Chapter Three

Amends - Bonding

"Oh, wow," Adam breathed as he made it to the top of the first large rise, allowing a view of the landscape. The helicopter's blades ground to a halt some distance behind them.

"Yeah," Godzilla replied, moving up beside Adam. Godzilla wore a Hawaiian shirt loosely over a gray gym shirt, and his hands were shoved into his khaki cargo shorts. Adam was in his usual stylish top and tight bottoms, a pair of what had to be the latest, most fashionable Ray-Bans over his eyes.

"So you're like the … warden of all this?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

They were staring out at Monster Island II, a small island a few miles off the coast. It was verdant and fairly peaceful, though quite crowded with giant creatures lumbering around. In the distance Adam heard a strange cawing sound.

They began sauntering down the other side of the large hill, enjoying the gentle sun and soft breeze.

"What got you into this?" Adam asked.

"I kind of fell into this. I assume you're probably aware that I used to tussle with a fair amount of other creatures, and … you know … once I grew up some and started helping the Earth out rather than lashing out in rage, I started using my, uh … strengths to keep some of them in line."

Godzilla seemed extremely uncomfortable talking about this subject, so Adam didn't press any further; he simply stayed silent and continued the brisk pace Godzilla set.

They rounded a corner and came upon a giant spider covered in … bandages? Adam recoiled slightly as it began making strange chirping noises at them and rearing its front two legs up. "Whoa," he breathed.

Godzilla immediately began making calming noises and approaching, then said softly, "Hey, buddy, it's okay. It's friends. I'm here to change your bandages."

The spider calmed down some, though as Godzilla unwrapped a bandage from each leg, the other legs kept twitching slightly, showing the huge beast's nervousness. Godzilla kept making shushing sounds. Once he'd gotten the bandages off of one leg, he took off his backpack and set it on the ground, quickly grabbing some bandages and salve out of it.

As he applied the medicinal wrapping, Adam asked, "What's its name?"

"Kumonga," Godzilla said, not looking up, intent on his work.

"What happened to it?" Adam asked.

"He, uh … he got burned."

"Rough."

"Yeah."

Adam sat down in the grass and grabbed a tall blade of grass, which he rolled around in his mouth. Everything here seemed so lush and so vibrant.

Adam idly checked his phone and chuckled a bit.

"What is it?" Godzilla asked.

"Oh, just some of the silly shit they're saying on Twitter about us. I get that it's unusual, but yeesh."

Godzilla gave a grunt of recognition.

"Oh, man," Adam continued. "They've got a pool on us in Vegas about how long it'll last. Guess what the most popular bet is."

"Uhhhh … one week?"

"Close. Four days, because that's when the album drops."

"Hunh. How are, uh … presales on that?"

Adam scoffed. "Ha! It's a different market now. It's all streams and downloads and that sort of stuff. Tea keeps track of it all for me."

"From what I heard at the concert, it's all pretty catchy."

"Had … had you not heard my stuff before that?"

Godzilla was about halfway through the spider's legs by now. "Uh … haha … no?"

Adam guffawed. "I've gotta tweet that." He typed briefly, then looked up. "Hey!"

"Yeah?"

"I was just thinking. Doing the whole swap thing of seeing each other's jobs is cool, but … I dunno. If we really want to give this a shot, I think we need to know more about each other than just our jobs."

"I feel like my job, and Minilla, ARE my life these days," Godzilla said and shrugged.

"I hear ya," Adam responded, "but what about you got you to this position? I say we spend the next couple hours talking about the inhabitants of this cool little world, try not to set off a volcanic reaction, and then do a date night maybe tomorrow?"

"A date night?"

"Yeah. I'll promise not to talk about social media or the album, and you can promise not to talk about Minilla or – well, talk about whatever you want, but let's find out about each other's pasts, our core beliefs, y'know? Like, what if we start to really get things right, then I find out you're anti-Semitic or something?"

Godzilla's head peeked up as he seriously glared at Adam. "I have only the deepest respect for the Jewish people."

Adam smiled. "There, good. See? Stuff like that."

"I suppose that makes sense," Godzilla said, finishing up the bandaging. "There you go, big guy," he said to Kumonga. "Go do your thing now."

The spider waved its legs less threateningly, chirped, and went away.

Godzilla began walking purposefully in a different direction. "Come on," he said, "I want you to meet Ghidorah."

"Nice!" Adam replied. "Maybe I can get the king to join me in a little dance number."

Godzilla rolled his eyes. "Don't call him king - it just plays into his delusions."

"But maybe a dance number?"

"We're not doing that."

Adam only smiled in response, and said absolutely nothing. "You sure Svetlana won't mind watching Minilla again?" Adam asked.

"Oh, no," Godzilla responded. "She loves them."


"You know what you are!" Svetlana screamed. "You're like a green General Tojo!"

"Eeeeee!" screeched Minilla, running around.

Svetlana picked up a piece of jewelry off the ground. She eyed it suspiciously. "This is my grandmother's brooch! How did you even get this?"

Minilla hopped once, then pointed at her. "Ava Kadaver!"

Confusion crumpled Svetlana's face into a topographical nightmare. "Magic? You did magic?"

"Abber Kadarby!"

"Oh, you want to watch Harry Potter?"

"RON WEASLEY!"

"Fine, fine."

Svetlana found the box set & threw in the one they were up to in their approximately 17th watch-through of the series this year. Minilla settled in and watched.

After a while, Minilla asked, "If Ron's wand is broken, why doesn't Harry just buy him a new one? Harry's rich!"

"Because Harry's an asshole."

"He's an assHERO!"

Svetlana tried to let it rest, but Minilla continued to emit small whines every few seconds, letting her know they were not letting the subject rest.

Svetlana sighed. "Money changes people."

The unpredicted dark storm front that moved in on Minilla's forehead was matched in its severity only by the long shadow of foreboding it cast.