I

2030

Godzilla's Lair

The South Pacific

At last, home. He had returned after the sensation of impending doom had left him; the feeling of a grand threat had dissipated following the defeat of the ruthless Skar King and the liberation of one of the ancient titans from his control, Shimo.

What made it even better was that most of the Titans knew their place and adapted to their new roles in his world; there were no longer squabbles and territorial disputes. Most, if not all, knew they would get a thrashing if they stepped out of line. Just three years ago, Scylla and Tiamat were two examples of what happens when they don't acknowledge the king and his rule over the surface world. The death of Scylla brought nervousness to any other Titans that were even considering going rogue, and the eradication of Tiamat stunned the surface-level Titans into total submission.

The others' obedience made his job easier and gave the big guy a little extra time to sleep. However, after three years of serene silence, something was off once more…

He felt the vibrations of the broken soil rippling against his skin, and he felt the anger of whatever this threat was within every fiber of his being. This wasn't a titan he recognized from the surface world. All seventeen were either asleep or coexisting with the little ones that were numerous on the surface. This was coming from the deep Hollows where the ape Kong lived.

Despite the ape having helped him twice now, one time even saving his life from a metal clone of himself and the next as a supporting role in the war against Skar King, it was painfully evident that his estranged ally couldn't hold the weight of the Hollows on his shoulders. It should have been easy, but it wasn't. The two had made a deal, and he could only hope that Kong wasn't breaking it. He misunderstood the ape in their previous encounter, being fueled by an overwhelming amount of energy from Tiamat's lair and driven by an urge to destroy anything that might resemble the cold-hearted Skar King, he had attempted to slaughter Kong just for Mothra to make an unexpected arrival to diffuse the situation.

His respect for Kong grew, but that didn't mean he would be his friend. He called it how he saw and felt it, and right now, something was burrowing towards the surface world that slipped past the simian king of the Hollow Earth.

This 'something' was aggressive in its approach; it wanted to destroy. He could feel the rage of this creature from miles away, boiling the waters, disrupting the life that swam all around him in his lair.

With a snort, he uncurled himself and snarled at the thought of the balance of the natural order being once again disrupted. The good thing is that he felt that this new threat wasn't of a world-ending type like Ghidorah or Skar King with Shimo at his side, but still, things could get out of hand if this thing was to be kept unchecked.

It was time to put this stranger in its place.

So, he stomped from his lair, exiting the air pocket and shooting himself into the deep waters of the South Pacific. Propelling himself with his powerful tail, feeling the water rush past him against his new body build. Three years ago, he had lost most of his bulk in his preparation for war against the crimson-haired tyrant, gaining a leaner form with new elbow spikes and a thagomizer at the tip of his tail. Still, now, some of the bulk was returning to him. He wasn't as big as he was in years before, but it wouldn't be long before he reached those levels again.

A warning rumbled from deep within him, his radiation spreading just as his senses were, rippling the waters he swam through. His spines pulsated a deep purple, his eyes sharing the glow as he bared his teeth. A warning. Go away if you know what's good for you…

Most titans felt his display of power even from afar, but he didn't sense any sign of submission from this titan, and so it would have to learn the hard way what happens when you try to screw with the king and his domain…

He picked up the location. This thing was traveling somewhere in Eastern Europe. Its rage grew by the second as it drew nearer and nearer to the surface world. For a titan native to the Hollows, it was a remarkably fast burrower, which meant no time to be wasted. With a powerful thrashing of his tail from side to side, he propelled himself forward, his violet-glowing eyes scanning the underwater mountains and caverns surrounding him.

The beating of his god-sized heart increased as he spotted a glowing vortex within a tunnel. With a growl, he shot himself into it, and everything went dark for but a second before he felt reality itself stretching around him. A colorful display of lights danced and spiraled in his vision for a good minute before he felt everything around him stretch until it popped!

Now, he was closer, still in the water but far from where he was initially located. His heart rate continued to climb as he felt closer to the threat than before, his mind settling on two potential outcomes. One, he intercepts the beast before it even reaches the surface, and two, he makes landfall as soon as the unknown threat gets to its destination. The king hoped for the former, as he knew within his heart that any confrontation would have those pesky little ones following him in their giant bugs with those strange symbols and emblems on the side of the bugs.

Flashing his intimidation display again, the king let out a threatening roar, trying a second time to deter whatever thing was away from the surface. This time, he received a response in the form of a defiant growl from the threat. The reasoning was out of the window, and a physical conflict was inevitable.

The threat was now two miles below the planet's surface, and so was the king…

Monarch Crew Residence

Barbados

"So, how have you been liking the last two years, huh?" Trapper asked as he took a bite of some chicken alfredo, glancing up at his ex, who sat before him. Ilene smiled and nodded her head.

"It's been…pleasant." the linguist said, shuddering at the thought of what happened three years ago. The world was close to ending for the third time in just eight years. Honolulu, San Fran, Washington, Cairo, Munich, Rio, Boston…just a few names of once famous cities worldwide that had been reduced to overgrowths of vegetation typically found only in the depths of the Hollow Earth.

"I wonder when something else will happen, though…" Ilene sighed; Trapper playfully rolled his eyes as he poked his fork into another bite of chicken alfredo.

"Oh come on, babe, I don't think there's gonna be another world-ender for a while." He took a bite and swallowed before continuing. "Besides, even if there's something else. Godzilla will take care of it if Kong gets too lazy."

"Oh, well, you and I both know that Kong isn't lazy…" the linguist said, sounding somewhat offended as she thought about the last sighting of Kong. The big ape had been getting to know each of the apes he had since brought from the fiery hellhole of Skar King's lair. Shimo stuck with the tribe of great apes as a token of gratitude for her liberation.

"That's why I said if…" Trapper grinned a second before taking a sip from the glass of water at his front on the table before him and Dr. Ilene Andrews. As Dr. Andrews twirled her fork in a plate full of pasta, she felt something whirring in her pocket. With an annoyed sigh, she examined the notification on her phone.

She was annoyed at first but then smiled as if it was just a joke, but Trapper watched as her beautiful brown eyes scanned the screen of her phone, and that smile faded away almost as soon as it came to her voluptuous lips. Her eyes widened, and her lips parted to reveal a toothy frown, a look of dread.

"Oh…oh my…." She said before standing up quickly and turning around, moving with a pep toward Control.

"What's going on?" Trapper asked as he scooted back and stood up, no response. He tried again to receive the same result as he watched Dr. Andrews disappear around the corner, exiting catering.

Here we go again… Trapper thought to himself with a roll of his eyes.

Dr. Andrews burst into control and headed toward three monitors, Director Hampton staring at the largest one in the center, which showed a map of Paris, France. Judging by the massive circle in the center of the map and the red dot with the Monarch symbol just beyond it, the linguist determined this titan to be located near the historic Arc De Triomphe.

"What brings you here?" Hampton said, half a smirk on her face as she glanced up to Dr. Andrews, who traded a rather stern look with her superior, who was ridden with anxiety as her eyes were glued to the monitors.

"Same reason as you, I suppose." Dr. Andrews replied as she looked at satellite footage of what was going on in the top right monitor. A large dust cloud had been thrown into the air at the front of the Arc De Triomphe. People were seen screaming and fleeing with terror near the bottom of the cloud as a large claw in the shape of a bear's paw emerged. The bear's skin was dark red and rocky, with dark claws jetting out of four fingers.

"The hell is this thing!?" Hampton screamed with confusion. In that instant, several Monarch personnel pulled up several results for titans known to go through the France area. However, none of them matched this thing as its large head emerged. It had a single horn protruding from the center of its bumpy forehead, thick, powerful jaws, and large elephantine ears with bulbous red eyes.

Coming from the depths of the Hollow Earth was the titan known as Baragon, a titan not recognized in any of Monarch's records.

"He literally just appeared…" Dr. Andrews gasped as she watched the beast unknown to them take a swing at some French police officers, unloading round after round into its thick hide, their bullets merely bouncing off of him like rubber balls from a hard wall.

"I can't wait for all the phone calls…" Hampton groaned as she and the linguist watched Baragon pull himself from the hole in the ground with a triumphant roar. The rest of Paris was in the background as he began to crawl through the crowded streets, trampling helpless tourists and locals under his massive feet.

Just then, another red Monarch symbol popped up in the Seine River, and Dr. Andrews glanced up to the monitor to the right to see a familiar saurian beast emerge from the water. Sediment and massive droplets fell freely off the king's body as he roared a threat towards Baragon!

"Son of a bitch…" Dr. Andrews gasped.

"Please don't hit each other too hard…" Director Hampton groaned as she rubbed her face into the palm of her hands, brushing off some sweat that had started to accumulate on her forehead.

Baragon turned his massive head towards Godzilla and roared, who slammed his massive tail into the ground, smashing the streets to gigantic cracks in the road, killing any fleeing citizens without care as his eyes zeroed in on his enemy. The amber eyes of Godzilla flashed a violet color, and the same could be said for his spines as loud booms of power echoed around the city. The intimidation display didn't work, and Baragon became aggressive! The four-legged beast stood around the same height as Suko on all fours, but when Baragon rose to swing at Godzilla's head, he stood near the same height.

Unfortunately for the subterranean monster, Godzilla caught his thick arm and launched him into a building with ease. Baragon's massive body disappeared into a cloud of smoke and dust as the massive building that carried such a history to it was in large chunks on the ground now. The king bared his teeth and growled towards the dust cloud, hoping that this threat would submit, and when everything went still, he thought it to be so. However, Godzilla wouldn't be letting his guard down yet. The great saurian titan stood still, time seemed to slow down as his eyes scanned the ruined streets below him, the dust cleared from where Baragon contacted the building, and replacing the body was a massive hole in the ground. Was he retreating or…?

Then he saw him, large ripples shifting through the nearby Seine River. The king noticed the outline of a massive body within, and the ridges of Baragon's armored back were seen sticking out of the water before he tunneled into solid ground again. Godzilla watched as the roads bumped upwards like welts forming on a human body, buildings collapsing when Baragon burrowed beneath them, falling like dominoes with great plumes of dust and smoke rising where they once stood. The welts in the ground swelled in a semi-circular pattern but then redirected themselves, heading straight towards Godzilla.

The king's eyes narrowed, and a grin appeared on his reptilian face as he stepped to the side, lined it up, and…

THWACK! Bargaon leapt from the ground just to get smacked from the air by Godzilla's tail like a professional slugger striking a fastball, the subterranean monster howled in pain as his thick body soared through the air, smashing through the historic Arc De Triomphe to the dismay of onlookers.

I can hear 'em right now, Director Hampton thought to herself as she groaned with disbelief, hands rummaging through her dark hair.

"For Christ's sake…would he just end it already?" She seethed as she watched Baragon pick himself up and rear on his hind legs as Godzilla started to make his way towards him, then the beast opened his maw and a massive stream of fire erupted from it. Everyone in Control gasped at the sight, but Godzilla was undeterred as he kept charging. He immediately opened fire with his powerful atomic ray; a thin blue beam spiraled with a fiery purple energy aura. Baragon's fire breath was no match for Godzilla's beam attack, which pierced through the fire like a knife through butter and slammed into Baragon's face! The beast fell back and collapsed on his side, but the king bore down, the beam pushing against the ribs of the threat, grinding him against the ground.

Godzilla noticed that Baragon wasn't fighting back, and he let off the gas, purple smoke billowing from his mouth as he took a deep breath. A deep gash had been sliced into Baragon's side, loads of green blood and gore dripping from the wound as he groaned in agony. The titan tried to stand, but it collapsed flat on his stomach, weakness in his eyes, looking rather afraid as the king stomped towards him.

Godzilla slammed his foot down with unmatched fury near Baragon's face, sending a shockwave through his broken body. Baragon slowly looked up to be met face-to-face with the wrath of the king of the monsters, who was roaring right in his face. It was a command, a stern one.

Submit, submit, or perish…and Baragon chose to submit. With his remaining strength, he forced himself up with his forelimbs and lowered his head at his king's feet, acknowledging Godzilla's supremacy.

Satisfied, the king reared his head back and bellowed a roar of triumph to the sky. Sending fear down Baragon's spine as he crawled away and back into the hole from whence he came. The king then turned and entered the Seine River, out of sight, almost like there was never even a scuffle to begin with.

Unfortunately, the reality began to dawn upon Paris. Blue and red lights flashed with sirens echoing all around the streets; the rank of the dead had to be in the high hundreds or possibly near the thousand mark from just a minor fight that barely even lasted a minute. It was just a little longer than his beatdown on Scylla from three years ago, and yet almost double the amount of human life perished.

As if on cue, phone calls began to blare all around Control—from presidents, prime ministers, government officials, disgruntled civilians, and so many more. Director Hampton's heart pounded a little harder than before, but it wasn't from dread; it was from anger.

"Strange. I thought they would have called a long time ago…" she scoffed, rolling her eyes. Dr. Andrews sighed as she watched her superior grab a phone with a jerky motion and begin speaking into it.

"Let me guess…" Trapper began from behind Dr. Andrews, startling her; it was a relief to see that it was just him and not some angry Monarch spokesperson wanting to rant and direct his anger toward her. "Godzilla and some other thing touched up a popular city?"

"Bingo." Dr. Andrews said with a smile, a little hint of laughter slipping from her lips.

"Godzilla…predictable as always," Trapper said as he watched a red Monarch symbol slowly fade into nothing on the radar.

"Well…what happened was unpredictable. This titan is something that isn't on our files." Ilene said, rewinding the satellite footage of the brief battle.

"Well, I'll be. What the hell is that thing?" Trapper asked, zeroing in on the footage, leaning against the control panel.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Dr. Andrews replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Well, judging by that hole in the ground, I think it's safe to say that it came from the…"

"Hollow Earth." Dr. Andrews finished.

"Well, if Godzilla was able to beat it, that must mean it wasn't a huge threa—" Dr. Andrews cut Trapper off quick.

"If the thing Godzilla fought came from the Hollow Earth, it can't be a good sign. Titans or megafauna from the Hollow Earth come up here to explore, find food, or…"

"Are fleeing from something." Trapper finished for Dr. Andrews.

"Took the words from my mouth!" Ilene said, a smile creeping onto her face.

"What could it be fleeing from?"

"That's what I'm worried about, 'Trap…" Dr. Andrews sighed. "For all we know it could be Kong that made it run up here, but…I don't know…"

"How about you call down there and see?"

Outpost 2

Subterranean Realm

The Hollow Earth

Settled behind a grand waterfall was Outpost 2; the destruction of Outpost 1 three years prior had been the catalyst for the location. The interior was similar to Outpost 54 in Bermuda, albeit at a minuscule scale compared to the flagship facility. The entire mountain had been hollowed out for the construction of the outpost. HEAVS were parked on helipads directly behind the waterfall entrance and a secret entry at the top of the flattened mountain, covered by the Hollow Earth's foliage.

Due to what Monarch had dubbed "The Rio War" and the surprise appearance of the Skar King and his army of wicked apes, it had become the top priority to explore deeper depths of the Hollow Earth and to learn more about the Titans with the help of the Iwi who had since developed good relations with Monarch personnel.

Despite Monarch's herculean efforts at scouring every inch of the inner world as they could, a grand majority was still uncharted, and this fact always lingered in the backs of their minds. What if there was something else like Skar King in the Hollow Earth that wanted to wage war and conquer the surface world? What if there was another world-ender like Shimo? How many world-enders existed beneath our feet?

Dan Silver, a G-Team lieutenant stationed down here, sat on a large rock just beyond the waterfall, smoking a menthol as he watched fauna such as the beasts they called "Diraffes" graze on tall exotic trees. Warbats flew high in the air with their packs, and of course, the occasional flock of leafwings also flew overhead.

At one point in time, Dan was a complete skeptic of Hollow Earth. When Dr. Nathan Lind, a newly renowned scientist of Monarch, wrote his book regarding such matters, the Syracuse resident took Nathan to be insane! Ever since Skull Island was revealed to the public, Dan believed that all titans came from there. Some even called it Monster Island. If Kong lived there, Skullcrawlers dwelled there, and all sorts of never-before-seen creatures thrived on the island, Godzilla and the rest must have come from there too!

Alas, Dan was proven wrong in 2027. He first signed up with Monarch in 2021 as a new member of the G-Team under Col. Diane Foster. Before signing up with Monarch, he had five years of military experience with the United States Navy and was one of the only soldiers to have survived the fruitless battle against Rodan and Ghidorah in now-ruined Washington, D.C.

In 2027, he had been on vacation. Spending time in Rio De Janeiro with his wife and two daughters. They were on their way to the beach to spend some time in the sun and to watch their children play in the ocean when they had felt a sudden tremor, judging by the reactions of those around them, they weren't the only ones that felt it. The quake had only lasted for five seconds before suddenly stopping, no damage had been done asides for a couple of fallen trashcans that had tipped over during the brief but violent shaking.

They had continued their journey to the beach when something massive burst from the sand, at that point Dan and his family ran and didn't look back until they were a far enough distance away. The terror and the screams were something that still bothered him and haunted his dreams. To think that they were seconds away from death had they not reacted the way they did…it was trauma-inducing, nonetheless.

Smoking eased the pain, as a matter of fact, he went through a couple packs a day, always heading to the shop within the outpost to buy more cancer-sticks to deal with his trauma. His salt and pepper beard had since turned yellow right under his nose, and his false teeth had also been yellowed. Everywhere Dan went, he carried a smoky scent to him, sometimes he would puff any remains out as he entered the outpost again, earning him the nickname "Haze" by various personnel.

Having eased the daily negativity away, he gave the butt a toss into the rapids fifty feet below him and made his way up a ridge. The sounds of the waterfall at point blank were nigh deafening but calming, all the same as when he passed through a revolving door.

"What's up Haze!" a young man called from afar. Dan gave a little finger salute before he kept on his way. "How have you been lately?" the young man continued, standing next to a monitor that displayed satellite footage of various parts of the Hollow Earth that Monarch considered points of interest.

"Ah, the same old, same old, I guess!" Dan called out with a grin as he approached an elevator that opened. He stood on some pads on the floor, and they lit up, illuminating his bright blue body. The door slid open, and he entered.

"Please select your floor!" A robotic female voice cheerfully spoke in the elevator; Dan's eyes scanned a map showing where the numbers would usually be.

"Take me to the Kong observation unit, please!" Dan called out.

"Taking you to: Kong…department!" The voice replied with a ding trailing its sentence.

The doors closed, and up Dan went; the Kong Department was located near the top of the outpost, close to the hangar door at the top of the mountain. The department contained a library of all the studies and files on Kong and the things he interacted with, be it potential prey or even predators that he fought on a near-weekly basis. There was a lounge room, a buffet (which every department had), an observation unit, and a special area where Kong could enter if he ever got hurt, though the personnel weren't too keen on exposing their outpost to any other titans that could follow him there.

Dan entered the lounge room, which was connected to the buffet and dining hall, approaching a counter to grab a large red bin of Folger's Columbian Roast. He filled the cup all the way before dumping it into a filter. As he began to brew his coffee, a close friend of his, Nicholas Barton, stood next to him with a tablet in his hands.

"Watcha looking a—" Dan was interrupted when Nicholas raised a finger with a stern look on his face; Dan didn't see the phone that was held up to his ear in Nick's other hand.

It's the boss Nicholas mouthed towards Dan, a cheeky smile replacing his stern look, which Dan snickered at as he continued to brew his coffee.

"Kong's doing alright at the moment. He doesn't look too angry. He just looks deep in thought." Nicholas spoke to Dr. Andrews.

"Deep in thought?" The linguist said, her voice filled with confusion.

"Yeah, looks like he's out hunting with his tribe. Shimo is with 'em, little Kong too."

"Suko! He's called Suko for crying out loud!" Trapper was heard somewhere within the background on Dr. Andrews' line, though Nicholas could barely hear him.

"What's Trapper yapping about?" Nicholas asked.

"Little Kong is called Suko." Dr. Andrews explained; there was no hint of joy or laughter in her voice at all.

"Gee, wish somebody could have told us…" Nicholas scoffed. "Anyways, I've rewound the satellite footage as far back as two days ago. We haven't found anything like what Godzilla fought on the surface. We got the name of it though with the help of the Iwi, it's called Baragon, apparently."

"Good to know. Have you caught Baragon on any of the other monitors?" Dr. Andrews asked; Nicholas shrugged his shoulders with a nervous smile.

"I can call the level below me and see, as far as we know, we haven't seen any sign of Baragon other than what went on in Paris."

"That would be awesome, Nick, thank you."

Dr. Andrews and Dr. Barton hung up after exchanging their goodbyes. Nicholas removed his black Monarch brand baseball cap and scratched the large bald spot on the top of his head with a nervous sigh.

"What's up, Nick?" Dan asked.

"We're gonna have a long day with this one." Nick chuckled.

"When do we not?"