Chapter 17
Final War
The new Keizer, formerly the Erzherzog, sat in the command room aboard the Xilian mothership. He watched as Gigan leveled what was rest of Tokyo.
"By order of your new Keizer," he announced to the monster containment ward aboard the mothership, "release all the monsters. Send them where they were before."
With that command, the containment operators carried out the orders. The monsters had been stored in cages that utilized compressed space. Each one was contained in a portable silver cube about five feet on each side. The cubes were transported through the mothership and distributed into the three sub-ships.
Once loaded, the sub-ships detached from the main ship and scattered to deliver their monstrous payloads.
The main ship began making its way towards the coast of Tokyo.
The new Keizer observed the radar presented before him along with live feed video of Gigan. Nearly countless tanks, planes, and battleships converged on the Xilians' monster. It appeared that the entire JSDF's military was converging. The new Keizer had also received word that Russia, South Korea, and China was also sensing military help to Tokyo.
"If only you could see this now, old Keizer," the new keizer spoke to himself, "You would see the army they had hiding just waiting to strike. They are violent and deceptive animals who know only war and must be trampled. If you saw this now, you would see what I see. You would see what I've always seen. Foolish old man."
The new Keizer stood from his chair. The working crew around him looked surprised and frightened at their new keizer who was talking to himself.
He continued. "Come on! Show me what you got! Now's the time to bring out the big guns! This is your FINAL WAR!!"
Then a loud roar came over the the speakers. The new keizer recognized it; it was Godzilla. His jaw dropped at the sound at first, but then it was replaced by a wide grin.
The new Keizer laughed aloud. "Yes! That's it! Now it's getting fun! Gigan! Finish this nuisance!"
On the screen before the new Keizer, Gigan screeched in acknowledgement.
Godzilla stomped his way into the city. Amidst Gigan's chaos, the JSDF hadn't noticed that he had made landfall until he was well into the city.
Godzilla had expected more retaliation from the humans. He figured that the other monster was getting all the attention.
It was Mothra who told him to come the this city again. She told him that the invaders would be here. She told him this was where he could have his revenge.
He hadn't been here in a long time and it looked very different from before. But any city looks the same after he's through with it.
Ready for a fight, he roared to announce his presence.
Vincent and Taylor gazed up as Godzilla's head appeared from behind a building. His head turned to look down the street they were on.
They wondered if he was going to come towards them. If he was, it would be hard to get out of the way while the street so crowded.
But then things got a lot worse.
Their other nightmare had caught up with them. Gigan's screech pierced the cloud of dust and debris a few blocks down the street. From the dust and smoke, he emerged. First the light of his glowing red eye broke through, then his great scythes.
Gigan, in all his deadly glory, stood before Godzilla. He screeched again as if to summon Godzilla to a duel.
Godzilla cried back, ready.
And Vincent, Taylor, and a few hundred other people were caught in the middle. Everyone was screaming and panicking.
"Get in the alley and don't stop running," Vincent told Taylor who was fixated on Godzilla. "Everyone will be running. Whatever you do, don't fall. Don't look back. I'll be right behind you. Go now!"
Taylor tore her attention away from the monster that killed her parents. She pushed through the people and made her way to the alley way.
Godzilla roared, swung his body around the corner, and charged at Gigan. Gigan charged too, scythes raised.
Most people attempted to scurry out of the way. Many made it into the alley ways to the sides. Others were frozen solid.
Taylor had a head start. She had made it into an alley. People were pushing and shoving past her. She felt her brothers hand on her shoulder.
Godzilla clashed with Gigan. Gigan's scythes came down, but Godzilla managed to bat them away, avoiding the blades.
Gigan's blades plunged into the buildings to the sides. Ruble rained down. For some, the alleyways were a death trap.
Taylor ran faster as the alley way began to cave in.
"Go, Taylor!" Vincent shouted. Then his hand left Taylor's shoulder.
Sobbing uncontrollably, Taylor barged through the crowd as she heard the world crumble just behind her. She didn't look back and she didn't slow down just as her brother had told her. Surrounded by other scared and frantic people, she was alone.
Gigan screeched in Godzilla's face.
Godzilla retorted with a tackle, which forced Gigan back. Using his tail to gain balance, Gigan held his ground again.
Godzilla had underestimated his foe. Close combat with Gigan was just as dangerous as it looked. Godzilla realized this when the buzzsaw on Gigan's front began to spin.
Gigan thrust himself forward bearing his spinning buzzsaw. Godzilla reared back, avoiding it. Gigan thrust again, but Godzilla held his shoulders and held him back.
Gigan used the sides of his scythes to break Godzilla's hold. Godzilla was open. Gigan prepared to leap forward once again and tear his opponent apart, but Godzilla had a quick defence.
Before Gigan could attack, Godzilla quickly charged his dorsals and spewed out an atomic blast.
Gigan's guard was completely down. The bright blue stream of atomic energy hit him in the chest and forced him back; tumbling and plowing through city blocks. He vanished in the cloud of dust he had kicked up.
Godzilla stood motionless in anticipation as his dorsals cooled down.
The new Keizer watched with his nose nearly touching the screen. He leaned back in his chair.
"Woh. This Godzilla fella is one tough dude," he said to himself. "Gigan might need a little back up on this one."
He snapped his fingers getting his crew's attention.
"Signal for X," he ordered.
From the dust cloud, Gigan's red laser shot out at Godzilla. The beam split apart into many beams in front of Godzilla and those beams exploded once they had surrounded him. The cluster laser scorched his flesh leaving black burns. He let out a high pitched screech of pain.
As Godzilla was stunned, Gigan leapt up out of the dust and rose high in the air. He arched and descended down towards Godzilla. He raised his scythe and readied it to cut right through his opponent.
Godzilla's eye caught his falling enemy. Quickly regaining his stance, he spun himself around.
Gigan was about to deliver his lethal blow when he himself was the one to suffer a blow. Godzilla's tail came in from the side and with rib crushing force swatted him down. He demolished several city blocks before finally coming to a still. It was a mighty blow. Gigan could not get up immediately. His side was in agony.
Godzilla huffed as he watched for movement from his downed opponent.
An Xilian boy walked hastily through the hallway of the mothership. It was a perimeter hallway with a long window stretching down it. Through the window, the boy saw that the massive ship was approaching a great city on the coast. There was a lot of dust and smoke rising from the city. He was looking at Tokyo, but he wouldn't know that. It was planned that an Xilian city would stand there in time.
"There you are!" an Xilian woman shouted. She ran to the boy. The boy ran to her and they embraced.
"I got lost!" the boy told his mother as he dug his face into her chest.
"We can't be here. It's too dangerous by the windows. Let's go. I'll be…" she stopped.
The boy was not looking. His face was buried in his mother's shoulder.
The mother, however, stepped back against the wall. She held her breath in terror.
Passing by the window, flying, was the boney white armor of Monster X. He was right on eye level with the window. As he passed, the mother saw his glowing red eye stare at her despite it having no pupil.
She collapsed against the wall holding her child in her arms, too scared to move.
Monster X flew by the mothership's silver surface.
He saw the city ahead and saw that he had already missed some of the action.
Passing the mothership, his bony plates almost glowed in the sunlight. He lowered himself closer to the surface of the ocean and dipped his fingers in, splitting the water as he went.
Then he clenched his fists. Exerting tremendous force, he launched forward towards Tokyo. Being so low to the surface, the gravity field around him created a massive wake.
I'm just a few moments, Monster X was in Tokyo. Upon reaching the coast, he rose up high to look down on the battlefield.
A large portion of the city had been thoroughly leveled. Off to the side he saw Gigan struggling to get up. But Godzilla was nowhere to be seen.
Monster X lowered to the ground, gently planting his feet. Getting a closer look at the trail of destruction, he tried to see where Godzilla may have went. He looked around himself then sniffed the air.
When he sniffed, he picked up something very familiar. The last time Godzilla used his atomic blast, his dorsal spines had a very peculiar smell. It was like burning bone and ozone. Godzilla was still nearby.
Monster X couscously walked about as he made his way closer to Gigan.
"You look to be in need of help, Gaigan," Monster X remarked as he continued to look around.
"He got lucky! You're not needed here," Gigan spit back as he finally got to his feet.
"There's something different about this kaiju," Monster X remarked as he continued to look around. "The moth puts some amount of faith in him."
"You often seem to be worried about this old moth even though you speak so low of her. If you're scared, I can easily take care of it for you."
Monster X turned back at Gigan and roared. As he did, he saw Gigan's head turned sharply. In Gigan's eye, he saw the reflection of something bright and blue.
He didn't even have time to turn to see it as a blast of blue radiation struck him in the side. He was forced to the ground and pushed severely blocks, making the arena a bit bigger.
Monster X's armor was incredibly hard, but did not cover his entire body. Some black skin, tough but still vulnerable, was exposed.
Holding his scorched and smoking side, Monster X rose up. He looked around again, but saw no adversary. There was too much smoke all around.
"Where did he go?!" Monster X shouted at Gigan.
"I'll find him," Gigan hissed. Behind his visor, he switched his standard light vision to infrared. Scanning the red and white vista, he saw no monster other than his reluctant ally.
After a moment, Monster X got impatient. "I should have left you in the ground, you useless scrap job."
Gigan ignored the insult. Then he picked up something. It looked like the tip of a tail. And the thing it belonged to stood behind a tall building Monster X was adjacent to.
Gigan pointed his scythe in the direction. "There," he said flatly.
Monster X's eyes widened. He spun around just in time to see the skyscraper beside his shake. Bursting through from the other side was Godzilla roaring loudly.
The skyscraper crumbled in a shower of glass and dust.
Godzilla tackled Monster X to the ground. He pinned his arms down. All Monster X could do was flail his legs and tail.
"You look to be in need of help." Gigan parrated as he looked at his helpless ally.
"Shoot him!" Monster X replied.
Godzilla's dorsal spines illuminated. Monster X could see the raging blue light growing in Godzilla's mouth. Frantically breaking one arm free, Monster X grabbed Godzilla's lower chin. Blue flames licked Godzilla's gnarling teeth.
Gigan's eye was charging up for a powerful beam attack.
Godzilla unleashed his radioactive fury, but Monster X managed to force his head away missing the blast. Godzilla's blast instead was redirected towards Gigan.
The stream of blue energy collided with Gigan, forcing him back and knocking him down again. He has already charged his laser. It shot out of his eye and up into the sky. The cluster laser burst in the clouds.
Monster X pushed Godzilla off of him and quickly got up. While Godzilla was getting up, Monster X took the chance and kicked him back down. Godzilla tried getting up again, but was forced down by another kick.
Monster X placed a foot firmly down on his opponent. He roared down at him. Then his eyes, the pair on his face along with the ones on the half-heads on his shoulders, turned from a crimson red to a deep yellow. His upper body crackled with energy.
Godzilla noticed bits of debris flow to up towards Monster X; gravitating towards him. Then Monster X unleashed his power. Spewing from his eyes and mouth were yellow swirling beams of jolting energy. The beams hit Godzilla and twisted around him. They felt like electricity surging through every muscle.
Then Godzilla felt an odd feeling of falling. For him, the world had been turned sideways and he was falling as he was being dragged across the rubble ridden ground. He stopped when he fell sideways into a tall building. Destroying the base, the whole structure came crumbling down on top of him.
Monster X breathed heavily as his eyes turned back to red. The battlefield was silent again.
Gigan rose again. He was exhausted. His front was singed.
The rubble from the fallen building shook and shifted.
Monster X and Gigan watched intently.
A heaping mess of building chunks rose up. The debris fell off to reveal a tired and beaten Godzilla. He had a dazed look in his eye.
Monster X crouched, then leapt forward; flying at Godzilla. Godzilla only stood in place; arms limp.
Gigan took flight.
Monster X swiped at Godzilla, claws bared, slashing across his chest.
Godzilla stumbled, still unable to fight back. He struggled to stand.
Monster X closed his fist and delivered a fierce uppercut to Godzilla's chin. Godzilla was forced to lean back from the blow. Just as he was, Gigan flew up from behind and bashed the back of his head with the blunt sides of his scythes. Godzilla lurched forward from that blow. And as he was bent forward, Monster X landed a brutal punch to his abdomen.
Monster X grabbed Godzilla by the neck and pulled him up. He snarled at his weakened opponent. Then he lifted him up off the ground by the neck just as he did in their last fight. Godzilla feedly grabbed at Monster X's arm. He choked as he looked up at the sky. Everything seemed to get darker.
But it was not just Godzilla's vision that was dimming. Something was darkening the sky. It was a shadow; a massive shadow cloaking half the city.
The mothership came into Godzilla's field of view. Clouds parted as it lumbered through the sky.
Godzilla let out a weak groan.
Gigan stood off to the side and watched as Godzilla slowly suffocated.
Monster X glared up at Godzilla and said "She sent you, didn't she? Where is she? Where is the moth?!"
Taylor Martin wandered through the dust and debris that was once part of Tokyo. She was completely covered in dust and smoke and had a small head wound. A bit of blood ran down her face. She was in shock.
She was looking for her brother. She kept saying his name. Before, she was shouting it over and over. Now, she whispered it. Her throat was sore from the yelling and the dust in the air.
Having wandered onto some kind of an incline, what once was the side of a building, she was able to get a decent view around her.
Everything was flattened in a miles wide radius around the monsters. Monster X held a weakly flailing Godzilla by the neck as Gigan watched. And the sky had been replaced with the shiny metal of the Xilian mothership.
She looked at Godzilla and encountered confusion within herself. She had thought seeing the monster that killed her parents along with so many other loved ones would bring her some joy or relief. But seeing that monster die at the hands of something far worse only drained her of hope. Perhaps, she thought, that Godzilla was merely an animal who found himself in a world in which he did not fit. These other monsters, though, seemed to have a nefarious purpose behind their actions.
Taylor's heart sank for Godzilla.
Then a powerful wind picked up. When it got too powerful to be any regular gust, and when the humming of huge engines was heard, Taylor turned around and looked up. She fell back with eyes wide open in amazement.
Gigan watched on as Monster X strangled Godzilla.
He was actually jealous. Partly because he wanted to finish off Godzilla by himself, partly because of the fact that Monster X had hands. Being a cyborg designed to kill and do little else, it wasn't always a concern of his.
But something else was odd about his jealousy. It wasn't entirely a longing for hands. He couldn't pinpoint it in the dense clouds of his blurred memories. The only thing he could pluck from his organic brain was a primitive concept of grasping something.
Before Gigan could ponder the thought any longer, he spotted something to his right in the corner of his vision. It was tiny and flying upwards. He turned to see a human in some sort of armor wielding a large gun (for a human).
It was Philippe Roaché of G-Force. He was in his gravity armor and had his maser gun ready. He fired the stream of bright blue plasma.
The burning bolt from the the maser struck Gigan's eye. Resembling jagged roots of a tree, the bolts shot through his crystal-like eye. The blue lightning cracked through the red glass. It shot through to the back of his eye where it hit his organic scull. There it stopped. Gigan reared back in screeching pain as he raised his scythe to cover is eye. He flailed his other scythe about wildly as he stumbled back.
Monster X turned his head as he continued to hold up the barely moving Godzilla. He had not seen what had happened, but had a feeling a sneak attack was imminent. He was right. An intense heat struck him in the back. It was a maser cannon; a big one. He could feel his bony armor burn and crack. He howled out loud and released his grip on Godzilla who fell limp to the ground, eyes slightly open.
Monster X's pain was not over. The fire of the maser cannon ceased, but only a second before what felt like a massive drill plowed into the spot the maser had stuck. He stumbled forward as the massive drill refused to let up. He finally got the idea to use his tail and did it. His heavy forked tail slammed against the large metallic thing behind him. That made it back off.
Finally able to, Monster X turned around to see his new assailant. It was not the drill wielding ship he had seen before. He was looking at the Gotengo I; the original war machine that had put down Godzilla years prior. It bared a strong resemblance to its successor, but looked more like a submarine. The underside was a bright red and the top side was a metallic grey.
Captaining the warship was Takaki Aso. Crewmen scrambled to make sure everything was still operational.
"Everything still operational, Admiral!" reported Douglas Gordon.
Aso nodded. "Fire the full metal missiles!" he ordered.
Six hatches on the top of the Gotengo I opened up as smoke and steam poured out of them. In quick succession, the missiles flew out of their silos and up into the air.
Monster X roared in rage.
Gigan, half blinded, was attempting to fend off Philippe who was now accompanied by Glenn.
Monster X charged the Gotengo I, but he is stopped after only one step. The full metal missiles came down on him like a hellish rain. The pointed missiles struck his armor and took large chips away just before exploding. All six struck their target. Monster X was left kneeling in pain, immobile.
The new Keizer smirked and chuckled. "What a fun toy. Let me show you mine."
Turning towards his crewmen, he ordered "Launch all drones. Have several focus on the enemy ship. All the rest will work on devoiding the city of its inhabitants."
"Yes, my Keizer," a crewman obeyed and hurried off.
"And instruct the cannons to commence attacks on the city as well. I want it all flattened by the end of the day!"
Shortly after the new Keizer's command, the great sliding bay doors opened on the top and bottom of the ship. As they were opening, the drone fighters flew out like dense swarms of crazed bees out of the two openings.
Each about the size of a bus, the drone fighters were pilot-less and resembled a curved beak of a bird. They were silver with sort of constellation designs like the mothership.
As the drone fighters swarmed out of the mothership, large guns protruded from the mothership as well. There were alot, all aiming down at the city.
Admiral Aso looked at his radar as well as the video feeds. He looked frightened. His forehead became beaded with sweat.
His crew looked to him, awaiting orders.
"This ship's already dealt with one monster. She'll take down another! One less monster means countless more lives saved! We've weakened the bastard! Let's finish him!" Aso told his men, filling them with whatever moral was left.
"You heard the boss! Let's move!" Gordon motivated.
The Gotengo I's drill revved up again.
Monster X stood back up and roared.
The Gotengo launched forward. Its drill was screaming.
Just before the two collided, Monster X grabbed the Gotengo behind its drill, holding it back. They struggled to over power the other. The Gotengo's exhaust vent grew red hot as as its engine struggled. Monster X's muscles weakened as the drill grew slightly closer and closer, chipping away bits of his armor.
Monster X's eyes widened as he noticed the many guns on top of the ship turning towards him. Then they all fired into his face. They were primitive cannons, but they were enough to cause Monster X to lose his hold of the ship. He stumbled back as the drill bored into him. He roared out in pain.
Then the swarm of drones approached the battlefield. They began firing on the Gotengo. Their laser attacks were small and weak compared to the firepower of the Gotengo, but many at once could take down any ship.
The mothership began firing its cannons down on the city. Glowing with a blinding teal, the guns charged up and releases their power. Magnificent beams of light rained down from the heavens; tearing through clouds. The beams collided with the biggest buildings first. The targets shattered upon impact and crumbled. Thousands of people screamed as the sky fell and their world collapsed before them.
Taylor watched on as the apocalypse unfolded before her. The Gotengo I was being attacked by the thousands of drones while it struggled with Monster X. Gigan, now able to some what see, was taking swings at the two remaining G-Force agents able to fight. And Godzilla laid motionless on the ground. The sky encompassing mothership was firing death from above, systematically leveling leveling the city.
It was all almost too much to take in for her. She could barely comprehend the scene before her. But at the same time, the scene seemed strangely familiar. The scorched buildings and the dark sky looked exactly like the strange vision she had had just without the huge ominous red eyed form looming above. But those same nightmarish red eyes seemed to belong to Monster X.
Then off to her side, the east, the sun caught her attention. Normally she would not pay much mind to a sunset, but the thought of her world becoming even darker terrified her to the point of trembling.
Lower and lower the sun sank, shining upon the underbellies of clouds as it kissed the horizon.
A sparkling tear cascaded down Taylor's cheek as she reached out towards the falling light.
Trying desperately in vein to grab it, to just keep it a bit longer, Taylor whimpered "No… no." With her shaking hand still outstretched, the sun had melted beneath the horizon of a burning world.
And then it was dark for Taylor along with the rest of humanity. It was as if all hope had faded with the daylight.
The Gotengo I was still unloading its entire payload onto Monster X, just barely staving him off. But the assault of the drone fighters were becoming too great to ignore. Hundreds of little purple lasers struck the ship. Some breached the hull and hit either crewmen or vital parts. The ship struggled to maintain stability and the lights flickered.
One the the large cannons, just cooling off from firing, pivoted and locked onto the Gotengo. Glowing with a bright blue light again, it fired its building leveling beam.
"Oh god!" a crewman at the radar announced.
"What is it?!" Gordon demanded.
The crewman only breathed heavily and grabbed is hair in frustration. He saw their approaching doom and new nothing could be done.
"Damn it, man, speak!" Aso ordered.
He turned to the admiral with wide eyes and said "Incoming…"
Aso could tell what the radar crewman knew. He looked to Gordon. The deep look they shared was one of finality. It was a look given when saying goodbye to a good friend.
The great beam of light, wider than the ship, collided with the Gotengo. With immense heat, it tore through the back section, primarily the engines. The back end sank a bit from the force. Then there was a huge fireball. Bright hot flames engulfed the whole back half of the ship.
Monster X roared at his enemy as he watched it rear off to the side on its way to a crash landing.
Of all places to crash, the ships collision course just happened to be right were Taylor was standing.
Taylor was as scared as anyone in her very unfortunate situation would be. At first she was not completely sure if the ship was headed for her. When she became more and more sure that it was, she ran faster and faster out of the way.
Plowing through the top part of building like it was nothing, the once great airship crashed to the ground and continued plowing through anything else in its way.
Taylor, running like hell, could feel the accompanied gust from behind as the Gotengo past over her head. She was once again engulfed in dust. Then she heard the airship crash in the street. The chaotic sounds of the crashing airship ceased.
When the dust settled, Taylor looked up at the great ship before her. The worst part about it was that her path to Gotengo Base was now blocked by the original Gotengo. Taylor took note of the irony and began making her way around the ship.
"Glenn!" Philippe came in over Glenn's com unit. "Gotengo one is down."
Glenn looked over and saw the pillar of smoke and the top of the ship over the buildings.
"Dammit," Glenn said to himself. "Swiss army dick can wait. Let's start a search for survivors and get them out of here."
The voice of Mothra once again sang inside Godzilla's head.
"Gojira…" Mothra's voice spoke to him. "Gojira, please get up."
Godzilla was tired. Everything hurt. All his energy was being used to just continue breathing.
"You can't fall! You mustn't! Not now!" She sounded like it was beginning to sob.
Godzilla wanted her to go away. He did not care anymore. He had no reason to continue fighting.
"They have my children. They're using them to destroy the world. They're perverting their minds!"
The children of others were not any of his concern. He just wanted to rest.
"How can you be so heartless? You are this planet's last hope!"
He owed either the planet or its people nothing.
"Gojira… I understand. All you cared about was your son. If I lost my kaiju, I wouldn't care about much else either. I'm old and hardly able to fight, but you are right where you need to be. The beast that killed your son stands before you weakened and vulnerable. If you can't find the strength to at least grasp at vengeance, then I would have to question how much you even cared for your son."
That was what struck a nerve with Godzilla.
Monster X was looking over at the fallen Gotengo I. He was thinking of helping destroy the remains of the city to treat himself. Then he noticed an odd blue light behind him. It was not from one of the cannons. Then he had realized what he had left there.
He turned around to see Godzilla standing, his dorsals blinding with power and a raging fire in his eyes. Then his dorsals dimmed as the energy seemed to fill him with new life.
Monster X stood tall and steady, waiting for his risen opponent's move. For a long minute, the two did nothing but glare. It was a standoff. Clawed fingers twitched, itching to strike.
Gigan, realizing he was no longer being shot at with masers, lowered his scythe from his face. Looking around, getting himself calibrated, he was surprised to see the blurry and cracked shape of Godzilla standing. He could tell Godzilla had his back to him. It was time to get back in the fight and strike.
Gigan readied his scythes and broke into a sprint. His blades shimmered in the red flames around him as well as blue as the mothership shot off rounds from its great cannons. His deadly forked tail slashed back and forth behind him as he ran. His shattered red eye glimmered, slowly healing and honing in on the target.
With a twist of his hips, Godzilla brought his tail up and whipped it into Gigan's head. It sent him crashing to the ground and leaving his out cold. Godzilla had not broken eye contact with Monster X.
Taking in a deep breath, Godzilla then unleashed a trembling roar at his enemy.
Monster X was slightly put off. He felt the roar rattle his guts. This monster he was dealing with was no mere animal to be easily disposed of. He had cursed his foolishness for underestimating Mothra's recruit.
Godzilla charged.
Monster X braced.
They clashed in a mess of tooth and nail.
Taylor had made her way around the Gotengo I. She looked up at it imagining all the people that must still be in it. She wondered how many were dead.
She remembered some kids she knew in school who were in a car accident. Three of the four friends died. She wondered how an airship compared to a car when it crashes and how likely it is to survive.
Her question was answered shortly after pondering it. She saw two people climb out of a gash in the bottom of the ship. One was holding up the other. She rushed over to see if they needed help.
"Are you guys alright?" she asked.
The younger, bigger man laid down the older man he was carrying against a car. She was surprised to see that the old man was Admiral Aso. The younger man turned around. It was Gordon.
Taylor ran up and embraced Gordon. He hugged back.
"Tay, where's Vince?" Gordon asked.
"We were at the stadium. Gigan came. We… got seperated. The alley caved in behind me and…" she began to weep in Gordon's arms.
"Hey, hey. I'll alright now. You're safe and Vince is probably lost somewhere. I ever tell you how he ended up in a broom closet back at G-Base?" Gordon chuckled, trying to cheer up Taylor.
Taylor knew this. And it was what she needed. She didn't think she could face the possibility of losing the last of her family. She just wanted to focus of the task at hand of getting to the Gotengo Base. And a laugh with Gordon sounded good.
"Stop trying to change the subject," she laughed while wiping the tears. "You almost hit me, you jerk!"
The moment of levity was cut off by Godzilla's roar and the sound of one of the colossal creatures being thrown to the ground.
"Godzilla's up? I thought that other monster had killed him," Taylor said.
"It looks like the big fella is buying us some time," Gordon said. "We'll head out as soon as the Admiral recouperates."
"Gordon," the tired Aso whispered up.
"Yes sir?"
"You should take the girl and get a head start. No sense in dragging along an old admiral with no ship."
Gordon looked conflicted. He didn't want to leave his admiral, his old captain, behind. But he didn't want to disobey an order either.
Taylor knew Gordon looked up to the admir. She could tell it would kill him to just leave him.
She spoke up. "Can I have a minute to rest. I just need a minute. I haven't stopped since the stadium. And maybe the captain will feel better then."
"Alright, Tay. Good idea," Gordon said.
Godzilla sunk his teeth into the hard armor of Monster X's arm. He began thrashing violently.
Monster X batted at Godzilla with his claws, but the monster had a firm grasp. Animalistically, he grabbed the top of Godzilla's head, clawed down his face, and let loose a saliva spitting roar as he did it.
That finally made Godzilla let go. He held his face as he backed off.
Monster X took the opening and lunged forward for a tackle. His shoulder collided with Godzilla's chest. This pushed Godzilla back even further. Then he began punching Godzilla's side.
It was futile to try and claw at Monster X's thick shoulders and back armor, so Godzilla's arms were useless. It felt like his ribs were going to break with another punch or two. Godzilla knew that Monster X's belly was mostly exposed, so he picked up his leg and kicked. His clawed toes dug into his opponents gut.
Monster X cried out in pain and was forced to let go. He grabbed Godzilla's leg, removed the craws from his gut, and tossed the leg up, Godzilla with it.
Godzilla flew back and landed on his side. The wind had been knocked out of him. He managed to inhale and look up just in time to see Monster X jumping down on him feet first. He landed on Godzilla's side. It was like Monster X really had his dark heart set on Godzilla's ribs. Godzilla felt one crack. He cried out in horrific agony. Monster X dug his own clawed feet into Godzilla, increasing the pain.
Godzilla turned. Monster X lost his balance and jumped off. As Godzilla got to his feet, his dorsal spines illuminated. Monster X saw this and charged his own attack.
Godzilla spun around and fired his atomic blast. At the same time, Monster X had fired his gravity bolts. The two attacks clashed in a blinding explosion of incredible energy. The explosion engulfed the two in waves of flame and energy bolts followed by a shock wave.
The shock wave tore through the remnants of the city. Any remaining windows were blown out. Some buildings even lurched a bit.
A building by the crashed Gotengo I took the shock wave. Its windows shattered and its support beams shook.
Glass showered down on Taylor, Gordon, and Aso. Taylor covered her face and Gordon stood over her. Aso winced, too weak to move.
A large triangular piece of glass, falling at terminal velocity, sliced down Gordon's bicep. Another smaller shard struck him in the back and sunk deep. While Taylor's face went unharmed, her hand received a long, nasty cut. Aso got cut on the cheek.
Then the shattering stopped.
Taylor uncovered her face. She looked at her hand. A long trail of blood ran down her forearm.
Gordon erected himself, then shouted in pain as he felt the the piece of glass in his back.
"Oh my god! What's wrong?!" Taylor asked.
"Got stuck in the back." Gordon turned around.
Tyler gasped when she saw the shard in his back. There was a lot of blood.
"Think you can get it out, Tay?"
"What?! I've never done anything like that before!"
"It's easy, kid, just yank it out. Yukie can take care of the rest when we get back to base."
Cringing her teeth, Taylor gently grabbed the bloody piece of glass with both hands.
"Okay," Taylor said preparing herself. "On three. One…"
Taylor pulled hard and the piece of glass came out. Gordon yelled in pain and was crying. Taylor dropped the glass and wiped her hands on her shirt.
Gordon then carefully removed his shirt, tore it, and wrapped it tightly around his torso where the wound was.
Taylor slumped to the ground, tired and barely able to hold herself up. She had been running all day and was only becoming more exhausted. Listening through the cold wind that blew her hair, off in the distance, she heard the sounds of chaos as the mothership continued its assault on the city. She heard the sounds of two monsters fighting as well. Godzilla and Monster X were up and back at it.
"I thought Godzilla was done for," Taylor said.
Aso chuckled. "You know, I never really believed he could be killed. His immortality is our curse as well as his."
"You've always felt that way?" Gordon asked. "Why even pilot either of the Gotengos then?"
Aso took a minute to think and catch his weakening breath. "Maybe I… just want to let him rest… or send him home."
Aso smiled. He thought he might simply be projecting his own desires onto his long time adversary.
Taylor looked out at the barren and half destroyed city around her. She wondered how many people were dead and how many will die before this was over. Then she thought of something even more dismal.
"This is the end, isn't it." Taylor said as she choked a little. She couldn't help but start to sob. "This is the end of the world. We lost… We never stood a chance, did we."
Taylor shivered in the wind. Aso noticed.
"Gordon, can you help me take my coat off and give it to the girl?"
Gordon did so. He carefully did nearly all the work in removing it from Aso. The old man could barely move. He then places the heavy duster over Taylor's shoulders.
"Miss Martin," Aso said softly, "in my years of wars and leading men in those wars, I've learned that even in the most dire and hopeless of situations, people will somehow always fight back. These aliens, I'm sure that have powerful weapons and far more advanced technology. But I'm also sure that they will find humans as irritating as I often do." Aso smiled and chuckled as much as he was able to. "Don't you give up. And don't ever lose hope. Consider it an old man's last wish."
Taylor's and Gordon's hearts were struck by what Aso had just said. Gordon struggled to remain stoic and strong for his admiral. Taylor squeezed the duster wrapped around her and was sobbing more now. Her tears fell onto the brown coat and sank in.
"If you promise to keep hope alive, then I'll promise you that dawn will come…" Aso concluded.
He fell silent. He closed his eyes and lowered his head as if dozing off for a nap. His chest fell and did not rise back up. His hand fell off to the side of the lap it was rested on.
Gordon's face remained stoic, but tears ran down his face. Taylor was crying loudly, her face buried in her palms.
Their mourning was not to be permitted to go on very long. The ground quaked. It sounded like many footsteps we're stumbling their way, big footsteps. It felt like an earthquake ripping through the city straight towards them.
From behind a building, Godzilla's jagged dorsal spine appeared. Godzilla was being pushed back. His dorsals plunged into another building.
The building shook and shifted. It was coming down. Dust and smoke trailed off of it as it tumbled. And Taylor and Gordon were in its path.
They ran. Gordon held Taylor by the hand. Taylor ran clumsily as her strength was spent. They ran away, but saw the towers shadow grow longer and longer. Gordon looked back. He knew they weren't going to outrun it. Just off to the side of the street, he saw their only visible hope. It was a tank, apparently abandoned with his hatch open.
"Get in the tank! Hurry!" Gordon shouted.
Gordon grabbed Taylor by the waist and lifted her up onto the tank.
Feebly, she crawled up the tank and made her way into the hatch opening. She looked up through the opening to see the building about to fall on them. She didn't see Gordon.
"Gordon…" she whispered.
Then the whole world came crashing down on her. The crash was deafening. Everything went dark.
An unknown time later, maybe minutes, maybe hours, Taylor began to come back to consciousness. It was so dark, she wasn't completely sure if she could still see. She stayed in a dazed, half awake state for what seemed like a long while.
Then, not unlike how she reacted some mornings before school when her alarm failed to go off, she shot up realizing her situation.
She felt around in the darkness. She remembered she had gotten in the tank. Reaching up to the hatch she discovered that it was not sealed up as she had feared for a second. She climbed up and out. There was a lot of concrete and rubble. And the air was still and thick with dust.
While climbing she stumbled a few times and even fell down. She thought about her situation. She was trapped under a building. There was no light and no breeze, so she figured there was no apparent way out. After falling yet again, she did not get up. She laid down and got into a fetal position.
She then remembered Gordon. She didn't want to think about that. But that seemed like the worst part of it all. She now had no one. Everyone she cared about were gone now. The same went for many people all over the planet. No one was coming for her.
She shivered. That made her remember the duster Aso had given her. She tried to remember where it was. It was still in the tank, she remembered. After an undetermined amount of time, she finally sat up and made her way back into the tank. She felt around and grabbed the coat. Covering herself in it, she warmed up.
She remembered the admiral. Trying to retrieve the memories from her jogged mind, his last words came to her on their own. "If you promise to keep hope alive, then I'll promise you that dawn will come…"
There was another quake. Maybe one of the monster fell again. Everything shifted and shook. Taylor feared this was the end for her. The building could come crumbling down onto her and finish the tank. But then the quake ceased and she was still there.
If she was still alive, she thought, then she could still hold onto hope. She was forced to keep her end of the promise she made with the last owner of the coat she wore.
She got up out of the tank and started making her way up again. Confident and determined, she carefully placed her feet and hands as she climbed. Beyond a lot of concrete and such, she found desks, chairs, and other pieces of furniture. She climbed up through doors.
And then she was filled with even more hope. She felt a cool breeze hit her face. That meant there was a way out. The last quake must have unblocked a passageway. With Aso's words pushing her on, she continued. Her hands and legs were scraped and cut. Her skin itched from the insulation tossed about. Through her struggle, she was rewarded. Climbing up through one more door, she had finally reached the up facing side of the building, and light. Along with moonlight, she also noticed faint flashes of blue and yellow.
She climbed up a fallen support beam. She got as high as she could, and was just out of reach of the open window. But she was not about to let that stop her after she had come this far. The window was not directly above her either. It was a little bit away from the top of the fallen beam. She thought about jumping. If she missed or couldn't pull herself up, the fall would be nasty. The room was long, maybe twenty five feet long, now twenty five feet high.
She got as close to the edge as she could and nervously prepared to jump. She counted down from three. Three, two...
Then the building shifted violently. Taylor lost her balance and was going over. There was nothing else to do but kick off as hard as she could and reach as far out as she could.
Mid air, it didn't look good. She was never very good at physical sports. She had tried running track in school, but quit after a week. She regretted it now.
But by the little knuckles of her fingers, she managed to grab the ledge. There she dangled. Lifting herself up was impossible. After all she had been through, she was just too weak. And she was slipping. She knew she was done for, but was having a hard time fully comprehending the gravity.
Then she slipped. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see it coming. There was a brief feeling of falling. Then she stopped. Something had her by the wrist; someone.
She opened her eyes and looked up. She couldn't believe it. For a second she thought it wasn't real. Maybe, she thought, her mind couldn't handle the thought of dying, so it made up this hallucination just before she landed and cracked her head open in reality.
But it was not a dream or vision. Her brother, Vincent, was holding onto her. She was speechless. All she could do was dangle with her jaw dropped.
"Gordon! Give me a hand over here!" Vincent shouted.
Still dumbfounded, Taylor watched Gordon come into view and help Vincent pull her up out of the fallen building and into the light.
Once out, Vincent embraced her tightly. She didn't have the strength to hug back.
"I thought… I thought you both were dead," Taylor said.
"I just got cut off from you when the alley caved in," Vincent told her.
"And I didn't think I had time to hop in and join you, so I got underneath the tank," Gordon explained. Managed to crawl through part of the building. That's when G-force helped dig me out. You can thank me later for bringing them to where I thought you might be."
"We've got a lot of other survivors. Gordon will carry you, don't worry. We're going back to the base now."
The three made their way back down to the street where they met with Glenn and Philippe. They led a large group of people back to G-force Base.
Godzilla's claw clung to Monster X's face and smashed it into a building. Monster X fell to the ground, dizzy from the blow.
Godzilla heard Gigan charging from behind. He turned around to face him as he slammed his tail down on Monster X who was trying to get up.
Godzilla grabbed the horn on Gigan's head and held him back.
Gigan flailed, trying to regain control of his head. He swung his scythes blindly. Finally, he landed a blow. The curved, pointed tip of his right scythe cut into Godzilla's arm.
Godzilla withdrew as he cried out in pain. He held his arm as blood poured out like a red river down a rocky mountain.
Not wasting the opening he thirsted for, Gigan swung his left scythe. It struck and cut into Godzilla's side.
Another cry of pain came from the monster.
Gigan got in another blow. This time he bashed Godzilla in the head with the dull side of his scythe.
Godzilla did not cry again. He was stunned, wobbling with a distant look in his eyes. He was defenceless.
Monster X shot up behind Godzilla and grabbed him by the arms, restraining him.
People were rushing through the huge doors of the G-Force Base main entrance. Vincent was guiding them in as he and Gordon kept order and help anyone who needed it. The last of the crowd they had gotten together were entering the base.
"That's everyone," Gordon said.
"We need to close these doors or they'll find us. We'll have to look for others when things calm down," Vincent replied. "If they calm down."
Everyone was in. Gordon and other men pulled the massive blast doors.
Vincent looked out at the ruined world one more time. Stomping into view came the three brawling monsters. He looked on in amazement and horror.
Monster X held Godzilla from behind as they both stumbled back. Gigan was beating at Godzilla with the blunt sides of his blades.
Godzilla looked worn and exhausted. His head was low and his arms were limp.
Vincent believed he was witnessing the end of the creature he had studied for so many years; a monster that the world had feared for so many more years. And he was only being replaced by demons far worse.
But then Vincent attained a glimmer of hope for the poor beast.
Godzilla's dorsal spines illuminated. It was one last effort to gain a foothold in this seemingly impossible battle. His head rose up and he snarled at Gigan as blue flames licked his teeth.
Monster X, from over Godzilla's shoulder, roared at Gigan.
Gigan got up close to Godzilla. As the blue flames built up in Godzilla's mouth, Gigan placed his scythe at Godzilla's neck. Gigan, right up in Godzilla's face, gave a hateful and menacing hiss.
Vincent's hope was dashed. This was the end he had feared.
Just as Godzilla was ready to release his atomic fury, Gigan quickly slid his blade across Godzilla's throat. A short burst of blue energy and fire emitted from the deep throat cut, but then it was snuffed. His dorsals dimmed. His eyes, first wide in shock, slowly closed.
Monster X let the creature fall to the ground. He placed his foot on the lifeless monster. He roared loudly into the heavens. Gigan joined in.
Vincent and everyone else felt the tragic victory roar in their chests. The hellish sound of defeat filled the new dead world.
Monster X roaring over the fallen Godzilla was the last thing Vincent saw before the doors closed shut.
It was the next morning. A dim grayness welcomed the ravaged world. The sun struggled to break through the smoke and ash that choked the sky. Thick black clouds loomed off in the distance over the sea.
The Xilian mothership was gone. It had traveled to the next major city.
Perched atop a skyscraper that didn't get annihilated, Monster X sat like a gargoyle looking over the ruined city.
He thought over things silently, repeating plans in his head and making sure everything was as it should be. It was. It wouldn't be long, he thought to himself. Perhaps a human would consider it a long time, but it was no time at all for a being as ancient as him.
The next thing on his agenda was the blasted moth. But he had time to play around on this planet for a little while. Then he'd be off.
He roared up into the gloomy sky. His cry filled the dead city.
The new Keizer was walking along the dreary beach by the city. The sand was powdered with ash and the washing tide was stained black. He turned to see Monster X as he roared into the sky.
He walked along the beach and marveled at his accomplishment. The mothership could completely level a city in a day. The only reason Tokyo still partly stood was because the island of Japan was not optimal for his new Xilian city. The city was dead, there was no need at this phase to waste time completely clear the land.
But the point the new Keizer was most happy with was that he had proven the old Keizer wrong. The Xilians, with their force, could easily take the Earth. No more Xilians would have to die on this planet.
He had done it. He had achieved his people's dream. The Xilians had their new home. Their children would not know the struggles and agonies of voyaging through space. They would be able to run and play under a beautiful blue sky.
There were many footprints all around from beach goers running in horror. They were all running inland.
The new Keizer came across a sand castle. Some human children would have been very proud of it before they were hurried away by their parents in the chaos.
The new Keizer only looked down on it with disdain. He hated these humans. He wanted every last one of them dead. He wanted them to only exist on history archives as the species who nearly destroyed the Xilians' last chance at salvation.
He lifted his foot over the sand castle and clenched his fists in anger. His teeth gnarled as he readied his wrath.
He stood there, with his foot up, for a short time. He was contemplating, but he didn't know why.
He placed his foot down behind him, sparing the castle. He had a conflicted expression. Then he walked the other way down the gloomy, empty beach leaving the lonely little sand castle behind. Wind whipped at his long black coat.
End Part I.