Chapter 5: Obsession

POV: Quest Strother*

The shooting had wrapped for the day, and the crew, still rattled from the strange roar incident, packed up to leave. Quest, however, lingered. As everyone else filed out of the studio, he remained strapped inside the animatronic, his thoughts swirling with a mix of excitement and unease.

That roar—*his* roar—had been a breakthrough, or at least that's what he told himself. It felt powerful, real, as if Godzilla wasn't just a role but something far more profound.

He had no intention of leaving the suit.

As the crew made their way out, Sam, the director, approached him. "Quest, are you staying a little longer? The suit needs to be checked. Maybe we can figure out what happened earlier."

Quest didn't respond right away. Instead, his eyes focused on the monitors inside the suit, watching the footage they had captured. His body felt fused with the machine, a sensation that had grown stronger with every passing hour.

"I'm fine," he finally said, his voice low and distant. "I'll handle the suit."

Sam gave him a strange look, hesitant. "You've been in there all day. You should get out, man. We'll figure it out tomorrow."

But Quest's gaze didn't shift. "I said I'll handle it."

Sam hesitated again before nodding slowly. "Alright. Just… take it easy. We don't need another incident."

As Sam left, Quest stood still, his muscles tense. Once the studio emptied, he unstrapped himself briefly to inspect the inside of the animatronic. He didn't leave it, though. Instead, he re-entered, feeling a sense of *completion* inside it that he couldn't explain.

Before long, he made a decision—one that went against every safety protocol, every bit of reason. He was taking the suit home.

POV: Studio Security (Unnamed)*

The night guard watched as Quest, still fully encased in the massive Godzilla suit, made his way toward the loading bay. It was an odd sight—an actor refusing to leave the set still in costume—but it wasn't the first strange thing that had happened during this production.

"Hey, Quest!" the guard called, stepping out of his booth. "You're not supposed to take that with you. Studio's policy, man."

Quest didn't stop walking. The hulking animatronic seemed to grow more imposing in the dim lighting of the studio lot. He didn't even acknowledge the guard, moving with heavy, deliberate steps toward his car.

The guard jogged after him, a sense of duty overriding the uneasy feeling creeping up his spine. "You can't just—"

But before he could finish, Quest turned.

It wasn't a human turn, not the way someone would usually face another person. Instead, it was as if the Godzilla suit itself had become *aware, shifting its gaze with a slow, deliberate motion that froze the guard in place.

And then Quest growled.

Not a normal human sound, but something primal, deep, and guttural. It wasn't like anything the guard had ever heard. It was a warning.

The guard took a step back, his hand instinctively reaching for his radio. "Whoa… okay, man. No need to get weird. Just… maybe check with the director in the morning."

Quest didn't say another word. He turned back to the car, the weight of the animatronic shifting with him. With surprising agility, considering the size of the suit, he loaded the massive piece of machinery onto a trailer hitched to his vehicle and drove away into the night.

POV: Lisa Chan*

Lisa couldn't shake the strange vibe that had lingered on set all day. That sound—Quest's voice merging with Godzilla's roar—played over and over in her head. She was still unsettled by how strange and *inhuman* it had sounded, almost as if something otherworldly had taken over in that moment.

After filming wrapped, she overheard a few of the crew members talking about Quest taking the suit home. At first, she laughed it off. He was known to be a little intense when it came to Godzilla, but taking the suit home? That seemed… extreme, even for him.

Later that evening, she found herself texting him.

Lisa* *Hey, I heard you took the suit home? You okay?*

She waited, but no reply came. She frowned, typing out another message.

Lisa* *I know you're a fan, but maybe don't sleep in the suit, lol.*

Again, no response.

Something about it felt off. Quest wasn't the type to ignore texts, especially from friends. She made a mental note to check in on him tomorrow. But as the night wore on, a nagging sense of dread settled in her chest. Something wasn't right.

POV: Quest Strother*

Quest's home was dark when he arrived, the massive Godzilla animatronic in tow. He parked the trailer and began the painstaking process of unloading it, every movement precise and deliberate, as if he had done this a hundred times before.

Once inside, he placed the animatronic in the center of his living room, dim light casting long, shadowy figures across the walls.

Quest didn't unstrap himself from the suit. He didn't even consider it.

There was a growing obsession inside him, something that had taken root ever since the glitch earlier in the day. He *needed* to stay in the suit. It wasn't just a costume anymore—it felt like an extension of his body, like the lines between man and monster had blurred to the point where he couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

He paced around his living room, his massive, Godzilla-clad form moving in the dimness. The animatronic responded effortlessly to his commands, as if it no longer needed the complex internal machinery to function.

His growl from earlier played in his head over and over again.

This is what it feels like to be Godzilla.*

Quest's thoughts darkened, the boundaries of his identity slipping away as he prowled his home. No one was allowed near the suit. No one could touch it. It belonged to him now. He had become one with it.

And no one—*no one*—was going to take it from him.

When they had tried to stop him at the studio, he hadn't even bothered to explain. There was no need for words. A simple growl had been enough.

As he moved through the room, his reflection caught his eye in a nearby mirror. The sight of Godzilla's towering, hulking figure staring back at him sent a jolt of pride through his chest.

He wasn't just wearing the suit.

He *was* Godzilla.

And the world… would soon understand.

To Be Continued...