The Sun and the Moon

The buzzing sound would not leave his mind. It slowly got worse as he tried to ignore it. He began to hear thoughts clearly now as he would hear Katsura's voice inside his head through their link. He heard Will's voice as he thought about what he was about to do that day. He heard Maria's voice as she was brushing her hair in front of a black computer screen. He heard the thoughts of his technicians as they thought about what screw went into what port. Kiryuu's avatar sat down in an empty cafeteria, holding his head in his hands. It was like a growing headache that would not leave him alone. No matter what he took for it, the headache came back. And compared to this, he much rather have Biollante nagging him inside his mind. He heard a voice whispering, growing louder as if it was getting closer. And the buzzing came to a ringing sound in his head. The voice seemed to echo inside his head, making the sound worse.

Why is he in here? Has he found my father? Is he alright?

Kiryuu glanced up to see a shocked little girl staring up at him.

"Io…" he breathed. "Io. I'm sorry if I haven't seen you around. Everything's been so busy lately."

"You look like you had a headache, Kiryuu-san," she said. "Are you alright?"

"I have—a slight headache," Kiryuu sighed. "How are you?"

"Worried about my father," she replied.

"I have some good news," Kiryuu began. "I had a call earlier. He's in Tennessee—or was. He's on his way. You'll be able to see him soon."

"You mean that?" she asked him.

"Hai," Kiryuu replied, getting up. Io flung her arms as far as they could go around his waist.

"Arigato," she said.

"It's getting late," he began. "I'm sure Katsura is worried right now. You should go to her."

He watched as she bowed promptly and ran off down the hall. Kiryuu smiled slightly and his avatar vanished. His consciousness returned to its body and he opened his eyes. Still, the voices would not calm themselves. He had to get out of the base. Kiryuu commanded the door to open and the platform to raise him out of the base. Mike and Tochi were asleep on their duties, dreaming. Kiryuu glanced down at them as he rose from the bay area, noticing that he could pick up on their dreams. He recalled when he returned from his fight with King Ghidorah, they celebrated—spraying beer all over themselves and the equipment after getting intoxicated. And he took the repairs out of their paychecks as punishment.

As soon as he got outside the base, the voices in his head quietened a bit. He still had that buzzing sound that he could not get rid of. He walked away and then lifted off into the sky, flying towards a spot he knew of that was far from the base. He still had his headache, which pounded into his CPU like a sledgehammer. It seemed with the passage of time, the pain got worse. Kiryuu knelt down to the ground, holding his head, grimacing in pain as the pounding grew worse.

Oh God, what the hell is going on? He asked internally. Ericka, what did you do to me?

"She gave you her powers," began a voice. Kiryuu glanced up, blinking and groaning in agony. There, sitting on a boulder was Manda—Leviathan, the East Guardian of Atlantis. "You don't have the training she had to control it yet. That's why you have headaches."

Kiryuu wagged his head: "Make it stop, Tim. I can't think clearly with all the voices. You're a psychic, do something!"

"I'm not going to take the powers away," said Manda. "You'll be needing them. You need to learn how to control them."

"Teach me then," the mecha begged.

"I'm—not a great teacher," Manda began. "But—as much as I hate to say this—Malcho would be a better teacher. For one thing, he's older, and another—he's a Great Dragon. Mentoring is his job. Teaching and enlightening is his job."

Kiryuu growled again as he held his head: "I need to talk to him then."

"Well, I was heading back to Mothra," Manda replied. "I'm about to get chewed out for helping you. I could drop you by Oak Ridge. Malcho's there, watching over the reconstruction of Knoxville. There's still a lot of ash floating around. But luckily the volcanoes have stopped."

Kiryuu rose up for a moment and glanced over to the east: "King Ghidorah told me there was something in Oak Ridge that would interest me."

"It's the Tower of Babel," Manda replied. "Malcho, the bastard, he brought it to Tennessee and I suspected that's what brought King Ghidorah to choose Tennessee as he did."

"I want to see it."

"I hope your schedule is clear," Manda said. Kiryuu glanced back for a moment and smiled.

"It is if it'll get rid of my headache," he replied.

And Manda smirked.

Much of the land was still covered in volcanic ash. There was no way that planes could ever leave Knoxville for a while. Nashville's airport was completely destroyed, but the capital was still some what up and running. Most of downtown Knoxville was demolished, except for areas around Gay Street and West Knoxville, Halls and South Knoxville. There was no more University of Tennessee, at least not the main campus. Branches of the University still survived with only minor damages to the roof from the ash fall. There was no more football stadium. Of course, the town can rebuild the damage that was done, but the buildings that were destroyed held much history of the state. The buildings that stood there stood there since the Civil War—and now because of two monsters, they were gone. Kiryuu stood upon a hill, the wind whipping through his green mane as he stared out at the destruction. There was nothing left here. The people were still gone. It was still cold, and for some strange reason—although the volcanoes had ceased—the cloud that covered this area during the battle, still loomed over it. There were some breaks in the clouds, but it still was cold and gray. Kiryuu headed northwest towards Oak Ridge. He flew over Karns and noticed how low the damage was from the ash fall. When he finally made it to Oak Ridge, Kiryuu landed in Commerce Park, on the highest hill. He turned slightly to his left and stared out amongst the large valley that was Bear Creek. And he saw it for the first time with his own eyes. Y-12 Security Complex. His hydraulic pump just froze at the sight of the place where the beginnings of the atomic age were constructed—the means of his mutation were created. And the complex now was in full production of plasma energy, the stuff that fueled him, allowed him to move, allowed him to fight. He half expected the Tower of Babel to be here, but he did not see any such tower like Manda described. Manda had already made his return back to Infant Island to report back to Mothra. He said that Malcho had the means to return him to Utah when they were done talking. Kiryuu sighed a bit as he turned around again, facing more towards the inner city. The land was still dotted with grayish white, but not so much as Knoxville was. Kiryuu sighed and half expected that Malcho was not going to come.

"Waiting for me, muchacho?" a sultry voice asked. Kiryuu glanced back and saw a green feathered, multi-colored winged Feathered Serpent fly towards him. The Dragon landed on Kiryuu's shoulder. "Have you been waiting long?"

"Not long," Kiryuu replied.

"I don't see that blue gecko anywhere," Malcho snorted. "Looks like he returned to his ball and chain."

"Mothra is a respectable being," he said.

"Hah, not from where I'm standing," the Dragon sniffed. "It doesn't matter. Manda tells me that you've been having headaches."

Kiryuu placed his claw on his head and rubbed it: "It started after I fought King Ghidorah."

"Biollante," Malcho nodded. "It's her powers, chico. You don't know how to control them. You're hearing voices in your head, verdad? You can't get rid of them?"

"No," Kiryuu shook his head. "I can't."

"Come with El Malcho," the Feathered Serpent began, spreading his wings wide. "I will show you how to control your powers."

Before Kiryuu could say another word, Malcho snapped his fingers and the two vanished.

He glanced around, finding himself standing in a parking lot of a mall. The parking lot was vacant save for a few scarce vehicles dotting here and there. It seemed odd that a mall parking lot would be so vacant. Kiryuu lifted his head up as his eyes became focused on something glowing blue in front of him. There it was, standing taller than him, was the famed Tower of Babel. He could feel the energy coming off of that tower and he felt drawn to reach out and touch its side. Kiryuu slowly approached it and reached out with his metallic claw to touch the glistening side of the tower.

"Magnifico, isn't it?" Malcho asked. "It's hard to believe that this, according to biblical legend, was responsible for creating so many languages in the Middle East."

"I wonder if that is true," Kiryuu began. "If it did."

"No," he replied. "But standing near the tower makes all languages understandable to everyone."

"Is it the reason why I have so many languages inside me?" Kiryuu chuckled.

"Eh, no," Malcho shook his head. "You did that yourself."

Kiryuu smile turned sour when the whispering started again. He growled as he held his head, kneeling down in pain. He could not stand the sounds of every voice from every person in this town colliding inside his CPU. Malcho rumbled as he touched Kiryuu's side.

"Lay down," he said. Kiryuu grunted as he did so, lying back as far as he can with his spines.

"There has to be something that can mute all of this," he breathed. "A plug…something."

"The ability to mute the sounds lies within you," Malcho said. "It's all about visualization. You are incredibly intelligent. When you surf the Net, making sure that no one sees who you are, do you not visualize yourself inside some sort of protective sphere or box?"

"Yes," Kiryuu replied.

"That can be applied here too," Malcho said. "All the voices that you hear is information bombarding you. Visualize yourself inside that sphere like you do inside the Net."

Kiryuu closed his eyes and began to visualize that sphere around him like he would inside the Net. It was like he was bringing up his walls around him that kept the voices from getting inside. As he worked on it, slowly the voices began to go away.

"That's it, amigo," Malcho nodded. "Muy bien. You're starting to get a hang of it. I had a feeling you would. You're a fast learner."

Kiryuu sighed for a moment, feeling a release of pressure from his mind. He felt so much netter now after he put the walls up for the first time. Kiryuu lifted himself up off the ground and smiled slightly.

"Thank you," he said. "I appreciate this."

"De nada, amigo," Malcho smiled. "That is lesson one today. We'll work on some more lessons luego."

"Right," Kiryuu nodded. "Besides, I need to get back to work."

"Very well, I shall take you home," Malcho said. "And when you come back—we can discuss the Tower as well."

Kiryuu glanced back up at it and smiled when he saw it glow: "I'm very interested in that Tower."

"I knew that you would," the Feathered Serpent chuckled.

"How did you get this thing passed all the security?" Kiryuu asked. "And the townspeople really don't seem to notice it."

"Let's just say for right now, I have an agreement with them," Malcho glanced back at some of the townspeople who did not take notice of two very large creatures and a glowing tower in the mall parking lot.

"I suppose for now, this is something you do no wish to share," Kiryuu rumbled.

"No," Malcho replied. "Not now. But soon—when you feel it's time for you to learn Technomancy."

Kiryuu rose up from his seat and shook his head, loosening his green locks. He glanced back at Malcho, who climbed back up onto his shoulder.

"Well, I suppose you'll teleport me back to my desert," he said.

"Of course, I shall."

"I'm ready."

With that word, Malcho snapped his fingers and the two vanished.

Within the next few days, Io's father had shown up to take Io home. Kiryuu had finally met Dr. Shinoda, who was more than thrilled to meet him. They exchanged ideas and such before they parted. Kiryuu said good bye to Io with a smile and told her to take care. He knew that both would not be troubled by the authorities again. After that, Kiryuu finally made his own decision. Both Manda and Malcho were right about the change in the world. Kiryuu asked Malcho if his company could build a machine that could measure the rise in this Mana energy. Malcho said that he would do it—for a rightly fee of course.

With the change in energy in the world came the change in everything and everyone. This was not the place for Godzilla to be in. Kiryuu wanted to make sure his son was safe when the time came and these energies would go away. Malcho stated that the changes would happen over the course of many decades, but there would be spikes in which Kiryuu would see the changes in both animal and human. Kiryuu feared that the changes would affect his son as well and mutate him into something that not even he could control and keep away from the Human Lands. And he feared that with the change, he would also see his son's death by the hands of the humans as well. What he told the news in Washington that he was going to kill Godzilla was a lie. He was going to freeze his son and ship him to Antarctica. But before he wanted to do that, he wanted to see his son one last time and spend some quality time with him. He wanted to be with his son. And so, with that, he transported himself to Ogasawara Island.

Kiryuu stood out amongst the waves after he landed. He glanced around at the blackened earth that was Godzilla's home. There was scantily a plant growing here, a few mosses, a brush, maybe a tree, but it looked as dead as Knoxville did. Kiryuu's head turned when he heard movement behind a rocky cliff. Godzilla poked his head out from the rocks, his ruby-brown eyes widened when he saw who it was standing on the beach. He could not believe it—his father was there, standing with a soft smile. Godzilla was uncertain though, after the last time, he thought he was looking at an illusion.

"It's not an illusion, son, it really is me," Kiryuu began, picking up on his son's thoughts with the powers that Biollante had given him.

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?" Godzilla asked.

"It—doesn't matter now," Kiryuu replied. "The point is that I'm here. And…"

"I haven't been visiting the human lands, father," Godzilla began. "Honest. And that long—metal thing where the energy is…I—well…"

"I don't care," Kiryuu rumbled. "Come here."

He held his claws out and Godzilla came forward, taking them into his claws. The two came close and Kiryuu rubbed his cheek up against his son's cheek. It was a sign of affection between parent and child in the old world. And Kiryuu just held his son close to him.

"Father," began Godzilla. "Why are you here?"

"You are my son," Kiryuu began. "Therefore, I must come and visit you. I am so sorry I've neglected you. I'm sorry that I left you those many seasons ago."

"Why did you abandon me?" Godzilla asked. "When the Flash happened, and the ash rained down upon us, you changed."

"You changed too," Kiryuu pointed. "You got bigger."

"You got bigger too," Godzilla laughed. "But—you changed inside. You—were not my father after the change. You were a monster then."

Kiryuu eyes closed when he heard his son call him a monster. He looked pained after that as he settled himself down onto the ground. Godzilla followed, lowering himself down to his father. Kiryuu leaned back and looked up at the stars with deep longing.

"I don't know what happened to me that made me do what I did—leave you like that," he sighed. "I was affected by the ash's poison more than you. I suppose it drove me mad. Son, I'm so sorry I left. I can never make it up to you. You must have been so lonely then—so afraid. And then—when I didn't come home…"

"I never knew that the humans—killed you, my father," Godzilla rumbled, getting up and walking a few paces away. "When—I was big enough—I left. I came looking for you, and I had this strange hunger. That—box with the energy seemed to sate that hunger."

"Have you been hunting for me all this time?" Kiryuu asked.

"I just want my father," Godzilla sighed as he turned back around. "We're the only ones left. Mother is gone, all my brothers and sisters are gone. Everything's gone. You're the only thing I have. And it hurts me that you push me away—preferring the humans above me."

"Oh…son…" he sighed, getting up off the ground. "The humans keep me alive. I know—I'm dead, I shouldn't even be alive…it's not natural…"

"Dad," Godzilla began. "Because of what the humans turned you into, you were able to defeat King Ghidorah. You were able to save me from that monster Biollante."

"Son," Kiryuu sighed, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I'm sorry I stayed away for so long. I'm sorry that I must stay with the humans—even after one of them killed me. I'm sorry that I went away and left you here all alone. Son, I love you. Now that I am what I am, I can help protect you."

Godzilla lowered his head for a moment and took in a sigh. He glanced back at his metallic father.

"I think I'm capable of caring for myself," he smiled. Kiryuu smiled back and turned around. While his back was turned, Kiryuu opened his chest panels up.

"I know you are…" Kiryuu began. "But not now. When this is over, you will be."

"Father?" Godzilla asked. "What do you mean by that?"

Kiryuu turned around, a blue glow forming inside his chest: "I'm sorry, my dear son. You have made me proud, and I love you. But I must do this."

Godzilla's eyes widened just as the icy beam came flying towards him: "Father, no!"

As the beam hit, Godzilla was frozen in a solid block of ice. His stance was defensive, as if he was trying to stop the on coming beam with his claws. Kiryuu sighed and approached the ice that encased his son. He placed his claw on it, checking his son's vital signs with his sensors. Godzilla was still alive and his heart was beating strong. But his son was frozen and his body was slowly falling to sleep in the ice that held him prisoner.

"Just like you and I were left in suspended animation for millions of years,"Kiryuu began in English. "So, I seal you once more in that long sleep. Don't worry, my son, I will awaken you. I'm doing this for your own good. It's not the humans that I worry about anymore that may harm you. This world is about to change, and it's going to get bad. I don't want you there to see it. I don't want you to be harmed by it."

He glanced up at the sky and signaled for his helicopters to fly in. He signaled for them to drop their lines and he quickly attached them to the block of ice. As soon as they were up in the air, Kiryuu followed them. He followed them, connecting to the Shirisagi. And they flew all the way to Antarctica. Soon, the rich tropical ocean turned cold and Kiryuu found himself in a sea of ice and snow. There was a base in etched into the side of an ice and stone cliff. He landed, glancing around as they lowered Godzilla into a pit. Lights turned on around the pit and a dome folded over the frozen body of Kiryuu's son. Kiryuu sighed for a moment as he felt the chilly wind blow up around his green locks. According to Malcho and Manda, this 'Sixth World' was going to last for many centuries. Kiryuu intends to be around for as long as that, but in case that he was not, he left a living will of his own to release his son as soon as the Mana levels went down and these horrible monsters known as the Scourge were gone. He hoped that there would be people around to free his son and he put his faith thin them. He only hoped that he would survive them as well. Kiryuu took one more look back at the dome and smiled.

"Sweet dreams, son," he said just as he lifted of into the sky to connect back to the Shirisagi.

So, he put his son to sleep, Mothra began as she looked out amongst the sea.

"Yeah," Manda replied. "He did. He made the right decision for this. His son doesn't need to be around for all of this mayhem that's about to happen."

You disobeyed me, Leviathan, Mothra said as she turned her head to him. I am disappointed. You were not supposed to get involved with the fight.

"I had to," he said. "It was for Kraken. Also, someone had to protect Godzilla. I didn't actually fight."

You fired your gun at him, she said flatly. That's getting involved.

"So what if I did?" Manda growled. "I did something I believe was right."

The magnificent moth turned away from him and looked back out towards the sea again. She could feel the change in the air and the rise in the energies that had not been around for nearly 5 thousand years.

Malcho…she began with a slight whisper. I thought he died by the Scourge 5 thousand years ago.

"He survived," said Manda. "And he's the only dragon aside from me that is awake. When I was with him, I sensed how he managed to keep himself awake. That medallion of his is what empowers him. Without it, he'll fall asleep from the lack of Mana energies around—just like the other Dragons."

When there is a spike in the Mana, Mothra began. An event will happen. It is possible that another Dragon will awaken.

"I was once like them," Manda began. "A Great Dragon—before Atlantis and Technomancy changed me. Malcho is trying to use the energies that powered our island."

Technomancy is not the energies that brings the Scourge, nor King Ghidorah, said Mothra. King Ghidorah came to destroy the island because he knew that Earth had found a way to protect itself from him and his children. He was trying to destroy that.

Manda swallowed and glanced away: "And Malcho was trying to recreate that energy. I thought I knew everything about it—I thought it was the fault."

Mana is the fault, Manda, said Mothra. Mana brings the Scourge. When it finally peaks at a level so high—they will come to take it away. And then, they will come to feed upon the souls of this world to reform King Ghidorah. But that is not for a few centuries from now.

"Kiryuu destroyed him once," said Manda. "I could call upon him to destroy King Ghidorah again."

Then you have a job to make sure that Kiryuu stays around that long to do so, Mothra said. And you have a job to make sure that Malcho does what he plans to do—recreate Technomancy. With it, he can find a new way to power Kiryuu and keep him activated for a very long time—that is if Kiryuu chooses. Kiryuu is a sentient being after all.

"I think he wants to stay around," said Manda. "For his son. And there's so much knowledge that he could learn. Malcho intends to teach him Technomancy."

A cyborg cannot harness the powers of Mana and cast spells, said Mothra. But Technomana is another matter. I will watch this with great interest.