The death of Godzilla has not stopped humanity from fearing the possibility of giant monsters attacking, especially considering the fact that Junior was now a full-grown adult and possessed as much power as his predecessor, if not more. This prompted the world's military forces to come together and find a way to effectively fend off such attacks and kill whatever monster comes. For their part, the Japanese military resumed work on a scrapped project that had been in the works for some time.

They had not forgotten the power of their first fighting robot, Mechagodzilla, and they intended to improve upon its design. They had the technology, they had the weapons, but they still needed a structure to build upon. Luckily, they had just the thing hidden away in an old bunker outside of Tokyo.

The skeletal remains of the original Godzilla, the one who attacked Japan back in 1954, would be the structure they built upon, and they would use it's leftover brain matter to create the first AI-driven kaiju-fighting robot. This project had been in the works since the defeat of Mecha King Ghidorah, but it was scrapped to pave the way for the mech that came closer to killing the new Godzilla than any other attempt by man (or by anything, for that matter). The one that battled him and Rodan in 1993. Now, this strange project has been restarted, and it will be completed within the next two years. It's codename is Kiryu, and it may well turn out to be one of mankind's biggest mistakes.

Storm clouds gathered. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The wind blew exceptionally hard. Heavy rain pounded the island. It was not enough to keep two kaiju at bay, however.

Anguirus and Junior squared off, eyes locked, teeth bared, ready to spring into action. Neither of them in any hurry to make the first move. They circled each other, looking for an opening. Anguirus stopped, Junior following suit, and reared up, roaring viciously. Junior roared back, slamming his tail on the ground in an attempt to intimidate his opponent.

Unfazed, Anguirus lept forward. Junior countered with a hard smack to the face, knocking Anguirus off-balance and sending him rolling across the valley floor. Junior charged, arms outstretched, only to receive a tail to the ankle, tripping him. Anguirus moved to pin Junior down like he did when they first met, only for his foot to hit the ground as Junior moved his head to the side. The latter picked himself up and latched onto Anguirus's leg with his teeth.

Anguirus cried out, a firm hand grabbing the back of his head and slamming it down. Junior stood up, rolled Anguirus onto his back, planted his foot on his opponent's chest, and roared. Anguirus looked up at him, finding the sight of Junior's silhouette illuminated by lightning quite intimidating.

"I yield," he growled. Junior had finally won. He stepped off of Anguirus and helped him up, in the process discovering that the bite on Anguirus's leg was more severe of a wound than he intended to make.

"Sorry about that," he said.

"Don't be," Anguirus started. "I'm not worried about it. A good fighter never hesitates, never forget that. Although, I don't think I'll be able to swim properly until this heals. And I believe that it was supposed to be my turn to go hunting this time around. You know what that means."

"I gotta go hunting in your stead?"

"You gotta go hunting in my stead."

"Fine by me. I need the practice."

"Not as much as you used to, kid, but yes."

Anguirus lifted his leg and inspected the wound. "You're getting faster."

"Oh, really? Hmph, I didn't realize."

"No, no, it's true. Not many kaiju are quick enough to dodge when one of my kind charges at them. Usually, they end up flat on the ground, hurting like hell."

"Yeah, that's usually me, too. Or did you forget?"

"Oh, no. I'll never forget. You heal so fast, you're back up in no time. Still funny to see you go down, though."

"Oh, yeah? What about that time you rolled into a ball and I sent you across the valley with my tail?"

"Yeah, my head hurt for a full week after that! Didn't stop me, though, did it? Oh, that's right. You were unconscious for a full week after that! I bounced back and hit you in the face!"

"Best sleep I ever had. And the most painful."

"How does that make any sense?"

"I have no idea."

They both shared a laugh at the memory. At least what qualified as a laugh to them, anyway. There was a rather long pause afterwards, with the two friends sitting there, facing each other, looking down at the ground while lost in thought. Anguirus was the first to break the silence.

"Junior, not to sound ungrateful or pushy, but... Why are you still here? You're so young, you should be out travelling the world, finding a place where you truly belong. You shouldn't have to spend the rest of your life here, living with an old geezer like me."

"Don't say it like that. You're the only friend I've ever had. I'm glad to be here."

"Exactly my point. You should be going out and making new friends. You've got so much to live for. There's so much you can see and do."

"Yeah, I guess. It'd be hard to leave, though."

"And the longer you stay, the harder it'll be. Tell you what. How about, after my leg heals, I take you to see those islands I told you about, where the other kaiju live? I can take you as far as the entrance to the underground, then you're on your own. You stay there however long you want, and then, if you want, you can come back. What do you say?"

"I think... I think that's a pretty good idea. Deal. But on one condition: we visit the place my father died first."

"Still haven't let go, huh?"

"Actually, I think I have. I just... want to say one last goodbye."

"Ah, closure. Yes, I think that would be fine. Better than fine, actually. I owe you that. You gave me some closure when I told you how I felt about Radon and her son. The least I can do is allow you to do the same."

With the matter settled, they went on, talking long into the night. They went on and on about fighting techniques and their previous sparring sessions. At some point, however, they both needed a change of subject, and Anguirus had just the thing.

"So, Junior, did I ever tell you about Gamera?"

"Nope, don't think you have."

"Oh, it's a good story."

"When do you not tell good stories? Tell me."

"All right. So, Gamera is a bit of an unusual kaiju. He comes from a whole other world, in fact. This world used to be peaceful and full of life, but that ended when it was ravaged by a race of kaiju known as the Gyaos. They killed and devoured any creature unfortunate enough to cross their path. Of course, the planet's natives wouldn't let it go without a fight. Gamera's people were the strongest of them and waged war against the Gyaos.

Eventually, they succeeded in chasing the Gyaos off, but the planet itself was nearly destroyed by their combat. Left with nothing, the survivors of Gamera's race took to the stars, searching for a new home and hoping to wipe out the remaining Gyaos. Eventually, a few Gyaos made their way here. Luckily, Gamera followed.

He fought, tooth, claw, and fire, to defeat them, but-"

"Wait, fire?"

"Oh, yes. Gamera was a lot like you, except he had a shell instead of spines, a short tail, a pair of big teeth sticking out of his mouth, and he could fly. Like I said, he was very unusual. Now, let me finish!"

"Okay."

"Anyway, the Gyaos had already begun to breed by the time Gamera arrived here, so he was overwhelmed by their numbers. He would've been defeated, had it not been for Mothra and Gojira. They stepped in and turned the tide. The Gyaos were wiped out and the threat was over.

Gamera decided to make this world his home and helped protect it against many threats. But when things seemed to calm down, he flew up to the moon to rest. He will not wake again unless either another of his kind or another world-ending threat comes to Earth."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know it sounds pretty unbelievable, but it's all true. I knew him pretty well, actually. He was a friend of mine. Nice guy."

"Well, knowing all the things my father's seen, it's not all that hard to believe."

"I'm guessing he saw some pretty crazy things, huh?"

"Oh, yeah." By this time, Junior had fully accepted the idea that he had his father's memories flowing through his mind as if they were his own, and, for the most part, they no longer came in visions like he'd been having. It was now to the point where it was hard to distinguish between his father's memories and his own, in fact. He didn't care, though. In fact, knowing this reassured him and confirmed that his father would always be with him.

A week later, Junior went down to the underwater canyon to catch an Ebirah. This time, however, he wasn't the only one after them. As he stood there on the cliffs, trying to pick out a target, he heard the familiar sound of an Ebirah crying out for help.

He followed the sound to the cliffs on the opposite side. There, he found an Ebirah writhing on the sandy ocean floor. Something strange and green was wrapped around it. Whatever it was must've known what it was doing, because after several minutes, the Ebirah's armor seemed to collapse inward with a sickening crunch, and the unknown hunter began to feed on the soft flesh within.

It was a massive snake-like creature with small-but-muscular legs and a row of spines down its back. It's horned head possessed a set of razor sharp teeth and a pair of large yellow eyes that almost seemed to glow in the darkness. Whatever the creature was, Junior was glad he was a safe distance away.

After taking down his own Ebirah, Junior returned to a very happy Anguirus, who was not surprised when Junior told him what he saw. "That, my friend, was a Manda. I suspected that there were a few of them in these waters. Good thinking, keeping your distance. They're very territorial. If it spotted you, it would no doubt have attacked. They're very fast and very strong. They wrap their bodies around their prey and squeeze until they crush it to death. No doubt they'd do the same to us if they caught us in their territory. We'll have to keep our eyes open whenever we get into the water from now on. We don't know how many of them are down there."

Within another three weeks, Anguirus's leg had fully healed. The time to leave was at hand. Junior was excited to go, but also hesitant to leave. This island had become very important to him in the last few months. After spending some time thinking it over, he came to the conclusion that no matter where he went, no matter how long he'd be away, he would always come back here. This was his true home.

"Ready to leave?" Anguirus asked, snapping Junior back to reality.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am. I actually feel pretty good about this."

"Good. You need this."

"I know."

And with that, they departed, Anguirus leading the way. As they waded out into the ocean, Junior stopped and took one last look at the island. A twinge of sadness tugged at his heart, but it was overshadowed by a strong belief that he would return here someday. The time had come for him to go out and face the world again, but as frightening as that seemed, it was still comforting to know that he had this little corner of it to call his own. And with that in mind, Junior plunged into the water and swam off.

Defeat can be a great teacher. Such was the case for Spacegodzilla, who was seemingly killed by Godzilla over a year ago. As it turns out, only his physical body was destroyed. His essence survived in the form of hundreds of glowing orbs, or spores, that left his body when he "died."

His defeat had taught him the error of his ways. When he first came into being, all he knew was pain, misery, loneliness, and hate. His mind was filled with memory fragments from Godzilla and Biollante. There wasn't much he could make sense of, but from what he saw, he knew that he was enthralled by Earth's beauty and he hated Godzilla for destroying so much of it.

His desire to escape the black hole and travel to Earth was the only thing that kept him going. When he finally did so, however, he made it his mission to kill Godzilla and claim the Earth as his own. After his defeat, his spores traveled to the moon, where he surrounded them with crystals, absorbing the energy and creating the building blocks for a new body. Left with nothing to do but think, he came to realize that in the short time he was on Earth, he was a bigger danger to it than Godzilla.

Because of this, he came to the conclusion that the best way to protect the Earth was to be as far away from it as possible. When his new body was complete, he took to the stars, hoping to find another world to call his own. He didn't know what exactly he was looking for, but what he found was definitely not what he expected.

18 months after his defeat and a full year after departing, Spacegodzilla discovered a wounded kaiju, barely alive, floating through space. He did not know who it was, nor what happened, but he knew that he had to do something. He couldn't just let it die. But was this just a random encounter, or was it something far more important?