Creation began on 07-12-24
Creation ended on 10-17-24
Godzilla: The Planet Eater
Both Must Fall: The Gift of Hope
The Efforts of the Titans
Before Shimo, Monarch had discovered and archived the data of more than twenty-five different Titans, most of whom were listed as destroyers, but the ones that were listed as protectors were among the strongest and the ones that kept the destroyer Titans in check. The discovery of there being four members of Titanus Tiamat and Titanus Scylla, two destroyer Titan species with abilities that, when combined, were beneficial to the global water levels. Many of the Titans belonging to the Titanus Methuselah and Titanus Behemoth species, along with Titanus Titanosaurus, were causing more regression in the plants affected by the Godzilla doppelgänger's radiation, making them more like the way plants were before most of the human population fled Earth over twenty-thousand years ago. It would be another month before any of the plants would be safe to consume as food, and discovering that the Hollow Earth possessed several animals not associated with the superspecies connected to the Titans meant that, while the world still needed to be reclaimed and the human cities and towns rebuilt, would give the people hope for a familiar place to go back to.
"What have the Bilusaludo found from their last survey?" Martin asks Haruo, who returned from an earlier survey in the Hollow Earth.
"The location of where the Kongs lived when the Skar King was around," he answers. "They believe the heat over there can serve as an energy source."
"What about the Vertacine species? A creature that can discharge bio-electrical energy could also have a use."
"It's only a suspicion, but I think they're afraid of the Vertacines."
"Well…they scare me a little, too."
-x-
"…So, after the defeat of the Skar King, Kong kept the prosthetic over his arm?" Yuko asks the woman that once…and still does to some extent, study Kong.
"Yes," she explains. "After his first encounter with Shimo and final fight with the Skar King, his arm never fully recovered from the frostbite. So, the prosthetic serves to retain the mobility that he has left in the arm. I'm impressed that it has lasted this long down here, and that it's been longer than that up there on the surface. How are things progressing up there?"
"We haven't seen any more of the Godzilla doppelgänger organisms and the planet has regressed back to a tolerable version of the way things were before it rose to power. All in all, it seems like things are shaping up to where we'll be able to rebuild."
"But it'll still be hard to make it like it was before."
"Yeah. Still, it'd be nice to have the simple things we knew and cherished, like parks, zoos, libraries and museums. Things like that."
"Yeah, it would be nice."
"It's still hard to believe that people survived down here."
"It is as written in stone by the Iwi. The Titans were the guardians of nature, and the Great Apes were the protectors of humanity. While the Titans ensured that there was balance, the Great Apes defended the people against the threats they couldn't protect themselves from. It's because of the Kongs, the Great Apes, that we have managed to survive for so long down here when that Godzilla doppelgänger took over the surface. And so long as they continue to survive, should we ever encounter another threat like it, they'll ensure we survive down here again when we need to take shelter in the Hollow Earth."
-x-
Wandering through the ruins of a fossilized city, Brother Correction allows himself the curiosity to wonder how long it will be before the people that returned to this world would rebuild it further until it was a semblance of how civilization had once been over twenty-thousand years ago. He had ventured backwards and forwards through time, reality, history, myths and legends, and always with the purpose of ensuring that hope and justice were served to those in need while making sure the ones that did wrong were punished to the fullest extent of any law, usually outside of the realms of mortality. But as he did so this time, he wondered if, with any other curious mind, if this fossilized city could or would ever be returned to life at a later date. And while he could've explored the future, he opted not to, instead leaving it up to the fate of the people that returned from space and from the shelter of the Hollow Earth.
"On the positive side," he utters as he steps into a building, "the Servum population has been declining down to extinction since the doppelgänger fell. We don't need any more pretenders to the throne. This world belongs to the Titans and humanity, and it's up to them to rebuild it to the best of their capabilities. With Godzilla on their side, the balance between nature and civilization will be protected once more."
Stepping out onto a rooftop, he looks at the city around and breathes it in, visualizing a time before it fell from grace…and wondering when it'll rise once more.
"Buildings rise and fall, empires rise and fall, people come and go, but gods and hope…are like love and friendship," he says as he sees a flock of birds, the first he'd ever seen since saving Yuko Tani's life and enabling her to inform the others of the Titans and their purpose in the world, and smiles at the majestic beauty they possess in their simple shapes. "They can never die. They can never be destroyed."
-x-
Epilogue
Metphies stands before the graves of former comrades that he had worked alongside for many years since the return of the Titans and the renewal of mankind's presence on the planet, older and seemingly more human than he appeared earlier. In the years since their return and the restoration of Earth, there had been slow progressions between the humans, Bilusaludo and Exif, as all three races, even with the defeat of the Godzilla doppelgänger, now known as Godzilla Earth in the history books, had to coexist with the Titans. Most were content with living near the coastal areas and innermost areas of islands and continents. Even with the renewed usage of Nanometal by the Bilusaludo, most of it was simply to rebuild towns and cities to a semblance of the way civilization used to be, and in less than twenty years after the return of the Titans, humanity slowly returned to life on the surface.
"All of the legends humans left behind," Metphies utters, a sense of defeat in his tone, "all of the stories they weaved together to spin tales to intrigue the minds of others. Even if misremembered or restructured, they're still true. Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Titanosaurus, Methuselah, Tiamat, Scylla… They are the gods of this world…and people were their followers."
Ever since witnessing the defeat of Ghidorah at the hands of Godzilla and the other Titans, the Exif were beside themselves with the loss of their feared deity. It shattered their faith and left them with no other choice but to come to grips with the unpredictability of how Earth's creations, the natural and unnatural, came to be and affected the course of existence. Of how a giant insect with no worth beyond the measure that humans felt towards it when revered as a deity…achieved the status of a true deity and achieved immortality, becoming a master of life and death. Or how a creature from a time before the rise of the dinosaurs, from an age where the planet was so radioactive that nobody with weak immune systems could survive anywhere…grew to colossal size and dominated the food chain, becoming a protector to ensure that its survival was unfettered by any that would come after it in the future…and became a god in its own right. And then, there was the knowledge of the Hollow Earth, of how an entire ecosystem resided just below the surface…and how all life originated from it…and remain sheltered from devastation for millions of years.
Although the dating system had to be modified once computers were rebuilt further by Bilusaludo, it was starting to feel like home again to most.
"…It makes you wonder, though, doesn't it?" Metphies hears a man's voice say behind him, and sees a dark-skinned man setting flowers on a different grave.
"Wonder, what?" He asks him.
"How much further can we progress? How much higher can we ascend? And how much longer until we fall from grace again?"
"I…I don't believe that…we'll ever fall again."
"Oh, we will. Maybe not today. Maybe not even a thousand years from now. But it'll happen again. All we can do today is our best not to let it happen. I'm glad that this world has been restored. I'm glad that hope was renewed, that knowledge was granted back to the people that lost it, to teach them the truth. It's been over fifty years since that time…and we have the gifts that continue to give further onto others. Where have you been these past years?"
"Living with the Iwi, learning their culture, which is similar to the Houtua's culture."
"Not just similar. Identical. I have visited the village in the Hollow Earth on three separate occasions, and I always find their village cuisine to be delicious. Whenever I visit, I make sure to leave my troubles behind. I must respect the culture of the Iwi, just as I must respect the Houtua. Despite the reclamation of human civilization, the Iwi and Houtua are more culturally adept than human beings, forgoing personal property and eliminating infighting over selfishness. When it comes to the survival of the whole, one must give up the flaws of their personality and adapt. Do you have any flaws that you had to give up?"
"One route of faith that left me lost. Now I embrace a new faith that I pray I can be forgiven for following. The god I once worshipped was not a forgiving one."
"Gods that can't forgive are not as benevolent as the ones that protect the helpless. If you worship Mothra, if you have relinquished your innermost darkness, she can forgive even the most foul of hearts for their trespasses and transgressions."
Metphies had no idea that he was speaking to Brother Correction, who stayed in the shadows ever since mankind returned to the planet and restored the rulership of the Titans, watching as the three races that traversed the ocean of stars and darkness came together to rebuild civilization on the reclaimed lands where cities once stood proudly. Not that it meant anything to either man, but Brother Correction was very pleased that Metphies had found a deity to embrace that wasn't a destroyer. His acceptance of a new path to follow has absolved his soul and opened his eyes to the purpose of caring for the world, to protect, to regenerate and teach others how to do the same if they choose to.
In the years past, everyone that came back to Earth to take it back from Godzilla Earth had rebuilt the organization known as Monarch, dedicated to what the original group had done, to locate, study, and preserve the unexplained orders of the world. Even with their passing from old age and other natural causes, the people that came after them picked up the torch to light up the darkness that existed in the world.
"Friends of yours?" Brother Correction asks Metphies, pointing to the graves.
"Yeah," he answers. "During the hardest of times…and the simplest of times. They got to live with the fact that they reclaimed their world from a false king that took it from them… Not many people are fortunate enough to know that their world, once taken away from them, can be easily returned to them."
"No, they're not so fortunate. But were you…happy for them?"
"Yeah. Yes, I was happy for them."
"Then…you should smile for their memory."
"Smile?"
"Smiling embraces the hope of a better tomorrow. Because with hope, you can never go wrong."
Metphies was stunned by such a philosophy. Because his people were so ruled by calculations and predictions, their dark devotion to Ghidorah's power, he never once considered the power of something so insignificant and out of place as a smile.
Swoosh! High above them, in the air, the Queen of the Monsters herself, Mothra, flew across the reclaimed nation of Japan, followed by a large swarm of regular butterflies.
"Seems like it's going to be a beautiful day," Metphies hears Brother Correction say as he walks away. "See you around, Metphies."
Metphies' eyes widen; he never told this man his name! How did he know of it? As he was about to turn and stop him, the man was already gone.
"How in…" He wonders.
And as he did wonder, more than a thousand miles away from the archipelago, traveling deep in the ocean, the King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla, was on the move to keep watch over his territorial routes…and to make sure that no other remnants of his doppelgänger could return to create trouble for the balance of nature. The balance of power. And the balance of order between the deities of the Earth, such as he…and the minions that served as a part of the order, such as humans. With the balance restored once more, it was only a matter of time before something happened to upset the balance again. And the next time it did happen…he would be there to restore it once more.
He had fallen, many, many times…and rose back up again. No matter how many times anyone sought to put him down, he would not stay down for long. He was the apex of his kind, the master of his domain. He was among the greatest in the pantheon of gods.
Godzilla.
May he rise for all time
A/N: What did you think? Probably among the best stories here on the site? I hope it impresses those of you that have followed this story since its beginning and feel better after the second Netflix movie out of that trilogy that failed to do right by Godzilla. Well, until the next idea that sparks a story in the future, have a good time.
