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Mission Accomplished

…

Amara pulled herself up from the rushing water and gasped for breath. Blinking the water from her eyes, she found Whyley crawling out of the river a few meters away.

She flopped onto the grass on the riverbank. Just a little further down, the mouth of the river opened into a vast lake. Yet as she searched, she couldn't see the others.

"I think Kong pulled them out," Whyley said as he approached. "I saw him scooping them out a little ways back." He pulled his pack off his shoulders and dumped the wet contents on the ground.

"Funny how he conveniently left us." Amara put a hand over her eyes. As much as she wanted to get up and help Whyley go through their wet belongings, she couldn't find the energy.

Whyley tipped his rifle, water falling from the barrel. "I can't believe there's another Godzilla down here."

"Goji warned me too. Said there was probably an Alpha already down here. That Kong's presence would disturb it. I never imagined it was the formation, but it explains the bad feeling."

"It was by far the biggest Titan I've ever seen. And what was with the crystals? It was like it was using them to charge up."

She rolled onto her side, resting her head on her arm. "It must be something to do with radiation. It absorbed everything Godzilla had left too. I feel his exhaustion."

Whyley was still checking out his gun. "Well it put it to good use, it destroyed miles of the mantel side."

She looked up to the earthen sky. The smoke had mostly cleared, leaving another crater in the scorched landscape.

"It explains a lot actually," she said. "I wondered what caused the circular mountain ranges filled with life. The blast carves out the earth and radiation kickstarts plant growth. That Godzilla alone could have terraformed the Hollow Earth."

"Really, that's what you're thinking about right now? It just about killed us."

"It's important." Amara worked through the tired fog in her brain. "The radiation signature down here is the same as Godzilla's, that's why it can support life. But on top of that, this Godzilla can control it, at least to some extent. It's possible that the radiation of the entire Hollow Earth comes from it. Just like our Goji, it's converting core radiation into its own and making this place habitable. I mean, look at how big it is. We've estimated Goji is two hundred and fifty million years old, so going by size, this one could be five hundred thousand."

"So it's a which came first situation?"

"We'll see what Mi Sun says… if we ever see her again."

"We will, 'Mara."

Clanking and crinkling filled the silence between them as Whyley began to go through the food and items on the ground. His sketchbook was secure inside of a plastic bag. He'd started putting it inside when they were considering crossing the river however long ago.

"About big G, Did you call him or…"

"I'm not sure. I wasn't really thinking. He must have felt my fear." Amara sat up and began untying her shoes.

"Why couldn't you breathe?"

"I couldn't inhale because he was using his atomic breath."

Whyley paused before picking up a wet shirt and laying it out to dry. "I didn't think your connection was like that."

"It's weird sometimes. I think because he was so focused on finding me our connection grew that strong."

"And you knew exactly where he was going to come from."

She removed her wet socks and laid back down, her wet hair tangling in the grass. "It doesn't even feel like our minds are connected sometimes. More like…we're sharing one between us."

Whyley frowned. "That makes sense, I guess. Do you know where he is now?"

"He's getting closer." Amara lifted her arm just enough to point down the river before letting it fall to her side. It took everything just to keep her eyes open.

It wasn't long before Godzilla's dorsal plates pierced through the surface of the water and came to a stop when they reached the lake.

Amara only swallowed. He hadn't spoken to her yet, but the tiredness quickly gave way to the feeling of—

Godzilla's head rose from the water, followed by the upper half of his torso. He bent forward, huge claws grasping at the lakeshore. Rock crumbled beneath as he lowered his head towards her.

I searched for you. Called for you. He was breathing. Heavily.

—anger.

Amara pushed herself up. "I didn't have a choice—"

This is beyond foolish. I told you not to come here. And yet, here I find you.

"I didn't want to. I told them that it was pointless for me to come here!"

You bent to their will. Look what you have done.

"Maybe if you actually told me what was down here, I could have at least been prepared! How was I supposed to know that "another Alpha" was another Godzilla?"

You imply that I know such things.

"Well maybe if you actually talked to me instead of just blocking me out all the time."

His lip curled revealing teeth. You have done the same to me.

"Oh, like when I was hanging out with my boyfriend or studying for a test or trying to sleep at night? You cut me off for a week and went on a rampage! If you didn't, I could have told you what was going on and you could have avoided a bunch of fighting and I. Wouldn't. Be. Here."

Movement caught her eye. Whyley slowly stood up as if avoiding spooking a wild animal.

Godzilla's amber gaze snapped to him. A crocodilian growl escaped his throat. A word formed in her mind so powerfully that she spoke it aloud.

"You."

Whyley flinched at the unusually deep tone of her voice. Amara blinked, but Godzilla's glare remained on him.

"I came to keep her safe," Whyley said, looking between her and Godzilla.

Then he should have stopped you.

"I told you, I had no choice! It was either come here for two months or go to jail for ten years—not see you for ten years."

I would not allow it.

"You can't go around destroying every jail they put me in."

What would stop—

"The whole point of me being here is for your sake. Half the world wants you gone and the other half wants your energy. The options were to contain you, send you down here, or—" her voice cracked, "—Kill you! What was I supposed to do? Stay in jail while you get bombed, attacked, exploited?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, tears falling down her face.

Godzilla's eyes softened. I will take you back. We will find another place.

She approached him as she spoke. "There's nowhere we can hide, you know that. And even if we could, I don't want to. I just want things to go back to the way they were. No one was after you, nobody wanted you dead. It was just us on Yonaguni. You were safe. All I want is for you to be safe."

As she came closer, Godzilla lowered his body until his jaw brushed against the grass.

It is not a life I am capable of living.

Amara pressed her cheek against the sale of his. As she did, the remaining tension in his body dissipated. Only exhaustion remained.

She turned at sat so her back rested against him and whipped the tears from her eyes. "I'm so tired," she whispered.

The Ancient One is powerful. He controls the energy of the First World.

So you did know about it. When you said there could be an Alpha already down here, I didn't think it was another Godzilla. Especially one bigger than you.

I did not know for sure. I was only here once when I was young. Even then, he slept. Perhaps, I thought, never to be woken.

There was a trench around it. It woke up when Kong crossed it.

Godzilla growled. The shuffling noise where Whyley was stopped. Amara opened an eye just enough to see that he had paused putting something back into his bag and looking apprehensively up at Godzilla.

"You guys, uh, still talking?"

"Yeah."

Whyley lifted the thing he was holding, a granola bar. "You should probably eat."

When she nodded at him, he carefully approached, glancing at Godzilla's eye above her. When he was close enough, he reached out to hand her the food.

She took it and patted the grass beside her. "Come sit with us."

Whyley made a face like she just asked him to sit next to a living nuclear reactor. "Does he mind?"

Yes.

"No."

Whyley swallowed and awkwardly sat down beside her but not close enough to touch Godzilla.

They ate as Amara relayed what Godzilla had just told her.

"Does he think there might be more Godzillas down here?"

No.

"No," she echoed.

"How does he know?"

"He can sense the other Titans down here."

"Like enough to know where Kong is right now?"

Amara closed her eyes and let Godzilla's superior senses take over. Without knowing exactly how, she felt him guiding her in the right direction. Then she raised her hand and pointed.

"Over there."

Whyley followed her finger to another distant transfer zone to the mantel. "They must be looking for a way back to camp. Either think we're dead or that we'll try to meet them there."

"Can we pretend we died so I can stay here?" She leaned back against Godzilla, closing her eyes again.

"Unfortunately, we only have enough food to last a couple of days. I know you're tired and that you don't want to leave Big G here, but we have to find the others. We don't know if they'll take the HEAVs out of here and leave us behind."

"I have no doubt. Everything Monarch wanted to accomplish is done. We discovered superconductive rocks that will transform society, and we got Godzilla down here."

"Wait, what about Kong and Jia? I don't think she'll want to leave him again, especially knowing that there's another Godzilla down here."

"She doesn't have the power. Nathan and Ilene would load her up crying if they had to."

Who is this Jia?

"We think she is connected to Kong like I am to you."

Whyley made a bewildered face before realizing she was talking to Godzilla again.

She was there when I fought Kong.

Amara looked up at him. "You can sense her too?"

Whyley now looked interested.

She shines like you. I felt their connection. He was…like me. Amara felt the realization that filled him. She's here. That is why he fought the Ancient One instead of running.

"What? What's he saying?" Whyley asked.

"Godzilla knows about Jia and Kong's connection."

"Really? So that means I was right and Kong can sense yours too! I knew it."

"But does that mean that the other Godzilla can too?" A vision of Destroyer flashed in front of her eyes. A mix of reality and the nightmare that plagued her. Watching herself be eaten.

I will not let anything happen to you, Amara.

"I didn't think of that one." Whyley frowned and looked away in thought. "Last time a Titan came after you, you're first instinct was to run away to distract it." He shook his head. "If it were up to me, I'd wrap you in bubble wrap and tether you to my waist."

"Might work better than locking me in a room."

Whyley made a face somewhere between a smile and a grimace. "I've never seen anyone tearing through a wall before. Kind of badass. And, uh, sorry about that. I'm not sure I ever apologized."

"Water under the bridge. Plus, Godzilla set you straight."

Instead of smiling back at her, Whyley looked down at the grass. "No, I really do have to apologize. I did so many stupid things. That one action of kidnapping you led to the destruction of Los Angeles and Godzilla getting injured."

His gaze lifted to the horizon as he continued, "And that's not it. I never apologized for what I said about your connection with Godzilla. I treated you like you were a weakness to him. Like you were someone who just made things more complicated. I told myself everything I was doing for you, I was doing for Godzilla. But after that fight in Tokyo, I saw firsthand how much you cared for each other. He came to you and touched your hand. How you looked at him. I wanted to say something then and there. And then again when we went back to Yonaguni. But I never did. Too cowardly, I guess. Didn't want to admit that I was jealous of you for having a connection with a Titan."

It was Whyley's turn to have glassy eyes. "You forgave me before I ever got the chance to tell you I was sorry."

Amara reached out and pulled him into a hug. "I've always believed actions speak louder than words. It didn't matter if you didn't agree with our connection. What mattered was that you helped us anyways."

Amara, emotions. I'm trying to sleep.

"Goji says he forgives you too," Amara said as she let him go.

Whyley rubbed his eyes and avoided eye contact.

"Just let me have a nap and then we'll go find the others."

"Okay."

Godzilla lifted an arm from the water and placed it alongside his head so she and Whyley were protected by his massive limb.

And finally, Whyley hesitantly leaned against Godzilla and closed his eyes.

…

Perhaps it was morning when they woke up. It was almost too hot between the tropical air of the Hollow Earth and Godzilla's warm scales.

Above them were distant flying creatures. Their unpleasant squawks broke the otherwise peaceful sounds of the open canopy forest that bordered the lake.

She half-heartedly stretched her sore limbs before adjusting against Godzilla and closing her eyes again.

"We should get moving soon," Whyley said quietly.

She blinked. "How long have we been sleeping?"

"I've been up already. You, about fourteen hours."

At this, she fully opened her eyes." Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"

"It starts with 'G' and ends in 'zilla'."

He is more intelligent than he looks.

Amara scratched her nose to hide her grin.

Godzilla was content to stay exactly how he was while she and Whyley got ready to set off. Amara went to the other side of Godzilla's head to take off the tank top under her shirt so it had a chance to dry. As she returned, she fought with the hair tie that refused to let go of the last few strands of hair knotted to it.

"Can you untangle this for me?" she asked when she saw Whyley.

He finished tying his boot and came over to her. She turned so he could find the hair tie. A moment later she heard the shink of a pocket knife being unfolded and Whyley held out the hair tie and a clump of dark hair knotted to it.

"Thanks, I think…"

Godzilla lifted his head from the ground and let his body slide deeper into the water.

I will stay here for now and rest. There is little I can do while the Ancient One holds my energy.

We'll find the others and Kong, then we'll figure out how to defeat it.

Godzilla looked at her for a long moment. Stay safe.

I will.

Godzilla's eyes sharpened as they snapped toward Whyley. Amara once again could not resist the urge to speak.

"Protect her at all costs."

Whyley jolted into a rigid stance as if being spoken to by a superior officer. His eyes flickered between her and Godzilla. When they settled on the latter, he spoke. "I will."

Godzilla inclined his head before giving Amara one final look and stepping back into the water and disappearing into its depths.

"So is that a new thing?" Whyley asked as they traveled through the sparse rainforest.

"I guess he got tired of me translating for him," she said before yawning.

"It's really unsettling. Like I know it's him talking, not you. Tao really was spot on calling you Gojira no koe."

At the mention of Tao's name, Amara looked away. What was he doing right now? Did he miss her? At least with Godzilla gone, all the tourists probably did as well.

"Er, sorry."

Amara shook her head. "You know, somebody gave Tao a black eye while I was being swarmed by journalists? I mean, how could anyone even think of hurting him?"

"Intentionally?"

"Yeah, he was trying to get people to back off."

"And then what? Did you suplex the guy?"

"No, Godzilla got to them first and they scattered."

They should never have come.

Go to sleep.

"I should have guessed that."

Amara went to reply but the strange light ahead stopped her. Almost like beyond the trees ahead was the sunrise. She picked up her unusually slow pace. Whyley was at her side, gun raised at the wall of bright light.

Squinting, she pushed past some massive leaves and stepped into a clearing. She stopped when the grass ended in a steep drop off.

It was another massive crater, but that wasn't what stood out. No, it was the fact the entire surface was blanketed in warm white light.

"What the?"

Amara bent down and ran her fingers along the light. Small textured leaves passed under her fingers before she plucked one and held it up. Signaling out the small bit of plant, its shape became distinguishable. Its glowing leaves weren't leaves at all. In fact, it wasn't even a true plant.

"It's lichen?" She looked at him. "It's lichen!"

Whyley's eyebrows scrunched together as he examined the fungus in her hand. "That's lichen?"

"Yes! Bioluminescent on a large enough scale to light up the Hollow Earth and allow plants to grow. We need to take a picture! Do you have a sample bag?"

"Camera's gone." Whyley reached into one of the pockets in his pants. "I can take one with my cell phone though."

Amara focused on the lichen as Whyley turned on his phone. "It's like a different planet down here."

Birds that looked like dinosaurs. Rocks that floated. Lichen bright enough to mimic the sun. Temples of long lost civilizations. A Godzilla made of the earth itself.

Whyley held his phone up to the lichen in her hand and took a picture. As he pulled his phone back, the photo of his family flashed back to a dark screen. He turned it off again. He then pulled out a plastic bag currently holding his sketchbook.

"I only have this. Doesn't matter does it?"

"No jars left?"

"Glass ones were broken. Ren has the plastic ones in his bag."

Amara shrugged and put the lichen in the bag. "Wonder how long it will glow."

"Why, you want to reinvent the lightbulb too?"

The smile fell from her face as she imagined machinery ripping up the lichen. TV advertisements of a new environmentally friendly light source. The Hollow Earth slowly growing darker.

She pulled the lichen back out of the bag and let it fall to the ground. Looking up at Whyley's confused expression, she spoke, "Don't show anyone that picture. We never found this place."

Realization dawned on his face. He nodded.

…