The One Who Lost His Way

AN: Two reviewers asked me for some specific monsters in a follow-up pm. For ARandomPerson23, Queen Muto is going to be a bit challenging since Monarch don't know of her existence, so she probably won't pop up anytime soon. For Oceasia, I couldn't find much on Abaddon, so I might need some time to figure out what to do there. As for Camazots, that one is definitely going to make an appearance if/when I get to the GvK time-period. The one monster both of you requested, Amhuluk, will therefore be the next titan to appear.

If anyone else has specific titans, scenes, or plot points they want to see, I'll do my best to include them (within reason, of course).

Key:

"Titan speak"

"Human speak"

Character's inner thoughts

"Telepathic communication"

Disclaimer: I do not own Godzilla: King of the Monsters or any characters.

USS Argo, two days after titan attack on Isla de Mara:

The fact they were still patrolling the perimeter of this island two days later and not somewhere else was driving Mark slowly insane. Nothing had happened since the original attack, so to him, staying here was not a productive use of time. They should be...somewhere else, right? Jonah and his gang weren't here according to the tech guys, so why stick around?

Foster said it was because they had no destination yet. Until Jonah and Emma made another move—or they were able to track the signal from Emma's video call, which was unlikely—they simply had nowhere else to be. Rick was having a field day recording the four titans interacting on the island. The others were having academic debates on what they were doing. Mark, however, was still driving himself crazy trying to figure out the ORCA signal.

"I swear I've tried every combination a dozen times by now. The signals just don't match." He tossed the headphones onto the desk, running a hand down his face in frustration.

Vivienne gazed at him sympathetically. He hadn't really spoken with the others since his outburst a couple days ago, and none of them seemed to be in a rush to confront him about it. "Is it possible that she used three signals instead of two?"

Honestly, the thought had crossed his mind. He thought it was unlikely, but none of the paired signals had worked so far. "I didn't think so, but now I'm not so sure." He glared at the screen in a mix of resignation and frustration at having the potential combinations become exponentially more numerous. Because who was to say it was only three? What if it was four? Or five?

"Why don't you take a break? Come back with a fresh mind?" He sighed but nodded, knowing it would do some good. Six hours of listening to straight noise was starting to grate at his nerves.

After a quick stop at the mess to grab a cup of coffee, he headed up to the bridge. It was about time he apologized for lashing out at his colleagues. The bridge was quiet save for Chen, Serizawa, and Rick have a conversation around the main terminal. They looked up at his entrance, and them suddenly going quiet caused pretty much everyone to look at him. "I'm sorry for the other day," he opened with. "I'm not going to apologize for being angry, but I will apologize for taking that anger out on all of you. It wasn't right."

Serizawa nodded, appreciating the gesture. "Hey, man, we get it," Rick started. "We're all angry and upset over what happened, but I think it's important we all remember: we're on the same side. Maybe we disagree on certain things, but we all what the same thing in the end, right?" That was...surprisingly serious coming from him.

"Right," Chen was the first to agree.

"Whatever your feelings about titans, Mark, there are some things beyond our control." Mark turned his attention to Serizawa, who was studying the screen while holding his father's watch in one hand. "If Emma awakens another, we cannot stop it on our own...but they can." He looked up then, turning his gaze to the screen where the four titans—Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and Monster Zero—were gathered on one side of the island. Godzilla was lying in the sea with Mothra on his back. Rodan was perched on one of the volcanic cliffs nearby, and Monster Zero was lying on the beach, one wing in the water and one head making a bunch of strange noises. "I believe we will need them before the end."

Mark wasn't too pleased to hear that, but he didn't bother arguing. "The enemy of my enemy," Sam pointed out quietly. That...didn't make it much better, but he appreciated the attempt.

"Speaking of..." Rick interrupted. "You have any idea what Monster Zero's left head is doing? It's been making a bunch of weird sounds for days now."

"We've had a drone keeping constant surveillance on them," Foster reported as Mark approached the central terminal. "Per Dr. Stanton's request."

"Probably a good idea. There's no such thing as useless information." Chen pulled up the live feed and handed him another pair of headphones. He nodded his thanks, and she nodded back. In that short exchange, he knew she had forgiven him, too. After a few moments, Mark furrowed his brow and turned it up. He shook his head. "Can we get it any closer?" Foster nodded to the drone pilot. The audio got a bit better, and Mark blinked, registering somewhat familiar if distorted sounds. "Are we getting any interference?"

"No, sir. Feed is coming in crystal clear," the pilot reported.

"Why? What do you hear?" Serizawa asked, intrigued by Mark's reaction.

"Someone's talking. Do we have anyone on the island still?" That was the only other thing that made sense.

Foster, however, shook her head. "All personnel are accounted for."

"A civilian, perhaps?" Dr. Graham suggested.

"Surrounded by four titans? Dude must be utterly mad," Rick scoffed.

Mark studied the titans on the screen. All but Godzilla and Monster Zero's right head were watching the drone. They knew it was there, yet they weren't attacking. "Hover it right between them," he told the pilot. At his skeptical look, Mark pointed at the screen. "They know it's there, and they aren't doing anything about it. If they start moving pull it back, but I need the drone closer." When the pilot looked to Foster, she nodded.

It took a few moments, but the small drone ended up hovering not far from Monster Zero, where the sound seemed to originate from. Of course, it cut out as they approached, and now all of the titans were watching them. Godzilla made a strange grunt noise, and then Mothra chittered something to Monster Zero. The three heads looked between each other before the left head approached the hovering drone slowly. The pilot began moving it, but Mark told him to hold.

Nobody expected what came next.

"H-Hi..." Mark dropped the headphones in utter shock, the entire bridge becoming completely silent after that single word's utterance.

"Oh, my God..." That was the only thing he could think to say after experiencing something everyone had previously thought impossible.

Monster Zero had just spoken directly to them, and no one knew how to react to it. It was little surprise, then, that it took a while to catch the blip on the Argo's tracking screen.

Fifteen minutes earlier:

"Ugh...make it stop!" Ni grumbled. His head was tucked under their right wing to drown out the two constant noises that were slowly but surely grating on Ichi's own patience.

The first was San's attempts at mimicking human speech. He was actually really close, though a lot of the words were a bit distorted by the more animalistic noises they normally used. And that was really the only reason why Ichi hadn't asked San to stop. As Mothra had already stressed, the sooner they could communicate with the humans, the better.

The second noise was the constant drone of the humans' small aerial vehicle that was circling overhead. The others didn't seem as bothered by it, but their senses probably weren't as keen as theirs.

"I think it is rather adorable how hard he is trying," Mothra commented. San paused long enough to grin at the compliment before continuing his efforts.

"We have two very different ideas of 'adorable'," Godzilla grumbled, cracking open an eye. The great lizard was lying in the water, the waves gently lapping against his chin and jaw while the latter half of his tail was completely submerged. Mothra was perched atop the spikes near his shoulders, her head lying atop his.

Rodan was nearer the volcano, perched atop an outcropping. He'd been silent for a long while, no doubt still processing what happened a few days ago. Why he was staying here near the beach rather than going back to his volcano, no one knew, but no one here was going to forbid him from joining them.

It was a rather sunny and warm day, the warmth causing all of them to become a bit drowsy. For Ichi, it was a glorious feeling. It had been literally thousands of years since they were just able to take a lazy day and enjoy the sun on their scales. And while they were decidedly not a fan of water, having the shallow surf cool one of their massive wings gave a nice balance of internal temperature.

Suddenly, San made an odd noise that was somewhere between inhaling wrong and choking. "Is this it?" Ichi looked to his youngest sibling in surprise, the other three titans now staring at San with similar expressions of bafflement. "That's it! I did it!"

"Finally..." Ni retorted.

Ichi used their shared telepathic bond to access San's memories and discover how he had achieved the correct noises. After a few moments of gathering the required knowledge and flexing the appropriate throat muscles, Ichi made a similar noise. "Guh...that is a truly strange sensation," he grimaced. It really did feel like purposely choking on air to switch vocal cords.

"Wow...I guess you three really do share knowledge and memories, huh?" Godzilla commented. "So, uh...how are you gonna get the humans to listen without them thinking you're trying to attack or somethin'?"

Ichi didn't immediately answer, not really knowing how to do that quite yet. That's when Ni popped out with a growl. "Is that thing actually getting closer!?" True enough, the human vehicle was lowering its altitude until it was right between them.

"Never a moment's peace when they're around," Godzilla grunted.

"But maybe this is a good start. Try saying something, Ghidorah." San turned to Ichi upon hearing Mothra's suggestion. It was a good idea, he would admit, and one that Ni agreed with, if only to make the human machine disappear quicker. Ichi gave the go ahead to San. He had figured out how to talk first, so he should be the one to make contact.

San moved closer to the small machine, stopping when it made to fly away. As soon as San stopped, the thing likewise stopped moving away. "H-Hi..." Ichi scoffed at how nervous San sounded. Perhaps he should have been the one to initiate contact.

San looked like he was about to defend himself when his gaze suddenly snapped to somewhere across the ocean. Moments later, Ichi and Ni found themselves looking in the same direction, the former with a glare and the latter with a growl.

"What?" Godzilla asked. Then, his pupils turned to mere slits, and he likewise growled. "That's coming from the other side of the world, it sounds like." The great saurian moved to stand, and Mothra took to the air. "We should get moving."

"Wait!" Mothra called, making him pause. Rodan had already hopped closer, wondering what the plan was. For their part, they were already on their feet, thoughts of taking a nap already forgotten. "You and I should stay here, Godzilla, just in case they try to use the device on this side of the planet. Ghidorah and Rodan should be enough to deal with whoever woke up."

It made a certain kind of sense to Ichi, but Godzilla didn't seem too happy. "I'm their King. I should be the one to beat them down if needed."

"Yes, you are the King. And a King knows when to accept help." The great lizard huffed at that. "There is a chance you may be needed elsewhere while these two are gone. You cannot be everywhere at once, after all."

He growled, though he did ultimately concede her point. "It sounds like it's comin' from northern Europe somewhere. Lead them there, Rodan."

"Of course, My King," the fire demon bowed before launching himself into the air. With a great leap with their muscular legs and an equally powerful stroke of their massive wings, the great dragon was airborne.

"I feel sorry for whatever fool awaits us," Ni chuckled in dark amusement. He had always been the most aggressive of the three. Fighting was a part of his nature, and it was something Ichi wouldn't hold over him.

Switching back to his natural cords was just as strange to Ichi. "Just make sure they are left alive, Ni." Killing anyone unnecessarily probably wasn't the best way to get in Godzilla's good graces. And if they were going to stay on this planet for any length of time, that's where they needed to be.

Unless they were to kill him, obviously, but they'd tried that already. So for now, they'd try something different.

Meanwhile, in a secret bunker outside Boston:

If there was one thing her mom had taught her, it was to never act without the necessary information. Information was vital to forming plans. Unknown information, however, could just as easily dismantle other plans.

Maddie had already claimed the bunker's radio room as her own. Since Jonah's men had cut off any ability to transmit out from this room, no one had tried to evict her. However, the radio room didn't just transmit to the outside world, it also had an in-base intercom for communicating with other personnel. One of those intercoms was in the command center, so she'd snuck in one day and turned the input on.

Theoretically, that should allow her to pick up any conversations in there without them hearing her. She had no desire to test the second part of that, though, so when the feed was on, she kept her mouth shut. If anyone figured out what she was doing...

Well, her mom probably wouldn't let them kill her, but they'd probably lock her in another room and never let her out again. And if that happened, it was game over.

She needed to know what the plans were, so she could somehow warn Monarch. That goal would be quite a bit harder, to say the least, but she'd take things one step at a time. Until then, knowing what Jonah and her mom planned was priority number one, and they weren't going to talk about all the juicy topics with her in the room.

Hopefully, no one caught her eavesdropping.

Taking one last nervous breath, she flipped the switch on. At first, nothing came through, but her patience was eventually rewarded. "There they go. Their reaction time is certainly quick." That was Jonah, and he didn't sound very pleased. Then again, he almost always sounded like that.

"The ORCA acts basically like a homing beacon for them," her mom explained. "That's just an unavoidable side effect of the device."

"I'm aware," Jonah fired back. "But tell me, Dr. Russell...this new titan we're going after. What was it called again?"

"Amhuluk." The name sounded familiar to her, but she didn't know much about that particular titan. It wasn't one her mother had been too interested in. Until now, apparently.

"You're certain that this titan is a hostile one? All the ones we've awakened—by your recommendation, I might add—have become allies to Godzilla. Even Rodan, who you classified as 'a destroyer'." There was definitely an unsubtle threat in there somewhere. Jonah wanted answers as to why things hadn't exactly gone their way yet.

Unfortunately, her mom was a scientist. And scientists weren't really known for giving clear answers. "There's a lot we don't know about the titans, Jonah, and most of what we do know—or think we know—is merely speculation. We do know that Rodan has destroyed ancient cities in the past, according to several cave paintings. We did not know that Rodan and Godzilla weren't actually enemies." A few seconds passed, and it sounded as if someone was flipping through papers. "And I told you that I needed to test the ORCA on Rodan, who we believe is one of the smartest titans. Since it worked, I know now that Monster Zero is an anomaly. An exception and not the rule."

There was an unsatisfied grunt, but Jonah didn't press any further. "Speaking of Monster Zero, you might be interested to know what we discovered through our backdoor into Monarch's systems." There was a pause, probably for dramatic effect. "It can speak."

Maddie furrowed her brows in confusion. All of the titans they'd seen could speak. They've been speaking to each other a lot since congregating on Isla de Mara. "What do you mean 'speak'?" her mom asked. It was the exact question Maddie wanted answered. Did they really believe the noises the titans made to each other were just that?

"I mean it can talk...in English. What does your research say about that?" Both Maddie and her mom—if the silence was any indication—were stunned speechless.

"That's...not possible," her mom tried to deny.

"Is it? Then, feel free to watch the newest recordings." Rapid footsteps lead away from the intercom, so Maddie shut off the system and sat back, completely dumbfounded by what she'd just learned.

"Monster Zero can talk?" Even saying it aloud didn't make it seem any less ludicrous. If it were true, what would that mean? She remembered Dr. Serizawa always saying that Godzilla was the key to coexistence between man and titan, but what if he was wrong? What if Monster Zero was? If it really could speak English, then it could theoretically translate between the two.

She didn't really know how to feel about the potential, but that sounded more like the future her mom had promised her. There was no utopia on this path. She knew that now. She also knew that she needed to get her hands on that recording to find out for herself. And if it was true...well, it might actually be easier to call the giant dragon than Monarch. After all, the device to do just that was right down the hall.

AN: So, to recap, Monarch gets a wake-up call when Ghidorah speaks, the four titans are splitting up to deal with a new threat, and Maddie actually has been dropping some eves. It seems a plan might be forming in her mind-part of one at least. Eleven percent, maybe. And no, that's not a Stranger Things joke.

Anyway, let me know what you think. Leave any requests in a review. I'll pm you back with the yay or nay.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22