you?!" She screeched in rage and hurled herself at him, landing several hits as they clashed with full force.
At first, the King hadn't been sure that he could really win this fight without his Queen's help. But as it turned out, he didn't have as much to worry about as he'd thought. With the added support of the humans, he'd been able to maintain the upper hand even without Mosura's assistance. It certainly wasn't as easy as it would have been with her help, but he was managing to keep the Golden One on the defensive: steadily driving them back, inflicting more damage than he was taking, and wounding them faster than they could heal.
Spinning on his heel, the King slammed his tail into the Golden One again, knocking them off-balance and sending them crashing into another building. They seemed much less confident now: they scrambled back to their feet and tried to take to the sky, wings unfurling and flapping furiously as they leapt into the air, either trying to gain the higher ground or just trying to retreat.
"Not this time!" the King snarled. He launched himself up after Ghidorah as they took off, jumping as high as he could – which, admittedly, wasn't too high, but high enough – and clamping his jaws down onto one of the hydra's wings. As he dropped back to the ground, he grabbed the wing with both hands as well and swung the Golden One down to earth with all of his strength, smashing them into the ground with a devastating impact that sent another rippling shockwave blasting outwards through the burning city.
"Is that it?!" the King roared. "Is that all you've got, usurper? Come on! Fight me!" Rearing back, he blasted Ghidorah with another burst of fire-breath, knocking them back and provoking another shriek of agony, before he charged after them.
The Queen had taken the offensive now, hammering into Rodan with a surprising intensity as they twisted and spun through the city. Wherever he went, however fast he flew, she matched him move for move. They'd fought alongside each other for many years, so they each knew what the other was capable of in aerial combat, but while Rodan was the stronger of the two, the Queen had far more experience due to her countless past lives, and was often able to deviate from what he would've expected just enough to give herself an advantage.
"How could you do this?!" the Queen screamed as she drove Rodan back, knocking aside a blow from his wing and landing a solid hit with one of her longer forelimbs. "Betrayer, oath-breaker, murderer!" She dive-tackled him with a sudden burst of speed on that last word, driving him down out of the air and smashing him back-first into a large patch of open ground, sending him skidding across the earth as she landed several close-ranged blows in quick succession.
"I'm doing what I have to!" Rodan retorted with a screech of his own, an explosion of flames erupting from his wings and body. The Queen had to release him and leap back just in time to avoid taking serious damage, smoke rising from her charred fur, as he scrambled back to his feet. "You think I wanted this?! I'm only doing this because all they want is to get rid of those worthless humans, and as soon as that's done, they'll leave this planet for good! If you hadn't been so hell-bent on defending your little pets for all these years, they would've left thousands of years ago! And Anguirus would still be alive!" He launched himself back off the ground, claws lashing out and locking with hers as they tumbled away through the air.
"Are you really that gullible?!" the Queen demanded, frantically struggling to free herself. "You should know you can't trust the Golden One! Any promise that comes out of their mouths is a lie!"
"Oh, so I should trust you instead?" Rodan barked out a harsh, cawing laugh. "That's rich, Mosura. Why should I ever trust you again, after you let my partner die?!"
"I didn't have any choice!" the Queen shot back, fighting tears and forcing the memory of that horrible night down as she tried to focus on the fight. Arguing wasn't important right now: winning this battle so she could help her King against Ghidorah was all that mattered.
Finally, an opportunity caught her eye, and she threw her weight to one side with enough force to send them both crashing into a large human bridge. It crumpled from the force of the impact, but it was enough to dislodge Rodan's grip on her forelimbs, and she was free. She ducked nimbly under his next strike, swung around underneath the bridge, and sprang back up behind him, slashing her clawed forelimbs into his back and opening a pair of deep gashes in his armored hide. He screeched in pain and hurled himself off of the bridge, slamming his wings down and launching them both into a nearby human building, sandwiching her between his body and the building with a thunderous impact.
The massive collision caused the Queen to lose her grip, and Rodan twisted free, backhanding her with a sweep of one wing and knocking her off-balance as he spun around. Before she could react, he kicked her squarely in the chest, smashing her through the building behind her and knocking the wind out of her. She flared out her wings just in time to avoid falling to the ground, flipping herself back upright and landing hard on top of another building.
"I'm not dying for you or for anyone else," Rodan spat, his eyes reflecting the hellish glow of his flames as he glared furiously at her. "I'm going to put an end to this and get Ghidorah off this planet, no matter what it takes. And if that means wiping out the humans – and even if it means going through you to do it – then that's what I'll do."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" The Queen's eyes and wings flashed brighter, and she launched herself back into the air with a piercing cry of defiance as Rodan swooped down to meet her.
The King kept up his relentless attack, tearing into the Golden One without giving them even a single moment to catch their breath. He'd learned his lesson and had no intention of letting his confidence get the best of him again: this time, he wasn't going to let up until the fight was over.
On the bright side, his renewed intensity was paying off. Ghidorah was taking much more damage than they were giving out, their golden glow dimming to a sickly, flickering yellow while the King's own blue light was pulsing brighter and brighter with each passing second. Something about that didn't seem right to him – he could feel a burning heat welling up within him, as if his own power was overloading like a volcano about to erupt – but he ignored it. All that mattered was finishing this battle once and for all.
Seizing the left and middle heads by their throats, the King swung his arms and brutally smashed both heads into the sides of the closest human buildings, driving the heads into the buildings and dragging them through as many hard surfaces as he could, adding to the damage. His grip tightened, choking off their airways as he tried to strangle them or to crush the bones in their necks. They thrashed and flailed, trying to break free, but he refused to let go.
"Y'know," the right head suddenly spoke up, "these humans can definitely be a major pain in the ass. But sometimes, they can actually be useful." Curiously, he wasn't trying to help his brothers free themselves or striking out at the King: instead, he was looking down at a nearby human building that looked at first glance like it was on the verge of exploding. Arcs of crackling electricity danced between large protruding metal spikes, crackling and twisting like a nest of snakes.
"Case in point," the right head continued, grinning cruelly as he looked up at the King. "Apparently, they've learned how to harness the same power as us. And that means… I can do this!" With no further hesitation, he lunged down, his jaws clamping onto the strange building as he bit down with all his strength.
The King was thoroughly confused for a second… until the odd, glowing lights that adorned all the buildings around them suddenly began to flicker and fail, repeatedly shifting off and on again. As he looked back down, he saw a sudden surge of golden energy pouring down the length of the right neck, surging into the body.
And then he got it. Somehow, the humans had learned how to use contained lightning as an energy source. But the Golden One could feed on that power just as easily as they could on radiation. Which meant…
The King's eyes widened. Oh, shit.
And then there was a deafening thunderclap, and the world turned hot and gold. The False King blazed back to full power in an instant, golden lightning blasting from all three heads and from their wings as well, a barrage of crackling bolts lancing through the sky and bringing down dozens of the humans' metal birds. The King himself took the brunt of the explosion, which was enough to send him staggering uncontrollably backwards, scorching his hide and sending jolts of pain searing through his muscles until he finally managed to catch himself on a pair of human buildings.
"…Ow." Grunting and shaking his head, the King straightened up again. His eyes narrowed as he saw the Golden One rising back to their full height as well, their wings fanning out: all of the injuries that he had inflicted so far were healing even as he watched, knitting together and vanishing without a trace as their sudden power boost accelerated their regeneration.
Damn it… The King cursed inwardly. In a matter of seconds, all the work that he'd done so far had been completely undone. The Golden One was back to full strength, while he was still battered and bruised from the damage that they had managed to inflict so far. And his new energy felt like it was still raw and unfocused, becoming more unstable with each passing second.
"Well, now," the middle head purred, his eyes shining with cruel delight. "Shall we continue, little King? Or are you starting to get tired?"
"Shut your mouths," the King growled as he clenched his fists, readying himself for another round. "I'm not done with you yet!"
"I'm glad to hear that!" The middle head's smirk just grew wider. "Neither are we."
Rodan and the Queen barreled through the city, smashing through one building after another, leaving fire and destruction in their wake. Both were injured, and both were starting to tire, but as the battle raged on, the Queen was finding herself more and more at a disadvantage. She couldn't use any psychic attacks against Rodan, as she would have to remove the telepathic shield that she had placed in his mind first and she would need time and concentration to do something like that, and physically he was faster and larger than she was, which gave him the upper hand in a battle like this. Worse still, he was well-acquainted with her most powerful move, her blinding energy pulses, which meant that they would be useless against him since he would be able to anticipate them and shield his eyes.
Both Kaiju had taken significant damage: Rodan was bleeding freely from several deep gashes inflicted by the Queen's barbed claws, while the Queen's body was heavily burned where her fur had been set ablaze by her former ally's flames. Her breathing was coming in ragged pants, fighting the pain and fatigue as she battled on, but she was losing ground.
The turning point came when, as she narrowly dodged under a raking blow of Rodan's wing-claws, the Queen was too slow to dodge the next strike, a full-force blow from one of his feet as he clenched his talons together into a powerful fist with the full weight of his body behind it. The vicious impact knocked the wind out of her and she was hurled backwards across the city, catching a brief glimpse of her King from the corner of her eye before she crashed into another large building, this one sturdy enough that it stayed standing and she was flattened against it.
The Queen latched onto the building to keep herself from falling to the ground, but before she could take flight, Rodan was there again. He slammed into her, his talons gripping the building as his fiery wings clamped down around her, and he deliberately let a surge of fire erupt from his wings and sweep up over hers, setting them ablaze and burning away the delicate fur and scales that covered them. She shrieked in pain, thrashing and trying to free herself, but he held her fast.
"It's over, Mosura!" Rodan shouted, his eyes blazing in anger. "Give it up already! If you surrender, maybe you'll get to live, but you can't win. We both know you can't beat me."
"Get… OFF ME!" the Queen screamed. Her larger, stronger pair of forelimbs lashed out with blinding speed, smashing Rodan solidly across the face. The impact snapped his head to the side so violently that something cracked in his jaw, and he was knocked sideways off the building. Free of his grasp, the Queen pulled herself up onto the top of the structure, but she couldn't get the necessary leverage to get her legs back underneath her without turning her back to him.
Flapping several times, Rodan gained some altitude and glared down at her, a fiery shadow against the storm-filled sky. "All right, then," he muttered. "I'll end this right now." He dove back towards the Queen and slammed down right on top of her, his claws digging into her wings and holding her firmly in place as he lunged for her head, his beak gaping open.
The Queen's eyes widened and she frantically jerked to one side, barely avoiding the snapping beak. Rodan scowled and lunged again, but again she narrowly managed to dodge. He tightened his grip on her wings to hold her more firmly in place, reared back once more and lunged in a third time, ready to clamp down and crush her head…
Crunch.
And then Rodan froze, his beak hanging open right in front of the Queen's face, as a bolt of ice-cold agony punched him right in the chest, so strong that he couldn't even speak beyond a strangled groan. His eyes bulged in shock, his muscles twitching uncontrollably, as he looked down… to where the Queen's stinger was buried in his chest, so deep that the tip had punched all the way out through his back. If she hadn't twitched and shifted her aim at the last second, the venomous spike would have pierced clean through his heart and struck a fatal blow. As it was, the sting had still delivered a sizable payload of paralyzing venom, and Rodan's entire body was already locking up as the toxin coursed through his bloodstream.
"Traitor," the Queen hissed, pity warring with disgust in her voice as she yanked the stinger free of Rodan's chest, planted her forelimbs on his chest, and shoved him off the building. As if that had triggered a delayed reaction, Rodan finally let out an agonized screech as he toppled backwards and crashed to the ground below, twitching and spasming weakly as the venom continued to take effect.
The Queen was panting and gasping for air as she finally rolled over, tucking in her charred and tattered wings. Her whole body was shaking from a combination of pain and exhaustion, but she forced herself to remain conscious and alert. She could rest later, after this was over.
As she turned and looked over towards her King, however, her eyes flashed brighter in alarm. "No…" she whispered, panic starting to well up in her chest. Goji…!
The King was in trouble. For most of this fight, he'd had a clear advantage over the False King: he'd been taking damage and burning through energy too, but they'd been tiring much more quickly. But ever since they had managed to heal and recharge themselves, the Golden One had regained the upper hand. He still had plenty of power, but it felt increasingly unstable and uncontrolled, and now he was tiring more quickly than they were.
I'm losing ground… dammit! The King lunged back towards Ghidorah, but was driven away again by another triple blast of lightning that knocked him off-balance. As he stumbled away and tried to regain his footing, they leapt into the air and swept towards him with great flaps of their wings. He flung up his arms to shield himself, but they were faster: one taloned foot clamped down on his head, pinning his jaws shut, while the other foot latched onto one of his arms and their twin tails looped around his torso.
"Get off of me!" the King growled, struggling to free himself, but the grip on his head and arm was like iron and he couldn't break free. As he thrashed in their grip, the Golden One's wings began flapping again, putting more and more power into each wingbeat… until, incredibly, they actually began to lift him, and his feet rose off the ground. Their heads and necks struck down as well, the middle neck looping around his throat and clamping down like a constricting python while the right head bit down on his free arm.
Slowly at first, but then more quickly, they rose into the sky… hundreds of feet up at first, then thousands, ascending steadily through the dense gray clouds. The King never stopped struggling, clawing and snapping his jaws, but the middle head's vice-grip on his neck kept squeezing tighter and tighter until he was left gasping and choking, desperately trying to suck in some air. His vision blurred, and the strength left his limbs as he sagged in his enemy's grip. "Damn… you…" he wheezed, unable to lash out or fight back.
Finally, they rose clear of the storm itself, and into the cold, thin air that he knew only from his Queen's memories, at the edge of the void beyond the sky. The grip around his neck slackened and released him as the other heads also let go, leaving him suspended only by their clawed feet and their tails.
"Before we do this," the middle head called with a cruel, cold smile, "I felt it was only fair to tell you something that you might not have known, since you weren't there at the time." His smile widened, and he indicated their current position with a jerk of his head. "Your dear friend, the spike-shell? This was how we killed him."
And then the Golden One opened their claws, and the King fell. As he tumbled through the clouds, a fiery corona ignited around him, and he roared in a mixture of rage and fear as he plummeted to the ground far below.
The Queen looked on in horror as the Golden One dragged her King high into the air, disappearing into the clouds. She immediately knew what they were planning, and she desperately tried to take to the air in the hopes that she could do something to stop it, but her wings were too badly damaged now to take flight for more than a short distance. All she could do was watch, terrified and helpless, as her beloved came back into view as a fireball plummeting through the clouds, plunging back to earth like a falling star.
The impact when the King's falling body hit the ground was colossal: an enormous crater was blasted into the burning city, buildings leveled and shattered by the shockwave as the earth itself buckled and split apart. The building where the Queen was perched shook and swayed unsteadily, but it must have been quite sturdily built because it didn't fall.
As soon as the blast wave died down, the Queen sprang off the building and raced towards the crater as fast as she could. Her damaged wings couldn't muster much more than a glide, but she managed to reach the edge of the crater and scrambled over the rubble, dragging herself down to where her King lay crumpled at the bottom.
"Goji!" she gasped as she finally reached him, crawling up next to him and looking up anxiously at his face. "Are you okay?! Are you all right?"
"Mosura…" The King groaned, feeling a bolt of agony lance through his midsection as he tried to move. The upper half of his body was working properly, but his legs and tail refused to follow his will, just flopping uselessly. "Shit… I think my back's broken…" He coughed, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth. "Can… can you heal me?"
"I…" The Queen's heart sank as she looked down at her damaged wings. "I… I can't," she whispered. "Rodan… he burned off most of my scales. I don't have enough left to heal that much damage."
"…Fuck." The King groaned, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as he dug his claws into the ground underneath him. "Damn it… this can't be happening! We were so close…!"
The sound of distant wingbeats reached the Queen's ears, and she looked up at the sky in time to see the Golden One soaring back down out of the clouds. They were flying slowly now, clearly savoring their impending victory. And as much as she hated to admit it, there was nothing else that could be done. She was no match for Ghidorah by herself, especially in her current condition, and without her scales she couldn't heal her King's wounds in time for him to continue the fight.
Unless…
An idea occurred to her. It wasn't a good one. In fact, she absolutely hated it. But it might be their only chance.
As the Golden One touched down nearby, a trio of cackles echoing through the air, the Queen pulled herself up onto the King's back, ignoring the pain and exhaustion that were eating away at her with every move she made. They didn't matter anymore. Flaring up her bioluminescence, she spread her wings out over the King's fallen body as their enemy approached. "Leave him alone!" she yelled, her body trembling but her voice steady and clear.
"Well, well, well," the False King's middle head chuckled as they stalked towards the fallen forms of the couple. "How lovely to see you again, little Queen. We weren't expecting you to show up here, but all things considered, I can't really complain. Now we'll be able to finish both of you off at the same time."
"No." The Queen's eyes narrowed, her wings shining brighter as she crouched down protectively. "You won't touch him again while I'm breathing."
Mosura…? The King groaned weakly, his voice filtering through their connection. What… what are you doing?
"Oh, really? Is that so?" The middle head smiled as his brothers chuckled. "As you wish, then. We'll take you down first." All three of their necks began to glow, their mouths crackling with electricity as they started charging a combined blast of lightning.
Mosura! the King's voice echoed in her head again. What are you doing?! Get out of here!
The Queen didn't flinch. Instead, she replied through their connection, her voice firm but filled with a mix of love and sorrow. I love you, Goji. I love you so much. And… I'm sorry.
The King's eyes widened in horror as he realized what she was about to do. Wait… no! Mosura, please, don't do this! I just got you back! Please!
I love you… The Queen's glowing blue aura flared even brighter and she let out a defiant screech as she flicked out her wings and leapt into the air, launching herself straight at the Golden One. All three heads just grinned, watching her come as their charging blasts grew more intense.
Mosura, don't do this! Please, don't!
I'm sorry, Goji…
Mosura–!
I love you–!
And then three blasts of lightning converged, and the Queen's world dissolved into a searing, pure-white void.
The King saw it happen, as if it was in slow motion. All three of the False King's heads fired at the same moment, three beams of blazing golden lightning lancing out and striking the Queen simultaneously. She was blown backwards with an agonized scream, her body wracked and twisted by the destructive energy, her wings burning away… and then, when she was directly above him, her body exploded from within, completely disintegrated by the blast of searing electric power until all that remained was a cloud of glowing blue particles.
"Mosura!" A broken, agonized cry echoed from the King's mouth as he stared up into the glittering, ethereal cloud that was all that remained of his Queen, before his arms gave out and he collapsed onto the ground, pain and despair overwhelming him. He barely even noticed as the cloud of glowing particles rained down upon him… and he didn't notice that, on contact, each of those particles was absorbed into his body, sinking in and melting into the gaps between his scales.
All he could think about, in that moment, was that he had failed. His Queen was gone. He had lost. And now he, and everyone else, was going to die.
All three of Ghidorah's heads hissed in delight as they slithered forward to stand over the fallen body of the Lizard King. The Little Queen was gone, obliterated with surprising ease, and the human forces were either destroyed or retreating from the area. They couldn't tell whether the fire-wing had survived his battle with the Queen, but it didn't really matter.
"You've been getting in our way for far too long, little King," Ichi drawled as his brothers coiled their necks around the Lizard King's torso. "But now it's over. No more games or flashy light-shows. We're just going to drain every last drop of energy out of you, until there's nothing left but a lifeless husk." His lips curled in a smirk. "On the bright side – for us, at least – this is probably going to be very painful for you."
With that, all three brothers clamped down onto the Lizard King, sinking their teeth into his tough hide, and began to feed. They each bit repeatedly into their enemy's body, siphoning a steady stream of radiation out of him with each bite as he spasmed and howled in agony. The energy coursed along Ghidorah's necks and into their body, enhancing their regeneration and healing any remaining damage that they had sustained in this battle.
All three brothers were becoming intoxicated by the power that was now surging through them, more energy than they had ever consumed before. But while Ichi and Ni were fully occupied by their moment of triumph, San couldn't help but feel like something about this situation was… off. It took a couple of minutes for him to figure it out, but then he frowned as it clicked.
Two things about this situation were strange. First, the Lizard King's bioluminescence had changed colors, vaguely similar to the way that the Little Queen could change colors when she wanted to. His glow had always been blue before, but now it was changing, slowly melting into a deep reddish-orange color, as if lava was welling up under his skin.
The second thing that was confusing to San had to do with the other times when the brothers had used this method of killing in the past. They had brought down other Kaiju by draining their energy like this plenty of times before, and it usually worked the same way every time: the energy supply would gradually decrease as they fed, until it eventually ran out completely. But in this case, although they had been draining energy from the Lizard King for several minutes now, it didn't feel like his energy reserves were decreasing or running low.
In fact… it almost felt like his energy levels were increasing.
Letting go of the Lizard King's neck, San tilted his head quizzically as he looked down at the limp body of their enemy. "Uh, guys?" he spoke up, frowning. "Is it just me, or…"
"Hey! Over here!"
The sudden piercing cry was like a knife to the brain: all three heads recoiled, screeching first in pain and then in mounting fury as they recognized the sound. It was that same hated voice, the humans' false Alpha call from before, calling out again.
The voice of a would-be Controller.
San's misgivings about the Lizard King were instantly forgotten. The Golden One rose back to their feet, allowing the half-conscious body of their nemesis to slump to the ground, and turned to scan the surrounding area, searching for the source of the hated call.
"Hey! Over here!"
After a few seconds of searching, all three brothers' gazes locked onto what they had been searching for: one of the humans' small aircraft, which had touched down on the ground some distance away. Their eyes narrowed and their teeth ground together, as those ancient memories boiled up within them once more.
Without a backward glance, the Golden One shifted into motion, heading towards the source of the call. The Lizard King was beaten and half-dead: he could wait until they had dealt with this. As far as they were concerned, a Controller was a greater threat than the Lizard King and all three of his little friends put together, worse than any Kaiju that they had ever faced. It had to be eliminated, no matter the cost.
No more Controllers, the brothers thought grimly in unison as they started towards the landing human aircraft. Never again.
The King was drifting. His surroundings were an endless red-and-black void of pain and misery, overshadowing everything else. On a physical level, he was dimly aware of the Golden One's jaws biting into his flesh, and he could even faintly hear himself screaming in pain, but that didn't matter to him in this moment. He couldn't bring himself to care about that, or about anything else.
But then… something changed. A light, shining through the darkness that surrounded him. As he turned towards it, his pain faded away and the light completely overwhelmed the darkness, washing it away and leaving him floating in a brilliant expanse of soft, colorless light.
"Goji…" The soft voice came from behind him, and he turned to face it. He was momentarily dazzled by an intense flare of blue light, before it faded to reveal the Queen floating in front of him.
"Mosura," the King breathed. His eyes widened and he took a slow step forward, tentatively reaching out with one hand until his clawed fingers brushed against the soft, downy fur on her wings. "Am… am I…"
"Dead?" The Queen let out a soft chuckle and shook her head. "No. You're still alive, my love. We're just in your mind right now." Her smile faded and she bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Goji. I didn't want to do that, but we didn't have any other options. This was the only way I could save you."
The King frowned. "What do you mean? How did that 'save me'?"
"Well, normally I could have healed you," the Queen explained with a sigh. "But when Rodan set my wings on fire during our fight, he burned off most of the scales on them… and without those, I couldn't heal you the normal way." She smiled faintly. "But… I could heal you in another way. Namely, if I was given a chance to convert my entire body into healing particles, instead of just my scales."
"What?" The King's eyes widened. "So… that's why you did that? You wanted them to kill you, so you could convert your body into healing particles to restore me?"
"Exactly." The Queen nodded. "And there is another benefit of doing that. In addition to healing you, I was able to channel all of my remaining energy into your body as well, stabilizing your power – which had been more than a little unstable up until now, as I'm sure you noticed – and adding my own energy to it as well. As a result, you've just gotten another significant energy boost, on top of the boost that you already got from the humans' weapon. This one will only be temporary, but it should last long enough for you to finish this." Her smile grew a little bigger. "Because if you were strong enough to overpower them prior to this power boost… just imagine what you'll be able to do now."
"You really think I can beat them?" The King sighed, lowering his head for a moment. "I don't know, Mosura. I…" He closed his eyes and felt a jolt of pain lancing through his heart again. "I don't know if I can do this without you."
"Fortunately, you won't have to," the Queen replied, smiling as she wrapped her forelimbs around his neck and held him close. "I'll be with you the entire time, my love. And this is only temporary, I promise." She leaned in a little closer, resting her forehead against his and letting a pulse of mental energy ripple back and forth between them. In this case, she wasn't just showing him a random memory: she was sending something specific, a particular series of images that she needed him to see.
When they pulled back, the King's eyes were wide and a faint, soft smile started to flicker on his lips. "You're sure?" he questioned.
"Positive." The Queen's smile widened, and she kissed him lightly on the forehead. "Now let's show them what we can really do when we fight as one."
The King nodded firmly, his eyes now bright with resolve once more. "I will," he vowed, his eyes narrowing as his hands clenched into fists. "And I'll find you once this is over. I promise."
"I know you will." The Queen smiled as the soft light swirled in around them again, swallowing them both once more. "Now get up, and put an end to this. Once and for all."
As the Golden One rushed away, chasing after the humans' false Alpha call, the King opened his eyes. But they were no longer their typical orange, or even the bright blue that they became whenever he was using an intimidation display or charging up his fire-breath. Instead, they were a brilliant, burning crimson: not a deep blood-red, like the eyes of the False King, but a bright, searing red, like a pair of open flames.
And then he smiled.
"Hey! Over here!"
All three of Ghidorah's heads were snarling in anger as they barreled through the city, human buildings crumbling in their wake as they rushed towards the source of the would-be Controller's call. As they drew closer, the human aircraft began rising off the ground, clearly trying to escape. It didn't matter: they could easily catch it, no matter how quick it was. On the ground or in the air, the end result would be the same. They had been interrupted before by the Lizard King's arrival, but there would be no escape this time.
As they closed in, however, San frowned and shook his head, directing their attention away from the rising aircraft. Look! he spoke up, nodding over to where another human vehicle, this one ground-based, was accelerating in the opposite direction from the fleeing aircraft. The call's coming from that craft, not the flying one.
Following his brother's gaze and focusing more intently on the ground vehicle, Ichi nodded in agreement as another call echoed from it. "A clever little ploy," he chuckled, "but not clever enough."
Altering their course, Ghidorah made a sharp turn and charged after the fleeing ground transport, ignoring the departing aircraft. The would-be Controller was all that mattered right now: everything else was secondary.
The King felt a searing, burning heat welling up within him. Digging his claws into the earth as he adjusted himself, he gave his body a violent twist, and pain lanced up his spine as he snapped his broken back into its proper alignment. His regeneration kicked in immediately, the damaged spine repairing itself, and sensations flooded through his legs and tail as his other injuries knitted shut and melted away. Within seconds, he was fully healed, but the energy just kept building up, the burning heat radiating more and more with each passing second. Fires broke out all around him, the nearby human buildings bursting into flames and collapsing as their internal supports began to melt.
Hauling himself to his feet, the King turned and scanned the burning city, looking for his nemesis. His eyes found them moments later, charging across the city as if they were chasing something. Dimly, he heard the echoing sound of the humans' strange Alpha-mimic call, and realized that they must have used it to try and lure the Golden One away from him.
"Enough," the King growled, his voice low and harsh, as he started after his enemy. "This… ends… now."
The human vehicle was fast and maneuverable, but it never had a chance against Ghidorah. The Golden One took to the air in short, gliding hops, drawing nearer with each passing second, knocking buildings aside effortlessly as they closed in on their prey. Ichi and Ni each fired a bolt of lightning, churning up the rubble on either side of their target to keep it fleeing in a straight line, and then all three brothers fired simultaneously.
This time, there was no escape: the human vehicle was catapulted into the air as the lightning struck, bouncing and tumbling across the ground as it crashed back down. The body of a single human was tossed clear of the broken transport as it finally rolled to a halt, just as broken and battered as the vehicle had been. The false Alpha call finally trailed off into silence, and all that was left was the sound of the rain.
The Golden One touched down again with an echoing impact, all three heads letting out a chorus of low hisses and snarls as they leaned down to examine the fallen body. Surprisingly, on closer inspection they realized that this wasn't the same human as the one that they had tried to kill earlier: this one was also female, but she appeared to be older than the first would-be Controller had been.
More than one of them? San questioned, frowning in annoyance. I've gotta say, these humans are really starting to get on my nerves.
Eh, it doesn't matter now, Ni replied with a dismissive snort. This one's dying, and the other one probably got crushed when we were fighting the Lizard King earlier. And since their little trick can't control us, if they try it again we'll be able to deal with it.
I concur. Ichi nodded. In any case, with all of our enemies defeated now, the rest of the purge shouldn't take much longer…
Ichi trailed off abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he sensed something else. Ni and San twitched as well, glancing around warily.
A deep rumble echoed across the burning city, and a series of slow, thunderous impacts pulsed through the ground beneath their feet. A rhythmic thrumming sound joined the strange chorus, and the brothers felt a strange sensation of heat coming from behind them, like the feeling of the sun on their back.
Uh… guys? San gulped audibly. Does… anyone else suddenly have a really bad feeling about this?
Yup, Ni replied, his voice oddly quiet.
And then a deafening roar split the air, and the brothers' eyes widened in shock and disbelief as they whirled around to confront the unthinkable sight before them.
No, Ichi thought numbly, his calculating mind briefly refusing to comprehend what he was seeing. That's impossible…
The King's strides had been unsteady at first, but with each step he took, he felt stronger and more focused than before. His entire body was glowing red now, pulsing with a burning crimson light that shone through his scales and blazed in his eyes. The human buildings around him now weren't just bursting into flames: they were melting, stone and metal liquifying just from being too close to him, collapsing in waterfalls of molten fire as the burning aura of heat around him continued to intensify with each passing second.
As he stalked towards his nemesis, the King rocked back on his heels for a split second, and then swung his head and shoulders forward as he roared as loudly as he possibly could. There were no words in this cry; it wasn't a challenge, a taunt, or a threat. It was a wordless, primal scream, filled to the brim with a bottomless, all-consuming rage.
The Golden One whipped around to face him, all six of their eyes wide in shock and horror. Clearly, they had been firmly convinced that time that he was dead. "What… but… how?!" the middle head spluttered. "What the hell is this?!"
The King ignored the question entirely. "You killed my best friend," he growled, his voice deeper and harsher than it had ever been before. "You've slaughtered countless innocents. And then… you killed my Queen."
"S-Stay back!" The middle head screeched out a challenge, echoed by his brothers, as Ghidorah flared out their wings in an intimidation display.
"She was good," the King continued, his hands clenching tightly into fists. "She was kind. She was the best creature in the world… and you killed her." His eyes blazed scarlet as arcs of blue energy crackled up and down his back-plates, mixing in with the burning red glow. "You already deserved to die, for everything you've done. But for that?" The thrumming sounds grew louder, rising to a crescendo. "For that… you BURN!"
With an earth-shaking thunderclap, a blazing pulse of energy erupted outward from the King's body, similar to the blinding energy waves that the Queen could release from her wings but far more potent. The outline of the Queen's wings was visible within the wave of crimson fire, and an echo of her distinctive cry rang out along with the explosion.
The Golden One instinctively flung up their wings in front of them to act as a defensive shield, but the blast wave ripped through them without even slowing down. Their wing membranes were vaporized in seconds, burned to ash and leaving only the skeletal, bony framework behind. All three heads screeched in pain as they fell heavily backwards to the ground, unable to catch themselves with their crippled wings.
"No!" the middle head snarled, his eyes flashing in defiance. "You won't win! You will never best us again!" He reared back and then lunged forward, blasting the King with lightning: his brothers followed suit a moment later, two more crackling beams joining his.
The King didn't even flinch. All three beams hit him directly in the chest, but the energy was just absorbed on contact, pouring into his body as he drank it in, actually using it to help him charge up a second blast. "Is that all you've got?" he rumbled, baring his teeth in a predatory grin as he saw the wide-eyed panic on all three of the False King's faces. "My turn." With a roar, he flung out his arms and unleashed a second blazing pulse, this one even stronger and also accompanied by another echo of the Queen's piercing trill.
This time, the pulse tore through two of the Golden One's heads, incinerating flesh and bone with ease. The right head howled in rage and agony as he was ripped apart by the blast wave, while the left head's mouth hung open silently in an almost childlike expression of dismay as he too disintegrated.
"No!" the middle head screamed in disbelief, gazing up at the King in horror as he desperately tried to scramble backwards away from their tormentor. The King didn't give him any time to crawl away, however: instead, he took a single step forward and slammed a clawed foot down on the Golden One's chest, putting all of his weight and all of his newfound power behind the stomp. Bone shattered, flesh and muscle tore, and his foot sank down into the False King's chest cavity as their ribs caved in beneath his weight. Golden lightning and black blood fountained from the terrible wound, and Ghidorah's remaining head let out a choking shriek of agony as he thrashed helplessly in one final attempt to escape.
And then the King roared one more time, as a third and final pulse erupted forth from within him – the largest and most powerful one yet – and everything around them vanished into the epicenter of a colossal fireball.
Slowly, gradually, Ichi drifted back to consciousness. His eyes finally flickered open, but only a dim flicker of light penetrated down through the piles of dirt and rubble that had buried him, leaving him mostly in darkness.
He was legitimately taken aback: he'd thought for sure in that moment that he was about to die, but somehow he had survived. He couldn't hear the mental voices of Ni or San – which made sense, given that their heads had both been vaporized – but he could feel their minds, still linked with his own but rendered temporarily "unconscious" until their brains could regrow.
From the memories of those disastrous last moments, the sensation of the Lizard King's burning energy pulses tearing through Ghidorah's wings and body, Ichi knew that they had been badly hurt. It wasn't until he tried to move, though, that he realized just how badly. He might not be in much pain at the moment… but that was because, below the base of his neck, he couldn't feel anything at all. And as he twitched and shifted back and forth, he realized that this was because there was nothing left below that point.
Normally, the brain of a severed Ghidorah head would shut down and eventually die after losing contact with their body, but this time it hadn't. And the only way that was possible would be if the rest of the body had been completely destroyed, with nothing left to regenerate from, leaving the severed head as the only surviving piece.
Ichi felt a cold surge of fear rushing through his mind as he understood just how near they had been to total annihilation. In all the thousands of years that the Golden One had lived, in all the battles they had fought, they had never come this close to death. He was all that remained: his brothers' heads, their shared body, their wings, legs, and tails… all of it was gone, turned to ash by those waves of burning power.
On the bright side, however, there was a positive note to this: as Ichi squirmed around, sniffing for any trace of a scent and listening intently for any sounds besides the gentle sounds of rubble shifting around him, he could detect no trace of the Lizard King. No sight, no sound, no smell. Slowly, his lips curled into a grin, as the knowledge of what must have happened came to him. The idiot had probably put too much energy into that final blast and blown himself up in the process of destroying their body, not caring if he died as long as he took them out along with him.
Nice try, little King, Ichi thought to himself with a cold smirk, as the fear of his near-death experience began to fade. Honestly, this wasn't the worst outcome that could have happened by any means. If that blast had been much stronger, it could have vaporized his head as well, but he was intact; meanwhile, the Lizard King had apparently killed himself in a desperate last-ditch attempt to finish them off, and his little Queen was gone as well. Ichi had no idea if Rodan was still alive, but he couldn't have cared less. If the fire-wing was dead, good riddance; they would have disposed of him eventually anyway, so his dying at the claws of the little Queen would tie off that loose end nicely.
Squirming and twisting like a snake, Ichi began pushing his way up through the rubble, wanting to get a better view of his surroundings so he could assess the situation. Thankfully, the extraordinary biology of his species meant that, even after being reduced to a single living head and neck, he and his brothers could still regenerate. It would take time, but this area was now saturated with an abundance of radiation that he could absorb to speed up the process. Gradually, their body would regrow, along with their limbs, tails, and the heads of Ni and San. Before long, they would be fully restored and ready to resume their purge of this planet, and this time there would be no one left to get in their way.
Ichi chuckled softly as his snout broke the surface, shaking his head as his eyes gleamed in triumph. "And so it ends, little King," he murmured, his cruel smile widening. "At long last, our war is over. And you lose."
At that exact moment, a second, much larger tremor rumbled through the piles of rubble around him, and Ichi's eyes widened in alarm as he sensed a sudden surge of movement below the surface. "No…" he gasped, a moment before a horrified shriek escaped from his mouth as a set of sharp-toothed jaws clamped down on the stump at the lower end of his neck. "No!"
The King burst upwards out of the rubble, fully intact, a snarl echoing in his chest as he swung his head in an arc, slamming Ichi's head into the ground as if he were cracking a whip. A second swing followed as he rose to his feet and bit down more firmly, savoring the feeling of his teeth sinking into the Golden One's flesh. "Funny," he growled, his voice muffled but still audible. "I was going to say the same thing to you." The burning crimson power that had been surging through him before was gone now, that extra energy spent, but the plates on his back were already lighting up again, pulsing with their normal blue light as glowing blue steam began leaking out of his mouth around the stump of Ghidorah's neck. "Any last words?"
"W-Wait… no, you can't!" Ichi screeched, his normally calm, calculating nature abandoned as panic overwhelmed him. "Please, don't do this! I… we'll leave! I'll take my brothers and we'll leave this planet for good, you'll never see us again, I swear it! Just let me go!"
The King snorted, his teeth digging in deeper as the familiar humming sound quickly built up within him again, his plates shining brighter. "I don't think so," he rumbled, his energy rising to its peak, its blue glow lighting up Ichi's head and neck from within as the destructive energy began washing over the Golden One's last head. "If you see Anguirus on the other side, or any of the countless others that you've killed…" His eyes flashed from orange to blue as the humming reached a crescendo. "Tell them I sent you."
"No! No! NO–" Ichi's horrified scream was abruptly cut off as the King unleashed his charged-up blast, and Ghidorah's final head disintegrated in the blazing torrent of blue-white fire. A final flicker of yellow electricity crackled between the King's teeth for a moment, and then dissipated into nothing.
And, just like that, it was over.
Ghidorah – the Destroyer of Worlds, the False King, the Golden One – was dead at last.
The King allowed the last surge of fire-breath to escape from his mouth, closing his jaws and allowing his shoulders to sag as the strain of the battle sank in again. His physical injuries had all healed when he'd gotten the energy boost that had given him that burning power, but he was still sore and exhausted, and despite the reassurance of Mosura's final words to him, he couldn't suppress the deep, heart-wrenching pain of losing her so soon after they'd finally been reunited. Her sacrifice had saved his life, as well as that of every other creature in the world, and he knew it had been the right thing to do… but in that moment, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to feel all of the pain and sorrow that came with it.
Gradually, though, he was able to overcome that pain, as he reminded himself that despite everything, this day had ended in victory. The price of that victory had been a heavy one, but they had succeeded… and thanks to the final piece of information that his Queen had shared with him during their last telepathic conversation, he knew exactly what to do next. He smiled faintly as he looked up at the sky, watching as the storm clouds began to dissipate, allowing sunlight to shine down once more.
After a long moment of silence, however, something snapped the King out of his reverie: the distant, echoing sounds of large, heavy footsteps, moving towards him. His eyes narrowed and he turned, his tail sweeping across the ground as he looked for the source of the noise. It didn't take long: through the slowly-dissipating clouds of smoke and dust that were rising from the ruined human city, he could see several large figures approaching, at least three or four of them. He couldn't make out their individual features yet, but their size meant that they could only be other Kaiju.
The King was puzzled for a moment, until it clicked in his head. These must be some of the Golden One's former servants, the ones that Mosura had sensed responding to the telepathic summons that Ghidorah had sent out during the battle. Those reinforcements might not have arrived quickly enough to save the Golden One from their demise, but he wasn't sure whether their death would have freed these Kaiju from their control.
As a precaution, the King remained tense and ready to fight as the first of the new arrivals emerged from the clouds of smoke, coming close enough to be clearly visible. It was a large mammalian tusk-sloth, his long and curved tusks marking him as a male. As he drew close enough for their eyes to meet, the tusk-sloth beamed, his face lighting up with a cheerful grin. "Oh, hey, you're alive!" he greeted the King, his eyes wide and bright as he let out a deep, echoing rumble. "Been a while, man; it's good to see you!"
The King resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he recognized the tusk-sloth. This one's name was Behemoth, if he remembered correctly, and he was a decent fellow, although he was rather lazy and loved to prattle on about whatever currently held his interest. Still, his attitude was a relief because it suggested that Ghidorah's control over these Kaiju had indeed been broken by the Golden One's death, and that they were back to their normal selves. "You as well," he replied after a moment with a quiet snort of amusement, returning the tusk-sloth's nod.
The second Kaiju that came into view was also one that he'd met before, and this one's presence was much more welcome. He recognized the female squid-spider immediately, as her six long, segmented legs carried her over the ruins: it was Scylla, one of his Queen's closest friends.
"Dear King, it's so good to see you!" Scylla's eyes glittered brightly, her feeding tentacles twisting around each other as she walked up to him. "We thought you were dead; I'm so glad you're all right!"
"Rumors of my death were… greatly exaggerated," the King replied as he allowed a faint grin to flicker across his face. That smile promptly vanished, however, when he looked to Scylla's right and realized that the next arrival was a female Jinshin-Mushi. This one was a fully-grown adult, likely much older and more experienced than the young female that he had killed five years earlier, as evidenced by her larger size and the rows of prominent spikes on her back.
When the parasite recognized him, her glowing red eyes darkened for a second and she let out a snort. "Oh, great," she muttered sardonically. "You're back. Lovely."
The King's eyes narrowed and he tensed up a little more, ready in case she decided to attack him, but she didn't give any indication of lashing out so he moved on. His expression softened again and his faint smile returned as he turned to face the fourth and final arrival: an elderly male mountain-shell, one that he also knew fairly well. "Methuselah," he greeted the older Kaiju with a nod. He'd fought alongside the mountain-shell in the past, and knew him to be a strong and honorable creature.
"King Gojira!" Methuselah smiled and inclined his head respectfully. "A pleasure to see you again, my liege. You have my thanks for freeing us from that monster's control."
The King returned the nod and glanced around, looking to see if any other Kaiju were approaching. At that moment, a sudden blur of motion drew his attention, and he swung back around just as Rodan landed heavily in front of him. The fire-wing had recovered from the Queen's paralyzing venom and was back on his feet, although he had a visible puncture wound through his left shoulder as a result of her sting and he was still a little unsteady on his feet. He flared out his wings, letting out a loud, echoing cry of greeting, before lowering them as he took a step forward. "Goji!" he panted, breathing heavily. "Listen, I need to tell you… I didn't want any of this to happen. The Golden One, I had to help them… they would've killed me if I hadn't, and I–"
"Shut up," the King snapped, his eyes flashing as any positive emotions that he'd been feeling vanished in an instant, washed away by a surging tide of anger. Rodan immediately flinched back, his eyes wide and fearful.
"I'm only going to say this once," the King bit out, his orange eyes locked with Rodan's yellow ones. His voice deepened noticeably, the rumbling tones of an Alpha command accompanying his next word. "Kneel."
Rodan was visibly trembling, but he nodded shakily. "Of… of course," he murmured, lowering himself into a bow and fanning out his wings in a gesture of submission as he looked down at his feet. "My King."
The King nodded, turning slowly to regard the other four Kaiju in the small circle that had formed around him. His eyes smoldered, and a louder snort escaped from his nose as his gaze swept over each of them in turn. The meaning was obvious: That goes for all of you. This wasn't just a show of force: it was also a deliberate test, to make sure that the Golden One's control over these Kaiju had ended with their death.
Methuselah was the next one to bow, sinking into a kneeling position and lowering his head to the ground. The Jinshin-Mushi was clearly reluctant to follow suit, but after a couple of seconds she nodded slowly and acquiesced, crouching low and bowing her head. Scylla quickly did the same, followed moments later by Behemoth.
That clinched it. The False King's spell had been broken, and the other Kaiju had been freed from their control. They would never have bowed to another Alpha Kaiju if they were still being controlled, so this meant that they were free. Now all that remained was to pass that message along to the other Kaiju that had been awakened by the Golden One, in their respective locations around the world. Luckily, that was the easy part.
The King inhaled deeply, his chest swelling as he filled his cavernous lungs with air. He stepped up onto a larger pile of rubble, gaining a bit of elevation as his claws dug into the mound of rocks and earth. His head tilted back, his jaws gaped wide, and he roared at the top of his lungs, sending out an Alpha call of his own. The sound echoed out to the horizon and beyond, sweeping across the entire planet, reaching the ears of every Kaiju that had been awakened by Ghidorah.
This Alpha call was not like the one that Ghidorah had sent out, a call to arms or an order to destroy. This one was much simpler: it was a declaration, an assertion of dominance, and a brief explanation of the new order.
"The Golden One, the False King, has fallen. They are dead, burned to ash and scattered to the wind. Their reign is over, and you are free of their control.
"Now, you will do as I command. You may explore the world as you see fit, but stay away from the humans and do not provoke them. The world is different now, and there is much for you all to learn, but now you may do so in peace.
"I am Gojira, your King. The Usurper is gone. And this world is safe once more."
Notes: And there we have it! Definitely the longest chapter in this story, but I'm proud of how it turned out, and I hope you guys enjoyed it!
A few notes, before we carry on:
– Just as a random bit of trivia, that moment of Mosura pointing out that Goji got a bit of a growth spurt as a result of the nuclear bomb is my way of explaining how Legendary Godzilla canonically went from being 355 feet tall in G2014 to 394 feet tall in KOTM and GvK.
– I included a few more hints here regarding Ghidorah's backstory in this 'verse, particularly their reaction to the ORCA, which will be explored in more detail when I eventually get to writing the Ghidorah-centric prequel story that I've got planned.
– Hopefully the 2v2 fight was well-executed! I figured that cutting back and forth between the two fights would make sense since that was how they did it in the movie, so I hope I did a good job with that.
– Also, another fun fact: Mothra's death scene in KOTM is one of the only moments from a Godzilla movie that has ever actually made me cry (the first time I saw KOTM in theaters, I legitimately cried in the theater when that happened, which is a rarity for me as I don't normally cry while watching movies), and I teared up again when I wrote Mosura's sacrifice in this chapter. 'XD
– Lastly, I'm still thinking of some potential voice actors for the Kaiju characters in this 'verse, just because it helps me to imagine the characters' voices in my head when I'm writing dialogue for them. Here's what I've got so far, for the characters who have appeared in this story.
Gojira: Either Christopher Judge (the voice of Kratos in the "God of War" video games) or Idris Elba
Mosura: Either Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White in "Once Upon a Time" and Judy Hopps in "Zootopia") or Constance Wu (Rachel Chu in "Crazy Rich Asians")
Rodan: Gabriel Luna (Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider in "Agents of SHIELD")
Ichi: Benedict Cumberbatch
Ni: Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane in "Game of Thrones")
San: David Tennant
Behemoth: Tommy Chong
Scylla: Scarlett Johansson
Kong: Michael B. Jordan
I haven't decided on who I'd choose to voice Methuselah, Barb or Anguirus yet, but Methuselah's ideal voice for my stories would be a deep-voiced, older guy with a fairly-heavy accent (probably either German or Russian), while Barb's would be very sly & snarky and Anguirus's would be very cheerful, easygoing & relaxed. Any ideas/suggestions that you guys might have for those three are welcome!
Now, then! With the Battle of Boston complete, the Golden One slain and the world saved, only one chapter remains in this story. Next time, the King deals with the aftermath of Ghidorah's defeat; we get this series' first human POV section, as Madison Russell and her allies in Monarch begin to pick up the pieces in the wake of the Mass Awakening; and we finally reach my first major deviations from the present-day MonsterVerse canon, as I set things up for the next few stories in this 'verse.
Stay tuned!