Chapter 4: Realm of the Ancients
Skull Island
24th, November 2019
DAYLIGHT
The Kiryu Squad, also known as Machine-Dragon squad in the less "cool" English transliteration, coined by Outpost 33 director Doctor Tsutomu "Tom" Yuhara, are assisting in the preparation for the expedition of Monarch into the Hollow Earth beneath Skull Island. Having received the funding from a week ago, the outpost had been busy buying all the necessary equipment needed to make this expedition venture possible. The end goal of this expedition discussed in the briefing is to hopefully discover the origins of Titans, starting with the origin of the bizarre Titan radiation that seems to come exclusively from Skull Island.
The expedition called for custom made hazard suits. Skin-tight suits that enable the wearer to fluidly move around in with no restrictions to their movement. Experimental new gas masks that provide full range of vision, and with state-of-the-art filtration systems with visors that assist with seeing in high and low light situations, as well as following movement with built in motion detectors. A second visual mode allows them to see in thermal detection, infrared to discern what the eye cannot, should they need to see past camouflage. The suits are modified to camouflage and hide the wearer from any creature with infrared detection, such as the Skull Crawlers, whose poor eyesight is made up for with their other senses.
Making sure to be prepared for anything unexpected, there are specialized personal defense weapons that alternate between three modes of fire. Stun, railgun, and burst. Sleek with digital jungle camouflage, they resemble small carbines minus the magazines and stocks with the grips, and stocks being one solid piece. Along the medium sized barrels are coils and small vents to protect the guns from overheating. Powered by an experimental battery cell that uses plasma to generate a massive charge and stores it away. A full charge can provide 300 stun shots, 100 burst shots, and 10 decent sized railgun shots. 6 of them were produced for this expedition. Two for each group.
Those who are not fortunate enough to have one of these High-Tech weapons are given a primary weapon of their choice, a sidearm of their choice, and several magazines for backup as well as other essential supplies. The available primary weapons: HK416, FN P90, and Remington 870. The available sidearms are the trusty FN Five-SeveN, M9, and for those who want a little more stopping power, some magnum revolvers. Virtually all equipment for the expedition is made as sturdy, and light as possible. As well as wired so that the radiation and other electromagnetic interference cannot damage it or cause it to malfunction, as that would most certainly spell death.
Of the 3 groups, Aaron is the leader of Group 1, the Alpha Team. Doctor Yuhara is the leader of Group 2, the Bravo team. The third group, Delta Team, is to remain on standby should something happen that they need to go and provide emergency backup. Should the need arise, the elite tactical "G-Team", led by the newly promoted Captain Jackson Barnes from Outpost 54: Castle Bravo can be called in, deployed, and arrive to assist with the third group to ensure as many returns as safely as possible.
Mechagodzilla is to remain on standby in his holding bay should they encounter any hostile Titans that the team cannot deal with. The Kiryu Squad is to watch from the Command Center while the two groups explore the Hollow Earth and send in Mechagodzilla if and when needed.
With all the maintenance done and gear ready to set up at the 150 meters tall entrance to the Hollow Earth tunnel, both teams head from their living quarters down to the parking bay at the front of the facility, where all the 10-seater land rovers containing the equipment are waiting to take them to their next adventure.
Entering their vehicles, they take the quickest and safest routes through the jungles and plains without much incident. Along the way they have a brush with some Death Jackals but escape before any substantial harm can come of it.
Finally, after about an hour and a half of driving, napping, horsing around and general time-consuming activity, they arrive at the entrance. Having scoured the area to ensure a safe perimeter beforehand, there is a small, camouflaged building to the right of the entrance which houses a phone system, an emergency computer, provisions, medical equipment and supplies, and other supplies should they return and need them. The building is covered with floral patterns as well actual foliage to hide it from the local nosey wildlife. Built around the entrance is a manmade structure to keep the entrance from collapsing in on itself and trapping them under the Hollow Earth, like a massive mine shaft.
Alpha team and Bravo team sit, gearing up at the entrance to the tunnel that they had discovered after consulting with the Iwi tribe, who had first seen the entrance to the tunnel many generations ago when exploring the Island for the first time before staying away from it for reasons they will not speak. The most Aaron could get from them is that a great evil once was banished to the 'Underworld' by the Gods. However cryptic that may be, they hope not to find out.
Aaron and Tom step up to the front of the entrance. Raising their hands to gather the attention of the rest of the teams who up until now have been giddy with excitement, for how often does one find themselves on an expedition where they will hope to uncover many secrets, about life and the origins of the Titans. Okay, more likely the latter, but they can dream, can't they?
"Alright, guys. We know you're excited, but don't forget this isn't just a stroll in the park. There will be real danger here, we need to be on guard at all times."
Yuhara nods.
"He's right. Watch each other's backs. Stay alert and keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. Any discoveries must be radioed into the other teams."
Aaron nods. "Any questions?" A young man with sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, baby-faced. Light build, not very muscular, but not very tall either. Probably in his very early 20s, Aaron guesstimates, cautiously raises his hand.
"Yes, what is it?" queries Aaron.
Clearing his throat, "Uhm, sir, what kind of creatures can we expect to encounter down there?"
Surprised by the amount of rasp in the man's voice despite his small stature, Aaron takes an immediate liking to the young man. "What is your name, son?"
"It's Layne, sir. Layne Thomas." He replies.
Nodding, Aaron speaks. "Well, I can't say I know exactly what we'll be encountering down there. But I do know what has been seen by our surveillance systems set up around the perimeter. Most of the creatures are harmless to us. However. We have seen some Death Jackals entering and leaving the entrance at nighttime. Speaking from experience, they're horrible. But they're not unstoppable. At the time we weren't equipped with weapons to handle the bastards." Aaron picks up a one of the electric powered rifles. "That was before. Now we've come prepared this time with the latest technology and weaponry. Like these bad boys. The 'E.M.P.R.O.R.'. Electro-Magnetic Pulse Rechargable Ordnance Rifle."
A big 6'4 burly man with a thick dark brown beard and piercing grey eyes quirks an eyebrow before asking with a slight southern twang. "Ordnance? How so?"
Yuhara smirks evilly. "Well, why don't we just show you?"
Aaron takes his high-tech rifle and leads the now very curious crowd of people to the nearby cliff face. They surround him as he takes aim at a rather large and jagged boulder, about 50 tons. Switching the safety off and the fire mode to Railgun, he pulls the trigger. A slight crackling can be heard while a blue light gathers at the tip of the rifle, before an unholy shrill electronic roar and burst of blue light fires out of the barrel, with a slight ringing, pulverizing the boulder. Smashing it into a thousand smaller pieces and leaving a golf ball sized hole in the cliff face behind it.
Smirking and flipping the safety back on, before raising the small rifle to rest it on his shoulder. "Does that answer your question?"
Stunned silence from all watching. Finally, the man speaks up. "Good lord, that's a mighty fine piece. Need to get me one of 'em." He barks out a laugh.
Yuhara speaks up. "Tell you what, since you're on my team as the rear guard, you can have one."
"Thanks Doc! Name's Wyatt, by the way. Wyatt Clemmons." He grins.
Aaron leads them back to the entrance, telling them to gear up. Nobody else felt comfortable picking up an E.M.P.R.O.R, except one Layne Thomas. His reasoning: "It makes me feel a lot safer going into the unknown with something like that to defend myself with." Leaving Aaron, Layne, Tom, and Wyatt with the E.M.P.R.O.R as their weapons of choice. Suiting up and packing their provisions and equipment into their bags, they gather the teams into two squads of 8 people each. Aaron being the leader of the Alpha Team, and Tom being the leader of Bravo team. Layne is on Alpha Team. He takes the second to last spot in formation in front of the rear guard.
Bravo team is the first to head into the Hollow Earth tunnel. A half hour passes before their comms link crackles and a Tom's voice floats over the radio. "Alpha team, this is Bravo team, we've made it to the deepest part of the tunnel, on the other side there appears to be some sort of natural light that keeps the place illuminated like the sun on the surface. God…You gotta' come down here and see this, Aaron. We've established a perimeter, the coast is clear, we're moving on ahead to begin exploring to the west side. Over and out."
Aaron turns to the others. "Alright, let's get this show on the road." Voices of agreement.
Switching their lights on and their visors on, Alpha team begins their descent. Scanning the tunnel, they can see that everything seems to be stable, so they venture deeper. About 25 minutes in, the Giger Counter starts going crackling slightly, signaling their arrival to the entrance of the Hollow Earth, they look forward away from the dark tunnel to the surface and catch a glimpse of light at the other side. Slowly they make their way out to the other side, and look up, lowering their weapons as they are bedazzled by what they see.
Under a beautiful billowing orange light, thousands of flying creatures block out the light, their hides casting shadows all over. Some appear to be like normal birds, others closely resemble the Leafwings on the surface, but instead of being green and yellow, they're red and orange. An adaptation likely to help camouflage them in this underground ecosystem.
There above the many flying animals lies a shimmering plume of bright reddish-orange light in the top of the great cavern. Various types of vents spewing out different gases which ignite and cause the beautiful display which gives off the light that illuminates this place. Billowing out, it surrounds the top layers of the ceiling like a haze, or a flowing a river of gas. Beyond the gas there seems to be crystalline stalactites that hang, shimmering and reflecting the light to the sides. Amazingly enough, the light also seems to be bouncing off the gases too!
Aaron and the others stare at the amazing phenomenon before them, transfixed by the beauty. Layne steps up before going into a long-winded explanation of what they're seeing and how it's possible.
"Amazing! It seems like this is the Earth's way of providing an underground sun for the life beneath the surface. It looks like the many different types of gas being deposited here are comprised of the same elements our sun is made of. Of course, those are Hydrogen, Helium, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen! It appears there are also trace amounts of magnesium, silicon, iron, neon, and sulfur in there too. But the only way it could be reflected around like that can't just be from the elements, if I were a betting man…I'd say there are trace amounts of quartz crystal floating around up there because of the stalactites. If you pay attention though, you can see that there is a small amount of magma flow, so that would certainly help keep it ignited like this. Wow, this is something else…"
The others turn to look at him as he begins mumbling more to himself than any of them. He turns to look at them. "Oh. Sorry. I was a science nut when I was a kid, I always wanted to visit cave systems and would always look up anything I could about rock formations. I joined up on this expedition because I thought it'd be cool to explore the Hollow Earth and see what new discoveries I could make." he states sheepishly.
Shaking their heads and smiling softly at young Layne's innocence, Aaron speaks up. "It's okay, kid. I was just like you too when I was younger. Anyway, it's time to explore. Let's go explore the eastern part of the Hollow Earth."
As they continue, they notice that they completely forgot about their other surroundings, somehow there is an extremely lush jungle underground. Many different types of trees and vines hang, some which look to almost reach the Earth-made sun above them. The trees are many odd colors, from dark purples to deep reddish browns, light greens. Others are strange shades of blue and even red. If they thought the wildlife above on the surface was bizarre, at least they know the vegetation below is even more so. Varying kinds of shapes and sizes, the trees seem to move as well.
To the north of the jungle there seems to be a large amount of rocky terrain, to the right to that as far as the eye can see is a beach…and an underground ocean. A red ocean at that. "What was that Tom? No ocean down here? Seems your predictions always fall flat on their face. Kinda like Marty at your bachelor party after four rounds of shots!" Aaron jokes over the radio. A laughing response is his answer. "How was I supposed to know! Such a thing seemed an impossibility. I mean honestly! The planet is already mostly water, why would it need any more under it? And I'm gonna tell Marty you said that too!" Aaron sputters a laugh. Catching himself, he straightens up. "Yeah, yeah. Time to continue, over and out."
Slowly Alpha team traverses through the large underground jungle, carefully avoiding the many roots and thorny vines that block their advance. 4 hours in, the team stops to take a break. Setting up a safe perimeter, they reach a clearing. Aaron trudges over to and sits down on a fallen tree stump, reaching for his canteen inside his pack. Overhearing one of his teammates speak to one of the others. "Damn, I've seen some bad-ass bush before, man, but nothing like this…"
The other replies with a jokey grin. "Shit, I hear you. Really somethin', ain't it? Makes the Amazon look like Texas." Aaron smirks as they start snickering. He returns his attention back to his thirst and focuses his attention on rehydration.
Lifting the opening of his filter, he unscrews the specially designed lids to his canteen, and plugs it in to the mouth hole, hearing a small click. Lifting his head back he takes a couple drinks before bringing it back down, unplugging it and screwing the lid back on, the mouth hole immediately sealing again before reattaching his mask's filter. These canteens are filled with a specially designed drink designed to both hydrate you and keep you energized, being able to stave off hunger long enough to find a safe shelter to use MREs.
Placing his canteen back into his backpack, he watches the others do the same, eventually they all huddle around Aaron, who notices the kid hasn't joined them. He looks around, finding Layne at the edge of the clearing, staring at the trees with his overpowered rifle in hand. Silently they watch and follow as Aaron walks up to the young man.
"What is it, kid?" Aaron asks in a curious voice.
"I don't know, I thought I could feel something watching us, or following us. I'm not sure which…"
Alarmed, Aaron races back to grab his E.M.P.R.O.R resting against the tree, before heading back to where the kid was. He closes his eyes, slowing his breathing. He tries to focus on the surroundings, to ascertain if there is something stalking them. A skill he picked up after living on the Island for 17 years before the arrival of Monarch. Minutes pass. Aside from the breathing of his own teammates and the rustling of the tree leaves, he can't pick up anything moving around or breathing. If he wasn't wearing the mask, he would be able to smell anything out of the ordinary that would suggest a predator, as the smell of rotten flesh would permeate the air.
"I don't sense anything, but let's not drop our guards just yet. Alright guys, break time is over, let's get ready to go." Mumbled and grumbled voices of affirmation. They pack their stuff back into their packs and grab their gear before heading out of the other side of the clearing.
2 hours later, the team has made considerable progress, the jungle having gotten a lot less dense the further they traveled. Though for some reason, they've all begun to feel uneasy, as if something is wrong. The lack of natural wildlife in the Jungle alone was overlooked as they were eager to explore. But now it has begun to bother them. Layne calls out over their radios. "Doctor Brooks, I know this isn't exactly something we can answer, shouldn't we have come across some wildlife in these jungles by now, or at least evidence of some? On the surface, usually there is at least some noise from the local animals, even evidence of some having passed through but since we entered this jungle I haven't heard or seen anything…"
Aaron thinks about it briefly, about to answer before they receive a transmission from Bravo team.
Breathing heavily, they can hear the voice of a winded Doctor Yuhara on the other end. "Alpha team… This is Bravo team… Get out of the jungle! The trees are carnivorous… They almost killed 5 of our men, we had to haul ass through the jungle to reach the other side for the past 3 hours! I repeat! Get out of the jungle, now! Over!"
Immediately Aaron straightens up, now entirely sure why they have felt so uneasy. "Alright, people, you heard the man, let's get moving!" Without a word, they begin racing through the Jungle, expertly dodging the various tree roots and vines before they hear a shout and cry of pain as one of their members is yanked into the air by an unseen vine. They can hear him screaming the further he goes, before it slowly is cut off. Suddenly they come to a halt, trying to find out where the man went.
As they look around for any signs of the man, not wanting to leave anyone behind, something warm begins to drip down the vines and splash on the rear guard's visor. Turning off his thermal vision, his eyes widen at the sight of scarlet liquid running down his visor, before he suddenly trips. Looking back, Aaron can only watch with horror as a nearby tree's roots begins to move, and the vines slowly snake their way towards the fallen man, before engulfing him and impaling him through the chest. Aaron is stunned when he sees the man's skin on his face through his mask slowly go from peach-hued to pale white in mere seconds, as he shrivels up, before the vines begin to slowly recede from his corpse.
Back in the Control room, the team can only watch the monitors in dead silence and as a feeling of helplessness washes over them as they see the headcams of the two dead men and the rest of them watching the scene before them, before shaken back to reality as Aaron starts yelling.
"What are you doing? Move it! We need to get the hell out of here!" Broken out of their trance, they take off again, at twice the speed as before.
As they run, the vines swipe over their heads and under their feet in attempt to grab them but in their heightened states, they manage to luckily and skillfully avoid each attempt. Suddenly they catch sight of another clearing, this time it looks to be the end of the jungle. Before they can jump for joy, they hear another scream, as they turn, they see the kid being dragged by his legs screaming back into the jungle. "Doctor Brooks! Somebody! He-help meeee!" screams Layne, eyes wide in fear and terror.
In Aaron's mind, all he can see is how each, and every single teammate from his first tenure on the Island was wiped out one at a time in his mind. Karsten? Torn apart by Death Jackals as soon as they landed. Cejudo? Blown up along with their Osprey. Matemavi? Murdered by Riccio after he blew up the Osprey. Medov? Impaled by a Mother Long Legs as he tried to flee their invasion, after Riccio blew up the Iwi wall in order to summon Kong to test a theory. Even Riccio, the insane bastard himself, though he deserved it, was right in the end, still met his end at the hand of Kong, the not so merciful God.
In a blinding rage, accumulated over 25 years on this god forsaken island and not having had a proper way to deal with the trauma, Aaron charges back into the jungle. Switching his E.M.P.R.O.R from Railgun to Burst, before pulling the trigger and hearing a hiss as the gun charges up and lets loose a volley of six small blue light bursts that tear through the vines, releasing Layne. He rushes up to the young man and lifts him up in a fireman's carry before calling his teammates on his radio.
"Give me covering fire, watch my six!"
He rushes back towards the exit of the hellish jungle as his team unleashes a volley of bullets and shotgun slugs at any creeping vines that attempt to reclaim them. Narrowly avoiding one vine, he leaps out of the jungle into the clearing, hitting the ground with an "Oomph!" as he skids a few meters in the dry dirt.
His team rushes to his side, as he lets the kid drop down onto his back to catch a breather. Panting, he eyes the kid down before asking "You okay, kid?" Layne shakily replies "Y-yeah, I-I t-think so. Oh G-god, I thought I was a goner for sure there…" Aaron laughs breathlessly. "You and me both!" Suddenly they hear a someone clear their voice.
"Y'all alright over here?" Turning to look, they see none other Wyatt Clemmons from Bravo team. Aaron nods, before lazily giving him a thumbs up and laying his head down. "Glad I made it in time, you'd looked like you coulda' used some help. Anyway, now that I've found ya', I'mma call in to Doctor Yuhara that we found y'all." Aaron lifts his head back up as Clemmons radios in. "Where are they, anyway?" Finishing up his transmission, he turns back to Aaron.
"They're at base camp. We just finished setting up an hour ago before we got down to looking for you guys." Aaron quirks a brow. "Base camp? You found some place safe enough to camp at?" He nods. "Yeah, some old ruins, believe it or not. We spotted some massive temple in a ruined city about 4 klicks away from them, though. But it's late and we're tired so we decided to camp out there until morning. Or, whenever we wake up, given the seemingly perpetual lightshow we got going on up there." He says pointing up at said light show spectacle. "Anyway, I'll fill you in on what happened on our end on the way there. Given it's about one and a half klicks from this position."
Aaron nods, before getting up and reaching an arm down to Layne, who gratefully takes it and pulls himself up off the ground. "Thank you, Aaron. Thanks for saving me back there." He smiles. "Don't mention it, kid."
Back at Outpost 33
The team is slowly winding down for the night, watching the monitors they've seen how most of Alpha team managed to escape to safety before they could suffer anymore losses. Right before they begin to head out towards Base Camp, Del La Rosa excuses himself to take a smoke and bathroom break. He pulls out a cell phone upon entering the one-person restroom. Dialing a number, he waits a few seconds before the other end picks up.
"Hey, it's me, Alej…Yeah, yeah, it was a success. All we need to do is activate it and enter battle mode, then the new objectives should be installed, and you can take it from there. The virus you gave me was installed a while ago, so it's had time to enter the system and remain there… No, not ready for that yet…Soon. Give us a few months, we need to find out if there are any more down there first, and make the controls easier to work with… Yes, good, but be careful, there are surveillance systems all over the island, I can't help you if you all get caught. Now, I need to go. Don't fuck this up, we only have one shot at this!" He hangs up and slides his phone back into his pocket. Taking a long drag from his cig, he exhales and sighs, before exiting and heading back to the Control Room before the shift is over in an hour.
Back in the Hollow Earth
On their way to Bravo Team's base camp, they listen to the story Clemmons tells them about how they managed to get through the jungle without losing a single man. "Towards the beginning it was fine, but we kept feeling like we were being watched. Around 8 hours in, we had almost gotten to the end, but we found out we had been followed and stalked by a pack of Death Jackals. We ran like hell through the undergrowth, almost got torn to pieces, but the further we ran, we noticed the snarls and footsteps seemed to decrease by the minute. We turned around and saw the damned beasts being drug away and ensnared before eventually being impaled. I swear, I saw one of 'em get pulled into the trunk of one of the trees, and it clamped shut around the thing! I'll tell ya', it was the scariest thing I've ever seen. If not for those Jackals, we might've been on the menu instead."
As Wyatt finishes his story, they arrive at what appears to be some incredibly old city ruins. The remains of what was once a stone roof, and the multiple support columns now lay scattered around. Rubble and large pieces of the shelter that now form a nice little hideout, suggest the structure was destroyed. 'Knocked over by something large some unknown percentage of time ago.' Aaron ponders.
"Here we are, lets head in there and that's where the camp will be." Aaron and the others nod, before heading into the rather spacious ruin. Inside they immediately take notice of the lanterns in the center of the room. "Smart, wouldn't want to attract any predators. And it's already hot enough down here anyways, let alone hard enough to breathe." Says Aaron.
Noticing the others, Bravo Team looks up from what they're doing to welcome the others. Tom walks up and brings Aaron into a manly hug, patting him on the back. "It's good to see you again. Didn't know if my message got to you in time or not. Ah, yes, we've noticed that there is no radiation in this area, somehow, so it's safe to take off your helmets and masks now!" Grinning, Aaron unlatches the back of his helmet, disconnecting the tubing from his suit and removes it from his head, before placing it upside down on the ground in the corner of the room.
"Ahh. Man, it feels good to breathe without that damn filter." He chuckles. "Right, though? Feels abnormally clean. More than we're used to anyway." Tom grins.
As the time begins to pass, they all dig into their MREs and gossip about their situation, and what their plans for tomorrow will be. "I suggest we just bite the bullet and go right down to that temple and see what's going on there." Aaron says. "Yeah, but there's no telling what we'll find there. We need to be prepared, and we already lost two men already." Yuhara responds.
"True, but we're still plenty equipped enough to handle exploring it." Aaron counters. He pauses to chew on his meal, coming up with a solution. "Tell you what." Aaron clears his throat as he swallows his bite of food. "We go there, see what we can find, then scout out a way back to the surface that doesn't require us going to meet our ends at the hands of that Jungle." Contemplating it, Yuhara nods.
"Yeah, that works." Tom twirls his swiss army fork in his pasta, staring into the container but not really looking. Looking up at his colleague turned friend, he ponders. "Something's not right about this area, Aaron. Where is the radiation?" He asks.
"That's what we're hoping to find out along the way. Now let's get some shut eye, I feel like I've done a triathlon." He replies half-jokingly. Tom scoffs. "What, a little running for your lives too much for you? What were you up to all those years on the Island?" Aaron grins, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "I was sitting on my ass and eating delicious Sker Buffalo burgers. Seriously, have you tried their meat? It's to die for." Tom chuckles, not noticing how his friends' half joking, half serious tone.
"Whatever you say, dude. It has been an exhausting day, so it would be great to get some sleep." Tom yawns as if to prove a point. "Well, time I get to it then." He lays back against the wall, which he notices is surprisingly not as uncomfortable as he would have guessed before closing his eyes. "Right behind you on that one." Aaron replies quietly.
In the morning, the teams decide it would be smarter to travel together as one given their end goal and numbers, so after a quick breakfast consisting of some meal bars, they head on out and begin their 3-klick trek through the ancient, ruined city to the temple.
Arriving at the entrance to the temple with nothing eventful taking place, they notice how the entrance is sealed. "Well, that was unexpected. Luckily for us, we came prepared." On cue, they all pull out explosives. Aaron quirks a brow. "You brought C4 to this expedition?" Tom states "I'd rather have it, and not need it, than need it and not have it, if you get what I'm saying." Tom wiggles his eyebrows.
"Right, I forgot. You're a recovering pyromaniac." Aaron grins. "Hey! That only happened the one time! It wasn't even my fault, either…" Tom retorts. "You blew up the entire room!" "It was an accident!" He defends. "Two times is an accident?" Aaron queries with cocked eyebrows. "Okay, the first time was an accident, but in my defense…the damage was already done, so I finished it." Aaron laughs. "You're too easy, man. Anyway, let's get on with it." Tom replies in a mock soldier voice. "Sir, yes sir!" Aaron scoffs. "Smart-ass."
Bravo team strategically places their charges so that they can open the sealed entrance to the massive Temple. Noting that the architecture is some mix of ancient and modern with strange runes decorating the walls and the foundation.
Once far enough away, they pull the trigger on the detonator. One by one the charges begin to detonate, blowing pieces of the obstructing wall away, until finally the wall can't be supported by its base any further, and it topples over, crumbling to pieces. As the dust clears, they walk inside.
UNKNOWN POV
Inside the temple, something long dormant is exposed to the sudden influx of air and residual radiation from the new occupants. It begins to stir inside its shell as its consciousness returns after many millennia of undisturbed hibernation. It needs to leave. It has a job to do.
GROUP POV
Entering the Temple, they are immediately enthralled by the many glowing triangular and jagged sigils and runes that surround the ceiling of the temple, arranged in a layered circle before ending at the beginnings of the walls.
Scattered sparsely around the room are various clay pots and containers, as well as the remains of what seemed to be an altar and other unknown objects. Some of the clay pots seem vaguely familiar, in that they're covered in the same carved runic symbols from the ceiling and appear to show signs of erosion, from liquid pouring out of the mouths. On the largest wall at the back of the room, there is a mural and carved inscription of an unknown language. A collective gasp is heard. The walls depicts familiar faces, as well as new ones.
"Dear God, this is more than we could have dreamed." Yuhara whispers. "Good thing we've got these built-in cameras in our helmets." Voices Layne. "You're telling me, this could change everything, kid. Everything." Aaron states.
One mural on the top of the largest fading mural in the middle and center of the room is one depicting an unmistakable face. Bipedal, scaled, with a tail, maple leaf shaped spinal plating runs along the back from the back of the head to the tip of the tail.
At its feet bowing before it: many people in tribal garb. On all sides of the creature, surrounding it are many other different creatures, and directly behind it is an insectoid creature with a striking pattern along its wings. Behind them seems to be a crude drawing of a fire, colored blue. "Don't need to go out on a limb to guess who these two are. Godzilla, Mothra. Fancy seeing you guys here." Someone said.
On the right side of the image is another, a large bipedal humanoid. It has a furry appearance with long strong arms, and proportionately smaller legs with ape-like feet. Before the creature are many primitive ships with people leaving them. Those already outside of the ship already bowing before the creature.
Aaron is wowed while speaking. "Kong's distant ancestor it looks like. Skull Island wasn't first set upon by the Iwi, Walter must not have seen accurate visions…" Aaron ponders. The background behind the ancient Kong is highlighted by a crude lightning bolt.
On the left side is an unknown creature seemingly quadrupedal with a tail. With a massive crystal spike covered shell covering its back, top of its tail, its head and snout. The tail is long, covering in crystalline spikes and ends in a giant club made of crystals. The background of the creature is highlighted with what looks like a giant snowflake.
"Spikey guy, ain't he? Kinda looks like a turtle, don't cha think? Also, kinda' like a dragon." Wyatt observes.
"I've heard of a creature matching this description in old legends passed down by my family. It was called 'Sōkō Bōryū' by the ancient Japanese. I believe this translates to 'Fierce Armored Dragon'. So that's quite an apt description, Mr. Clemmons. Modern Japanese mythographers gave it a newer nickname in our reinterpretations. We called it, Angirasu." Yuhara exposits.
"Anguirus, hm? Wonder why we haven't seen him yet." Questions one of the others.
"Good question. They could be extinct. This one gives me strong Alpha vibes. And all the others here are Alphas." Aaron suggests.
In the bottom below the large center image, on the left side facing right, it depicts the gradual evolution of the creatures from the miniscule, very primitive animals they once were. It also portrays the process of how the fire arrived on the planet. The fire is depicted as being the byproduct of Earth's fusion with another celestial body that slammed into it, creating the tremendous subterranean systems that riddle the Earth. Eventually, some of the primitive creatures are attracted to and exposed to the 'fire'. It shows them entering these tunnels, making nests and other living environments around the 'fires' around each Hollow Earth system.
On the next stage in the chain, the small creatures have grown to be massive, having mutated due to exposure to this new element. Many different creatures made their homes in these systems, which somehow made them as large as they are now, and as powerful with their unique traits.
Tom comes up with a theory on what is happening in these murals. "If I were a betting man… I'd say these are the documented evolutionary paths and origins of Titans. Maybe there was an asteroid or a smaller planet that collided with Earth many millions of years ago which created these Hollow Earth ecosystems, and in the process, seeded the planet with the necessary elements to promote life? And the fire…could that be radiation, perhaps?"
"We've seen the effects Titan radiation has on the ecosystems. It must promote and stimulate growth of some sort. Could this be how Titans came to be? An overexposure to this new type of radiation led to them rapidly evolving?" Questions another.
Aaron nods his head, clearing his throat. "Mhm. I would say that seems to be the case given these murals. But what I don't understand is how they managed to know this when they weren't alive to witness it…Unless…No, it couldn't be, could it?" Tom switches his gaze over to Aaron, eyeing him in suspense. "What is it?" Aaron seems to mull it over in his head before replying.
"In the Iwi village, they had a sacred juice concoction that when ingested, would induce hallucinations in whoever drinks it. Depending on what you focus on or hold with great interest, like forming a spiritual connection, your visions would be different…" He sighs, continuing. "Walter Riccio…the guy who went psycho and almost killed us all, drank the juice they offered to him and had visions of Kong's birth. And part of Skull Island's history, more specifically the war of Kong's people against the Skull Crawlers."
"Well…I suppose they weren't just hallucinations after all, now were they? In your friend Marty's interview with Castle Bravo, he alleged that Godzilla was once worshipped by an ancient race of people, who he claimed were Atlanteans before their Island sunk into the ocean."
"While on Monarch's mission to bring Godzilla back with the nuclear device, they uncovered a sunken city, which then promptly was nuked to oblivion." Aaron laughs mirthlessly. They haven't released this to the public yet, as they fear that would be too much at once for the public to handle.
"But that's not all…Marty also said that the Atlanteans, what was left of them anyhow, made it off their Island and scoured the seas looking for new homes. One of them he said, was an Island surrounded by a perpetual storm system…Ring any bells, Aaron?" He motions to the wall they've been staring at.
"I think I'll have to sit down and talk with Marty at some point. I need to see if we can find out what's going on with us, why we know things that should be impossible…"
Shining their lights at the center mural in between the four others, they are perplexed by the differences of the Titans featured in this one and as to why they seem to be standing together. In the center is what appears to be Godzilla with Mothra above him casting her divine light behind and over the others, drawing a god-like hue around them.
But Godzilla looks different. Longer arms with thicker claws. His teeth seem longer as they see his roaring maw. His spinal plates have changed once again and are lighter, seeming to have shades of white while having a more refined and sharper maple leaf appearance.
At Godzilla's right-hand side, is very clearly Kong, but different as well. His form has become more hulking, more muscular, with what appears to be golden tips to his fur, and a massive axe in his left hand, the axe is faded.
"Kong? How is this possible. I'd recognize him anywhere. Why is he near Godzilla's height? Why does he have golden tips to his fur? I know it's him! The scars on his chest, the chip in his ear, and the scars on his face are all the exact same. None of this makes any sense!" Aaron exclaims.
"You say that, but it gets even weirder, Aaron. Anguirus is at Godzilla's left… And we have no idea how that's possible." Yuhara states.
Below the Titans' portraits, is the visual history of the people who built this temple. From living as a small tribe in the primitive jungles, to the arrival of their gods, to the advancement of their society, building of shrines, breathtaking stone cities, to the eventual destruction of their Island and its sinking into the Pacific.
In the center of the room is a massive pit, littered with bones, and clutches of eggs, fossilized as it seems the temple was built around them all. One distinguishing thing that catches their eye is the larger foot impressions that leave the pit.
"I think we just discovered the remnants of the oldest civilization on the planet." States an aghast Layne.
"Awfully nice of them to tell us the history of their gods, ain't it? Makes ya' wonder how they know about the parts they weren't there for." Quips Wyatt.
Calling over his comms link to try and reach Command Center, Aaron hears a lot of radio static. "Well, I think this place is too dense for comms to reach outside. Meaning they can't see what we're seeing either."
"We'll have to tell them when we get back, then." Replies Tom.
"In the meantime, we should take some photos to back up what we report." Aaron states, before reaching into his pack, and pulling out a Kodak camera. "Really? A Kodak moment?" Tom snickers.
Aaron rolls his eyes. "I don't have the luxury of bringing a state-of-the-art camera with me, and it works." He retorts, matter-of-factly. After taking pictures of each mural and artifact he can, he looks around, seeing an opening in the far-left corner of the temple.
Noticing there seems to be another room, they head to check it out. Upon entering, they take note that it's substantially bigger than the one they were just in. They're floored by the enormous skeleton that takes up two thirds of the 300-meter-wide chamber. Checking their Geiger counters, they realize there's absolutely no radiation in the area, and looking up into the ceiling, they notice a hole leading to what was once a flow of magma with likely a high radiation content.
Looking back to the skeleton, they can see the skull is abnormally familiar to the one Monarch found in the Philippines in 1999. What few differences are being that it's thinner, sleeker, and has a slightly longer snout.
The tail is curled around it, at the creature's side. As if the creature had died while resting or guarding something. Though looking at the most striking feature, the spinal fins, they can see that they're much shorter and less jagged, rounded at the tips. Appearing much like the leaf of a fig tree.
"Could this be a female Titanus Gojira specimen?" Queries Tom. "It is indicative of sexual dimorphism in the species, there are distinct feminine traits in this specimen, notably the slimmer jaw and bone structure, though it seems to differ from Godzilla slightly, who we can safely assume as a male, given this one is…uh…roughly…" Aaron scans the length of the fallen god. "525 feet?" He takes another photo, capturing the majesty of what might be the only skeleton of a female Godzilla.
Their attention is shifted away as they notice a bright red glow emanating from the abdominal area, the glowing had begun to increase in intensity out of the corner of their eyes. Electrical pulsing audibly resounds throughout the ancient resting chamber, as soon as they seem to start, the room falls dead silent.
Taking notice of the sound's location, they notice the strange sickle like shaped cocoon hidden and buried in the skeletal corpse of this fallen Goddess. The realization dawns on them all too coldly.
"MUTO!" Aaron's terrified voice echoes throughout the room.
Just as they take off, there is a loud clicking-chirping noise, as the cocoon begins to crack open. The all-too familiar cry of a Muto rings throughout the chamber.
To Be Continued…