Can I just say that I have a headcanon that during these scenes, Ishiro was totally wearing Vivienne's necklace(in the novelization, he gave it to her on her 30th birthday).
History Shows Again and Again
Chapter 14
May 2019
"We'll be out of range while you're down there." stated Foster on the monitor. "But a squadron will stay behind to keep an eye out for you."
"Appreciate it." Mark stated.
"All righty, Bowman," Commander Crane was talking to a crewman behind Zeek, Mark and Ilene. "Let's take her down."
The alarm sounded while Bowman gave the order to dive.
"Good luck." Sam nodded to the three.
"Thanks Sam." Mark paused for a moment. "We'll need it."
Zeek felt the sub move and tilt and knew that they were going down, diving deeper into the ocean, at the spot where Mothra showed them. He took a deep breath, leaning back against the table next to Ishiro, a little bit nervous about being in a submarine for the first time. He noticed Ilene walking to another monitor and watched as she began to go through the legends about Ghidorah once more. He tried to focus on what she was doing, to distract himself from everything.
"What time is it?" Mark suddenly whispered, making Zeek glance over and noticed that Ishiro was currently stroking the glass of his open pocket watch.
"Time to get a new watch." Ishiro replied after a moment of silence, closing it and slipping it back into his pocket.
"Andrew's favorite joke. You never took that watch out of your pocket without him asking that question." Mark paused, as if gathering his thoughts. "If you told me five years ago, I'd be trying to save the thing that took my son, that would be the only way to save the family I have left…I…"
Ishiro turned towards Mark. "Sometimes, the only way to heal our wounds is to make peace with the demons who created them."
"You really believe that?"
"Don't you? Isn't that why you are here?" Ishiro took his glasses off as he leaned back against the table once more. "There are some things beyond our understanding, Mark. We must accept them and learn from them, because these moments of crisis are also potential moments of faith. A time when we either come together or fall apart."
Ishiro turned so he was facing the table, putting his glasses back on and putting his hands on the edge of it. "Nature always has a way of balancing itself. The only question is, what part will we play?"
Mark stared at him for a moment. "Did you just make that up?"
"No, I read it in a fortune cookie. A really long fortune cookie."
"Don't believe what he says." Zeek cut in. "He totally has this book he writes these things in."
Ishiro gave Zeek a half-hearted look while Mark softly snorted. Zeek only looked at Ishiro innocently, everything just melting away from the three of them for a moment.
The moment was gone as the sub shook, making the lights flicker around them. Zeek gripped the edge of the table harder as the sub continued to shudder and rumble around them before he knelt down to grip at whatever he could.
"Status to the ship?" asked Crane.
"Some sort of vortex, captain." answered Bowman. "It's dragging us! Sixteen-hundred feet until impact!"
There was a bigger shudder now. "Eight-hundred feet. Emergency blow! Two-hundred feet! One-hundred! Twenty-five!"
"Brace for impact!" A crewman shouted and Zeek was doing his best to do just that. Then, it was black for God knows how long, the sub jerking as if it was landing on something, until the lights came back on after the sub had stilled, red emergency lights flashing and alarms were blaring. The screens were glitching heavily.
"Status report!" He heard someone state as Zeek stood up with the others.
"Can't fix our position. GPS is down. But inertial says we're…" Bowman pressed some keys as he looked down at the monitor, confusion clear on his face. "six-hundred miles from departure."
"That can't be." Crane said in disbelief.
"I knew it, man!" Rick said excitedly. "The vortex was a tunnel into the Hollow Earth. It's a subterranean tunnel system that connects the entire planet- it doesn't matter. I knew I was right. I told you, Chen!"
"Shut up, Rick." Ilene snapped.
"One second emergency blow forward." Crane ordered as he walked to one of the crewmen at the set of controls. The sub began to come to life and move once more. "Doctor?"
Ishiro looked over. "Launch probes."
Rick sat at the probe's controls and Zeek, Ishiro, Ilene and Mark all stood beside him, watching his feed as he began to push the probe forward.
"Range, one-thousand meters. Camera good. Holding range. Steady." Rick mumbled to himself as the probe travelled down a stone pillar before a stone, human face came into view, making Ilene and Rick jump. "Jesus."
"Pan right." Mark told him and Rick did what he was told. As Zeek glanced at the other feeds, he could see what looked like an old style ship, a Viking or a pirate ship.
Then, they were entering what looked like to be a large, long no-ceiling hallway with what Zeek could only guess was magma or liquid radiation at the floor and there were arching, bridge-like structures connecting the two sides and tall towers towered over them.
"Looks Egyptian." Mark observed. "Or Roman."
"No, this is something different." Rick stated. "This is...way older."
On Rick's feed, the shape of Godzilla was seen etched on the wall, beside it was 'Gojira' in clear Japanese. "Oh my."
On the other feeds, there were bowing humans etched into the stone on the wall.
"All the legends, the stories, they are true." Ilene breathed before one depicting Ghidorah appeared on the right's feed. "They really were the first Gods."
"If only the earth and stones could speak, the stories they could tell us." Rick hummed.
"Doctor Stanton," Ishiro spoke up. "Any sign of Gojira?"
"Yeah, the probe is picking up a radioactive blob-" Rick hit a button and the feed changed to a green and yellow screen before it was moving up and stopped at a large red spot. "Just past this ridge."
"Set a course."
Orders were said and they were carried out as quickly as they could.
"I think we should stop." stated Rick after they had been going for twenty minutes.
"Why?" Ishiro asked him.
Rick tapped on his screen where the radiation warning symbol was red. "'Cause I still wanna have kids one day. Preferably without flippers."
"All stop. Hover the ship."
The sub stopped and the drones kept going, now entering a closed hallway before two of the three probes were destroyed, Rick's kept working.
"We got O2, CO2 and methane." Rick reported. "It looks like there's some sort of air pocket in there."
The probe continued before going upward and breaking through the water's surface, the camera looking around. Liquid radiation was pouring down into this large chamber that seemed to have structures. The camera panned to the right, to a maiya pyramid looking structure with a familiar shape on top of it.
"My God…" Mark whispered.
"Zilla." Rick whispered right after Mark, making Zeek roll his eyes before the feed cut out and Rick pulled his hands back. "And goodnight, Gracie."
"Pull up the last frame." Ishiro told Rick who did so. "There. The source of the radiation."
"That's why he returned here." Ilene stated. "He's feeding, regenerating."
"This is his home." ishiro turned away to look through his little book.
"This is how he survived for so long." Mark stated. "Always adapting. Evolving. It's incredible."
"So, dude's got this covered. Right? He just needs a little nap." Rick turned to the others.
"No." Ilene shook her head. "This process could take years."
"We have to proceed as planned." Ishiro told them.
"Hang on," Rick looked at Ishiro. "We're gonna launch a nuclear torpedo in order to revive a giant monster? Okay, this is not...this is not like we're just jump-starting a car."
"We have another complication." Crane cut in. "Our weapons systems were damaged during the crash. We can't launch."
"Can it be repaired?" asked Mark.
"I'm afraid not."
"Damn it." Zeek sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Okay, what if we go inside, set a timer and blow up the warhead manually?" asked Ilene.
"No way." Rick shook his head. "If the heat doesn't fry you, the radiation will."
Zeek stepped away, chewing his bottom lip in thought. This is one situation he never thought he was going to be in. Making a choice of not doing anything or…
He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to volunteer, to be the one to make the sacrifice so no one felt the need to via pressure and expectation.
"I'll go."
Zeek's head snapped around to look at Ishiro, his heart plummeted for the second time since this whole thing started.
"What the hell does that mean?" questioned Mark.
"There must be another way." Ilene told Ishiro.
"There's no time for a debate." Ishiro told her.
"So let me go." Zeek blurted out. "We're not- I'm not-"
"I'll go." Ishiro stated a second time with a tone that left no argument as he looked at Zeek before he turned to get himself suited, leaving Zeek and the others standing there.
The next few moments between then and the airlock was a blur for Zeek and when he got into the airlock, Ishiro was already in the dive suit.
"First contact, you're gonna start losing your long range vision. When you surface, your motor skills are going to start to fade but I put a helioxed mixture in the tank which should keep you stable a little bit longer." Rick explained. Then he lifted up a hand. "It was an honor, man."
Ishiro lifted up his own hand and shook Rick's. Then, Ishiro looked at Ilene who took a step forward and hugged him as tight as she could. It lasted a minute before Ishiro stepped back, looking at the four in front of him. "Thank you."
He stepped closer to Mark, handing the other his journal. "My notes."
Mark took the journal. "Are you sure?"
"He fought for us. Died for us. He's not only proof that coexistence is possible, he is the key to it. Take care of them, Mark."
Then, Ishiro turned towards Zeek, who was standing quietly. "Zeek, I want you to have something."
"Ishiro-" Zeek tried to speak up but Ishiro shook his head before lifting up a tied cord and put it over his head, around his neck. Zeek looked down, reaching up a hand to lift the pendent on the cord so he could see what it was.
It was a round wooden one with Godzilla's stature curled up with its jaws agape. The wood that made up the curled Godzilla was was darker then the rest of it with no paint or anything on the pendent.
"Like Vivienne's, I was going to give it to you on your thirtieth birthday." Ishiro stated, making Zeek look back at him. Then, he held a hand up, his hand at level with his face and Ishiro mirrored him, their hands clasping onto each other.
"When you see her up there, make sure to tell her I said hi. Also, for God's sake, make the first move already." he joked weakly, though tears were filling up in his eyes.
"I will."
Zeek didn't know if he was saying that to both or the first one but either way, he didn't care. He committed his best friend to memory before they both hugged each other that lasted a moment before breaking it up. Ishiro patted Zeek on the shoulder, giving it a squeeze and walked past him and into the submersible before looking at the four one last time. He gave them a smile before putting his helmet on and he started the engine. The glass slowly came down and he was sealed inside.
Zeek looked over at Ilene once Ishiro was fully submerged and saw Rick had a hand on her shoulder as tears trickled down her face, a hand lifting up to cover her mouth. He moved over to her and, once Rick's hand slipped from her shoulder, she turned towards Zeek and buried her face into his shoulder as she quietly sobbed. Only then did Zeek let a few tears escape as he rubbed Ilene's back soothingly, raising a free hand up to wipe away his tears.
"Come on." Mark murmured gently. "Let's head back to the control room."
Zeek only nodded and let Ilene go before he glanced at the water. "May you make peace with your own demons on this final voyage, Ishiro."
He turned and followed the others to the control room, reeling in his emotions and dried the tears in his eyes.
"Bowman, take us out, fast." Crane told the other as they all walked into the control room. Crane and Mark looked at the radar that most likely showed Ishiro moving away from them. "He's clear."
Then, they were moving fast- or at least, Zeek hoped they were. It was hard to tell in a submarine and He only heard the other's words to go by.
They had come back the way they came and got to the tunnel before going through the vortex once more and were rushing to the surface.
Then, the sub rocked from the shockwave, making electronics flicker, making Zeek hold on to the arms of his chair for dear life as it continued to rock and rumble until the shockwave pushed them, making the sub rocket out of the water before slamming back down onto the surface. Then, the alarm began to blare.
"You all right?" He heard Mark ask Ilene, who replied affirmatively.
"You, Zeek?"
"Yeah, just peachy." Zeek groaned before he, Mark and Ilene got up. He could hear Crane telling Bowman to send out a distress signal to the Argo before leading the three plus Rick up to the hatch and opening it, helping everyone out.
They were instantly soaked as rain pelted them. Mark raised the binoculars he was carrying up to his face and looked around.
"You see anything?" asked Ilene, her voice raised so the other could hear her over the rain. Zeek looked around before seeing...something, water swirling as if someone pulled a plug out of the train of a sink or bathtub and there was a blue glow coming from it.
The first thing that came up was the glowing dorsal plates, surging with newfound power. Godzilla kept rising up and up until he towered over them before the familiar humming sound began and he threw his head back and let his nuclear breath free, the stronger blue and white stream of weaponized radiation cutting through the clouds above.
Then, he closed his jaws, letting his head fall back into his usual position until his head turned towards them and he began to move closer and brought his head down closer, as if to get a better look at the humans.
"Nobody move!" Mark shouted at everyone and they listened. Zeek watched as Godzilla's nostrils flared as he took in their scents, his eyes glaring, looking at each and every one of them before those eyes lost the glare and instead, seemed to soften while looking at Mark and Zeek in the eyes.
Zeek could have also sworn that he could hear his heartbeat was in sync with Godzilla's and possibly Mark's.
Then, he was lifting himself up and turned around before diving back down into the water, his tail giving a parting splash to the humans, causing them all to be even more trenched.
Zeek watched as Godzilla swam, his dorsal plates slowly going under the water's surface.
"Are you okay?" Ilene asked Mark.
The man said nothing at first as he stared after Godzilla. "I know how to find them."
"Let's make him proud and not screw this up." was the first thing that Mark said as he handed the little book over to Sam, who looked shocked before it turned into sadness. He looked down at the book as Mark walked into the control room, trying to get his voice to work as the others walked up to him, Rick walking in.
"H-how did he, um…" Sam stammered.
"By saving us." Ilene said quietly as she walked in, Zeek and Sam following.
"Sam, what do we have going on?" Mark asked as Sam and Zeek walked up on either side of him.
"We think Emma activated the ORCA somewhere near Boston." Sam reported. "That's why Godzilla and Ghidorah are both heading that way. But we haven't been able to pinpoint the exact location without the missing piece of the RCA signal.
"I've got the missing piece." He pressed the button that made a signal spring up from its speakers.
"It's Godzilla, right? I mean, I know we tried."
"It's not Godzilla. It's us."
"What do you mean "us"?" asked Foster.
"Emma combined the bioacoustics of Godzilla with a human. That's how she made the signal for the ORCA. The creatures just think it's another apex predator."
"Well, that makes sense." Rick cut in. "I mean, we are a bunch of horny murderous carnivores."
"Yeah, that's real poetic." Foster glanced at Mark. "Now what?"
"We track it, we find it and we get my daughter back." Mark replied.
"What about Moe, Larry and Curly over here?" Rick motioned to the cave painting, particularly towards Ghidorah.
"Godzilla will bring balance." Ilene answered.
"Oh, I get it. A little Serizawa's let-'em-fight action. I used to love it when he said that."
"No." Mark spoke up, glancing at Rick before looking at Zeek. "This time, we join the fight."