The One Who Lost His Way

AN: If anyone's curious as to why I didn't post for my other two stories last weekend, I had family from out of state visiting and just didn't have the time to work on them. And instead of pushing the whole schedule back a week, I just went ahead and skipped that week's posts since those two stories are my less popular ones (For now, hopefully).

In total, there were only four people that commented about the questions and suggestions that I placed in last chapter's long author's note (two in reviews, two in PMs). I think there was a bit of miscommunication on my part for one of the questions, though. When I said Jonah would have his men 'take care' of Maddie, I put that in quotation marks because they wouldn't get the chance to. It was actually a question as to whether or not Maddie should leave sooner rather than later.

Of course I'm not going to have her killed! Lol

All four said Rodan should live.

Three of four were alright with Ghidorah's telepathic 'drift' ability. It's not actually a drift from Pacific Rim, I just don't know what else to call it right now. The end result is similar, but the way it's achieved is radically different. A full explanation can be found in last chapter's AN.

Only two of four liked the idea of Ghidorah being able to 'condense' their form into a smaller version of themselves. This particular ability would be very limited in its use, but the idea is to put Ghidorah and humans on a similar playing field to allow better communication. Again, a full explanation can be found in last chapter's AN.

And I think that's it. If anyone else has any thoughts about those two abilities, be sure to make them known.

Key:

"Titan speak"

"Human speak"

Character's inner thoughts

"Telepathic communication"

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

75 miles southwest of Man-Pupu-Ner Formation, Russia:

There was nothing but trees as far as the eye could see in every direction. In front, behind, left, right, it didn't matter. The whole landscape from horizon to horizon was nothing but a sea of green. They could see no signs of human occupation anywhere nearby, and that had remained true for nearly an hour. Either they had gotten lucky with this particular flight path, or this part of the world was just that sparsely populated.

It was the silence of it all that really stood out. For the first time, their flight over land was unimpeded and unmonitored. Well...mostly. Ichi was certain the humans were watching him through their orbital installations. Even then, it didn't take that much assumption. That same human craft was still following them from a distance. The faint whuppa-whuppa it made was the only sound to be heard other than that of the wind blowing through the leaves of the countless trees below.

The peaceful serenity of their surroundings had even calmed Ni a bit, the aggressive middle brother oddly quiet despite the battle to be had. If there even was a battle to be had here. They'd neither heard, seen, nor smelt another titan in the area. The trees remained unbroken, and no strange calls echoed on the wind. He'd call the entire area desolate if not for the abundance of flora and smaller fauna to be seen for miles in every direction. Of the titan, however, there was no sign.

"Did we seriously fly all this way for nothing?" Ni growled, more from annoyance at the wasted trip than anything else. And it did seem to Ichi that it might have been a wasted trip, indeed. If they were close, they should have found some sign of their quarry, even if it was only the faintest of traces.

"Well...maybe this is a good time to talk to the humans that have been following us," San suggested. Ni growled again, though not necessarily at San's idea. Ichi could tell that his brother was having a bit harder of a time in moving on from their...misguided past. Ni still believed talking with the humans would achieve nothing, that no other species could be trusted with their own existence.

From what they'd seen since their awakening, Ichi was starting to believe Ni may be right. Still, he had no intentions of returning to their destructive ways even if that did indeed end up being true. Perhaps then they would simply float from system to system, planet to planet, with no purpose for existing other than to simply exist. It was madness to even consider such a horrible existence. To Ichi, it was far better to chase a seemingly impossible goal than to simply give up entirely.

And who knows? Perhaps their goal of saving humanity wasn't so hopeless, after all. Maybe they could save this one species from the mistakes of countless others. It was...an optimistic view on their current situation, to say the least. They knew not the current political climate of this planet, but if a splinter group was trying to use the titans to wipe out their enemies, things probably weren't great.

Ichi turned them on a more northerly course, the craft San continually monitored, following their course correction. Another minute went by without the slightest whiff of anything out of the ordinary, and Ichi nearly growled in frustration at being lead on a false trail when San spoke up, turning his gaze north. "Do either of you hear that?"

Personally? No, Ichi heard nothing besides the faint sound of the craft following them. Ni, likewise, heard nothing. However, when San shared his senses with his brothers, they both narrowed their eyes at the horizon. They could see nothing. However, San, the one with the keenest senses, could hear faint booms in the distance just on the edge of his perception. And then, there was a strange roar, one none of them had heard before.

"I do believe San has located the fight you so crave, Ni," Ichi commented, gently bumping his muzzle against San's cheek as if to say 'good job'. San, usually the one who absolutely delighted in hearing praise, was so focused on the sounds that he failed to react to Ichi's small act of affection. It made the middle head snort in amusement.

Ni snarled in anticipation. "Finally!" And just like that, Ni was back to his normal, aggressive, growly self.

Using San's senses, Ichi adjusted their course once again, turning just a smidge to the west. As the roars and explosions became louder, and therefore closer, Ichi could once again rely on his own senses to guide their flight. Still, even when the vaguest of silhouettes appeared on the horizon, none of them could pick up the other titan's scent. They could smell the freshness of nature around them—the trees and soil and animals blending together into something that just smelled of life. They could also smell the distant smoke from the fires caused by the humans' weapons igniting the forest. They could even smell the traces of exhaust from the human aircrafts.

But they could smell nothing else.

A titan without a scent? Surely such a thing was impossible. In all their travels, they'd never come across a creature without a scent. It was simply one of the truths of the universe. Everything had a distinct smell, even unliving objects like the human aircraft. They smelled of exhaust and rubber, with a hint of whatever chemical was used to clean them.

Even from this distance, they could make out those unique scents, yet even San's legendary senses could not detect the titan's scent. As the battle grew closer, however, the reason for that became clear. A titan made of trees? Ichi thought to himself in slight surprise. Sure, they had encountered living plants on other planets, but he had not expected to find such a lifeform on this planet.

Something far more concerning, however, was what Ichi could detect from their soon-to-be quarry. Being the central, controlling head of their body, Ichi had a much more complex synapse system than his brothers. While they only had to control their own necks, Ichi controlled the rest of their body, occasionally surrendering partial control to either Ni or San for a short time. For the vast majority of the time, however, it was Ichi in total control. So while San had the keenest physical senses, and Ni was the most aggressive fighter, Ichi was far, far more sensitive to telepathic frequencies. And he could detect such frequencies from the plant-titan. They were muted, distorted almost, but the signals Ichi sensed were undoubtedly strong.

He informed his brothers as such with a quick thought but continued to keep to a high altitude as they watched the battle below. The human aircrafts, of which there were several types, seemed to strike in a strangely disjointed yet concerted effort. The fast ones would dive and fire their explosives or their guns while a different sort of machine that made the whuppa-whuppa sounds than the one that had been following them would strafe around the creature, firing their own guns and explosives.

They were employing two separate strategies to accomplish one goal. It seemed effective enough, but it didn't make sense to them. Why use two different techniques at the same time when one would work just fine. The creature had no hope of hitting the fast moving machines, so why not just solely use that strategy and not risk the others?

Perhaps they were simply too large to think like such small creatures.

In any case, it mattered little to them. The humans seemed either unaware of or unconcerned with their presence above, yet the plant-titan knew they were they. Ichi could sense it knew. But it was preoccupied with the humans attacking it.

They dove, the wind whipping at their scales from the rapid descent. Human fast machines had to swerve out of their attack run or risk smashing against their golden hide. Right before impact, the creature turned with a shriek, and they flared their wings, smashing into it feet first. It stood no chance against their enormous size. One of its arms was sheered off by the impact as the rest of its body caught a few seconds of air before rolling several times and coming to a stop several spans away. A massive trench of destroyed trees and displaced earth denoted the path it took during its tumble.

Somehow, it was still able to recover from that massive strike, albeit slowly. Still, they spread their wings and rose up, showing their sheer size and roaring in challenge. Ichi fully expected the display to subdue the titan that was half their size and likely only a fraction of their weight. When it actually roared back its own challenge, he was genuinely stunned by the audacity, or more likely, the stupidity.

Miniscule impacts began peppering their back and necks when the humans foolishly decided to attack them, as well. Ichi glanced to Ni, "Give them a single warning." They would get no more than that.

Ni glared at the closest aircraft hovering nearby and snarled before turning back to their quarry. The small aggravations stopped—for now, at least—and then they were left with just the big one. There was a sort of madness in its gaze, though they also spied a keen intelligence. "Your King demands you surrender!" Ichi would give it one chance to stand down, and then Ni would get to have his fun.

When it spoke, its voice was creaky and grating, a sound not unlike that of the trees it was made from. "You are not my King, false one!" Hmm...perhaps that was a miscommunication on their part. Not that they had any chance to correct that. Several trees in the vicinity were uprooted suddenly by an invisible force and coalesced into a new arm for the creature. It clenched its new fist with an animalistic snarl, its wickedly long—and sharp—claws glinting menacingly in the sunlight.

They lowered their wings and readied for combat, bringing their heads closer to their body defensively and widening their stance in case they needed to move quickly. While it wouldn't kill them—and they could heal any wounds inflicted upon them—those claws looked sharp enough to pierce their scales and cause significant damage, nonetheless. It would be beneficial to not be hit. Still, they had a rather significant advantage in this fight for one reason only...

Their opponent was made of plants.

It charged them with another roar just then, but it was too far away to reach them in time. The electrical charge within them grew as their greatest weapon was readied, the power waiting to be expelled from each of their maws. They loosed the torrent with a screech, each beam impacting their quarry to great effect. Parts of it were blasted off. Other pieces caught fire.

The battle hadn't even begun, yet they'd already won...or so Ichi thought. None of them had seen the blow coming before it was too late, and all three heads roared in surprised pain, their gravity beams ceasing in an instant when their opponent's claws gouged four deep gashes into their chest. Another blow was heading straight for San, though Ichi saw it and was able to warn his brother in time. San dodged the blow before clamping onto the thing's neck, Ni following suit from the other side as Ichi blasted it with his electricity from point blank.

The smell and taste of burnt wood nearly caused his brothers to gag as they released their hold, the creature falling to the ground in a smoldering heap at their feet. They stepped back, seeing no movement and detecting no life from the husk of ruined plant matter. Ichi glanced down at their wound with a snarl. Black blood seeped from it in a steady stream. It stung, though San craned his neck down to lick the wound, easing the pain slightly.

Still, Ichi couldn't deduce how they'd been hit in the first place. It would have been too far away to strike them when it had. The glare from their lightning did not affect their ability to see so much to make them gauge the distance completely wrong. As he attempted to puzzle that out, Ichi sensed a spike in telepathic frequencies. San stopped and stared at the other titan in shock as it slowly stood back up, new foliage coalescing into yet another body. Ni snarled as their opponent stood, appearing unharmed, yet again, "You sure are a glutton for punishment."

It didn't respond, merely charging at them again. So far, they'd been going easy, staying defensive and attempting to end this quickly, but now it was time to put this thing down. They roared back, launching into the air above the creature's head, it trying futilely to strike them as they sailed over its head. Their twin tails wrapped around the thing's neck, and they used both the momentum and leverage to throw the creature into the area of the forest that was still ablaze from the humans' earlier attacks.

"Burn the forest!" Ichi commanded his brothers with a snarl. If this thing used trees to regenerate itself, then they would burn all of the trees. As Ni and San used their gravity beams to burn the forest around them, trees splintering and earth exploding in each beam's wake. The creature shrieked in anger at the destruction and then pain as Ichi used his own gravity beam to prevent it from retaliating.

As they continued to hover there, Ichi released the power he had so far kept in check. With every one of their powerful wingbeats, the plentiful water vapor in the area became superheated, causing it to convect. The smoke from the now blazing forest, with flames higher than even the trees, only added to the effect, making storm clouds form that much faster.

Within minutes, their opponent was once more a smoldering husk in the middle of the burning forest. Each of their wingbeats and the rising wind making the flames spread even quicker as great thunderheads formed above, the glow from the fire contrasting hellishly underneath the blackening sky.

Several explosions against their back and the roar of passing human fliers made them roar in fury. They were warned, Ichi narrowed his eyes. He had no idea why they were attacking again after they defeated the other titan. Perhaps they didn't like their forest being set ablaze. Whatever their reason, they had made a foolish decision.

With a roar, Ichi flapped their wings harder, gaining altitude until they were in the heart of the storm clouds, the effect of their wingbeats growing exponentially more potent now that they were one with the storm. The humans didn't follow, but the air was their domain, and there was more than one way to see. They could read the currents and detect the disruptions created by the human machines. Lightning struck out, the storm itself becoming an extension of their will and turning on the metal war machines.

Each was struck in turn, and within a matter of moments, the humans who dared attack them were defeated. As they landed once more, a cloud of ash puffed up from the ground on impact. Twig-like trees snapped around them, each one creating yet more puffs of ash when they hit the ground. The strong winds caught each cloud, blowing the ash around into a singular cloud thick enough to impede vision. Still, they spied some humans being tossed about by the strong winds as they floated down on curious contraptions meant to slow their fall. They were no threat now and easily ignored.

They stalked over to their downed opponent, who could only whimper pitifully at their approach, and slammed a clawed foot atop its head hard enough to hurt but not enough to kill. Ichi snaked his head down to look in its eyes. "Do you yield?" he hissed.

"Or shall we just finish you off?" Ni snarled.

Through the roar of the fire and the snapping of trees, they heard the quiet reply. "I yield..."

Ichi snorted in disdain as he stood, lifting their foot from the downed plant-thing. It groaned pitifully in response. "Remember this when next you decide to challenge Godzilla's orders."

"Wait..." It slowly lifted its head, though it quickly collapsed back to the ground. Most of its body, what parts were left, was still smoldering, and there were no unburnt trees for it to heal. It would die here without assistance. "The King controls you?"

Each head, even San, growled at the thought. "Ghidorah is controlled by no one! We help the King of our own free will." ...For now, Ichi mentally added. Whether they would continue to do so for much longer was up for debate. They still did not know what path their future would take quite yet. But they knew for certain that remaining as Godzilla's minion was not an option if for no other reason than their pride.

It was then that the rain began, a deluge strong enough to put out many of the smaller blazes. The plant-thing hissed in pain, but the smoldering parts of its body were being put out. It would live.

A familiar sound caught their attention, and their heads all at once turned to find the flying machine through the lingering smoke and ash. It was Ichi who spotted it first, flying low to the ground and closing the distance rapidly.

"Shall we finish them off, too?" Ni asked, his voice returning to normal now that the fight was done. Ichi nearly said yes, though a moment of thought changed his mind. They had been smart enough to stay away during the battle and were only now coming closer.

It eventually stopped nearly a span away and hovered at about chest height, its back pointed towards them. The hatch opened...

Aboard Monarch osprey, several minutes earlier:

"I don't remember the weatherman sayin' anything about pop-up thunderstorms!" Barnes shouted above the fury of the storm and the titan within.

Griffin was able to keep the craft mostly steady despite the strong winds, but the turbulence was still shaking the osprey around pretty bad. All of them were strapped in their seats and holding on for dear life. And they were three miles out! Any closer, she said, and things would be too rough.

"Monster Zero's the one doing it," Mark returned, wincing as a particularly bad shudder hit the osprey. "Couldn't tell you how, though. I'm no weatherman." It was the only thing that made sense, though, and mostly because no other logical explanation worked.

It wasn't a pyrocumulonimbus, at least not entirely. The fire was large enough to create one, definitely, but those clouds had formed way too fast, so the timing didn't line up. No one said anything. Barnes and Martinez were trying to catch any glimpse of the fight possible out of the osprey's small windows. Dr. Graham, like him, was holding on to anything nearby just in case, and Sam seemed to be regretting his choice to join them on this 'adventure'.

Speaking of which, it was a miracle the Russians hadn't detected them at all. Or, if they had, they hadn't done anything about their presence. Still, the trip had used up almost all of their fuel, and all of them were praying for a bathroom right about now. Griffin told them they'd be stopping at the Monarch outpost nearby. What was left of it, anyway. Even if the place was trashed, they didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Woah! You see that?" Martinez's shout came just as a series of brilliant, yellow flashes lit up the interior of the craft. "Monster Zero just took out all the Russian aircraft!"

"It was just the lightning," Barnes tried to deny.

"Yeah, and the dude breathes lightning. And he can conjure storms, apparently." He paused long enough to look at the three scientists. "We sure this is a good idea?"

"A good bad idea, maybe," Barnes muttered, leaning back in his seat and taking a calming breath. Mark couldn't help but agree.

"Monster Zero just landed!" Griffin called from the cockpit. "Should I go in?"

"Do it, but don't crowd him. I don't want him thinking we're a threat." He saw her flash a thumbs up through the door, and the osprey changed course, heading straight towards the massive dragon.

The turbulence actually lessened, though the rain sounded like it was growing heavier. If Monster Zero wasn't aloft to keep it going, then the storm was probably just going to rain itself out. That was his theory, anyway.

The craft turned, and the cargo door began opening with a hydraulic whine. Mark unstrapped himself and walked towards the door, holding onto the railings attached to the wall and ceiling to prevent himself from tumbling out. Martinez and Barnes followed suit, but the other two stayed in their seats.

As the door opened, Sam said the most apt thing possible. "Oh, shit..." Three pairs of unfriendly eyes were glaring at them, one head even snarling. The middle head, which everyone agreed was the one in charge, regarded them with cool indifference while the left head was more curious.

The remaining fires made the dragon's golden scales glow a hellish red while the shadows from the clouds and ash covered the top of their heads and their wings in darkness. Six golden eyes seemed to glow with menace. And that was to say nothing of its size! Monster Zero was the largest titan on record in both size and weight. On paper that didn't mean much, but holy hell did those statistics start meaning something when this close to it!

The two soldiers clenched their weapons tighter, as if that would do any good, and Mark just stared at the creature that seemed straight from his worst nightmares in fear. Suddenly, this didn't seem like a good idea. Maybe they could just—

"Mark! You need to say something! We're past the point of return right now!" Dr. Graham's plea brought him out of it, and he sighed, taking a deep breath to try and calm his racing heart.

"Can you understand us?" he shouted, hoping to be heard over the heavy rain.

The right head didn't react much other than to narrow its eyes even further. The left head looked to the middle, who studied them intently. Suddenly, the middle head made a strange choking sound and then spoke, throwing away any remaining doubts they had about the truth. "Does this answer your question, human?" it rumbled. Before Mark could answer the clearly rhetorical question, it continued. "Why have you followed us all this way? What do you want?" Its eyes grew cold and suspicious, and Mark had the sudden sense that their lives depended on his answer.

"To speak to you!"

"Then speak," it commanded.

Barnes placed his hand on Mark's shoulder. "You got this, man," he reassured him. It felt like empty platitudes, but Mark nodded his thanks, regardless.

He honestly had no idea what to say, so he just started saying what sounded right. "We don't know much about you, and what we thought we knew, you ended up proving wrong. The latest assumption—or hope, rather—is that you're on Godzilla's side." He was originally going to say 'on humanity's side', but the dragon had shot down nearly four dozen Russian aircraft just a few minutes ago. "Is that true?"

The middle head seemed to think about its response for a moment before it answered. "For now..." A shiver went down Mark's spine at the answer. "In truth, we do not know our purpose. Do you propose to give us one?"

That seemed a double-edged sword if ever Mark had heard one. On one hand, if he answered 'no', the dragon would have no use for them. On the other hand, if he said 'yes', the dragon might call out their arrogance. The only option he really had was to go down the middle and turn the question back on it. "We're from a group called Monarch, and we're hunting the people sending the titans on a rampage. They have a device—"

"The ones who were there when we awoke," it interrupted. "We remember the device of which you speak. And we remember seeing you, human."

Mark nodded. "Yeah, I was there." Mark paused, debating whether or not to say what he was about to say, then giving himself a mental 'screw it' and just saying it. "Those people with the device; they have my daughter! I'm trying to do everything I can to get her back, but it's n-not enough!" Mark internally winced at how his voice cracked, but he couldn't help it. He was literally admitting to this dragon that he couldn't save his daughter when had never admitted to anyone else, not even himself. "I need your help to save her!"

The left head made a few noises at the middle head, who glanced at it for a moment. It was silent for a long while, and Mark was silently praying that the dragon would agree. Without the dragon's help, he wasn't sure what else he could do to save Maddie right now. "What is your daughter's name, human?"

"Madison! Madison Russell! But everyone calls her Maddie!," he answered immediately, hoping that question was a good sign. "And I'm Mark!"

Once more, the middle head glanced at the other two heads, no doubt communicating amongst themselves. At last, it spoke again. "Well, Mark...we are Ghidorah. And we shall help you find your daughter."

Mark's breath just left him in a whoosh. He had no idea why this dragon was agreeing to help, but his respect for this titan just went through the roof. Maybe he was being a bit naïve in taking the dragon at its word, but all he cared about was getting his daughter back. And if this dragon was willing to help him, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Thank you," he whispered, unsure if the dragon could even hear him.

"We're running on fumes here!" Griffin shouted. "We good to go?"

"Yeah!" Mark called back. "We gotta go refuel!" he told the dragon. "Are you going to follow?"

The middle head snorted as the plane began to rise. "No. But you should be able to find us should you need us again."

The door began to close, and then they were off, heading towards the nearby Monarch outpost. "Dude...you got balls of steel," Barnes joked. Mark just nodded, collapsing in the closest seat.

That had been the scariest thing he'd ever done in recent memory, but at least he could say the mission was accomplished. Monster Zero, Ghidorah, was on their side."

AN: In order to make the fight a teensy bit more interesting, I buffed Amhuluk's regeneration ability quite a bit. In canon, it would take days to regenerate wounds like he received, but that would make this fight a bit boring. I mean, it's King freakin' Ghidorah we're talking about here! Lightning beats plant any day of the week!

Still, Amhuluk got one good hit in before the short fight ended.

And Mark Ghidorah finally has a short chat with Mark. Now, they are allied to find Maddie and take down Jonah.

Next chapter will be from Godzilla's POV.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22