Prologue - Storm Fighter

Ice and snow. That was all there was to see for a couple of miles in these tundras. Barely any traces of civilization, yet even here humans could still be found. One long railway that connected the west with east. A village every view hundred kilometers apart at best, one of which being the coldest places on the planet.

They were far away from that by now, staying closer to the coast of the sea of Okhotsk. This is where they had heard a titan was going to visit the area, and they wanted to snap photos of it.

Hidemi and her husband Luke had been nature photographers for quite a while together, having shot photos for books, magazines and other things, but it was simply for the money, but also for their passion together in the hobby and about nature.

Ever since the mass awakening of the titans, things changed for people, for them it was on what kind of animals they had orientated. To them the Titans weren't gods to be worshipped or beings that wanted to destroy civilization, to them they were animals, much larger than anything they had seen in life previously, but still abiding to the rules of nature.

They were one of the view in opinion that coexistence with the titans was a vital key for the future. So, they took photos, as they always did, in order to advocate for the animals and nature they adored and wanted to help protect.

Today a Titan was said to come across this area, specifically the one that was known as Anguirus. It had a squabble with a distant ancient relative known as the titan Abbadon, who had attacked an oil rig far further north.

"Good riddance." Is what Luke thought to himself, as he stood up in these early morning hours, while it was still dark outside. The only sounds able to be heard was a view select sea bird calls and the sea itself, the waves brushing against the coast rather gently today.

The only other sound was the boiling water he had put in the heater to make a morning coffee. It was so cold outside, surely something like minus 10. But he didn't really mind or care. He had been in this kind of region before, and he didn't mind the cold, neither did Hidemi really and their thick winter coats and clothing protected them well against it. In the giant tent they had set up on top of a smaller hill near the beach, there was also a portable radiator. A luxury but given they had set themselves up here for a couple of days now, that was fine.

Nobody else was doing something like this, largely due to the weather. They were the only once brave or stupid enough to go out here and do this. At least they had been told after leaving the last station. But once again neither of them really cared, there was a thrill to it all even if not a ton happened.

As he filtered the coffee through and made a second batch for his wife, the sun slowly started to come out at the horizon, if barely so, but also clouds started to come over, pouring down snow. Maybe they could photograph just some view pictures before it would turn again, the other day there was an odd sudden snowstorm already.

He wanted to inside the tent, where Hidemi had already woken up and started to get ready for the day, but as he did, he felt something. First, he thought maybe it was just his legs getting a bit shaky from the cold, but then he looked down at the silver tin cup the coffee was in, the vibrations within it.

Hidemi had turned to him, the two looked at each other. "Get the camera!" His voice being quiet yet energetic.

Within less than 10 minutes they had dressed themselves fully to be outside and got their cameras ready for a to take a shot at the titan. Unfortunately for them, while the sun was slowly coming out, the cloud and snow started to pick up more. Making it harder to see under these conditions. But it was their only shot now, since after this, Anguirus would be going back into the sea.

They walked around near camp, going a bit down from the small hill they had put the camp on, trying to figure out where the vibrations came from, but it was impossible to make a distinction, it could be felt all over the place. Then Hidemi saw it, behind a smaller mountain, a kilometre away roughly, the titan came out.

"Honey look!" She yelled and pointed out, Luke was quickly to pick up on the situation, something that came natural with this job. "Quick, start taking pictures before the weather gets any worse."

Just as the Anguirus's head and front body peaked through they started snapping a couple dozen of shots at a time, not all would be worth it but some they still got quite good use of it.

Luke took a second to take in the scale of the thing, it was far enough away to be considered a safe distance, but still it looked so huge, a term that got thrown around a lot whenever seeing a titan was "it's like seeing a mountain move" and no matter how they stood or walked or what kind of species and family of animal they belonged to, this always held true.

The titan walked a steady pace, not stressed or disturbed by anything, the snow and the ice feeling a refreshing breeze in the face of its plate like armouring that was temperature isolating. The tail dragged behind him carving a line into the frozen over ground, which could perhaps one day create a riverbed.

The largely grey-green body was broken up with some slightly orange-coloured spikes all over the back and body, with green eyes piercing through the darkness. Each step taken by it passed a distance so long, a human by itself wouldn't remotely be able to keep up, even when running at the fastest possible speed.

But as the titan came closer to the sea, ready to dive down and find a place to rest and listen out for its kin, something changed.

The storm got worse, Luke and Hidemi felt the wind picking up, with the snow coming down harder then ever. He tried to evaluate the risks, wondering what would happen now. Lighting struck from the sea in a distance, fog and clouds were coming down and covering the area. "We should get back!" He yelled, but as he grabbed his wife's arm, she stood there frozen. "Hidemi we need to-" "Look!" She pointed at Anguirus, his shape still clearly visible the storm.

His tail was raised, the back slightly arching, the gaze fixed out upon the sea. A sign of aggression, something was challenging the king's right hand. And was ready to showcase why its might.

The clouds that came down over the ocean came closer, and the snow and wind picked up so much the married couple struggled to stand. Finally, after a last shot, even Hidemi started to back off, just in time for Anguirus to unleash an ear-piercing roar that echoed in the air. The vibration of sounds able to be felt very deep in their stomachs, like at the opening of a loud concert.

They tried to get back to camp, but another strong gust of wind knocked Luke of his feet, Hidemi tried to help him up, before something returned Anguirus's call. Their attention snapped back to the sea in the fog that had built up. Something stood within, another giant. The roar that came from it sounded familiar, but off hand and it the heat of the moment, he couldn't retell what monster it was.

The roar was long and raspy, like gloves being pulled against violin strings by force. The creature in the mist moved forward, carrying it with it. Quick notes ran down his brain mentally. It walked on two legs, possessed arm, carried something like a tail and sprouted plates on the back, facing forwards.
It returned its roar once more. It made the humans knees shivers more than just the cold.

Anguirus looked confused. It was ready to fight but, why would this opponent fight him?

Luke and Hidemi tried getting away as fast as possible, struggling to not slip and fall again, as the rather short distance they had taken down started to become a true uphill battle to take, just as a real battle was about to break out. Even if they seemed to be far enough away, with these things far enough was not enough sometimes. A lesson learned only once.

It was then something crackled behind them, the noise startled them, turning around slowly as they struggled with getting up the hill, a shining light came from within the cloud. Lighting up the back of the newly arrived creature that they hadn't estimated, dots started to connect a bit of the mystery for Luke.

"Is that… Godzilla?"

The fearful whispers drowned out completely as the titan in the fog shot its weapon upon Anguirus. But he wasn't a high-ranking creature within the pack of the titans for nothing, seeing the attack coming easily, and jumping to the side. Closer to the humans.

Anguirus roared but refused to attack, still confused by the intent and nature of this fight. Another beam was fired at it, and once again he was able to jump away and dodge, it and once again, coming closer to the humans, now only half a kilometre away.

Luke finally snapped out of paralysis induced by and awe and fear, grabbed Hidemi and started legging it up the hill, away from the fight, every step feeling more slippery and also harder to take with the snow going against them now. Rumbles and shakes made them stumble again, but Godzilla or whatever it was in the mist went back, seeking it for cover.

Anguirus paid close attention, having his ears and eyes scanning the area trying to sense where it went, staying focused onto the sea. Having not noticed the human couple yet.

Only a view minutes went by, but they felt so much more longer and tense for everyone involved. The two had finally made it up the hill. Breathing exhausted. Luke could feel his heart pounding on his neck, his wife held tightly onto his arm as they took breaths, the ice-cold air hurting his throat.

With another ear shattering roar, Godzilla or whatever it was jumped out of the mist, dragging the wind and snow with it, covering their vision and knocking the humans off their legs again.

The first thing he went for was Anguirus head, hands with a grip like they were made from steel wrapped around and shut the jaw down as he tried to bite the attacker. In the heat of the movement, Anguirus swiped at the opponent, with his right paw, the claws tearing into the skin and a chunk flew off, falling down onto the ground with a clank.

He removed his arm and, still holding the jaw down with the other hand and started raising the body up with ease, the strength of another kind visible to all. Anguirus continuously tried to swipe more, but wasn't able to hit the chest quite yet, and proceeded to get slammed down to the side and dragged it into the ground, right in front of the couple.

They ducked, Hidemi screamed as she tried to hold onto her husband, who was still fear struck himself. The creature was close now. He could feel the hot breath going against them. By the mere chance of the titan and the man lying on the ground and turning, their gazes crossed paths and locked in a moment.

It was weird and bizarre almost for Luke. There were thought and emotions within that creature as vast as a philosopher or that of a young child. It recognized their presence, but instead of aggression towards them there was concern, when a titan focused, it was able to feel them, all live around it. A benevolent being as much as it was animal.

Why Anguirus was attacked was a mystery to him, but in any case, whatever case out of the two, he rooted for him. And it seemed the titan today didn't want to have the true innocence of the tiny things he spotted to be squashed out like that.

It used its tail to cause a strong swipe to the legs of his opponent, clashing against the legs and making it stumble, a chance to leap forward and pounce towards the neck. It felt much thinner than he expected.

Unfortunately for Hidemi and Luke, pieces and bits of debris flew around, and one destroyed part of the tent. The earth shakes had already laid waste to some of the area, they might get hit too by rocks and stones. Then he remembered the little cave; overhang thing that was on the beach where the hill went down. He grabbed his wife's hand as he got up from the tremors and with full confidence sprinted down the hill ocean side, yelling at her that they have slide down. They were going down fast, just as the tail of Anguirus passed over them, strafing the top of the hill. With the icy ground they picked up a lot of speed, he turned his foot to the side stopped, hurting himself a bit by sheering a bit of his left leg, but that didn't matter, they were right next to the little cave, the snow being so strong now it was hard to make out, Hidemi helped him get back on his legs. Dragging him in, just as another big rock just bounced past them.

Finally, they were in, Hidemi swore and yelled, same went for him, but breathed out relieved that they had found cover, for now. The small cave wasn't much deeper than 4 meters and taller than one and a half, lying on their bellies huddled together.

"Are you okay, are you hurt?"
"No I'm okay, is your leg okay?" Hidemi asked concerned.
"It's fine, just burns a little, could've been worse."
He tried to feel it out, maybe he twisted it a bit but the adrenaline didn't make him feel it, probably he could still walk if with a limp, at this point he simply prayed the truck they had parked a bit further away wasn't getting squashed right now, they would be stuck in one of the coldest regions of the earth with the next too far away to reach before nightfall.

That was if they survived the battle that was before them, but over that, they had no control.

Anguirus had pushed his opponent further back into the sea, turning around quickly, to hit him with the legs and tail, only for that one to get grabbed and dragged around in the water, stirring up waves the size of houses.

The two turned their head and pinched their eyes together, expecting to get hit with a heavy splash of water, luckily the waves shattered against the stone beach and only came down on them as droplets.

Luke snapped his head back, unable to look away from the fight and Anguirus. After his opponent had dragged him by the tail, he yanked him backwards with a mighty heave, making the anklyian titan fall on his mouth, slightly biting into his own tongue. Luke watched, and noted how Godzilla was going for Anguirus's head a lot, now he had grabbed the upper jaw with the left hand, and the other with the right, seemingly seeking to break it apart.

Anguirus had felt disorientated but quickly had his sense return to normal as the pain of the threat of his head getting broken started to seep in. Instinctively he tried to shut it down, like a hydraulic press they slowly started to close, his body aching and shivering from the pressure. Not today would he be bested like this.

The kings right hand roared defiant as it pushed itself up with its hind legs, throwing himself onto the opponent. As the spikes on the plate tore into the surface of Godzilla, Luke noted how there was weird metallic clinging to it, probably due to how the skin plating was made up.

He tried to resist but the sudden weight of 80.000 metric tons heaving itself onto him made it impossible to stand, causing the two fighters to fall over backwards, tumbling into the sea and deeper water. Trashing around, causing more water to splash up and down as they started to dive deeper into the water, each of them dragging the other down with it.

Punching, clawing, tearing into each other like the wild beasts they were. Finally, Anguirus got a good grip with his jaws onto the opponents chest area, and like a crocodile to a wildebeest in rivers of the African savannah, he started to perform a death roll, spinning and tearing parts off.

A rasping roar escaped him, and in the panic, he started to charge up his energy-

Luke and Hidemi watched with eagerness, as it had become eerily quiet as the two titans sunk into the depth of the sea. Only the strong waves being stirred up made it clear of the ongoings. Then they heard that awful screech again, mumbled underneath the waves. Then the water underneath started to glow, strong and stronger.

Within a blink, a beam of light shot out into the sky, cutting through the water, causing it to boil away. If they hadn't gone almost blind, they felt the heat off the explosion it caused right after, a shockwave went over the area, dirt and other things got blown around. They covered their heads. Hidemi started praying, something she hadn't done in a while, merely hoping that they wouldn't be buried in this shelter.

Around them the cold air become suddenly really hot, as steam came from the sea and blew against them. But right after that, the snow and cold returned.

The storm that had build itself had started to calm down again, and so did the snowfall. From one moment to the other, a battlefield became a serene bay once more. The two humans that had witnessed it all slowly started to remove their hands above their heads, looking around carefully, and then at each other.

The old married couple didn't need to give each other words to understand they were okay, and simply breathed a sigh of relief, follow up by a tiny bit of laughter as they hugged each other.

Then the vibrations came back, with it a bit of fear and raise of a pulse. "Watch out that might be God…" luckily Luke was wrong with his assessment, and out of the sea rose the victor, Anguirus. With injuries to tell the tale.

From his mouth ran blood down into the sea, seemingly just now an after effect from almost having his jaws broken. A bit of a burning on the right shoulder, and an unfortunate slight crack in the plate from which blood ran as well. Luckily for him, nothing that wouldn't heal with a bit of rest.

A thing that wouldn't heal so easily with rest would be trust. Why had they fought, was he not a trusted allied to him anymore? Something felt profound about the way the creature looked towards the sea, the humans wondered what he was thinking or feeling.

Finally a bit of sunlight broke through the clouds while it was still snowing, covering the titan in a mixture of that saturated orange light, while snow was starting to gather on his back. A mournful roar was unleashed, not so loud and aggressive as before, but still there to signify him as the victor.

Luke meanwhile helped Hidemi finally out of the hole, covering in mud and snow, but alive at least. The ankle he twisted a bit still hurt, but he could walk it off for now, even with a slight limp.

His wife helped him get up the hill, where they found the camp completely destroyed. But it didn't matter much to him, just now to get in the truck, and then as quickly as possible to the next village. That was if the titan would let them leave.

Because as they turned around after hearing a stomp, they saw Anguirus had turned towards them, didn't come much closer, but very much was aware of their position. Hidemi held his hand so tightly it almost broke his finger.

"What do we do?" "Just, keep still, keep quiet, he's probably going to leave us alone, we are not a threat to him, remember the gorillas?"

That one time, they had ventured out into the African highlands, and actually found a troop of gorillas. For a bit it was very quiet and serene, similar to how it was now, but the silverback was very cautious of their presence, but as long they kept calm and slowly stepped back and left them alone, they were fine. Avoiding eye contact was important.

But with such a gigantic creature it was almost impossible to not stare into its eyes, so dark yet brightly green piercing through them. Fortunately, Anguirus didn't much see it as a challenge or care, and after a bit, he started to finally retreat, into the water. Swimming a bit on the surface, before diving down.

Another minute or so passed, before they were able to breath another sigh of relief before embracing each other. A dangerous yet amazing moment to them. With pictures to show their side of the tale. That reminded him. He let go of his wife, who smiled at him, happy to be alive.

"We need to get in contact with the authorities quickly, those people at Monarch must know about this."