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Chapter Text

Sam had never felt particularly close to his grandfather before he died, for he had never truly known him until afterwards. When the monsters appeared and destroyed the city, when his parents had moved to a new place and he’d had to go to a new school, and when he finally started asking them questions, they’d finally told him the truth. What happened in Janjira to his grandmother, and how it had sent his grandfather on a mad search for the truth. What he’d found, and what had awakened. How Godzilla had killed the monsters that had killed Joe Brody and tried to destroy San Francisco.

The news and the rest of the world didn’t seem quite certain what to make of Godzilla, and neither did Sam. Godzilla had killed the MUTOs who killed his grandparents, and kept them from having hundreds of babies, so that made him kind of good. But he’d also destroyed Hawaii and San Francisco, and killed innocent people.

I wasn’t until after Godzilla defeated Ghidorah when he was eleven that Sam really started to think seriously about the titans. Luckily, he and his parents had moved inland, and they were not affected by the destruction spree that Ghidorah had brought on, but seeing the massive, worldwide devastation afterwards was difficult.

Everyone they knew had been affected somehow. From relatives caught in the crossfire, to business and jobs, to the weather patterns that followed afterwards. The world was changing around him at the same time that he was changing inside. It was hard to cope with.

“Our top story today is the one year anniverary of the tragic events that followed Ghidorah’s attack on the planet, and the official rise of the titan into the public eye.” the reporter on TV said that morning, while Sam was eating breakfast at the table.

Now twelve, Sam had been told he was old enough to get up to go to school on his own, since his mother worked long shifts at the hospital and his dad was still in the navy. He didn’t think they wanted to leave him to his own, by the way his mother had told him this with a sadness in her eyes, it was just the way it had to be.

He looked up from his cereal and saw the new clips of the attacks on D.C, Boston, and other major places around the world from multiple titans. The reporter started going into “where are they now” stories for them, and interviews with survivors.

He was half paying attention, starting to think about San Francisco again, when a sound caught his attention. Something he’d never hear before. He sat up and looked around for the source in confusion. The house was silent.

“Hello?” he called. They had no pets, and all the doors were still locked from the inside, something he made sure of every night out of habit.

He heard it again, almost like a clicking, but not from any familiar source. He stood up to investigate, following the sound to the study on the other side of the house. It was his dad’s, but he rarely used it for anything. It was more just for his medals and awards, and to stash bills and paperwork. There were pictures on the walls from when he was a kid with his parents, to his wedding to Sam’s mom, and then pictures of Sam as a baby to now.

He looked around, but the sound had stopped once he was in the room. He called again but no one answered.

BOOM!

The house rattled and shook violently, sending Sam to the ground. When he looked up again, he wasn’t in his house. The study had disappeared, and he was on the floor of some kind of older looking control room. People in white science jackets surrounded him, also trying to get up, speaking frantically in Japanese.

The light above turned from white to red. The people began to flee in a panic. He couldn’t understand them, but then he heard a familiar voice speaking in English behind him. He turned, and his grandfather stood a few feet away, in flesh and blood. He was younger, less wrinkled and his hair wasn’t grey. He dashed for the doors calling behind him as the others protested, “My wife is still in there!”

Sam’s heart was racing, and he was trembling with fear. His mouth was dry, and the next thing he knew another

BOOM!

He staggered back, and when he looked up again the scene had changed. The lights were still red but the control room was different. The technology was upgraded, and everyone faced a huge window in front of them, overlooking a crater in the earth. A huge, pulsing form erupted, and he recognized it as the MUTO.

This time his body physically reacted. Without thinking, he turned and rushed at the door, hearing it’s horrible screech blast in his ears. Tears were swelling in his eyes, as he reached for the door, but it was just out of his grasp. It took a few seconds, running as fast as he could, but not quite reaching it.

When he did, he yanked open the door and found himself in the back of a school bus. The school bus on the Golden Gate bridge, filled with children. Rain pounding outside, the echo of gunfire, the roar of Godzilla, the thunder of the enormous beast knocking into the bridge. Children screaming. It was just as he remembered it.

The bus’s erratic movements as they drove off and away caused Sam to fall back to the floor. Everything was so loud and real, and happening so fast that he was frozen with fear. He started crying and refused to get up, shutting his eyes tight and wishing it all away. Eventually, the sounds around him faded away...

A new sound echoed around him. A pulsing. Low and soft. He was still afraid to open his eyes and look around, but after a few moments, Sam dared to peek out from the floor.

Everything was black, aside from two thin red glowing lines high above him.

Slowly, Sam started to get up, eyes still blurred with tears, and limbs shaking uncontrollably. It didn’t take him but another moment to realize he was staring into the eyes of a titan. Another MUTO.

“Do not be afraid.” a surprisingly soft, female voice whispered to him, as if right in his ear. He turned, but no one was there.

“You who have been linked by your ancestors to our homecoming, who has suffered unjustly in silence, speak your name so that I may hear.”

Sam took a step back, staring at the creature, who’s giant face he could not clearly see in the dark. Her veins along her face and body flickered with red glow.

“This isn’t real,” he finally muttered. As hard as he tried to stay standing, he couldn’t. He crumbled to his knees and hugged himself, squeezing his eyes closed. “You’re not real! You’re not here! This isn’t happening! Just STOP!!” he screamed.

“Sammy?”

His mother stepped into the study to find her son curled up on the floor, weeping and hugging himself. She knelt down to comfort him, but he lashed at her, unaware that it was his mother and not the creature. But as soon as their eyes met, he fell apart all over again. They embraced, and Sam continued to cry until it was all out of his system.

She helped him to his feet, and into the living room. She asked what had happened, but he couldn’t say. He didn’t even believe it had really happened. He was just upset about the titan attacks, that was all. He missed his dad. He missed his grandfather. He missed San Francisco. His mind was overruled by grief and trauma. That was all it was. That’s all it could be…

Chapter Text

At thirteen years old, Madison was officially an orphan, and completely alone.

As she sat in the hospital, surrounded by friends of the family and fellow Monarch workers, she felt completely and utterly numb. It figured that on the anniversary of her mother’s death, her father would follow suit.

The radiation from Monarch’s dive into Godzilla’s lair in the Hollow Earth had come to reap its toll on everyone who had been aboard. Rick and Dr. Ilene were still being treated, but it wasn’t looking good for them, either. Mark, her father, had fought as hard as he could against the cancer that ae away at his body.

But now he was gone. Just like her mother. Just like her brother. All of them.

Gone.

People she recognized and people she didn’t came up to console her, but she just sat there, lost in her own thoughts, far away from everything else.

She only bothered to look up when she glimpsed social services. There were two people in suits waiting in the corner of the room to come and take her away. She glared at them with such intensity that she was sure that if she could, she could make them spontaneously combust. But they didn’t.

The next moment, she stood up, grabbed the backpack at her side and slung it over her shoulder, and started in the other direction. When they had told her weeks ago in secret that her father would not make it, she made a choice. There was no way she could ever go back to trying to have a normal life. Trying to fit into some other family for the next two years was pointless and a waste of time.

In the aftermath since Ghidorah’s death and the titan’s rise, Madison had found herself dealing with so many problems and struggles, that it left her hungry to get away. Like a lion living in a cage its whole life. Running away and using the ORCA to call Ghidorah to Boston had been one of the most powerful moments of her life, and it had filled her with the confidence she needed to go through with this next decision; running away.

She sneaked through the crowd of people around her, and ran down the hall. She had been in this hospital long enough to know her way around, and as soon as they started chasing her, she slipped through the maze of white halls and rooms in a zig zag pattern until she lost them completely, and rushed out the nearest exit.

They would hunt her down now, but her mother had trained her for the worst, and survival was her specialty now. She made her way through the lot and into the woods nearby.

As fast as her feet could carry her, she ran through the trees and wildlife, heading southeast. She knew that there was a dock near there in the town just a few miles. She could easily snatch a boat and make her way down the coast.

The sky was darkening, the last of the sunlight fading. A poetically tragic way to end this chapter of my life, she thought. The trees loomed above her, closing her off from her light. She just just barely see in front of her now, but she could hear the ocean far off. She was going to make it.

And then the ground gave way into water and she tumbled through a creek. Rocks scraped at her clothes and skin, cold water soaked into her clothes. She gasped in shock and quickly straightened herself up. She had to keep going. Climbing out of the creek, she heard faint voices in the direction behind her, and beams of light flashing.

No! She wasn’t going to get caught. She scrambled out of the creek and back onto land, running once more. She could feel a few bruises and cuts from her fall, but she pushed on. Her backpack was heavy with resources, and slowed her down a bit, but she wasn’t giving up.

Further and further she went, pushing herself to keep on even when her body screamed exhaustion. And soon enough, she came to the town.

It was fully dark out now, so she slinked through the shadows, following the light of the lamps along the street until she came to the docks. The smell of the salt water and the ocean was a relief to her, but she kept her guard up. She did not want to be seen.

Everything was going according to plan, and she was nearly there, when something she didn’t account for happened. As she neared the pier where the boats were, a light out at sea caught her eye. Turning, what she saw stopped her cold and hard.

Out in the blackness, far off in the distance, the familiar glow of Godzilla’s scales illuminated his form. His small eyes glowed as well, piercing through the darkness, right in her direction. She turned to see if anyone was around, if anyone else was seeing this. Was Monarch nearby? Would they see her if they came to follow Godzilla here?

But when she looked back, there was nothing. Not even a shadow of his outline on the horizon. She shook her head and refocused on her mission. The boat.

The docks were empty, and no one was around. She threw her pack on a sailboat just big enough for two or three people, and began to untie it. As she had been taught, she jumped on the boat and hot wired the engine on. As quietly as possible, she started driving out to sea.

Her eyes kept shifting, looking once more for Godzilla. The sky was clear, but there was no moon. The star sparkled above, and the ocean paved the way for her through its dark depths, and soon the light from the town faded behind her. She kept on only one flashlight to see inside the boat, so she wouldn’t draw attention to herself on the mainland.

Once the light of the land were completely gone, once she was certain she was out of any danger from the authorities, she finally sat down to rest. She turned off the engine and decided to let the sea carry her away, and wherever she would go.

She started to drift off, exhausted both physically and emotionally, when the familiar blue caught her eye again. Only this time it was closer. Much closer. She jolted up and looked all around, but the light had vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared.

The wind completely died.

The boat was still in the water.

Madison walked out cautiously to the stern and looked over the edge. It was hard to see anything with how dark it was. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as a sudden sensation of dread waved over her. Something was off.

“Hello?” she called out to the void. It did not answer back. Something else did.

“Hello.”

Madison jumped, and looked down into the water. Just a few yards below the surface of the water, she met with the glowing pair of blue eyes that lurked there.

Chapter Text

Francisco Javier Mendoza and his family had lived on Isla del Mara for generations. He had so much family in the city that it was hard to keep track of them all, but his favorite by far was his older cousin, Andres. He was only older by two years, but they felt more like brothers to each other than cousins. And their favorite place to hang out was in the rock hills overlooking the city.

And that is where they had been when Rodan emerged from the volcano.

Although an evacuation had been issued, the boys had been too far from the town to hear them. While their family frantically tried to find them and flee, Francisco and Andres had been happily climbing and exploring the hillside, completely unaware of the danger until it was too late.

He would never forget that awful sound. Not the one of Rodan himself as he burst from the top, but the one that had echoed across the valley beforehand. The strange, creature-like call that had come out of nowhere and seemed to come from nothing. He hadn’t known it until later, but it had been the Alpha Frequency from Dr. Russell’s O.R.C.A.

Really, that was all he could remember. Everything afterwards was a blur, and in the traumatic events that followed Francisco found himself suppressing most of it, until it was all just a blank memory.

The only thing he knew for sure was that most of his family did not make it, including Andres. He’d forgotten how his cousin died, even though he knew he had been there. The memory would not come to him, and he would not try to surface it.

Now, a year later, Francisco had changed. He rarely spoke or sang or played, even though he was thirteen and still young. The few relatives who had survived were battered, bruised, and broken as well. Their hearts were heavy, but they carried the burden together, unspoken.

He’d had to grow up quickly, forced to against his will. He was angry at himself and the world. He especially hated Monarch for allowing them to let Dr. Russell unleash Rodan on them. He did what he could to survive and provide for the little family he had left, but he kept himself emotionally guarded at all times, and spoke only when necessary.

At thirteen, he was now working at a construction site, carrying supplies around to where it needed to be. It was one of the more honest jobs he had, but it didn’t pay as much. Any money was worth something, however.

Francisco was in the middle of this job when it happened. A careless mistake of one of the adult workers set off an explosion on the site. The boy’s back had been to the explosion, but he was still too close.
Millions of nerves were scorched in seconds. Fransisco didn’t even feel himself fly through the air, he just knew that one moment he was standing, and the next he was lying sideways over 20 feet away, in agonizing pain.

He screamed as loud as he could, but heard nothing. People were running and hollering and shouting, but he couldn’t hear them either. Hands and faces appeared, but he couldn’t register them. Within moments, the shock and pain caused him to black out.

And then everything was quiet for a very long time.

He could tell time was passing. Like he was half-awake, not wanting to get up. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he finally found the strength to move, but it felt like days.

“There you are.”

Francisco blinked. Everything was bright white, and it took his eyes a moment to adjust. The white turned to yellow, then orange.He blinked again, feeling his body floating. Where was he?
“It’s about time!” The voice went on, speaking in his native tongue and accent. “What’s your name, kid?”

The boy flailed his limbs, trying to understand where he was and what he was feeling. It was like he was surrounded by water or some other liquid, but it was bright and yellow and orange. He searched around for the voice, but saw nothing.

“F-Francisco.” he called, then added, “Am I dead?”

The voice laughed, and a chill ran through his body. The sound was terribly familiar, and shook him to the core of his bones.

“You should be, technically,” it went on, “But my gifts still run in your bloodline. You’ll have a nasty scar, but you will live.”

“Show yourself! I can’t see you.” the boy called boldly, trying to mask his fear.

A current rippled through the liquid around him, and he felt himself fall. The liquid parted, and he felt hard, blackened ground hit his feet. He coughed and groaned, feeling a dull pain all along his back. Ash and black dust swirled around him. He looked around and saw giant walls of fire on all sides. And through the wall, came the shadow of the titan who lived within them. Francisco watched in wide-eyed disbelief and horror as the bright yellow of Rodan’s gaze focused down on him.

“Surprise!” the monster screeched gleefully, with an unsettling grin.

Chapter Text

The Iwi of Tuhirae’s tribe had lived on Skull Island since the beginning of time, it seemed. Once, long ago, they had lived in harmony with the largest of the beings that inhabited the island with them. They were protected and happy, their coexistence beneficial to each other an the land they lived on. The stories told tales of friendships and peace, exploration and balance.

But then the skullcrawlers came.

They invaded their beautiful island, and attached everyone and everything. They threw the ecosystem out of balance, and struck war with the monsters that were their friends. The Iwi had tried to help, but the demons were quick and killed for sport. One by one, the titans of Skull Island fell to their mad hunt.

Tuhirae had studied the stories and knew them by heart now. How the last of the titans had helped seek a safe haven for the Iwi, in return for caring for their youngest newborn while they went to fight. No one knew exactly what happened, but the night had been filled with the sounds of battle for hours. When dawn had finally broken, a scouting group had gone to return the baby to their friends, and had found their corpses instead. All of them.

The young titan was devastated, and although he stayed with the Iwi for a few years after that, he eventually wandered off into the wilds. They had named him Kong, and he was the last.

Tuhirae was twelve now, the age when a girl becomes a woman in her culture. It was her duty to help her father and mother, provide for her community, and prepare herself for the terrors their beloved home now housed.

As she got up and prepared for the day, he mind once more wandered to Kong. She had never seen him before, but she had frequently heard him wandering the island. Fully grown now, he was one the biggest creature there. He had killed the Big One who had slaughtered his family when he was a child, so he had nothing more to worry about or fear.

But if the skullcrawlers had been defeated long ago, then why didn’t the Iwi try to restore their alliance with Kong? As their ancestors had done? The question plagued her daily, but whenever she tried to bring it up to the elders, they dismissed her. Kong was too dangerous to approach now. They had long lost the connection, they said. He was too old and unaware of the bond they once shared. Trying to restore their relations was too risky.

And yet...Tuhirae refused to believe that. She was hopeful, unlike most of the other kids her age. Many of them had succumb to the reality that their island was an overgrown death trap, and that to live in fear was the only way to survive.

She finally finished getting ready and started her chores as quickly as possible. There was much to be done before she put her plan into action…

__________

It was late afternoon when everything was finished and the village began to settle. Tuhirae dared to smile to herself as she silently slipped behind the huts and towards the jungle. She kept sneaking a peak over the shoulder, making sure no one followed her. She had her knife sheath to her side, just in case, but she did not worry too much.

The skullcrawlers had been seen less as less over the decades, now that the Big One was killed, and Kong’s presence was slowly healing and restoring balance, but the jungle still held its many dangers. She had to be especially careful when traveling alone.

About a half mile outside the village, Tuhirae had set up a secret hiding spot. For months now, she’d been sneaking supplies out to the spot in preparation for her plan; journey down the river to find Kong, and beg him to join the Iwi as his family once did. Or at least attempt some kind of communication.

One of the objects she’d snuck out had actually been from the temple in their village. If she was caught with it, she risked severe punishment. But if she wanted to appeal to the mightly Kong, she absolutely needed to take it with her.

She brushed away the cover she’d used for the spot and took a look at it sitting atop the food and utilities she’d snuck out.

An intricate necklace, made up of carved pieces of teeth and bone said to belong to the titans of old like Kong. She carefully picked it up, and once more examined the markings. They were beautiful and symbolic, even though their meaning had been long lost to time. She place it around her own neck and started loading the supplies into the nearby boat she had built as well. A small canoe for the travel of just herself.

She took one last deep breath as she started to push the boat out into the river. She knew what she was doing was probably stupid and would get her killed. But before she settled down to be a woman of the tribe, she wanted to try this one effort to reunite her people with Kong. He was such an important part of their history, that she couldn’t stand the idea of letting their bond be lost to time. She had to try. She felt like it was her duty, somehow.

With her head held high she climbed into her boat, sailed down the river, and did not look back.

________

It did not take long for night to follow her. Before the sun dipped out of the sky, she went as far as she could before stopping to make camp. She was already exhausted from the chores she’d done, so she fell asleep not long afterwards.

In the dark of the night, something woke her abruptly. It felt like she had just closed her eyes and opened them again, but the fire she had made was nothing but cinders now. The stars had shifted, so she knew it was later.

Quickly, she worked the coals to start burning again with fresh wood, and drew her knife. Her dark eyes shifted around at the shadows, searching for what had woken her. She listened, but nothing out of the ordinary could be heard.

She relaxed a bit. Perhaps it was nothing.

She stood up cautiously, knife still aimed ahead. No...No something was out there. She could feel it's presence. She could feel herself being watched.

And then, without any warning, the jungle began to move.

She took a step back and braced herself, but all that happened was that the leaves bent and parted, the trees twisted and shifted unnaturally. Nothing was moving them, they were moving on their own. A path formed in front of her, through the dark of the jungle.

Any sensible person would run; jump in their boat and row away as fast as they could. The jungle didn’t do things like this. It was a bad omen.

But Tuhirae did not run. She gazed wide-eyed at the path for a minute in disbelief. Was she dreaming this? She pricked her finger and felt pain, disproving that thought. Perhaps this was a sign? Without thinking, her free hand went to the necklace she wore. Maybe…

She reached down and picked up a branch to light it with fire, and then sheathed her knife against her every instinct. She began walking down the path, away from her boat and provisions, against all common sense, to see where it would take her.

She watched the jungle move and bow to her as she walked. It was eerie and uncomfortable to watch, but she continued on anyway. The light of her torch only helped her see a little bit in front of her, so when she felt the breeze of open air in front of her after walking a while, it took her a split second too long to realize that she’d reached a cliff. She threw her hands out and caught herself before she went face first down the side of a huge drop off.

She clutched her chest and took some breaths to calm herself from her near fatal fall. It was too dark to see anything in front of her, and when she looked back, she saw the jungle close back up as normal. Why had it led her here?

Something moved. Something big. She heard the sound of trees rustling and branches snapping. Tuhirae held up her torch to see but couldn’t make out the shape of anything. A low, deep, and loud animal-like sound reverberated in the air around her.

It was Kong.

Her heartbeat picked up, her throat tightened, and her body stiffened. She’d never seen him before, let alone be this close to him. She had only ever seen pictures and drawings of him in the village. What would he actually look like in person?

She didn’t have long to wait. More sounds came about, getting closer and closer, until they stopped. She gazed eagerly out into the black void of night, searching for some sign of him. A shape or an outline.

Instead, there was a hand that came out and grabbed her.

She shrieked in surprise as she was rather quickly scooped up into the leathery hand, and lifted into the air. All at once, he was all around her. And when she finally got her bearings and sat up in his palm, she lifted the torch back up.

An enormous face took up her entire field of vision, and a pair of human-like eyes gazed down at her, reflecting the light of the fire.

She had come to find him, to attempt some type of communication in the hopes of restoring something lost to both their people long ago.

She had never expected to find it so quickly.

Chapter Text

Atsuko and Chouko Chen loved their mom very much, so when the news of her sickness reached them, they were very upset. The twins were eight years old, and were already familiar with the type of work their family went into. In fact, they were quite proud of it. Monarch was the place where people who wanted to help monsters and humans live in peace went to work. It had seemed like the best job in the world, until it had forced their mother into the hospital all the time.

Last year, when Ghidorah had tried to destroy the earth, they’d been told and seen on the news about how Godzilla and Mothra worked together to defeat him. And ever since then, things had been different for them. Their dreams had been filled with images of beautiful, multicolored moths and vast, lush green valleys and forests. A gentle voice sang them to sleep at night, and comforted them when they were sad or upset.

Being small children, and not quite understanding what was actually going on, they decided to refer to the voice as “Fairy”, after reading stories about helpful fairies and fairy godmothers who watched over children and performed nature magic. It made sense to them that they would be comforted by a fairy godmother, since their own mother had fallen ill and they needed someone to help take care of them, other than there Aunt Ling.

With mom being sick and the intense work their Aunt Ling was getting buried under, they didn’t speak very much of Fairy to the adults. It was fun to have a secret magical friend they could talk to any time. And usually, any adult that caught them talking to the air assumed it was some imaginary friend they’d come up with, as children do. So there was nothing suspicious about it and they didn't feel it was unusual at all.

But one night, Fairy woke them up from their peaceful dreams with a sense of urgency.

“My little fairies, the time has come to meet with you face to face.” she told them softly. The girls gasped and jumped out of their beds.

“Can we see you right now?” Chouko asked eagerly.

“Where are you, Fairy? We would love to meet you!” Atsuko squealed.

Fairy laughed. “Yes, yes. I’m not too far away, but it’s too great of a distance to walk on your own. I have made the arrangements. Hurry outside now, there’s no time to waste.”

As quickly as they could, the girls rushed out of their room and downstairs. Still in their pajamas and slippers, they dashed out into the backyard. They gasped at the sight of two beautiful, glowing moths the size of great danes waiting for them. Atsuko hopped on the one with more orange coloring, and Chouko on the bluer one.

It was like something out of their storybooks. The glittering moths lifted them high into the night sky, over cities and towns below them. The air was cool, but their bodies were fluffy and soft, keeping the girls from getting too cold. Soon they were flying over the ocean as well, and the twins beamed at each other in excitement.

“Hold tight now,” Fairy’s voice told them as the moths made a sudden dive towards an island. They carried the girls to a mountainside, where a Monarch camp was set up. As if by magic, they passed through all the walls and fences and deep into the cave the camp was outside of.

There were many different mechanical devices and machines in the cave, all surrounding a giant glowing egg. They could hear the soft beating and pulsing of the creature inside as they landed in front of it.

Atsuko and Chouko slowly dismounted and walked towards the egg in total childlike awe.

“Fairy?” they called timidly.

“I am inside.” she answered. “I will come out soon enough, don’t worry. But will you sing for me in the meantime?”

“Of course!” they answered enthusiastically and in unison. They didn’t realize it, but the song they began to sing was one they’d never even heard before. They held hands and raised their small voices, and sung in perfect harmony the ballads of their ancestors.

A group of Monarch scientist came rushing into the cave, awoken by the alarms that had gone off when the girls entered. They stood in disbelief at Dr. Chen’s daughters, watching and listening. The song was so beautiful and mesmerizing, some of them started to sway sleepily. Hypnotized by it's soft melody, none of them even attempted to stop them.

As the song reached its end, the egg cracked. The pulsing quickened and woke them from their trance. Atsuko and Chouko finished the final note and their eyes grew wide as their enormous friend emerged from the egg, and lowered he head to greet them.

“Finally,” Mothra cooed, letting them come up to hug her face, “I have missed you so much...”

Chapter Text

Francisco jolted awake, immediately sitting upright and gasping for breath. With wide brown eyes, he whipped his head around to get his bearings. He was in a hospital bed, with other sick and wounded. A nurse quickly approached him.

“It’s okay now, just lay back to rest,” she said, trying to push him back onto the bed. But he shoved her hand away.

“Rodan is coming,” he said, normal at first. As if he were telling her his neighbor was on his way. The nurse dismissed his statement and again tried to get him to lay down.

“You were hit by an explosion from the construction site, you need to rest and heal.” she said more sternly. This time, when she touched his shoulder, he grabbed her wrist with sudden and inhuman strength. She cried out and he let go, watching her stumble back.

“Rodan is coming, I...I need to leave, please.” he begged, feeling bad that he hurt her but not quite sure how.

Some more nurses and a doctor came over. Other patience were glancing over and turning their heads at the commotion. “It was not Rodan," the doctor said calmy, figuring the boy was confusing the accident for his trauma. "The fire was from an explosion of wires and chemicals. Please lie down, you are not well.”

“I feel fine, let me go,” Francisco shouted back, trying to shake him and the other nurses off.

The nurse suddenly cried out and released him, pointing. “Doctor! His back…” Francisco tried to look over his shoulder, but he couldn’t see. However, he could feel that the bandages had fallen away. He furrowed his brow, remembering. He had been burned, and had been in great pain.

...Where was that pain now?

The doctor took one look at his back and swore loudly. The boy felt his heart race, and he glanced back at the window, the nearest reflection.

There was a huge mark all down his back and shoulders. The hair on the back of his scalp was partly singed. But the burn was healed over, as if he’d had it his whole life and it was nothing more than a giant discolored scar. In the center of that scar, between his shoulder blades, was a symbol. The one his ancestors of old had used for the fire demon; Rodan.

An image flashed in his mind. The great titan of fire flying over the ocean. The volcano. Francisco had to go there, now. He couldn’t explain it if anyone asked, but he needed to go to the volcano before Rodan reached the island.

As the crowd around him gathered and whispered in confusion and fear, the boy turned to look at his hand. Faint flickers of yellow flowed under his skin. He felt frightened, his pulse racing, but he also felt something else. Something new.

Again they tried to restrain him, but the moment they touched him they pulled away. His skin was as hot as a stovetop. Before they could do anything else or attempt to call someone, he ripped the blanket off and lept off the bed. He was still wearing the tattered remains of his shorts, but his shoes and shirt were gone. As he ran out and down the hall, he left searing black footprints in the concrete floor.

Rodan was coming, and if he didn’t do something, the whole city might once again be destroyed. He would not let that happen.

______

Sam was unusually focused on his schoolwork, in an attempt to distract his mind from what had happened yesterday. He sat at his desk and scribbled notes, only looking up when he needed to. He even raised his hand once or twice to answer a question. It took his mind off of the world at home and outside his class.

Between classes, he visited his locker to exchange books before heading towards the cafeteria. On his way there, he spotted something. A group of boys had surrounded a girl at her locker nearby. They were standing and talking casually, but they were a little too close to her, and she was visibly uncomfortable. Eyes to the floor, shoulders tense.

The world seemed to slow down at that moment. He saw what she didn’t. The main boy talking to her, leaning in dangerously close to her face, started to reach his hand towards her. He saw where it was going, and he did not like it. It was wrong, and his heart tightened.

The boy’s hand continued to move in slow motion, but Sam felt himself move just fine. He grabbed the kid’s wrist and pulled back. His grip and speed was so fast that the boy was twisted and slammed into the lockers.

Everyone stared at him.

“What the hell is your problem?” the boy shouted, rubbing his neck from the whiplash and stepping towards him. His buddies also stepped up towards him in an intimidating manner.

Sam wasn’t sure what he was doing, but he refused to back down. He felt a kind of electric wave flow down his back through his body. He didn’t know who this girl was, but she was in trouble, and he was not going to let them take advantage of her.

A crowd had gathered now. Kids were forming a circle, eyes wide with anticipation and glee. The girl closed her locker and made a run for it while the boys’ backs were to her. At least she was no longer their primary target, she was safe. He, on the other hand…

“You were bothering her with your bad breath.” Sam said in a calm tone. The crowd Oooed.

The swing came, and pain flared in his face, but the rest of his body reacted. The electricity that he felt ripped through his nerves and his hand grabbed the boy by the neck, lifted him off his feet, and threw him full force into his buddies.

The crowd went crazy. Sam glared at them as they all struggled to get up off the floor. He briefly noticed the unusual red glow from some of the veins in his arm before another boy tackled him to the ground.

Before he could land a punch of him, Sam got his legs under his stomach and kicked him off...right up into the ceiling. He rolled over and stood, the crowd of kids now backing away and yelling and hollering. Many had their phones held up, recording the fight.

The boy he’d kicked tried to catch himself as he fell and a loud, unnerving crack announced a broken arm. Sam’s vision blurred. The electric feeling was in and out now. He looked back at his hands and saw a pulsing red under his skin.

“You fight in defense. Like your father.”

The MUTO’s voice. He whipped around to see where it came from, but all he saw were frightened and confused kids. A teacher made her way through the crowd, yelling and shooing everyone away. Sam looked down at the injured boys and felt his chest grow heavy. What had he done? How had he done it? What was going on with him?

________

Madison took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. There was no turning back from this point. If she stepped any further, she was handing herself over to the mercy of a god.

Godzilla had guided her far across the ocean, to this uncharted island, and told her to enter this small temple if she wished to be his Champion. She didn’t know what exactly that meant, or what was waiting for her inside the temple, but she had nowhere left to go. Godzilla was a titan, the king of the monsters. Surely, if he had spoken to her and asked her to do this, then it must be something important.

She trusted him.

Which was strange, she thought as she took the first few steps into the abandoned Hollow Earth temple. For so long she had been told that Godzilla had been the one to kill her brother. Her father had hated him, and her mother had wanted to control him. Both of them had wanted revenge in their own way. Both of them believed he was evil.

Madison never had. And perhaps he knew that. And perhaps that was why he came to her now, and why she was willing to trust him with this.

The temple was similar to the one Mothra’s egg had been in back in China. Old stone, with ancient carvings along the wall. But these one depicted Godzilla, not Mothra. And when she reached the center of the temple, there was a large pool of water rather than a giant egg.

The water was crystal clear and still, but she could not see the bottom.

“What should I do now?” she asked aloud, setting down her backpack.

Silence.

She looked around the room, at the great pillars and the carvings in the wall. Humans and titans, dancing and fighting and growing and living in harmony. The light from the world outside peeked through the hole in the ceiling, providing the only source of light.

Then she noticed the ledge on the edge of the pool.

She decided to take off her shoes and socks and step onto it, looking down at the water. Even with the light directly on top of it, she could not see the bottom. She knelt down to touch the water.

The ripple from her fingertips traveled across the surface, and as soon as it hit the opposite side, the torches around the room sprung to life. She stood back up in alarm.

“Hello?” her voice echoed.

“Madison Russell,” the deep, familiar voice of Godzilla echoed back. She looked for him in the water, and all around the temple, but saw nothing.

“Do you willingly enter this sacred place, with the purpose of leaving here as my Champion?”

She was quiet. She still didn’t know what that meant. Did she really want to go through with this?

“...Yes.” She answered back.

“Then enter this pool, swim to the bottom, and prove yourself worthy of my title.”

She gazed down into the pool below her. Swim to the bottom? But she couldn’t see it. And she couldn’t breathe underwater like him. How far was it?

Only one way to find out.

She stripped off her jacket, tossed it to the side, and took as big of a breath as she could. Before she could stop or second guess herself, she dove straight in.

Chapter Text

Madison surfaced immediately, unexpectedly, and splashed back down into the water with a yelp of surprise. Confused, she looked around. She dove into the pool and splashed...out the other side? As if she’d gone through some kind of water portal. And she was no longer in the pool, but in a small lake. She dunked her head under the water, but it was nothing but black. There was no way back.

The sky was red and orange above her. All around the lake, debris, rubble, and ruins piled in giant mountains. The smell of fire and ash was everywhere. She swam to the shore and climbed out.

All around her was the sight of destruction. Flames of bonfires were scattered everywhere in the distance. Buildings, homes, cars, powerlines, boats, trees, etc. All of it seemed to go on for miles. Nothing but absolute destruction and devastation. What was this place? Where was she?

“Maddy?”

The voice pierced her like a needle through her heart. Madison’s entire body tensed and her eyes grew wide. She turned around slowly, afraid of what she was about to see. Knowing and hoping, but afraid.

At the edge of the water behind her stood a boy a little younger than her. He was coated in ash, and had a few cuts here are there. Some of his clothes were torn, and he wore a Boston Red Sox basball cap. His eyes latched with hers, and tears brimmed her eyes instantaneously.

“Andrew.” she managed to say with a sob.

They stared at each other for a long, long time. Hours it felt like. Neither one of them moved. Madison was afraid that if she did, he would vanish.

“This is cruel.” she finally said, trying to compose herself. “Why are you showing this to me?” Her eyes were on Andrew, but she was speaking to Godzilla. This had to be part of her test.

“Because he killed me.” Andrew said simply. “He’s killed a lot of people like me; without meaning to.”

She quickly wiped her eyes and sighed. She didn’t know how to respond to this. It wasn’t anything that she had expected. What was she supposed to do? What did he want her to do or say?

Andrew started walking towards her, and her heart felt like it would beat so fast it would choke her. But he walked past her, through the rubble. Cautiously, she followed him.

They passed by a lot of different things as they walked. All of them were broken, ripped, smashed, collapsed, and otherwise destroyed, but they were all from different time periods. She saw ruins from ancient civilizations, from the modern era, and from just about everywhere in between.

“You may think I’m an illusion, but I’m not.” Andrew called back to her. That made her extremely uncomfortable.

“Then what are you? ‘Cause you’re not my brother. He’s...dead.” she choked on the word, even though it had been six years. It was strange to say something like that to his face, but he didn’t seem phased.

“I’m not completely Andrew, but I was once a part of him.” the boy told her somberly as they continued. “When he died, during Godzilla’s fight with the MUTOs, a piece of him came here, with all the others who died that day. And all the rest who have died before me under his wrath.”

Madison was lost. She quickened her step so she was next to him instead of behind him. It felt unnatural for her to look down at him, since she’d always been shorter than Andrew (he was the older of the two). “What do you mean, a piece of you? What is this place? Are...are we in hell?” she asked, nervously glancing around.

“Not our hell, his.” was the plain and simple answer the boy gave.

They rounded a corner and stopped. They stood on the edge of a cliffside, overlooking a valley. Madison put a hand to her mouth in horror at what she saw, and heard.

For as far as the horizon went, there were people. Millions and millions of people. All of them like the piece of Andrew, covered in burns and scars with shredded and torn clothes, crying and weeping and screaming. As she took in the terrifying scene, she realized that they were all scattered among the wreckage around her, too. They were alive, but unmoving. Laying where they had died, emotionless expressions on their faces.

“This isn’t real,” she denied, “This can’t be real.”

“Every human soul that has ever died because of Godzilla is felt by him. He does not walk the Earth blindly, as many believe,” Andrew said, keeping a calm, but sad tone. His eyes were fixated on the sea of people in front of them.

“So, what? This is...some kind of punishment?” the girl asked.

“For him, yes.” A female voice behind them said. Madison turned and felt her knees tremble, the overwhelming emotions enough to almost cause her to collapse.

Both her parents, Emma and Mark, stood there a few feet away. Emma was like the others; her hair was a mess, she was coated in ash and cuts, and her clothes were all messed up, but Mark was in his usual clothes and was all cleaned up. However, it was still clear that he had suffered, as he looked the way he did when he’d died; sick from cancer and chemo.

Andrew walked over to stand with them, and they all faced Madison with sunken, sorrowful eyes. She took a step back, feeling fear and uncertainty, but not wanting to run away just yet.

“For thousands of years, Godzilla had lived and fought and killed to protect the planet,” the piece of her mother went on, “And for a thousand years, he had murdered innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. This,” she motioned to the sea of people behind Madison, and then to the ruin around them, “is the reality of his actions. This is the cost that comes with the title of Champion.”

“When you claim this title,” the piece of Andrew added, “you must take it knowing the consequences. If you wish to be Godzilla’s link to humankind, and speak and act on his behalf, you must be willing to accept the consequences, should humanity punish you in place of him.”

“The blood on his hands will be the blood on your hands, Madison.” The piece of her father finished, “It is not a decision to make thoughtlessly.”

The thirteen year old girl was stunned. This was so much to take in at once. She looked from her family, to the millions of people before her. People who had died simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Men, women, children, who hadn’t meant to be killed. All of them had suffered in some way and died, and they were here because Godzilla was ashamed of doing that to them.

She thought of Isla del Mara. Of Washington D.C, and of Boston. She thought of San Fransico, and the hundreds of other cities that the titans had rampaged through.

And then she remembered something else.

The warning that had gone out about the MUTOs coming. She had been at home when the alert went out. She watched their neighbors and friends flee from the window. People in the streets, piling their things in cars and trains, on the news boats and buses were being filled. People were fleeing. They were trying to escape. They knew the titans were coming, and so did her mother.

And her mother had made them stay. That was the main reason why her dad had blamed Emma for Andrew’s death. Her mother had wanted to stay and get to the Monarch labs to do her work and research. And because of that she’d lost her brother. They’d lost their son.

Madison looked back out to the people in the valley, and balled her fists.

“This is wrong.” she said aloud. Then she turned to face her family, who stood and watched her with confusion.

“Godzilla didn’t kill Andrew. You and dad always said he did, but that’s not true. He was crushed under a falling building. And the only reason that building fell was because Godzilla was trying to stop the MUTOs from killing all of us!” Her voice grew steadily louder as she went on.

“And mom made the choice to stay behind and lure Ghidorah away. She knew it was a suicide mission, but she did it away! And dad...he had to go down there and try to bring Godzilla back. It was our fault that he’d been injured so bad in the first place, he was only trying to undo the damage we caused. It’s not Godzilla’s fault that the radiation that he feeds on is toxic for humans!”

She paused to catch her breath, and look towards the blazing sky overhead. The light of the fires, the smell of the smoke and ash, and the feeling of the weak breeze behind her made her heart ache. These were scenes and visions that had become normal to her now. Once they had stuck fear, and a sense of dread. Once she had been a small child who had survived a haunting, traumatic event. The trauma was still there, deep in her heart, and would always be there, for sure. But she would not let it haunt her like it used to. In that moment, she took back what had been stolen from her.

“Godzillaaaaa!” She turned and screamed into the valley. The humans all ceased their cries and screams simultaneously, and the entire world was still. They watched and they listened.

“This isn’t right!” she called to the sky, “You shouldn’t blame yourself for every single person who dies from these events! You’re big and powerful and it’s hard to save the world from threats like Ghidorah as it is...But all these deaths are not necessarily because of you! I can tell you right now that most of humanity is pretty stupid! We do stupid things like broadcasting alpha calls when we know Ghidorah will come and kill us! Or stay when we know we should leave! Or run into danger because we would rather try something than run and do nothing. And in those cases, you shouldn’t blame yourself!

“And I want to be your Champion so I can make sure you know that! And so I can tell humanity how you truly feel sorry when it happens, and then maybe we can figure out a way to work together to prevent deaths like these.”

Silence.

The air was dead and still. The people in the valley all faced her, not speaking or whispering, just watching. She looked down at them for a moment, taking it all in, and then faced her family once more.

They were staring at her with wide, awestruck eyes, expressions she’d rarely seen before. She smiled sadly at them, knowing what had to be done. She took a deep breath and stepped towards them.

“You can let them go. It’s okay.” she said, relaxing her shoulders.

The three pieces of her family returned her smile, ones of pride and relief, and weakly lifted their hands to wave goodbye. As they did, their forms slowly turned to ash, flowing off in the breeze past her. As they did, she turned back to the valley and watched their ashes join the growing cloud of ash and dust from the rest of the people below, as they dissolved, too. Finally free, they flowed with the wind, high, high up into the orange sky, and swirled together into a huge storm cloud.

Confused, Madison stepped back and watched as the giant grey cloud cracked with blue thunder, and a downpour of rain began. Sheets of water came down on her, soaking her instantly. She sputtered and tried to look around for shelter, but she couldn’t see anything in the haze of rain. She started back behind her, to where she thought some of the building were, but instead, a giant wave of water in all she saw. It crashed down and swept her away off her feet.

She tumbled under the water, and felt and tasted salt. She didn’t know which way was up or down, which way to swim towards, or what was happening now.

And then everything stopped.

The current that had been pulling her stopped dead. She floated for a moment, and dared to peek open her eyes.

The salt did not burn her. She blinked them fully open. Everything was dark, and she couldn’t tell which way the surface was, but she could make out the form of something enormous in front of her.

A flash of blue light made her wince, and she realized he was directly in front of her. She was practically sitting on his snout. Godzilla’s eyes glowed that familiar neon blue as he gazed down at her, and she stared right back.

She gasped aloud as the ceremony started, sending a cascade of bubbles upwards. Her eyes began to glow the same blue as his, and a shock ran through her whole system. She could feel his strength and his power as if it were her own. It shot through her veins and overloaded her senses. She screamed for a moment, for it was all quite painful to endure all at once.

And then, just like that, it was over.

When Madison next opened her eyes, she was at the bottom of the pool, just laying there and staring up at the light coming in from the top of the temple. Her whole body ached and her head throbed, as if she’d just been hit by a truck. It wasn’t until a few minutes of laying there in pain that she realized that she was breathing comfortably underwater.

She decided to continue to lay at the bottom of the pool and rest a few minutes longer, the pain and throbbing already beginning to subside significantly.

“So now what?” she said out loud, her voice sounding strange passing through water.

“Now you gather the others.” he replied.

Chapter Text

Tuhiare woke up the next morning to the sun bearing down on her face. She lifted her hand to block the intense rays of light and sat up. She was still in the jungle, as there were trees all around and she was laying in a pile of leaves. The river and her boat were nowhere to be seen.

She stood up and stretched, noticing the oddness of her surroundings as she did. There were ruins hidden all around. Stone statues and walls half-fallen were all around, covered in vines and moss. The jungle had fully claimed this place, but hints of a fallen civilization still remained beneath it.

She tried to think of where she might be on the island. It was hard to tell, as she didn’t recognize any specific plants or small animals to indicate her location.

“Go to the temple.”

The voice made her jump and she nervously glanced around. That voice...she’d never heard it before. It had spoken as if right next to her, but there was no one there.

“Why? Who are you?” she called to the jungle.

“I am Kong, and I will meet you at the temple.” he replied gruffly.

She sighed, deciding not to ask where the temple was and just search for it herself. He sounded like he didn't want to be bothered. But where was he? And how could she hear him if he was so far away?

She put a hand to the bone necklace she wore and pondered a moment. Hopefully, she would find more answers at this temple…

_____

Francisco had never run so fast for so long in his life. It felt unnatural, but he didn’t have time to think about it. All he could think about was Rodan, and his city. The titan was coming back from his vacation in Mount Fuji, apparently, and was headed this way. He didn’t know how he knew that, but he did.

He bolted down the busy streets, leaping clear over objects and animals in his way, dodging people and cars and carts. He could also feel the slight discomfort of his body as he ran. Something wasn’t quite right, but he was too scared to stop and try to figure it out. He had to reach the volcano as soon as possible, and--

BAM!

Something hit him. He was knocked off his feet and rolled into the street. People were shouting and gasping. Francisco shook himself and looked up.

There was a man dressed in military clothes with his face covered by a mask standing over him, wielding a bat that he’d hit the boy with. Suddenly, four others in similar masked-men stepped out of the crowd and joined him. Francisco felt a warm liquid pool down from his nose, but the pain was quickly subsiding. He got to his feet and stared at them, wiping away the blood.

“Where are you going in such a hurry, huh? You got somewhere to be, little man?” the main man jeered.

The boy stood his ground, but he was terrified on the inside. Who were these guys? Why did they attack him?

“Get out of there. Now!” Rodan’s voice hissed in his ear.

Two of them lunged for him. Francisco had only a split second to react, and he chose to run. If Rodan, a freaking giant titan of fire, told him not to mess with these guys then he was going to listen.

“Who are they?” he asked loud, racing down the side of the street as fast as he could. Which was actually pretty inhumanly fast at the moment.

“I have no idea.”

“Then why did you tell me to run from them?!”

“They hit a kid in the face with a baseball bat. I’m going to guess that they probably have SOME kind of evil intentions?”

For the first time in what felt like a decade, Francisco laughed out loud. He hasn't expected a giant, destructive Titan to sound so...so unfiltered.

He was running so fast now it was like he was flying. He jumped and lept over objects and people like he was weightless. He didn’t look back, but he could feel the men pursuing him. He had to find a way to get them off his trail, but how?

A balcony came into view. He jumped on top of a car and then up onto the balcony with newfound agility.

BANG!!

A gunshot! He turned to look back, and sure enough, they were aiming some weird looking guns up at him from the crowd. People were screaming and running and ducking out of the way. Francisco pushed off from the balcony and up onto the roof.

The volcano loomed over the city, miles away but in view. The boy did not hesitate to leap from rooftop to rooftop towards it. He still couldn’t believe this was happening, but he didn’t have the luxury to stop and comprehend it at the moment. Evil men in masks with strange weapons were chasing him, and his adrenaline was high. He was just going to roll with it for the time being.

He was nearing the edge of the city now. If he could make it into the valley, and towards the woods, he would be able to shake them more easily. He knew the mountainside well after growing up a native to the island.

He jumped from one rooftop to the next, his eyes towards the volcano, when the net came down. It tangled around him, and he tumbled onto his side. Dazed, he tried to pull it off him, to break free, but he wasn’t strong enough.

“No, no, no!” he cried fearfully.

“Francis! What’s happening? I can’t see through your eyes yet.” Rodan called in his mind. The firebird sounded as distressed as he was.

“I’m in a net. I can’t get out!” he cried. He kicked and thrashed, but the net would not give. He stopped as a shadow fell over him. The glare of the sun blocked out their face, but it didn’t matter. A moment later, a prick of pain pinched his arm, and slowly, everything faded to black.

The titan’s connection to him faded as he lost consciousness. Rodan screeched out in anger, picking up speed. His future champion was in grave danger and he was NOT pleased.

_______

Ilrene was unable to come to the island, so Ling came instead. She waited anxiously by the doors of the Osprey as it landed, and was rushing out as soon as she could. Sam Coleman, her coworker, was already there, waiting for her.

“How did they get here?” she demanded. They power walked through the Monarch camp, towards the caves where Mothra’s egg was. Or had been…

“We don’t know for sure, but we think that Mothra was somehow able to bring them here.” Coleman explained, struggling to keep up with her. In the daytime, everyone was busy walking and talking about. Military personnel and scientists alike were scattered all over. The area was heavily guarded and quarantined from local population, so there was no way two little girls could have just snuck in that easily.

Ling and Coleman barreled down the corridors and tunnels, to where the cave opened up into a larger space. Mothra, in her larva form, was curled with her back to everyone.

“I thought she didn’t hatch until after they were already here.” Ling said, approaching.

“Uh, wait, Dr. Ling--” Coleman stuttered, stopping in his tracks a few yards away. All of the scientists turned and watched. As Ling came closer, Mothra’s form twisted around to face her, and her bluish-green aura turned red. The baby titan screeched and shot a web of silk at her.

The scientist cried out as the silk entwined her and shoved her back 30 feet to the floor. Coleman and a handful of others came to her aid, using special tools to cut through the titan’s webbing.

“She won’t let anyone near them. She’s attack everyone who’s tried to get close.” Sam told her. Ling struggled to pull herself free. She didn’t believe Mothra would ever hurt her nieces, but she wanted answers as well.

“Why don’t they just come over here themselves then?” she asked, “I’m sure Mothra would let them.”

“That’s...not an option, unfortunately.” He pointed back towards the screens set up behind them. As Ling was finally freed from the silk, she followed him over to them. Her eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth in shock. There was a camera set up above them in a corner of the cave. It looked down on the other side of Mothra’s form.

The titan’s entire body was wrapped around two tiny cocoons of softly glowing silks laying next to each other.

Chapter Text

Of course, Sam Brody got suspended for breaking another kid’s arm and causing a scene in the hallway. When his mother had confronted him, he froze up. He simply told her he was trying to protect another student, and it had ended differently that he had anticipated. Which was true. He specifically left out the part about the glowing red veins in his skin, and the voice he’d heard, and the inhuman strength he’d gotten suddenly.

But now he was stuck at home all day, with no one around and no way to really distract himself and his thought from it all. Although he was technically grounded and wasn’t supposed to leave the house, there was no one home to stop him from going out for a walk around the neighborhood.

It wasn’t much of a neighborhood, actually. They lived in the countryside, so there were a lot of fields between his house and everyone else’s. It was the middle of a weekday and there weren’t a lot of cars along the roads, so he felt it was safe enough.

He grabbed his jacket and headed out with only his cell phone and house key. Maybe a trip to the general store about a mile and a half away would clear his mind. He hadn’t heard the voice at all yet, but it was almost noon and he was still nervous inside the house.

The early fall was pleasant. Crisp country air, the leaves changing color, the smell of freshly harvested crops. It helped him relax a little and take his mind off his troubles.

A couple cars and trucks passed by, slowing down and avoiding him as he walked along the side of the road. He had done this enough to know that he wasn’t in any true danger of being hit, the locals were very considerate drivers.

But when he was about a half mile from the store, a sudden chill ran up his neck and he turned. There was a black truck coming up the road behind him, almost brand new looking. He was about to turn back and shrug it off when he heard the truck hit the brakes and slow down once it came closer to him.

He couldn’t see through the black tinted windows, which made him even more nervous as it approached. He picked up his walking speed, glancing back over his shoulder until he saw the side window roll down. The truck was now right next to him, and a woman inside with sunglasses on gave him a dangerous smile.

“Hey kid, when are you walking to? Need a ride?” she asked casually.

Sam’s heart pounded and he felt himself start to sweat. There was no one else around or on the road. Nothing but high fields of grain and corn. He had a horrible feeling about this.

“No thanks, I’m fine.” he called, trying to keep his voice calm. He kept walking at a brisk pace, but the truck kept up with him.

“Oh please, I insist.” she said kindly. He had only a brief moment to react as he caught the glint of the weapon out of the corner of his eye. Something inside him got triggered. An electric pulse burst in his system and he felt his body leap almost 15 feet off the ground. He yelled in surprise and landed on his feet out in the middle of the grain field. The sound of the brakes screeching nearby and the woman swearing told him he wasn’t out of danger yet.

He pulled up his hood and ran further out into the field, keeping his head low. He ran faster than he ever had in his life.

“Don’t lead them back to your house.”

Sam involuntary tripped and fell in surprise. As he picked himself back up, he swore.

“Don’t scare me like that! Get out of my head!” he whispered angrily, taking off again. His pursuers were searching for him, he could hear them loudly running through the grain behind him.

“You are in more danger than you realize. You need to head west. I will protect you here.” she told him firmly.

“Stop it!” he shut his eyes and shook his head. “I’m not listening to you, this isn’t real. This is all just a bad dream!”

But when he opened his eyes again, he was in the desert. He stopped running and whipped around. It was nothing but dry, cracked earth for miles. He grabbed his head and cringed. “This isn’t real! Stop it!”

His gaze went down, and he noticed the symbol at his feet. It was some kind of giant rune carved into the earth.

He blinked.

Wait.

This looked familiar.

He’d seen this symbol before in a textbook at school. What did they call them? Nazca Lines? Ancient drawings that had been carved into the ground by man, but were huge and could only be seen fully from above.

And this one looked like the Parrot.

“This is where my temple lies. Hidden beneath the desert. This is where we must go.”

He lowered his hands, realizing that the Parrot was not actually a parrot, but rather, a male MUTO, the one with wings. At least it could be interpreted as either or.

He blinked and the vision was gone. He was back in the gain field, and the people after him were getting closer. He took off running again.

“Why? What do you want with me?” he whispered, jumping into the next field.

“I want you to be my Champion.” she said honestly.

He scoffed, stopping to make sure he’d lost them. “I don’t even know what that means! And why would I ever do anything for a titan?”

He didn’t see them anymore, but he couldn’t be sure they weren't looking for him. He took off again in a different direction.

“Because I can see into your heart, and I know of your personal history with my kind. I know the pain and the trauma you have endured, but I also know the hope and determination you harbor. You see the good in others and in the world, and you are willing to fight for that.” she offered. ”I believe you are worthy of being my Champion, even if you don’t.”

Sam Brody slowed down and stopped running. He caught his breath and thought for a moment about what all she had just said. Was that really true? Out of all the people in the world, she picked him because she thought he was worthy? How could she see his true feelings? How could she really know what he’d been through?

“And if I say no?” he asked.

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” she said sadly. He frowned.

“Why? You’re not gonna let me?” he snapped.

“No, because they are after you. They already think you’ve said yes. You have displayed powers of a Champion without realizing it.”

He looked down at his hands. The faint red glowing in his veins could be seen. He grimaced, remembering the sound of that kid’s arm snapping. Was there no way to stop these powers?

“Wait a minute,” he realized, “Who’s ‘they?’”

A second later, a prick of pain shot through his leg. He looked down to see a colorful dart sticking out of his jeans. Everything began to shift and sway. He whole body loosened. He looked up to see the woman in sunglasses and two men approach from behind him. He tried to run again, but he fell to the dirt instead.

“Boy? Champion?! What is happening?” The MUTO called in a distressed, and far away voice. “No, no! I will come...you must…” Her voice drifted away as his eyes closed and everything went black.

____________

Tuhiare was fascinated with the temple grounds. All the old ruins hinted that once this had been a whole city, where her ancestors had lived and prospered. The streets were wide, now uprooted from trees and bushes, but by her judgement it was once wide enough for Kong and his kind to walk through comfortably. Homes and buildings were in blocks, in a huge grid with the temple at the center.

Most everything was gone, except for a few old pieces of pottery and tools. It was late in the day by the time she finally walked towards the temple. It was a pyramid like building, with openings into the interior, but she could see at the top there was some kind of altar. She wondered what it had been used for.

She stood at the entrance to the inside of the temple, which was a few rows of steps up above the roofs of the houses. She turned to look back over the city, but it was completely hidden by the canopy of trees. The temple was the only thing left to indicate its remain from above.

“Kong?” She called aloud to the sky. A few birds nearby took flight, spooking her. She hadn’t realized until that moment that she hadn’t seen a single creature in all her time exploring the ruins, which was eerily unusual for Skull Island.

“Inside.” his low voice replied from all around her. She turned to the entrance, seeing how dark and dim it was. She gulped, and once more touched the necklace she wore.

She had wanted answers, didn’t she? She had wanted to communicate with the mighty titan, and find a way to restore their ancestors’ bond. She had to trust him.

With head held high, she walked into the ancient temple. The cold, stone floor beneath her bare feet was dusty and cracked. The further she went, the darker it got, but soon her eyes came to adjust.

She had her hand placed along the wall to help guide her. At least until there was no wall. She reached out to the other side, but the hallway had apparently ended. She could feel open air in front of her.

“Now what?” she sighed to herself.

Flames burst to life along the walls. She shrieked in fear for a second and jumped back. It was a giant circular room with a domed ceiling, and an altar similar to the one at the top of the temple in the center.

She stepped inside and saw all kinds of symbols and drawings carved into the walls. Large, beastly creatures were carved into the pillars. Monsters of all kinds she’d never seen before. The ceiling was painted with pictures of battles between these monsters, shaping the earth, sea, and sky.

She craned her neck to see it all. It was new and scary and fascinating. Did this mean there were other beasts like Kong out there? What had happened to them?

Tuhaire eventually made her way to the altar. It was made of stone, and was also sculpted and decorated with symbols and figures more like Kong. She placed a hand on it thoughtfully.

The necklace she wore around her neck and shoulders came to life. The teeth and bones dug into her skin and she cried out in pain. Fresh blood began to pool out of where they were puncturing her. She screamed and thrashed about, until she was finally about to rip the necklace off, and threw it against the altar.
It clattered to the floor in front of the giant stone, and she sunk to her knees, wailing in pain. She put her hands to her collarbone, where the cuts were.

“What happened?!” she cried, “What’s going on?”

She pulled her hand away and saw her own blood covering her fingers and palm. She felt frightened.

“Put your blood on the altar.” His voice commanded. She winced.

“I don’t understand.” she answered him.

“To understand, you must first offer your blood.”

His tone was final. She tightened her lip, biting back the pain. She wanted answers. She was scared, but her curiosity was stronger than her fear. She stood herself, and walked towards the altar.

She picked up the necklace of bones and teeth, still covered in her blood, and placed it on the altar. Tuhiare then watched as the markings carved into the pieces began to absorb the blood, and fill them with the bright red color of it.

The pain of her cuts started to fade, and she looked down to see the wounds healing rapidly.

“Now, wear it once more, and lay yourself on the table.”

She did not hesitate. The girl slipped the necklace back on, and crawled up onto the altar. Once she laid back and was comfortable, she waited.

Her gaze focused on the drawings on the dome ceiling again. Giant creatures fighting and hunting, burning the sky, land, and oceans. After a while, when nothing happened, she sighed and closed her eyes. Perhaps if she was patience, something would come.

It felt like she had fallen asleep after a few minutes, but she wasn’t sure. She went to open her eyes, but they would not open. She tried to move, but continued to lay still. She panicked. Why wasn’t her body responding to her?

“Kong?” she thought, reaching out with her mind. But she felt something blocking her. “Kong? What’s going on? What did you do?”

“I did nothing.” he huffed at her. “Just...hold on a moment.”

She could hear the small bit of uncertainty in his voice. So she waited a few more minutes, but nothing changed. It was as if her mind was floating in darkness, within some kind of bubble.

“Is this supposed to happen?” she asked.

“No! Quit distracting me, I’m trying to focus.” he growled.

Tuhiare blinked. She reached out again, but there was still a wall of some kind in the darkness. She felt up, down, and to the sides, but wherever her conscious was, it was trapped. She hummed thoughtfully.

“What is this? Maybe I can help.” she called.

“I don’t need help!” The wall suddenly pushed her back further into the black. When it stopped, Tuhiare squinted to see. There was something there. She couldn’t make out what it was on the other side, but something was there. Was it Kong?

Her mind began racing. She formed a theory and decided to test it.

“Kong, I have an idea. Let me try something.”

“I can handle this, I’m just out of practice!” He shouted back, and the wall pushed against her, pushing her farther away from the figure on the other side. Her theory was correct.

She wasn’t the one trapped.

He was.

__________

Ling was pacing around the cave, her books scattered all over the place. She had files pulled up on several computers, all about the history of the titans and mythology of monsters of the past. But none of the research was giving her an answer.

“Any luck?” Coleman came up to her, with two fresh coffees.

“No. Absolutely nothing.” She sighed angrily. He handed her the cup, but she put it down on the table without drinking it. “I’ve dug up every piece of history, mythology, geography, legend, and transcript I could about Mothra, but there’s nothing we have to explain what she’s doing with the girls. It doesn’t make sense.”

She slammed her book down and walked back over to the monitors. Sam took a sip of his coffee and they both watched the screen that showed the two cocoons resting beside the great titan. Ling bit her lip, worried for them.

“She’s only ever make cocoons for herself when she’s ready to transform into her adult stage. Why would she do this for two human girls?” she mused out loud.

“Dr. Ling!”

The two of them turned to the entrance of the cave so see a guard come running up to them. He was quite pale in the face.

“You need to come outside right away.” he said urgently. Ling didn’t like the idea of leaving the girls, but this seemed important. Her and Coleman followed the soldier briskly outside the cave to the camp.

There was a crowd gathered, all encircled around the front of one of the tents. Loud voices were shouting over the crowd. One of them was fairly young, and familiar....

There was a burst of bright blue light, and some of the soldiers were thrown back off their feet, screaming. Several scientists and other personal started to back away and run to their tents, while the soldiers looked to one another in confusion, unsure whether to aim their guns or not.

Ling and Coleman were a few yards from the scene when it happened, and gazed in awe at the source, along with everyone else there.

Madison Russell stood before the crowd, electric blue swirls of energy tangled around her entire body. Her brown hair was streaked with the bright neon blue colors at it flowed around her face. She wore thick hiking boots, dark jeans, grey shirt and black jacket, with fingerless leather gloves. Her hardened gaze fell upon Dr. Ling and she stepped forward.

“If anyone tries to manhandle me again, it’s going to get very, very ugly.” she warned.

Chapter Text

Madison approached Sam and Dr. Ling, recognizing their faces among the crowd. The rest of the people stepped aside and out of her way, watching as the blue energy dissolved and faded, and she once again resumed a more normal appearance. Brown hair, dark eyes...just a regular looking kid.

“Hey guys,” she said, nodding to them. “Good job keeping this place on high security. They already got two of us and we can’t risk losing more. Mothra’s are especially important. Let’s go check it out.”

She headed towards the cave entrance, followed by an extremely lost and confused Ling and Sam.

“Do you mind explaining exactly what you’re talking about in a little more detail?” Sam asked, trying to keep up with her as she power walked through the tunnels.

“Rodan and MUTO’s champions have been captured and are MIA. We don’t know their whereabouts and so we have to assemble the rest of the champions to find them, or else their titans will take matters into their own hands, and that’s not going to end well for anybody.” she answered, not slowing down.

“Champions? What does that mean? Wait, Madison!” Dr. Ling called as they entered the main cave where Mothra was. The girl headed straight towards her, and the adults try to call her to stop. They didn’t want her to be attacked.

But when Mothra turned and saw Madison, she did not hiss or shriek or shoot her silk. She allowed her to step over and around to the other side, where the cocoons were. Sam and Ling were speechless. They rushed over to the monitor to see what would happen.

As Madison came around, the cocoons immediately started to shake and move. She and Mothra watched as the twins cracked through the webbing and stretched themselves out. They were no longer in their pajamas with their hair down, though. Instead, they now wore beautiful dresses, one blue and one orange, with patterning similar to Mothra’s. Their dark hair was perfectly pulled up in a bun, with hair sticks covered in flowers.

“Hey, how come they get cool outfits?” Madison asked, semi jokingly.

Atsuko and Chouko climbed out and stood before Mothra with beaming little smiles. The benevolent titan cooed and lowered her head for them to reach out and touch her. As they did, their hands glowed a blue-green.

Then they turned to Madison, their smiles now gone. “The others are in danger.” they said in unison. The older teen nodded.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them. My name is Madison, by the way.” She reaches into her pocket and took out two candy bars, handing them to the girls. “Brought you some breakfast.”

They excitedly thanked her and took the candy, and immediately began snacking on them. Madison nodded to Mothra, and the girls followed their fellow champion back towards the exit. Ling was waiting for them.

“Chouko! Atsuko!” she cried, rushing up to hug them. The girls hugged her back, still munching on their candy.

“You had me so worried. You both are in so much trouble! But I’m glad you’re okay. But you’re both grounded! Come on,” she said, flip flopping between relief and anger. She took them by their free hands and went to lead them outside.

“But Aunt Ling, we can’t go home yet.” Chouko, the one in blue, protested.

“We have to help Mothra, and go with Madison to find the missing champions!” Atsuko exclaimed.

They came outside to the camp, and Ling continued to lead them towards her tent. “I don’t know what’s going on, but until I can figure it out you two are staying right here.”

“Dr. Ling, wait,” Madison called, coming up behind them.

“And you!” the woman cried, releasing her grip on Atsuko to point at the teen and give her her full attention. “You disappeared! Ran off after your father died? How could you?”

Madison tensed up, glaring at her. “I had to.” was all she could bring herself to say in her defense.

Ling shook her head. “I know its hard for you, Madison, but it’s hard for all of us, too. You can come and stay here with the girls while I -”

She stop talking when her hand reached back and did not find Atsuko. She looked back, but the girl was gone. Ling looked about wildly for her.

“Atsuko?! Guards! Search the base for her!” she called to a nearby group of soldiers. They set off immediately.

“She just went to throw our trash away, Aunt Ling.” Chouko told her. Although when Ling’s back was turned, she and Madison exchanged a glance.

Ling sighed. “Both of you, come back to the tent with me.” She started leading the eight year old away, but Madison did not budge.

“I don’t take orders from you,” the teen called. “And neither do they.”

Dr. Ling was about to turn and go off on her, after spending hours worrying and fretting and exhausting herself over her neices’ safety, when one of the soldiers cried out nearby. And then a handful more did as well. She turned her attention to the other side of the camp and saw Atsuko, in her pretty new orange dress, standing on top of a ten foot tall metal wire fence.

Immediately in panic mode, she let go of Chouko’s hand and rushed over to the other twin. “Atsuko! Get down from there!” she called. But the child simply smiled and waved at her.

“Sorry, Aunt Ling! But we have to go now. We’ll be back later!” the eight year old called down to her.

“How did she even get up there?” one soldier asked aloud. There were no crates or cars nearby for her to climb on. And the fence was much too high for a child to just crawl up.

A moment later, they got their answer. Chouko came into view, a pair of beautiful moth wings fluttering from her back. Ling was speechless.

A shadow crossed over the small crowd, and they watched Madison as she landed on the other side of the fence. She stood and gave one last look to Ling, hard and cold, before nodding to the twins.

“Let’s head out.”

“Bye Aunt Ling! We love you!” Chouko called from above. Her sister turned from her spot on the fence and also lifted a pair of moth wings from her back. Gracefully, she took flight, and the twins fluttered down to join Madison as she headed off into the nearby woods.

____

Wherever Francisco was now, it was very cold. They had given him a shirt and blanket, but it was still pretty chilly to him. He was being held in some kind of steel enforced room, with thick metal bars for a door. It was like a prison cell, almost, with a bed and all. But other than a few books and a bouncy ball that they’d provided for entertainment, there was nothing to do. And Rodan didn’t know where he was, either.

“We haven’t made an official pact yet in person.” the titan told him, “So I only know about as much as you do. I can’t sense where exactly you are in the world. You could be anywhere.”

No one else would talk to him. The guards all wore strange uniform that he didn’t recognize from any particular country. None of them answered his questions, or listened much to him. They just came to give him food or let him out to use the bathroom, under supervision, which was really uncomfortable.

He’d only been there for a day and a half when the guards came in with another kid. He jumped up from his bed and watched them drag another boy over to a cell on the opposite side of the hall. A kid close to his age, maybe a year or two younger, knocked unconscious. White with brown hair and nice looking clothes.

They locked him up and left without a word. Francisco sat by the bars and waited.

It took about an hour for the other boy to wake up, and when he did, he seemed very nervous and jumpy.

“Where am I? What’s going on?” he asked with a distinct American accent. Francisco stood up with his blanket still wrapped around his shoulders, watching him take in his new room.

“I don’t know, I was out when they brought me in here, too.”

The kid jumped at hearing him, not realizing he wasn’t alone. They both stared at each other through the bars of their doors.

“What’s your name?” he asked the new guy.

“Sam. Sam Brody.”

“I’m Francisco Javier Mendoza.” he pulled an apple out from where he’d stashed it under his blanket and took a bite.

“Is there a nickname your friends have for you?” Sam asked.

“No. And I don’t like being called Francis, so don’t even think about it.” he said quickly. Andres had called him Francis. It brought him bad memories.

Sam put his hands up defensively. “Got it. Don’t worry. Francisco it is.”

Sam continued to check out his new cell, and Francisco continued to watch him as he ate. Something felt familiar about this kid. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he felt like he knew him. But if he was from America then that couldn’t be possible. Francisco had never been on the mainland before, and he doubted that this dude had ever been to his remote island in Mexico.

“Shut up!” Sam loudly whispered to his side. This perked his attention. He continued to watch Sam, who’s back was to him. He seemed even more visibly uneased. And there was something on his neck, he noticed.

Francisco squinted to see better. No, that wasn’t on his neck, it was in his neck. Pulsing, glowing red veins along the back and side of his neck, just barely visible under the collar of his jacket. Sam put his hands to his head and sat on the bed, agitated.

“Are you okay?” Francisco called over to him.

“This is crazy. This can’t be happening.” Sam said aloud, but he wasn’t sure if it was to him or not.

Francisco took another bite from his apple and watch curiously. There were also glowing veins on the back of his hands, too. The boy looked down to his own hands. Under his shadow, the faint glow of orange and yellow could be seen in his veins. Maybe this kid was like him, and was connected to another titan. He decided to ask Rodan.

“Are there others like me?” he whispered so only he could hear.

“One for every titan, supposedly.” the giant bird answered in his mind, “Why? Did you find another one? Which one is it? They may be able to help you get out!”

Francisco straightened up and leaned against the bars. “Hey! Sam!”

“What?” the other kid snapped, still not looking up.

“Which monster are you connected to?”

Sam Brody shot to his feet instantly, staring at him with a mix of disbelief and fury. Francisco tensed up, not sure how to react. What was his problem?

“Are you...are you saying that…” he started, stepping towards the door.

“I’m connected to Rodan, the firebird.” he answered, tapping the side of his head. Sam grabbed the metal bars of his door and his fury melted away to relief.
“I’m not the only one…” he laughed a little, clearly glad to know this information.

“Yeah, that’s probably why they grabbed me up. And you, too.” Francisco pointed out, “But I don’t know who they are, or what they want with us. Who are you connected to?”

Sam’s expression fell again. “MUTO. It started just a few days ago out of nowhere. She was just...in my head and showing me weird dreams and visions.” He touched and hand to his forehead again.

“MUTO? Like the ones that attack San Francisco years ago?” the older boy asked.

“If its MUTO’s champion then you’re out of luck. He hasn’t bonded to her yet. He’s about as powerless as you are in there.” Rodan informed him, sounding rather annoyed.

Francisco told Sam about what happened to him, with the explosion and the vision he had. He showed him the scar and symbol on his back, and explained that they were supposed to me at the volcano on Isla del Mara, and he was on his way there when he was attacked and ended up there instead.

Sam in turned confessed his strange visions from MUTO, and briefly went over his family’s dark history with the titans. How he’d accidentally beat up a kid at school pretty badly, and then later on was chased through a field by people trying to kidnap him. Clearly, they’d succeeded.

“She keeps telling me about the Nazca Lines, and how I need to go there to seal our bond or something.” Sam sighed, clearly very tired.

“Those are in Chile.” Francisco pointed out. “How the heck were you gonna get there from America?”

“I wasn’t.” Sam replied sharply. “I don’t want anything to do with this! With the titans or with any weird, freaky powers of theirs. I want to go home and live a normal life.”

Francisco swallow his last mouthful of apple and chucked the core down the hall towards the guards. “You’re crazy, man.”

“I’m crazy for not wanting to get involved with enormous monsters and the chaos and destruction they create?” Sam cried, getting worked up, “I lived in San Francisco, okay? I lived through all that! I never want to go through anything like that again!”

“And I lived through Rodan’s attack on Isla del Mara!” Francisco shot back, “And I don’t want anything like that to happen to me or my people either. Which is why I’m sticking with Rodan. If I can help prevent something like the destruction he caused by being someone he can communicate through, then I’ll do it. Powers or not. Although the cool powers are a nice touch.”

He couldn’t see him, but he could feel Rodan’s smug grin.

“Fortunately, that’s not going to happen for either of you.” a voice called from down the hall.

Both boys glanced down through their cell doors and saw a very tall, strong looking woman approach. Her hair was tightly pulled back, and she wore the same uniform as the rest of them, but something about the way she carried herself actually made her much more intimidating. She had a smile on her face, but it brought neither of them any comfort. It was then that Francisco noticed the large book she was carrying, and recognized the symbol on its front. It was a Holy Bible.

“Do not fear, children.” the woman continued with that unbreakable smile. “We are here to save you.”

Chapter Text

Tuhirae sat in the temple with her feet hanging over the side of the altar. She fiddled with the necklace she wore thoughtfully. Kong had been trying to reach out to her. He clearly wanted to, but something was blocking their connection.

Eventually, he’d given up and gone off in a huff, leaving her alone in the temple to wonder what to do next. He stomach growled in the middle of her thoughts, signalling hunger. She really hadn’t eaten all day, which wasn’t good. All her provisions had been left with her boat, and she had no weapons to hunt with.

That left foraging as her only option. Which wouldn’t be too hard. Maybe after eating she would be able to think more clearly and figure out a solution for both of them.

She headed out the temple and down into the jungle, making sure to stay within the bounds of the old city. There were plenty of plants that bore fruits to eat, and she knew which ones were poisonous and which were not.

As she was searching and eat, however, she came across the remains of another building a bit larger than the rest. It was overgrown with moss and vines, but along the wall she could see a bit of the carving from underneath. Curious, she began to pull away the vines and moss.

The image seemed to be of a crowd of people looking up towards something in the center. She moved to the side to reveal more of the mural carvings. There were more titans like kong as well, all facing the same direction. Some of the vines were harder to get off than others, but she persisted in removing them. This might be some important depiction of her ancestors’ history!

She struggled for fifteen minutes to clear away as much as she could of the huge mural, and when it was finally done enough to see properly, she stepped back to take it all in.

On both sides, humans and kong apes lined the streets together, staring up at the center of the mural in a celebratory manner, with their arms raised. And in the center, stood the temple. A single human was carved inside the temple, wearing the same necklace on top of the altar. Above, at the top of the temple, a larger kong ape stood beating their chest. There were lines drawn in a circle around both of them, like rays of light coming from their bodies.

Tuhirae reached up to touch the mural, fascinated. “I wonder…” she mused aloud. Her fingers touched the necklace again, and she closed her eyes. The red of her blood in the markings turned green and started to glow. When she opened her eyes, they, too, were glowing.

She had guessed that, perhaps, she would gain a vision of some secret knowledge that had been lost. A missing piece of the ceremony, a clue as to what they needed to do to seal the pact. But instead, she was shown images of the boneyard.

The boneyard was what her people refered to as the place where Kong’s family had died, murdered by the skullcrawlers. Their enormous bodies had wasted away their, left unburied for decades. Nothing was left of them but their bones. It was now a place of great danger and was forbidden to visit. Even Kong didn’t go there.

She saw the boneyard, and the way the bones laid out in the sun. Toxic green gases pooled around them, a chemical reaction of some kind. Most people called it a curse the kong apes made in death, to ensure that no one would disturb their resting place.

It made Tuhirae want to cry. These creatures had died trying to rid their island of the evil infection it was plagued with. They all died fighting for themselves and her own people. It was a horrible truth to see their bones scattered all over the place, pale and cracking in the sun and heat.

And suddenly, without warning, she began to sob and wail. She crumbled to her knees, feeling a wave of intense anguish wash over her. She tried to stop it, but it wouldn’t. It overwhelmed her with grief that she felt was not her own. The vision of the boneyard began to sway and blur. She put a hand to her head and turned.

A younger version of Kong was standing directly behind her. Looking right through her at the boneyard. And he was weeping, too.

The vision ended, and the tight grip of sadness released her. Tuhirae quickly recomposed herself as her necklace’s markings reverted back to red. She wiped her eyes and looked back up at the mural, understanding a little better now.

Something touched her back and she instinctively leapt to her feet. When she turned, she was face to face with his enormous hand. She gasped, looking up, and up, and up, to see Kong towering over her. Seeing his full form in broad daylight was both terrifying and amazing.

“Here.” his voice echoed in her mind, a little softer than usual. He flipped his hand over and revealed a whole boar, setting it in front of her. It was huge, and dead, of course. She stared at it, then back up at him. He took a step back and turned to avoid her gaze.

“You...hunted this for me?” she asked, surprised. He shifted uncomfortably.

“I felt your hunger. Eat.” He turned to leave, but she ran to stop him.

“Wait! Wait! I don’t have any tools!” she called.

He stopped and glanced back down at her, seeming to think on whether or not to help her. She decided to try something, now that she knew more.

“Kong, I...I’m still just a kid, you know. I mean, I can look after myself and all but I’m not quite an adult yet, either. And I got lost last night and separated from all my tools and materials, so I’m actually really vulnerable right now.” She hoped that playing the helpless card was the right choice, and although it hurt her pride a little to admit such a thing, she knew it was true. She went on, “Maybe spending some actual time together would help. For both my safety and for trying to make this pact...What do you say?”

He exhaled through his nose in an annoyed way, but a moment later he reached down and scooped her up in his hand again. She was forced back against his palm as he lifted her up to his shoulder and promptly dumped her on the top of his back.

She gave a squeak of alarm at first, but managed to scramble upright and cozy herself in his fur. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the world from his height. Miles of trees and mountains stretched out before them. The sun was starting to set, so the sky was ablaze with colors of orange, pink, and purple. It was breathtaking.

He started walking off on his knuckles, heading for the nearby mountain range. “Hold tight, tiny.”

“My name is Tuhirae, actually.” she offered, adjusting herself as the world under her began to move.

___________

Sam and Francisco were led into a larger room together, with the tall woman from earlier standing front and center. The room contained shelves with many books, and a handful of computers along the wall behind her where people were rapidly typing and monitoring information on the screen.

“Welcome to your new home, children.” the woman said sweetly. The guards made them both sit down at the table rather roughly.

“Where are we?” Francisco demanded.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” she said, completely ignoring him. “I am Ms. Mary. I will be taking care of you from now on right here in this nice little facility.”

“By keeping us in cages? After kidnapping us from our homes?” Sam pointed out.

“Oh, it’s absolutely necessary, I assure you.” Ms. Mary remarked, keeping that eerie smile.

“And what right do you have to do so?” he further questioned. “What branch of military are you? Cause my father is a navyman. A pretty high ranking one, too. And he’s probably not gonna be too happy about his son and other innocent kids being kidnapped and locked up in conditions like these.”

The woman’s demeanor did not dull. In fact, she laughed a little, which made both of them even more uncomfortable.

“No military from any nation commands the Will of God.” she stated simply. “And you two and quite far from being innocent.”

“And how do you figure that?” Francisco challenged. One of the guards grabbed his shoulder and he yanked away from him.

“Glad you asked,” Ms. Mary said, “But you already know the answer to that, Francisco. Both of your souls have been claimed by demons. You must be cleansed and purged of those demons immediately if you are to be saved again.”

“Demons? You...you mean the titans?” Sam asked.

“Demons take on many forms, dear.” she told him, walking around to their side of the table. She gently took his arm and rolled back the sleeve of his jacket. The boy caught his breath as she revealed the thin glowing red veins pulsing under his skin. He tried to pull from her grip but it immediately tightened so hard that she hurt him.

“Tsk, tsk,” she shook her head, “These are sure signs that they reside within you, are they not?”

She finally let go and he pulled his arm back, rubbing his wrist. She walked around behind them, the click click of her heels on the concrete floor echoing with her voice.

“Because of these hellbeasts, the world has fallen into chaos and ruin. Destruction has ravaged all over the world, and killed millions. And now, the demons don’t just target our homes and land, but the minds of our children! Attempting to consume them from the inside, and start a new order of blasphemous worship.” she went on.

Sam and Francisco exchanged confused, nervous glances. Ms. Mary came up on the other side of the darker skinned boy and stopped to face them.

“And so the Will of God was founded.” She motioned to the room and people around them, “Good people from all across the world who wish to stop the end of times before it begins, and restore humanity’s salvation with the one, true God.”

“Lady,” Francisco said, “I’m Catholic. Just because there’re titans all over the place now doesn’t mean I don’t believe there’s a God.”

Her eyes seemed to light up for a moment at that statement. “Ah, that’s good. But just because you still believe, doesn’t mean your soul will be saved, so long as the demons continue to possess your mortal bodies.”

“They don’t possess us.” Sam said. “They just talk to us.”

“Not yet they don’t,” Ms. Mary tightly corrected him, her icy blue eyes now focused on him. “But demons are tricky, and they will lure you into their wicked traps, and your soul will be damned forever if you’re not careful. Besides, what about what happened at your school a few days ago, hm? Wasn’t that you who broke that innocent boy’s arm?”

Sam’s throat tightened and he tensed up.

“Don’t listen to her, boy.” MUTO’s soft voice engulfed him, “It wasn’t your fault. The other boy challenged you to a fight, remember? You were protecting someone.”

“Hey, leave him alone!” Francisco shouted, rising to his feet. Her gaze snapped to him, terrifyingly pleasant and unmoving. “I’ve had just about enough of this. I’m not listening to anything more my KIDNAPPERS have to say about anything. You don’t know me, and you don’t know him, and you have no right to treat us like this!”

“Oh, I don’t expect you to listen.” Ms. Mary grinned. “We have to clip your bond with the demons, that’s all.”

Both of them were then seized and taken out of the room. They both struggled against their captors, but Francisco was really flailing and kicking. His skin was getting hotter and hotter, and he used that to his advantage. He kicked his bare feet against the guards, trying to set their pants on fire.

“Boy? What is happening now? Where are they taking you?” MUTO asked with a kind of almost motherly worry.

Before he could respond, he was shoved into a room, separated from Francisco.

“Amigo! No! Let us go!” he could hear the mexican kid shouted as he continued to fight.

They locked the steel door behind him and forced him onto a cold metal table. Before he knew what was happening, they were strapping him down. His eyes fluttered around the room, catching a glimpse of all kind of strange medical tools and materials.

“Please, don’t,” he begged, feeling a rush of panic. His head felt dizzy. His heart rate skyrocketed. His whole body trembled uncontrollably. He knew what was happening; a panic attack. But MUTO was unfamiliar with this sensation. And she believed he was already dying.

“NO! I WON’T LET THEM HURT YOU!!” She shrieked in his mind so loud that in the next moment he blacked out.

_________

“We’re too late,” Madison whispered. Her and the twins were in Isla del Mara now, standing atop Godzilla’s head from his spot in the ocean. Rodan was circling overhead, screeching madly. Godzilla had called up to him a couple times, but the titan was not responding logically. Whatever was happening to his champion, he was in great distress about it.

Suddenly, Godzilla turned his head north. “MUTO. She cries as well.”

“How are we going to find them?” Atsuko asked with worry.

“There has to be a way.” Chouko added hopefully.

“We need to set a trap.” Madison said decisively. “These people are targeting champions, right?”

“I don’t like where this idea is going.” Godzilla growled.

“I’m already bonded to you.” Madison reminded him. “If they take me, then you can lead the others to wherever they’re holding us.”

The twins suddenly perked up.

“There is another!” they chirped in union. Then they both turned and pointed westward. They felt the presence of another champion somewhere. Madison nodded.

“Okay then. You two go help the newby, and I’ll go after the others.” She nodded. The girls agreed, spread their wings, and took off into the sky.

The wind rippled through Madison’s hair as she watched them. She didn’t feel good about leaving two eight year olds to fly across the world on their own, but Mothra would come to their aid if they needed it.

“And where would you go to have this trap set in place?” Godzilla asked.

The girl looked back towards the mainland, feeling his power and energy as if it were her own. She was not afraid.

“Where else? Home.”

Chapter Text

When Sam woke up, he was back in his cell. His entire body ached, making it hard for him to move or even sit up in his bed. His head felt as heavy as a bowling ball.

From across the room, he could hear the sounds of Francisco, cursing and shouting in Spanish. As if he were fighting or arguing with someone. What really worried him was the echoing sounds of metal beating against cement that came with it.

“Francisco?” he called weakly. He finally pushed himself upright, the aching and pain momentarily intensifying. Sam put a hand to his head and felt something cold.

Confused, he lifted both hands and felt his head. There was a thick metal band wrapped around his head. He tried to push it off but it was locked on tight. That was probably why his head was hurting so badly.

“Francisco?” he called again, louder and with more fear. He forced himself to stand and stumbled to metal bars of the door. Within his friend’s cell, he could see the older boy was struggling around on the floor, the metal band on his head glinting in the bright lights above them.

“Sam?!” Francisco stopped, relief flooding his face. He jumped to his feet, but Sam saw him flinch and limp to his door. He was wounded.

“What happened? I think I fainted, I don’t remember what happened after they separated us.” the twelve year old said, holding himself up as best he could.

“They drugged us with something, and then strapped these blockers to our heads.” Fracisco told him, clearly angry, “They block our ability to communicate with our titans. And the drugs make us too weak to use our powers or fight back against them.”

Sam slumped to the floor on his knees and lowered his head. He was a little relieved to have been ridden of MUTO’s voice. But that didn’t excuse the kidnapping and the drugging. Or locking them away in cells like prisoners. A flood of emotions rose in his body, and he felt tears pool in his eyes.

The past few days had been non-stop emotional stress. Between the visions, weird powers, the MUTO talking to him, and now all this? It was all so much for him. He missed his home and his family.

“We have to get out of here, now!” Francisco went on. “Rodan sounded like he was going crazy when he realized what was happening. He might be out there causing all kinds of destruction looking for me. MUTO’s probably looking for you, too.”

Sam’s head snapped up so fast that it made his head spin.

“They’re...looking for us? You mean they’re just running around out there?” he asked with horror.

“Rodan was going totally ballistic! I can’t believe he was that worried about me…” Francisco trailed off. He’d never figured the titan to be the caring type. After all, he’d destroyed his entire city just by flying by. What was a little human kid like him to a giant fire god?

Sam, on the other hand, was in full blown panic now. If MUTO was looking for him, that might mean she was rampaging through the country right now, destroying everything and everyone in her path. All because of him. They had to get these headbands off.

“We have to do something.” he said, “We have to let them know we’re okay! Or they might hurt innocent people!”

“I’ve been trying to get it off, but the drugs have weakened me.” Francisco said, once more trying to yank his off, but immediately exhausting himself and laying back on the floor.

“Let me try, I’ve been resting a while.” Sam replied. He sat back and tried to wedge the headband off, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried harder, but it hurt his head.

“I wouldn’t try to take them off, children.” Ms. Mary’s voice called from down the hall. The click-clack of her heels echoed as she came closer.

“They’re stuck on tight, and are programmed to explode if removed by force.” she said, smiling as usual. Sam’s jaw dropped and his heart rate escalated.

“EXPLODE?!” Francisco cried, “I thought you people were going to ‘save’ us, not kill us! What is your problem?!” He was wobbling to his feet. She looked down on him with ice blue eyes in a pitiful way.

“It’s not the idea situation, of course, but it won’t happen so long as you are obedient and continue to wear them. At least until we can find a more permanent way to sever the demons’ possession.”

“Please,” Sam begged, straightening himself against the bars, “The titans don’t know where we are. They’re freaking out and probably destroying everything in sight! You have to take them off so we can at least let them know we’re okay. Otherwise innocent people are going to get hurt!”

She turned to him shaking her head like some mother scolding a toddler in time out. “No, no, no, that would only make things worse. Reconnecting you with the demons is out of the question. We’ve already begun doing research and experiments for the next step in the process. Until we figure out how to proceed with that, you two are going to stay here.”

Francisco slammed his fist on the bars in anger, and Sam gripped them tighter, holding back his fear and tears. They were going to be kept prisoner here and experimented on, meanwhile their titans were going to tear the world apart looking for them, and these people didn’t even care!

This was an absolute nightmare.

_________

Boston was nowhere near being completely rebuilt. It had taken over a year just to clear away all the rubble from the buildings that had been smashed. The only people who lived there now were the Monarch teams, military, construction workers, garbage disposal teams, and a couple volunteer camps from non-profit disaster relief groups.

Madison didn’t like the idea of coming back and seeing the city in ruins, but if she was going to make a scene, she would rather do it somewhere that was already damaged.

Godzilla took her as close as he could without the military’s detection, with her carefully hidden between his dorsal fins.

“Once they have me, call for the others and follow us.” she told the big guy, then added, “Discreetly, please. We don’t want them to know we formed a pact.”

“I will be with you no matter how far apart we are. I trust you.”

He stopped moving and waited still in the water. Madison swam up to his head and stopped when she was level with his eyes. Their fire orange color stood out against the rest of his dark skin as he gazed down at her with only the slightest hint of worry.

“I’ll find them. I promise.” she said assertively. He made a low, soft sound in his throat that rippled through the water around her. A moment later, she turned and set off. Using her new powers, she shot through the water like a bullet, reaching the shore within a matter of minutes.

The harbor was desolate and barren. A graveyard of shipwrecked boats and garbage. Luckily, there were no humans around when she climbed up on the shore and shook herself dry. The way the city looked reminded her of the pool, but less fiery. The sun was peeking through the grey clouds, lighting up the ruins in a calm, almost peaceful atmosphere.

She started walking up through town, towards where she could hear that people were. Trucks and machines were at work, people were chatting and shouting. It was about half a mile away.

With her new strength, Madison was able to easily climb and jump over obstacles in her way, with superhuman speed and agility. It felt awesome, and she couldn’t help the smile that broke across her face as she performed these amazing feats.

She stopped on top of a fallen building’s side, where she could see people below working. Clearing away all the concrete, trash, glass, and metal that coated the ground. The tricky part was how exactly to make a scene without being too destructive. After all, she hadn’t totally tested her capabilities out yet, and this plan was risking a lot of lives.

She decided to put on an act instead. Sliding back down out of sight, she took some of the dirt and ashfall on the ground and started coating herself in it. She grew claws and slashed up some of her clothes, and shook her hair to make it unruly and wild. When she felt she looked the part convincingly, she made her way down towards the crowd, staying out of sight.

Now it was time for the show.

A few workers came close to the area she was hiding at, and she rushed at them. Surprised, they jumped out of the way.

“What was that?”

“Was that a kid?”

“Hey, we got a survivor over here!”

Madison dashed over to another area where people were, and stopped to get a good look at them. She kept her gaze intense and and body rigged. Several people approached her, speaking calmly with their hands up.

“It’s okay, kid, stay calm.”

“We’re here to help you. What’s your name?”

She let some of them get closer before rushing off again towards some of the construction vehicles. Hands grabbed her arms on both sides and pulled her back. She let them, but flailed about and shouted to be freed.

“Somebody get a medic! She might be injured!”

“How long has she been living here?”

“I didn’t think anything had survived the titans’ battle…”

The people brought her over towards a tent and she thought quick about what to make her next move. She really didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she had no choice. She had to make some kind of scene, it was the only way.

So she planted her feet firmly on the ground, reared back, and threw both grown men offer her arms and back twenty feet. They screamed and rolled in the dirt, and suddenly the entire camp went quiet.

“Leave me alone!” She screamed at the crowd. “Get away! I don’t want you here!”

Something caught her eye out of the corner of her vision. A group of three people emerged from a nearby tent, and the sight of them made her skin goosebump. It was them. She didn’t know how she knew, but her instincts told her that it was them. The ones kidnapping the champions.

She decided to kick it up a notch.

Godzilla’s power surged through her veins like electricity. Streaks of glowing neon blue swirled through her hair as it whipped around her head. Her hands and faces began to morph. Around her cheeks and forehead, dark scales appeared. Her fingernails turned into talons, and thicker, scaly skin morphed over her knuckles and up her arm. Her teeth stretched and sharpened to fine points, and the dark brown of her eyes blazed a fiery orange.

With the transformation complete and done in a matter of seconds, it took the crowd a moment to comprehend what they were witnessing as they gawked in stunned silence. Madison took the opportunity to lung herself back towards one of the empty vehicles, slamming it with all her might. The truck dented hard around her, and flipped back a few times before landing on its top.

Everyone who wasn’t military started to scream and flee the scene. She turned and screamed louder, her voice a horrifying mix of Godzilla’s mighty cry and her own. Soldiers came at her with monarch weapons, meant to sedate her but not kill her. She knew that, but she still had to put on a show.

The girl advanced, smashing and crushing their weapons in her wake. She left some of them with a few scratches and bruises, but held herself back from being too aggressive that she really hurt them.

The power was exhilarating! She already knew hand to hand combat from training her mother had forced her to do, but now with the added skills and power from her bond with Godzilla, she felt absolutely unstoppable.Once she had the first wave of soldiers down, she whipped around to scan for the kidnappers.

She didn’t have very far to look. They were already coming at her with weapons she’d never seen before. Guns and metal sticks that looked extremely dangerous. While her mission was ultimately to allow herself to be captured by them, sudden surrender would bring about too much suspicion. So she bolted.

Climbing and leaping over the rubble and ruin of the city, she drew the kidnappers away from the main area. They followed her as fast as they could, and she made sure to stay just out of reach, but not too far ahead that they lost her completely.

Grabbing and jumping things in this new form felt unlike anything else. A couple times she felt her skin jab into or scrap against sharp surfaces, but nothing punctured her skin. She could see and hear things so much clearer and father away. Her muscles felt heavy, but strong enough to keep her moving. She felt no fatigue or soreness. It was crazy!

And then in the middle of her excitement, she failed to notice the shadow over her until it was too late. Another being crashed into her and knocked her off her balance, sending her tumbling down a huge mountain of building remains. She landed on the hard surfaces of concrete and blacktop, groaning from the pain. Nothing felt broken or punctured, but it was still uncomfortable.

As she tried to get up, she noticed the sharp prick in her neck. She reached a hand up and felt an object lodged into the back of her neck, stuck there with a needle.

She stumbled and leaned against a chunk of drywall, watching her skin revert back to normal. Her orange eyes darkened back to brown, and the neon glow of her hair subsided. Her breathing became labored and slow.

“You’re rapidly growing weaker. They injected some kind of poison in you.” Godzilla said, feeling what she felt. It sounded like he was right next to her, although he was thousands of miles out at sea.

“Keep track of me,” she managed to whisper, “They’ll...take me...to the….ot..hers….”

She collapsed to her knees as the world started to darken. She was fighting drowsiness, but it was too strong. Whatever they’d drugged her with was extremely potent.

She could hear them approach her. Knowing what would probably happen next, she finally gave in and laid down to pass out. The first part of her plan had worked.

She just hoped the rest of it did, too.

________

Kong didn’t really have a set place to stay or call home, it appeared. The whole island was his domain, so he simply went wherever he pleased. Tuhirae thought this was only a little strange, as he had picked an inconvenient location for her to sit and have a meal.

It was on a cliffside, high up in one of the mountains, with no way of getting down except for him carrying her. She supposed he’d picked this spot so she could be eye level with him as he sat next to the mountain. He wasn’t looking at her, though. He just seemed to be sitting there staring out at the world as nighttime quietly took over.

She took another piece of meat off the fire she’d built and bit into it.

“Would you like any?” she offered. She wasn’t sure if he’d ever had cooked meat before. Did Kong know about or use fire?

“No.” he responded, unmoving.

She tried to think of more to say, but nothing was coming to mind. He didn’t really seem like the talkative type. At the same time, however, she didn’t want to be totally quiet. It was awkward enough sitting next to giant titan like him while she was trying to eat. She had to try something…

“It’s really beautiful from up here.” She tried, “I’ve never been outside my village before, and it’s in a low lying valley, so I’ve never had a view from so high.”

He made a short grunt of agreement, but that was it. She tried again.

“We have lots of stories about you in my village.”

“Stories? he turned his head slightly in her direction, but his eyes remained on the horizon. She jumped on the opening.

“Yes! Stories that we tell at night after all the work is done. About you protecting our island from other monsters who would harm us. Or about our ancestors and things that happened to them. Sometimes we even make up stories to each other.” she explained.

“Why?”

She shrugged. “To pass the time, to laugh, to remember or pass down knowledge. To be closer to each other.” She’d never really thought much about why they told stories. It was just something they did. It was a tradition.

“I have no such thing.” he told her, his attention now turned to the ground below him. Even sitting down, the trees barely came up to his hip.

“That’s not true,” she replied, “You’ve lived for a very long time. You have lots of stories to tell of all you’ve been through in your time here on the island. Even if you haven’t told anyone about them before.”

He was quiet. She couldn’t tell if he was thinking of a story or thinking of what she said. He always seemed to wear the same expression no matter what, and even if it did change slightly she couldn’t yet tell. She took another bit of meat and sighed. Now what was she going to do?

“What stories do your people tell?”

She stopped chewing and looked back over at him. Tuhirae watched him shift in his spot and resume looking up at the night sky. The sun had gone down, but there was still enough light for her to see him. Above them, the stars were starting to emerge and twinkle in the purple-black.

She finished chewing and swallowed as quickly as she could. “All kinds! I can tell you one or two of them, if you’d like.”

“I would.” He glanced back over at her, and their eyes met for just a moment before he turned back away. It was enough for her, though. She took her food off the fire so it wouldn’t burn and walked over to the edge closest to him, sitting down on it.

“Okay, I’ll tell you one of my favorites first. It’s actually a made-up story my friend told us a while ago. It about this bird who lives -”

“I don’t like birds. They’re annoying.” Kong interrupted her. “No birds.”

“Well it needs to be a bird for the story to make sense.” she explained, cross that he’d interrupted her before she even began.

“No birds.”

“Do you want a story or not?” she demanded.

He turned his head to give her his full attention for the first time. She glared up at him a hardened expression. Just because he was a titan didn’t mean he could be so rude. A couple different expressions traveled across his own large face. Anger, surprise, indecision, confusion.

They stared at each other for a long time, until finally Kong exhaled a hot breath down on her and turned away.

“Story.” he muttered.

She nodded. “Okay. This is the story of a bird named Ahvrah, who lived in a jungle a lot like this one…”

Tuhirae continued to tell Kong the story long into the night. Eventually, Kong leaned up against the mountain facing her, the light from her tiny fire illuminating his face in the dark. Here was this tiny human girl get invested in the story, now on her feet and jumping and flapping and acting out the story as she told it. He’d never seen or heard such a thing in all his life. Most of it was very confusing, since he didn’t understand how a bird could use human tools without hands or thumbs like them, or how the sun could speak, or how monsters that didn’t exist would be able to eat the stars in the sky. But still, he sat there quietly the whole time, and listened to her tell him the tale.

And when it was finished, she plopped back down on the cliffside in front of him and yawned. She was clearly tired now, and it was late.

“Well? What did I tell you? Wasn’t it great?” she asked excitedly, rubbing her eyes.

“Confusing,” he remarked, ”But entertaining.”

That was enough for her. She smiled up at him and then turned to the stars. He watched her for another moment or two as she became visibly exhausted. He turned and grabbed up a handful of the tops of trees and their leaves. Then he scooped up some nearby mud in the other. Carefully, he played with them in his large hands, mashing them and molding them together until he created a kind of bowl shaped. He set it upside down on the cliff behind the fire.

“Sleep now.” he ordered. She looked to the makeshift hut, then back up to him.

“Thank you.” She hadn’t asked for it, nor did she realize that Kong even knew how to make such a thing. But before she could ask any questions, he got up and vanished in the darkness of night.

“Kong?” she called, standing up.

“I am nearby. Go to sleep.” His voice told her.

Tuhirae waited another moment, looking out at the black to see him, but it was no use. She sighed and headed into the uneven hut. She ripped some of the larger leaves from the interior and laid them down to sleep on. It wasn’t the most comfortable set up, but it was enough.

“Goodnight, Kong.” she yawned.

He did not reply, but she could still feel him nearby. She quickly drifted off into sleep, while the enormous titan outside gazed up at the stars from his makeshift nest. He thought about what he had to do, what he knew would be the only way to seal to pact. He understood, but he wasn’t sure if he could do it. How could he? He’d been alone practically all his life, haunted by the memories of seeing his family murdered. If the pact failed, it would be because of him.

Chapter Text

The next day, Sam and Francisco were starting to feel a little better. A bit stronger. But it didn’t last very long. After breakfast, they were given more injections of the weakening drug. Both struggled to stop it, but they weren’t strong enough. After that, they were put back in there cells as the effects began to take over.

Sam felt like he was going to throw up. Francisco was quiet for a long time, which made him worry. The other boy had been pretty friendly and vocal towards him since they met, so the silence was making him nervous that he wasn’t taking the drugs well.

“You okay over there?” he called, forcing himself to sit up on his bed. His head was hurting from the metal band and now he was feeling extremely drowsy and dizzy.

There was no answer. Maybe he had fallen asleep?

He was about to call again when the doors to the cell area opened. There was some loud shuffling and whispers as several people came into the room. Sam saw Francisco raise his head, and they both watched as a handful of guards passed by, carrying something big.

Francisco bolted upright when he realized it was another kid, although the sudden movement sent him in a tizzy. It was a girl, and she was all wrapped up in those clothes you put on insane people, and she also wore a metal band around her head.. She was completely passed out as they carried her farther down to the end of the holding cells, as far from the boys as possible.

“Good news, children!” Ms. Mary’s voice spooked them. The woman stepped in and smiled at them. “We’ve found another friend for you, although she’ll be having her own private courses from you two. She needs a lot more work in order to be saved.”

The boys exchanged a glance.

“Now then,” she continued, clapping her hands, “It’s time for our first training lesson.”

After the guards had locked up the girl, they came and helped the boys to their feet. Francisco kept shoving them off him, but he couldn’t stand on his own for very long. Sam didn’t want to go either, but his rebellion was in the form of dragging his feet and going limp, forcing them to do all the work.

“Today is a reading day.” Ms. Mary told them. “You’ll be going over important scriptures and discussing the importance of your repentance for your personal salvation.”

“I told you already, I’m Catholic! I know the scriptures and went through my confirmation. I’ve been baptized and I say my prayers and all that. I don’t need to hear it all from your, I want to go home!” Francisco shouted.

From her pocket, Ms. Mary produced a small remote. Smiling at him, she pressed a button and aimed it at him.

Sam watched in shock as Francisco’s whole body convulsed and he screamed. It lasted only a moment, but when it was over her collapsed on the floor, heaving.

“W-What did you do to him?!” Sam cried, moving to try and help or comfort him, but the guards held him back.

“Disobedience requires proper discipline.” she remarked. “A low pulse electric shock from the headband serves as a quick reminder to watch the tongue.”

“Heartless bitch!” Francisco spat from the floor.

She clicked the button again. He jolted and almost banged his skull on the concrete floor.

“Stop it! Please!” Sam cried. It was horrible watching him flop around like that, know what was happening to him. He tried to struggle free again but he was too weak from the drugs. Tears brimmed his eyes.

“We will not use that kind of language, understand?” Ms. Mary said firmly, momentarily breaking her smile just a crack.

“I don’t care what you do to me, I’m not putting up with your bullshit!” Francisco said through gritted teeth.

The woman sighed sadly and shook her head. “I didn’t want to do this, but if that’s how you feel then you leave me no choice.”

He looked up from his spot on the floor, angry and determined to face whatever she had coming to him. He didn’t care. This was all wrong, and he wouldn’t let these terrible people break him. But his rage and defiance instantly evaporated when he saw her flick her wrist towards Sam, and clamp down on the button.

Francisco screamed as Sam was jolted with the sudden shock of electricity. He had been so focused on the other boy that he hadn’t realized she’d aimed the controls at him.

Something surfaced up from the back of Francisco’s mind. Instead of Sam, he saw Andres for a split second, screaming in pain because of something he did wrong. Something he did or didn’t do. It came and went so quickly, but the reality of his actions hit him like a bullet to the chest.

Sam went silent and limp a moment later, the guards having to hold him up by his arms. The boy’s head lolled to the side, and for a brief moment Francisco thought him dead.

“Will you behave yourself now? Or shall I try again?” Ms. Mary’s cheerful voice cut through the air.

The drugs and the shock to his system made it near impossible for Francisco get up, but now with his emotions so high, he couldn’t even find the willpower to try. He turned his head down not wanting them to see him on the brink of crying like a baby. His silence was his answer.

“Bring them to the study.” Ms. Mary nodded to the guards. The men and women hoisted both of them up and practically carried them out of the room to the hallway, following the woman and her click-clacking heels.

They had gone, and the cell block area was quiet. In the back, in the very last cell, Madison was laying flat on her back, still passed out and wrapped in the straight jacket. She remained motionless for another minute or so, until her eyes suddenly flashed open with fiery orange irises.

______

Tuhirae woke up the next morning to find two small children staring down at her first thing when she opened her eyes. Their paler skin and strange clothes made her momentarily frightened, jumping to her feet and backing away.

They were girls, not even 10 years of age probably, and they had the strangest looking jewelry and clothes. And no tattoos either! One was adorned in more oranges and reds, and the other was in greens and blues. They were also, it appeared, twins.

“We’re sorry! We didn’t mean to frighten you.” they said in unison, standing. Tuhirae blinked. They were speaking in a forgien language, but she could still understand them.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?” She asked in her native tongue, still keeping a distance.

“Atsuko and Chouko.” they replied, pointing from one to the other, “And we’re Mothra’s champions. We flew here because we could feel your presence.”

They both did a little curtsey with their dresses, and delicately pulled up their moth wings from their backs. Despite their different colored dresses, the wings were exactly the same.

“Who is Mothra?” the older girl asked.

“A friend. Ally.” Kong’s voice whispered to her.

“A fellow titan, like Kong.” Atsuko answered her.

“You’re Kong’s champion, right?” Chouko asked.

Tuhirae touched at her necklace, remembering the drawings on the mural. The temple and the monsters drawn all over its walls and ceilings. These were people from off the island. She knew there were people from across the oceans who came sometimes, but they mostly stayed out in the water on their boats. They had made contact with her village many years ago, but rarely visited since.

“I am Kong’s friend, yes. But I don’t think I can call myself his champion.” she finally said after some thought.

The girls looked at each other, and then tilted their heads at her. “You haven’t finished the pact?”

“If you mean the ritual in the temple, then no. There were...complications.” she decided for her answer. She didn’t want to tell them what the actual problem was, because she knew Kong was listening. It would hurt him to hear her tell them his weakness out loud.

“Then let us help you!” Chouko chimed excitedly.

“Yes, take us to the temple. We’ll use Mothra’s power to help!” Atsuko added.

Tuhirae hesitated. She wasn’t sure how much Mothra’s power, whatever that was, could help them. It seemed to be a more personal problem than that.

“That’s okay, little ones,” she said, starting out of the hut, “But I think it’s something Kong and I have to work out on our own, you know?”

Outside, the sky was grey and cloudy, but there was no smell of rain. Just an overcast. She looked around for Kong over the edge, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just an outline in the ground from where he’d slept, crushing some trees and plant life. She sighed.

“Well, we don’t want to rush you, but we really could use your help as a champion right now.” Chouko said awkwardly. The older girl turned to them curiously.

“There are bad people who have been kidnapping other champions.” Atsuko explained, “And their titans are so upset that they’re wrecking havoc!”

“If we don’t help find and free them, and put a stop to whoever it is, then there will be even more destruction.” her sister added.

Tuhirae’s eyes grew wide. “You mean...off the island? I would have to leave the island?” Her heart pounded with sudden fear and apprehension. No one ever left the island. Not ever. The sea was even more dangerous than all the creatures and plants that inhabited the land. They had no idea was out there except the storm and the monsters in the water.

Of course, these girls and the people from the outside on the boats had come from outside the island, so there had to be safe ways to cross. Still, the thought was a little too much for her.

“Yes, you would come with us to rescue the others, using your powers as a champion.” they answered at the same time, sounding a little too creepy. The native girl gulped.

“I...I don’t want to leave. I didn’t want that. I didn’t even know about becoming a ‘champion’ I just wanted to keep my peoples’ culture and history from dying!” she said angrily.

“Being a champion IS part of your culture and history, Tuhirae.” the orange twin reminded her.

“The champion is the bridge between the titans and humanity. We help keep peace and communication between them to avoid conflict.” the blue twin went on, “Our kind have been around since the beginning.”

Tuhirae shook her head. “I get that, but why do I have to leave my island to help other champions? Kong can’t leave the island, can he? It wouldn’t make sense.” She turned to look back over the land from the cliffside. The breeze was cool and the view was breathtaking. Fresh, lush jungle at every turn. Why would she ever leave this? It was her home.

“Kong cannot leave the island, that is true,” Chouko nodded, “But only because if he did, the ‘skullcrawlers’ would take the opportunity to overrun the island and kill everything.”

“But you can come in his place, to represent him in the fight.” Atsuko reasoned, “That is your duty as champion as well. He will be able to see through your eyes and speak through your voice.”

“They speak truth.” Kong said in Tuhirae’s mind. She shook her head and grit her teeth.

She reached up to touch the necklace she wore, and it felt hot on her fingertips. She felt frightened, angry, and frustrated. Things were happening so fast. She’d just woken up after spending a day with a titan yesterday, learning and discovering new things. She had been so happy! But now the reality was setting in...what would become of her if she agreed to this? Did she really want to be Kong’s champion? To go and fight and gain powers and venture off the island? There would be no turning back from this, surely. It sounded like a permanent occupation.

“I...I need time to think.” she finally said. “Come. Let’s get breakfast.”

_______

“Dr. Ling,” a voice called from inside the main deck of Castle Bravo. The scientist immediately looked up from her spot hunched over a nearby map. Her hair was frizzing out of it’s braid, and her eyes were weary and bloodshot. She was exhausted, but alert.

Rushing over to the operative, he showed her the readings on his screen. “These reports just came in from Skull Island. The description fits the ID you gave us, but Madison doesn’t appear to be with them.”

“Skull Island?” she whispered under her breath, reading over the report from the Monarch research ship. “Why would they go there?”

“...the plans have all failed, Coleman! We have to take more drastic measures, now!” an angry voice called over the crowd. Dr. Ling looked up to see Colonel Foster and Sam having an argument on the other side of the room.

“We’re not going to accomplish anything by firing weapons at them. These creatures are clearly in a state of hysteria or mania,” Coleman reasoned, “We have to take precautions or we risk them taking their tantrums out on nearby civilizations.”

“They ARE taking them out on civilizations!” the army colonel shouted, “Our evacuation teams have reported that both Rodan and MUTO have been causing damage and destruction all over. We need to get Rodan out of the air and MUTO sedated before the local militaries get involved.”

Dr. Ling turned back to the screen report, feeling drained. Everything they’d been doing for the past 24 hours had failed to calm down either titan, and Godzilla had not yet appeared like usual. Something else was going on, and she suspected it had something to do with the kids. She just hoped that whatever it was they were up to happened soon, or else they would be forced to use more drastic measures...

Chapter Text

By the end of the day, Sam and Francisco were physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Ms. Mary had made them read religious texts, telling the repeatedly about how terrible and guilty they should feel for allowing monsters/demons to possess their minds. About how they had to repent and beg forgiveness, and how even then there was no guarantee of their salvation because of their sins, but they had to do it anyway.

Francisco’s family was pretty religious, so most of this he already knew, just not to the extreme extent these people were trying to dump on them. Sam’s had grown up with a mildly religious family, which made all of this more confusing and frightening.

And then there was them forcing the boys to recite religious prayers aloud, and shocking them every time they messed up or tried to stop. Ms. Marry and her associates were dead set on “saving” them, no matter what the cost, it seemed.

“Why are you doing this to us?” Francisco finally asked after the fourth or fifth shock. His muscles twitched from the electric pulses in his nervous system, and there was a metallic taste on his tongue. “You’re supposed to be kind and loving! Isn’t that what the scriptures say, too?”

“Do not try and twist His teachings,” Ms. Mary said, wagging a finger. “We are responsible for making sure you rebuke the devil inside you. Our mission is to spread His word and His will, especially to non-believers and sinners like you poor children. Do not succumb to the demons that now walk the earth He created!”

By the time the day was over, all Sam wanted to do was cry himself to sleep. He didn’t even want to be bonded to MUTO, and now he was being punished like this for it? Kidnapped from his home and treated like a villain in a prison cell, tortured and talked down to. Why was this happening to him?

Francisco was still burning with anger, but he was too drained and messed up from the drugs and electric shocking to do anything but lay down on his bed. He couldn’t believe there were people like this in the world. When his city fell, everyone came together to help and fix their home, no matter what their history was. It made him feel guilty for taking that sense of charity and community for granted.

Once the guards were gone for the night, and the cell block was quiet, both of them drifted off to sleep. For a short while, anyway.

Francisco was a light sleeper, so when he heard the sound of loud, creaking metal echo down the hall, he was immediately awake. He groaned and forced himself to roll over, looking out to see what was going on. The lights had been dimmed for them to sleep, but he could still see pretty well out into the hall. Sam was still asleep in the one across from him.

Footsteps shuffled down the hall. He sat himself up, ignoring his body’s cry to return to sleep and rest. Something was up.

A shadow emerged from the left, with bright, glowing orange eyes. The teenager froze up, trying to figure out if what he was seeing was real or an illusion. The shadow stepped closer, and in the light the eyes reverted to a regular brown color. It was the girl they’d brought in earlier, only the straight jacket was missing.

“Good, you’re awake.” she smiled, “Are you ready to get out of here?”

Francisco was on his feet and stumbling to the cell door within moments. “Yes, yes! How did you get out? Who are you?” he asked. She hushed him and glanced to the door to the cell block, but it remained shut.

He watched as she lifted her hands to grab the cell bars in front of him, and her arms morphed from her pale white skin to dark grey with reptilian scaled. Her nails turned into talons, and she effortlessly pulled the bars apart. The same creaking metal sound from earlier once more echoed in the chamber until she’s created enough room for him to comfortably crawl through.

His eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and he gawked at her for a moment. She motioned him to follow, keeping her arms the same as she went and did the same for Sam’s cell.

“How did you do that? What the hell are you?!” Francisco whispered, carefully stepping out of the cell.

The girl walked into Sam’s cell and shook him awake. He gave a short cry of fear at seeing her arms, but she hushed him and reverted them back to normal.

“My name is Madison,” she said, helping Sam up to his feet, “And I’m Godzilla’s champion. I’m here to rescue you.”

Sam stopped and stared up at her. “Godzilla’s...champion?” he said in a small voice.

“How come we don’t have cool powers like that? Aren’t we champions, too?” Francisco asked, assisting Sam from the outside as he stepped through the opening of his cell.

“You haven’t officially formed a pact. That’s why your titans don’t know where you are, and why you don’t have the full range of your power.” she told them. As she stepped outside into the hall, she stopped to look up around the ceiling. Sam rubbed his eyes and Francisco headed for the door, but Madison stopped him.

“Something’s weird about this place.” she said.

“No shit, everyone here is absolutely crazy!” Francisco said.

“No I mean...did you guys notice the lack of security here?” she pointed out. The boys looked to one another.

“There’s no security camera anywhere. And I don’t sense any guards outside the door there.” she went on.

“Come to think of it,” Sam said thoughtfully, “I haven’t really seen or heard anyone else besides Ms. Mary and the handful of same five guards that come in and out. Besides that one time when we first got here. But even then, the room barely had any kind of technology.”

“So? That just means escaping will be a snap!” Rodan’s champion said, reaching for the door.

“But why? I don’t like it. It’s suspicious.” Madison said, following him out the door. Sam reluctantly went after them. He was still super tired, but he wanted out of this place more than he wanted to lay and sleep.

They went down the main hall outside the cell block, which was long and barren, with a high ceiling. There was no one around, and the place was completely quiet. Francisco started walking ahead, but Madison came around in front of him.

“You need to stay behind me. You’re too weak to fight if anything happens. I’m not.”

The boy was about to protest when there was a loud buzzing sound. They huddled close together, trying to find the source, but the sound just continued for a few moments and then was gone. They waited, but nothing happened.

“I hate this place. Let’s just get out of here and go home.” Sam whispered, trying to keep himself from shaking.

Madison put a hand to her head and for the first time felt the metal band on it. “What the...what’s this?” she said, reaching up both hands to remove it. Francisco and Sam practically screamed and jumped to stop her.

“It’s a device for keeping us from communicating with the titans, and for torturing us with electrical shocks.” Sam explained. “Ms. Mary said that any attempt to remove it by force would make it explode and kill us!”

“She can’t be serious about that. She probably said that to keep you from trying.” Madison reasoned. But they shook their heads.

“Listen, that woman is nuts. Absolutely loco. She doesn’t care about us at all, and she is not afraid to harm two kids with electroshock therapy whenever she pleases. All she wants is to boast and fuel her own ego about how she’s a God-send for ‘saving’ sinners. If she said she programed these to explode then I believe it.” Francisco said seriously.

“Then that must mean there are tracking devices in these as well.” Madison concluded, “If we stray too far, we might trigger an alarm. We might have triggered one already.”

“So what do we do?” Sam cried, his anxiety building. His chest felt like it was caving in on him, and his head was spinning with fear.

“We have to take them off somehow. Is there a key or something they used to put them on?” the girl asked.

Francisco shrugged. “I’ve never seen one. I’ve only seen the remote she uses to zap us with.”

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Francisco and Sam were instantly petrified. That sound.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

“That’s Ms. Mary!” Sam whispered with terror. They looked down the hallway both ways, but it was the same in both directions. Just a few doors and then a split into two more hallways. It was impossible to tell which direction the sound was coming from because of the echo.

“We need to hide!” Francisco said, picking a direction and taking off. Madison tried to stop him but he was too fast. She and Sam ran after him down the hall as he made a sharp turn right. The next hallway was the same, blank white. No windows, no doors. It just went on for a couple yards and ended in two large doors. Francisco headed straight for it.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

The sound was getting louder. Madison increased her speed to reach the older boy before he could burst through the doors, and with inhuman strength she held him back.

“Don’t be an idiot! You don’t know what’s behind these doors!” she whispered harshly, “And you’re supposed to stay behind me for your own safety.”

“I’m not getting caught by that bitch and thrown back in a prison cell!” he snapped back, struggling in her grasp.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Sam trembled behind them, watching the struggle and listening to the click of Ms. Mary’s heels as they approached. Closer and closer...They didn’t have time for this! Without thinking, he pushed Madison from behind and shoved them both through the doors into the next room.

_______

“I don’t understand. Why are they all suddenly heading for the Queen Elizabeth Islands?” Colonel Foster said. She and several other members of Monarch, including Dr. Chen and Sam Coleman, were surrounding a map charting the path of some of the titans. Godzilla, Rodan, and MUTO’s icons were all converging on one of the Canadian islands far in the north.

“What’s up there? Besides freezing cold tundras and the vast wilderness?” Sam asked.

“Send a handful of troops to the location. I want to know what’s drawing them there.” Foster ordered the military personel. A handful of them went off to make preparations. Dr. Ling straightened herself up.

“I’m going, too. Whatever is happening there, it might involve the kids.”

“I thought you said your nieces were found on Skull Island?” Foster pointed out.

“They were. But Madison was not. And I have a hunch that wherever Godzilla is, that’s where we’ll find her.” Dr. Ling said confidently.

“Do you think she’s in danger?” Sam asked. He and everyone else in the room all too well remembered what happened to her last year, and how she’d now lost both of her parents. Both of whom had been involved with Monarch. She was not some random kid to them, she was part of their family, too.

Dr. Ling was quiet for a moment, staring at the blinking symbol of Godzilla as it moved through the Atlantic Ocean. “Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, she might need our help.”

_____

Chouko and Atsuko happily munched on the fruits that Tuhirae had provided them for lunch outside the temple. As they sat and gobbled up the delicious food, the native girl stood inside, examining the drawings in the altar room.

These were drawings made by her ancestors, long ago in the days of peace and prosperity. Back when the Iwi and the Kong Apes lived in harmony. Back when a champion was crowned and connected the two as one.

Could she really be that champion?

It was one thing to befriend Kong, it was another thing to be some kind of patreon that served him. The pictures she dusted off showed images of humans transforming into half-monsters. Using super human strength and power to defeat bringing of chaos and disorder. Another image showed Kong battling another giant creature from the ocean, and the champion directing the humans which way to flee.

The responsibility of this champion thing seemed incredibly important. Tuhirae never saw herself as more important than any one of her fellow people. To take a position that surpassed even the village leaders seemed...wrong.

“You doubt yourself.” he said simply.

She frowned and hung her head. “I want to help my people, but...not like this.” she confessed.

He said nothing.

She reached up and removed the necklace from her neck. The bone markings were still red with her blood. She carefully walked over and placed it on top of the altar. “I’m sorry,” she said, stepping back, “But I...I’m not ready for this. I don’t know if I’ll ever be.”

She watched as the red of her blood started to drip out of the markings and onto the altar, disappearing into the stone. An ache filled her chest as the necklace became bare once more. Worse of all, she felt a hole appear where Kong’s presence had been.

Their connection had been cut off. It was done.

She stepped back, a horrible guilt and sadness washing over her. She quickly rushed out of the temple and down the steps. She ran into the jungle of the ruined city, past the plants and wildlife, until she was well out of the city’s broken streets. She held back her tears and looked up through the trees.

She was a failure. All she wanted was to reach out to Kong and try to rekindle the lost peace they’d shared. But Kong couldn’t bond with her, and she was too much of a coward to be hid champion, even if he had. Maybe she wasn’t meant to be the champion after all, she reasoned. If they couldn’t seal the pact, then it wasn’t totally her fault, was it? It wasn’t meant to be.

It didn’t matter. She’d failed and that was that. And there was no way she could go face her people like that. She would be cast out anyway for steal holy artifacts, so there was no point in going back. She would just stay out her in the jungle until the inevitable.

So with that, she continued into the jungle, forcing herself not to look back, even for a moment.

_____

From the top of the temple, the twins sat and watched Tuhirae run down the stairs and into the jungle, still munching on their fruit. They seemed unphased by the fact that she didn’t have her necklace on.

“Looks like she’s going to need our help after all.” Atsuko said, her mouth full of mango.

“They both will.” Chouko nodded in agreement before stuffing her face with berries.

“And I know just what needs to be done.” Mothra’s voice whispered softly to them. “But we must act quickly. Time is running out for all of us.”

Chapter Text

Through the doors all three of them tumbled to the floor in a heap. Luckily the floor was...soft. And carpeted.

Madison sat up and looked around. It was a conference room. A big, long table sat in the center, with at least a dozen chairs. There was another door on the left wall, and a giant window that took up almost the entire wall opposite them.

Slowly, they all stood up and stared out the window.

“What...what is this place?!” Sam cried.

Below the window, about 20 feet down, was a giant warehouse full of machines and people. People in hazard gear and lab coats. Machines as tall as buildings, with horrifying weapons and tools attached. And there was a giant ship. A space ship.

It was almost like in the movie, except it was shaped like a jet plane. The only reason they knew it was from space was because there was a giant chunk of the side gouged out, and the inside glittered with lights and cords and alien objects. People in the hazard suits were taking samples from it, and scanning it with different handheld machines.

The larger machines around seemed to serve a different purpose, but Madison wasn’t sure what exactly. They weren’t connected to the ship, and there were all kinds of cords and tubes of various sizes connected to it all over the place.

“Look! Are you seeing that?” Francisco asked, stepping closer to the window.

The other two turned to look where he was pointing and gasped. There was a large figure floating over some scientists. A human-like figure, but it was glowing a soft white color, and it had long, spindly limbs, and two sets of bird-like wings. However, most terrifying of all, it seemed to have eyes all over its body. No mouth, nose, or hair. Just bright, pupil less eyes all over the head, neck, and upper body. It wore a grey cloth like a robe or tunic.

“Wh-What is that thing? Is it some kind of alien?” Sam asked, trembling.

“They’re back...” Madison’s voice came out, but it wasn’t her talking. Both boys whirled to look at her. The girl’s eyes were fire, blazing with rage. The scales on her arms flared up her body and her hair began to float and streak with bright blue. “Of course they are. Here to clear up the mess they made. Worm their way back into my territory. Parasites!”

Francisco and Sam backed up against the nearby wall, fearful of what was happening to her. Both Madison and Godzilla were livid at the sight before them. Their bond was too strong. The metal band around her head cracked. Francsico jumped and grabbed her.

“Stop! You’ll kill yourself! The band will explode!” he cried, stepping in front of her. He looked into her eyes, forcing her to focus on him instead of the terrible sight before them. The bright orange dulled down slowly. Her hair settled.

“She’s still coming!” Sam suddenly squeaked. He could hear Ms. Mary’s footsteps in the hallway getting closer. And it didn’t sound like she was alone.

“Hide!”

Francisco yanked Madison down under the table and behind the chairs. Sam didn’t have time to cross back over to the table. The door was pushed open, and he did the only thing he could think to do. He grabbed the door handle and held it open as they walked in, hiding behind it, low to the ground.

“We are increasingly irritated by these delays, Ms. Mary.” A harsh voice echoed into the room.

“I admit that the more recent tests have not been the most successful,” Ms. Mary’s voice countered, “But we are making progress.”

Francisco and Madison crouched low to the floor and watched the woman’s legs walk around the table to the window. Her perfect black heels stopped at the window, but they could see no one else’s. Francisco glanced back over at the door, but Sam was cowering behind it, turned away.

“The Will of God will be done, and these children are the key to ensuring humanity’s salvation. But what good is a key if it has no lock to open?” the voice continued. It sounded neither male nor female, and almost filled the air with a forced calmness.

“By the time the children have been converted, the weapon will be ready.” Ms. Mary defended herself.

“You presume to know so much?” the sharpness in the tone was enough to cut through steel.

“No!” she faltered, her legs stepping back. “Forgive me, I am just eager to complete my mission. To carry out God’s plan for me is my only wish.”

“As it should be.” The voice replied, back to the calmer tone. Madison carefully moved closer to the edge of the table. Francisco touched her arm and shook his head with fear, but she motioned for him to stay calm. She inched bit by bit towards an angle where she could see up to Ms. Mary’s face.

“Your soul is only worth as much as your service to your Lord. Remember that.”

She finally got a good spot, still in the shadows of the table, but able to see up where Ms. Mary was. And she was not alone. Floating beside her was another figure like the one they’d seen. Large and floating, with two sets of wings and a grey tunic. However, rather than a bunch of eyes all over the upper body, this one only had six eyes down the front of its face. No hair, mouth or nose.

“I will ensure that the children are ready for His coming. He will destroy the titans and the Kingdom of Heaven will come to Earth.” Ms. Mary said confidently, bowing to them.

“That is correct.” they nodded, pleased. “As for the weapon, it will be -”

“Ms. Mary!” a new, urgent voice called from the doorway. Everyone turned. “Three titans are approaching the island, and fast. One of them is Godzilla.”

“No!” Ms. Mary cried in anger. “We can’t have them ruining everything before-”

“I specifically told you only to capture those without a pact made yet.” The alien being scolded, flaring their wings. “You’ve lead them right to us!”

“No! That can’t be right.” Ms. Mary shouted, running out of the room. The being and the guard quickly followed. There was no time to process their conversation further. Once they realized the kids were not in their cells, the whole place would go on lockdown.

“All right, guys,” Madison rushed out from under the table. “We have to get out of here NOW.”

She grabbed both of them from their hiding spots and headed for the door on the other end of the room. Despite it being locked, she broke it open with no effort and slid down the metal stair railing. Francisco and Sam followed. They were now inside the giant lab area.

An alarm rang. Red lights started flashing. People started to panic.

But the alien they’d seen before suddenly whirled around and faced their direction. Madison has been trying to sneak them along the side wall, but now she placed herself between the creature and the boys. In an instant, she transformed and snarled back at it.

“Get your headbands off and get out of here. I’ll hold off this thing.” she called back to them. A second later, the alien with a hundred eyes spread its wings and flashed across the room, crashing into Madison. She held it back and blasted it with blue charges of energy from her hands, sending it tumbling back.

Sam grabbed Francisco hand and started running. They ran back behind the giant cylinder machines with the cords all over, hiding away from the people scrambling about.

“How are we supposed to get them off without them exploding our brains?” the younger American boy asked. “I don’t even remember how they got this on me. I blacked out right before.”

“That’s it!” Francisco cried, “I remember something from then that might help.” He peeked out behind the cylinders. Madison was in full bar brawl mode with the alien, knocking over tables, equipment, and everything else. Her super strength and powers made him a little jealous, but maybe if he could get this thing off his head…

He looked around the rest of the room. The people had fled, and there were tools and equitment just lying around everywhere. Most of them he recognized, but some of them were strange and looked like nothing he’d seen before. Except for one.

He pointed across the room. “That! That dowsing rod looking thing. That was what they used to clip it on!”

Madison soared across the room in front of them and crashed into another table full of supplies and a few boxes. She growled and got back up, her eyes blazing. The boys ducked back out of sight as the alien descended upon her again, a high pitched sound reverberating through the air.

“There!” Ms. Mary’s voice screamed. She was up on a nearby catwalk, pointing down at Madison. She hadn’t noticed the boys yet, but if they tried to get the device for the headbands, she would for sure.

The other creature that had been with her swooped down from her side and helped restrain Madison. She fought back, but something was wrong. Their fingers extended and punctured her thick skin, making her cry out. Sam whimpered behind his friend. “We have to do something. They might kill her!”

“Listen to me,” Francisco whispered, pulling him close, “I’m going to run out there and distract them in the other direction. It’ll give her a moment to recover, and while they’re after me, you run over and grab the tool.”

“What! Me? No, no, if I do that, then MUTO will be back in my head.” Sam protested.

Madison’s cry turned into a full scream of agony. “Then you go distract them and I’ll get the thing.”

Sam looked over to Madison, who was being held down by two huge alien beings, who were sucking at her life force through their fingertips. His gaze hardened and he nodded, dashing off to the left. She had risked her life to help free and protect them, and now she needed their help. He didn’t want MUTO back, but if he could do something to help, then he would. Even if it risked his own life.

“HEY YOU UGLY FUCKERS!” he shouted, picking up a wrench and chucking it at them. The six-eyed creature snatched it in mid air, and he watched them slowly turn towards him with their full gazes. Sam’s heart pounded in absolute terror, but when he saw Francisco take off behind them, he swallowed his fear and went on.

“Leave her alone! Or I’ll...I’ll pop open this!” He picked up a sharp-ended piece of metal and aimed it at one of the fat tubes coming from the nearby machine.

“Samuel!” Ms. Mary’s voice echoed above on the catwalk. She was focused on him as well. Good. Maybe she wouldn’t notice -

“Francisco! No! He’s behind you!” she screamed. The aliens dropped Madison and whirled around. He’d grabbed the metal dowsing rod thing and put it to the metal band. The aliens shrieked and turned to go after him.

“Keep away from him!” Sam shouted. He brought the metal down on the tube and was instantly blasted with liquid, shoving him back. The aliens snapped back to him and shrieked. They flew over to try and stop the leak while Sam attempted to crawl away. He was covered in the gross, gooey substance, hoping it wasn’t some kind of acid that was going to burn through his skin. One of them grabbed his leg and yanked him back. Sam screamed and covered his face as it went to shove it’s long fingers into his chest, but something knocked it back.

Sam opened his eyes to see Francisco towering over him, his shirt on fire and his eyes blazing yellow. The metal band on his head was gone. He had regained his connection to his titan and body slammed the creature off of Sam just in time. Madison took care of the other one, grabbing and throwing it into the nearby concrete wall.

“Here, quick,” Rodan’s champion handed her the tool, and she held the end up to her temples. There was a metal clicking sound, and a moment later the band popped off. She offered it to Sam. He hesitated to take it.

“Dude, I know you don’t like her, but I know you don’t like Ms. Mary either.” Francisco reminded him. Sam sighed. That was true. He stood up and went to take the tool when the electric shock blasted through his system and he screamed.

Francisco caught him as he fell, and Madison quick placed the instrument on the band and popped it off. Sam groaned and collapsed. Although it had been done to him before, it still hurt like a bitch.

“My champion!” MUTO’s relieved voice chirped in his mind. “I can hear you again!”

The aliens suddenly flew by overhead, heading out a set of doors on the other end. Ms. Mary had disappeared as well, and now the whole place was quiet. Madison reverted back to her normal self once she was sure there was no longer a threat, and Francisco’s fire went out.

“Hey buddy, stay with me. We’re finally getting out of here, come on!” he encouraged.

The room caved in. All three kids screamed as debris fell around them, metal, rock, and dirt. Cold, freezing air suddenly poured in. They looked up. The sky was dark with glittering stars above, and a shadow slowly crept over them.

“Is...Is that…?” Francisco squinted.

“Godzilla.” Madison smiled up at him. The king of the monsters ducked his huge, clawed hand down into the opening, and Madison helped the boys into his palm. As he scooped them up, they saw they were in a snowy wilderness, with no sign of a facility because it had been underground.

Rodan landed beside his king, shaking the earth beneath. He screeched with glee at the sight of his champion. “Don’t scare me like that, kid! I know how fragile you humans are.” he hissed.

Francisco laughed. “I didn’t know the great fire demon, Rodan, could get scared.” He teased. Rodan gave and indignant huff, and Godzilla made a sound almost like a deep chuckle.

Another sound cut through the cold night and Sam tensed up. He recognized it from before. MUTO’s shaped appeared, galloping through the forest with glee.

“My little champion! I was so worried!” she called.

It was the first time Sam had seen her up close. He squeaked and hid back behind Madison. She was enormous, and her red eyes and streaks could be made out in the dark, and appeared terrifying to the twelve year old. Madison looked to the other boy, but Francisco just shrugged and gave a sad expression. The MUTO’s excitement seemed to fade away, and turn to awkward confusion.

They all perked their heads at the sounds of helicopters in the distance. A handful of Ospreys were flying towards them. Godzilla recognized them and gave a short holler, turning to show the children in his hand. Dr. Ling, looking at them through her binoculars gave a sigh of relief. They were okay.

______

Castle Bravo was abuzz like never before. Champions. It seemed impossible, but it was real. People chosen to communicate with titans. It was the kind of thing many of them had only heard stories and legends about from the ancient texts. And they were kids?!

Madison, Francisco, and Sam had been brought back to answer questions and give more information about their captors, in addition to some testing here and there. Sam was the only one to refuse most of it, continuously telling everyone that he didn’t want to be a champion. He just wanted to go home.

He was out on the platform, hiding from everyone when Madison found him. It had been two days since their rescue.

“Sam?” she called softly. He glanced up at her with his sad, tired eyes, but said nothing. He hugged his legs to his chest and stared at the ground behind the crates. She joined him.

“Look, I…” she awkwardly began, “I see that all this has you really upset. And it’s totally understandable that you would be.”

“Really?” he turned to her in surprise. It wasn’t what he’d expected her to say. She nodded.

“I was there, too. In San Francisco when it happened.” she confessed in a lowered voice. His face fell even more.

“The MUTO’s killed my grandparents.” Sam told her, relaxing a bit, “I never really got to get to know them before they died, but I saw how it affected my dad. My parents’ relationship... My relationship with him.”

They were both quiet for a long time. The sky was cloudy, and the breeze carried the salty sea air by gently. The ocean was a picture of peace.

“My brother was killed. It drove my parents apart, and ended up affecting my relationship with them, too.” She finally said. Sam gave her a confused glance.

“If that’s true, then why are you Godzilla’s champion? Why would you want anything to do with him?” he asked. Madison sighed.

“Because I don’t blame him for my parent’s reactions to Andrew’s death. That was on them. They chose to handle the situation the way they did. Godzilla and the MUTOs never made them do anything. All they did was fight each other, and my brother ended up a casualty because we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Still,” Sam went on, “Doesn’t it scare you? Aren’t you afraid at all? What will your parents think when they find out?”

“They’re both dead now, too. I don’t think it matters to them now.”

Sam went pale. He hadn’t expected that either, and he felt awful for bringing it up. But before he could apologize, she turned to look at him.

“It’s okay, I know what you meant. You’re worried about your own parents, aren’t you? And you’re scared?”

He hugged his legs tighter. He felt embarrassed to confess it, but it was true. “I think I have PTSD, you know? I just...seeing her and hearing her, all I can think about is what all happened. How horrible it was, how I almost died. How my life changed. And all that crazy kidnapping and torture we just went through?! I just want to be a normal kid, I never asked for this.”

“And you don’t have to accept it, either.” she told him. He perked up. She smiled sadly at him. “You have a choice here, Sam. You haven’t made the pact yet. Nothing is official. I’m sure if you told her how you feel, she’ll let you go.”

He was dumbfounded. “You really think so?” he asked hopefully.

She nodded and pat his back. “It’s okay to be scared, and no one is gonna think less of you for it. No one’s gonna blame you for not wanting to get mixed up in titan drama. I sure don’t.” She added that last part knowingly.

He smiled at her. The first time she’d ever seen him smile, actually. She stood up to leave, but he stopped her, standing as well.

“Thank you, Madison. Not just for the talk but like, for coming to rescue us, too.” he said.

She turned to him and nodded, shoving her hands in her jacket pocket. “I would like to say one more thing to you, though.” she added, “We weren’t picked at random, you know. There’s a reason the titans choose who they do.”

Sam’s smile slowly faded. Thinking of it like that made him feel weird. Why on earth would MUTO choose him? Out of all the kids affected by San Francisco, why was he specifically picked?

Madison waved and walked away, leaving Sam confused and unsure. He sat back down, wondering what made him so special. He didn’t feel special at all. He felt like a normal, uninteresting kid. Then he remembered something MUTO had said;

“You who have been linked by your ancestors to our homecoming, who has suffered unjustly in silence…”

What had that meant? Did she mean his grandparents who had died in Janjira? Did...did she feel bad for him? But how could she know about his grandparents, it hadn’t been her specifically who’d killed him. Those two MUTOs were dead.

Sam laid back against the crates and breathed in the fresh ocean air and thought for a long time. Perhaps if he really did want answers, he would have to start asking questions more directly.

MUTO had no spoken to him since that night they were rescued, although the sense of her presence was still faintly there. He gulped, wondering if this really was the right thing to do.

“MUTO,” he called softly, unsure. The gentle breeze softened a bit, and the buzz of a few aircraft nearby filled the air.

“Yes, my champion?” her soft voice answered apprehensively.

“I...I need to talk to you.” he replied.

“I am listening.”

_______

Monarch has confiscated the strange base where the aliens had kept the children prisoner. Research teams were deployed to search the area and figure out what exactly had been going on there. However, by the time they arrived, a lot had gone missing. The machines, the alien craft, and the aliens themselves.

“Ms. Mary failed us.” one said to the other.

“The flawed nature of humans is not unexpected.” the other replied, “And unfortunately we still need their help to carry out the Will of God.”

“The matter of the children, however, must be left to more capable hands.”

Deep within the ocean, from the heart of his territory, Godzilla rumbled with displeasure, gazing up towards the surface.

”We will not let this happen again.”

Chapter Text

Tuhirae had been wandering aimlessly all afternoon. She had no idea where she was on the island, but it didn’t matter. There was no point in returning to the village a criminal to be punished. And without Kong she was completely unprotected in the wilds. She had already fended off a couple animals and plants that had tried to snatch her for a meal. Now she was tired and hungry, and the weight of her situation was starting to set in.

She arrived at the main river that ran through the island, and let herself rest a moment to drink. Her body was covered in small cuts and bruises already, and a handful of bug bites were scattered along her arms. She drank and washed her face and sighed.

“This is not how I wanted things to go.” she thought to herself, gazing down at the murky waters. “I just wanted my people to be safe and happy again. I wanted to bring us all together alongside Kong. But I’m no champion, and Kong does not want me anyways.”

She sat back in the bushes, out of sight from any predators, and rested for a while, mulling in her failure.

A scream broke through the sounds of the jungle. High pitched and shrill. It was not of any animal she knew of. She lifted her head and listened harder. There were two voices screaming. Like small children…

Tuhirae jolted to her feet. The twins! She’d completely forgotten about them and left them unprotected!

She bolted through the jungle without a second thought. No weapons. No Kong. Just a twelve year old girl racing through the dangerous wilds. She followed their cries of terror up hill, unsure of what kind of peril they were in. Was it the razorbirds? The bamboo spiders? There were so many things here that could kill you, it was like pulling a random number out of a hat.

But whatever it was, Tuhirae was going to do what she could to help. She’d lived on the island her whole life, and even if she couldn’t fight she knew of ways to outsmart or avoid predators.

However, after breaking through the jungle and into the clearing to see what foe she was facing, the island girl was shocked into place. Nothing in her vast knowledge of skills could help her here.

Atsuko was clinging to her twin, who was unconscious in her arms, one of her wings completely missing. She was perched atop the skull of a kong ape, while two skull crawlers screeched and scratched down below.

Tuhirae gazed around. They were in The Boneyard on the west side of the island. The graveyard of Kong’s family. How on earth was she going to save them from the skull crawlers?! They were the one most deadly creature her tribe knew. To mess with them was to willingly ask for death.

Atsuko flared her wings and produced an odd, circular force field bubble around them as the beast scrambled up to reach them. One of them bit down on the bubble and began to chew at it. The child clutched her sister close and trembled to hold the bubble up. The other skull crawler scratched and clawed at it, nearly slipping off.

They were going to be killed, and then Mothra would not have champions. Their lives were more important than hers. She needed to help them!

Tuhirae screamed out to get their attention, and picked up a nearby stick to wave. She screamed as loudly as she could until they snapped to face her. Both monsters hissed, but remained unmoving. They wouldn’t come to her.

So she ran. She knew from the stories that they enjoyed a good hunt and fleeing prey, so she would offer it. As she hoped, they screeched and followed after her, deeper into The Boneyard.

There was a noxious green gas everywhere, which put an awful, sour taste in her mouth. She sprinted barefoot through the dirt and mud, ignoring the pricks of pain from bone fragments leftover from their previous meals. She could hear them behind her, but she dared not turn to look.

Another, smaller kong skull came into view, and Tuhirae ducked down into its open jaw. Inside, her panting breath echoed around her, and she pressed herself against the back that had sunken into the ground. There was nowhere else to go, and it was only a matter of time before they broke through and clawed her out. She only hoped that she’d given the twins enough time to escape before more of them showed up.

The skullcrawlers followed her scent to the skull and hissed loudly, shoving their claws in through the eyes and open mouth, trying to snatch her out, but she remained out of reach. Her heart was pounding, and her leg aching from the run.

One of the creatures removed its claw and instead flexed its tongue inside, wrapping it around her arm and chest. Tuhirae was yanked from her spot on the ground and towards the opening in the eye socket. She screamed and held out her arms against the bone, trying to pull away from the open mouth of the monster. Its breath reeked of decaying flesh and sour acid as its tongue tugged on her. She felt her grip starting to slip, and closed her eyes. She would not go without a fight.

The monster screeched into her face. This was it. This was the end for her. This was the punishment she would accept for her failure. At least her death would not be completely meaningless, if the girls had escaped. She dug her fingers into the hard bone and grit her teeth, attempting to pull free one last time.

And in a moment it was over.

The tongue still hung around her, but its grip had loosened. It was no longer pulling her. Tuhirae opened her eyes and peered out the skull’s eye socket. A huge boulder smashed the skullcrawler into the ground. The other one was retreating.

She yanked the tongue off her and jumped down. What had happened? Where did the boulder come from?

The green gas began to move away, and Tuhirae soon saw the giant hands on the ground beside her. She looked up, and up, to see Kong staring back down at her.

Tears started to brim her eyes. He had saved her? But why? She had abandoned him. She thought he didn’t really want her to be his champion.

“I never said that.” his gruff voice called from the back of her mind.

“But...we couldn’t make the bond. I thought it was because you didn’t want to.” she told him aloud, holding back her tears.

He took a step back and looked away, almost shamefully. “It was not you. I...was not ready.”

“Ready for what?” she asked, confused.

As if in response to her question, the green gas died away. It lowered to the ground to reveal their surroundings. The skeletons of Kong’s family were littered everywhere. Adults and young ones alike. The sight of them made the titan clench his fists and look away in pain.

“You don’t understand. I have lived my whole life in solitude.”

Tuhirae continued to gaze around. She remembered the stories. The Big One who had risen and killed all the kong apes. He had been the only one, his parents leaving him in the protection of the village. She couldn’t imagine living in complete solitude, with no family, no friends, no clan to love her or lean on.

“But you don’t have to be alone anymore! Isn’t that what you want?” she asked.

“And watch more of those whom I care about suffer and die?” his eyes cut down at her. She took a step back, eyes wide.

“You are small and defenseless, you admitted that yourself. A child! You were nearly killed here just moments ago. I refuse to put you in any more danger and risk your life, even if it means my own unhappiness.”

He turned and began to leave, but she would not let him. She ran after him, shouting, “You can’t just shove me away! Don’t you see? You already care about me, and I care about you! Even if you turn your back on me, you’re just leaving me vulnerable to the world and your enemies. And then what would you do if something happened to me?”

He stopped, but did not turn. She continued running beside him, until she came to his knuckles. She looked up at him and placed her tiny hand on his fur, the tears now slipping down her cheeks and over her tattoos.

“I didn’t think I would make a very good champion for you, I thought you didn’t want me. But now I see that the truth is that you need me, and I refuse to abandon anyone in need. Not even a titan.” she told him.

“Which is why you are a perfect choice for a champion.” two voices called in unison.

Tuhirae turned around to see the twins perched on a boulder in front of them. Chouko’s wing had been reformed and they both were perfectly fine, as if they’d never been attacked at all.

“Kong is king because he chooses to protect the vulnerable and weak. He cares for his subjects more than he lets on,” Atsuko said, “As his forefathers did before him, he carries on the tradition.”

“You chose to run to our aid, despite your lack of weapons and skills. You were willing to risk your life for others’ safety,” Chouko added, addressing the older girl.

“Both of you value life and are willing to put yourselves in harm’s way to protect those in need,” they spoke together now, a strange, heavenly glow forming around them. “You both possess the powers to shield your world from all its dangers, from within the island and from outside its borders. But only together will you be truly successful in doing so.”

The girls held out their hands, and the necklace that Tuhirae left in the temple appeared, floating perfectly above their palms.

“You do not need a fancy table or ancient ruined temples to forge your pact. You need only yourselves and your oath.” The girls’ voices echoed. Their eyes had now gone a pale blue-green color, and their glow was brighter. Tuhirae stepped forward, and the necklace of bones and teeth of Kong’s ancestors floated down around her neck.

Kong took a step back, and the girl turned to face him. They exchanged a glance, without words. They were unsure, apprehensive, but tentatively hopeful. Perhaps this really was what they wanted; what they needed to do.

“Speak the words so that we may witness.” the girls encouraged.

“Tuhirae of the Iwi,” Kong’s voice filled the space all around her, ”I ask you to be my champion. To be my eyes, my ears, and my voice on my behalf, and ensure peace between myself, your people, and the world we share.”

“Kong, King of Skull Island,” Tuhirae proclaimed loudly, “I accept. I wish to stand by you as friend an ally for the rest of my time. As a beacon for my people and your representative to all the world. I will be your champion!”

The green mist around them suddenly whirled like a tornado around them. The necklace once more dug into the skin of her collarbone, drawing blood into its runes, but this time Tuhirae did not even flinch.

The bones around them began to shake, and the green mist suddenly crashed together on Tuhirae. It was like being engulfed by fog or smoke so thick that she began to cough and choke as it filled her lungs. Her whole body trembled and for a moment she feared she was being poisoned.

And then there was light. Brighter than she’d ever see it. It swept her away, her hair breaking from its bun she had it tied back in so that her black hair was whipping around behind her.

Then the visions started.

Glimpses of time passed by before her. The city alive and thriving with her ancestors. The kong apes peacefully roaming the lands. Celebrations and disasters they faced together. Champions before her being crowned. Children of both species playing and learning alongside one another. Tuhirae had never seen such harmony and joy among her tribe. It filled her heart with indescribable happiness.

And then she saw the moments it was all ripped away.

The skullcrawlers invading by the dozens. The massacre of humans, the battle between them and the kong apes. The fall of the city. The destruction of the island. The deaths of Kong’s family.

But then through her tear blurred eyes she saw a young Kong, helping to build the great gate that protected her village along the river. She saw him aid the animals of the island when they were sick or in distress. She saw him destroy the iron birds who dropped fire from the sky, and finally kill the Big One, and rescue a strange, blonde haired human woman from drowning.

Through all the pain and loneliness, he was still kind and gentle to the innocent and in need.

The visions faded, and she felt the ground beneath her feet once more. The green gas was gone, forever. She blinked, thinking for a moment that she had been transported elsewhere. It was much too lush and green to be the Boneyard.

But it was! She turned to see the bones still resting in the ground, but they were decorated in plantlife, as if it had always been there. The ground was soft grass, with wildflowers spouting around her. She took notice of the fact that her tattoos had also changed, from pale yellow to a brilliant green, like the jungle.

“The curse has been lifted!” the twins called gleefully, taking flight on the breeze. The both giggle and fluttered about above her, circling around the mighty Kong. He, too, looked on in confusion and awe.

The Boneyard was now a beautiful meadow, a much more peaceful resting place for his family. And no skullcrawlers in sight.

“Did...did we do this?” Tuhirae asked, turning back up to Kong.

“No. You did.”

He could no longer contain his joy. His stood to his feet and beat his chest, and proceeded to explore around, touching the grass, even rolling in it a bit. This made the girl laugh. To see such a huge creature who had immeasurable strength and power, act so carefree and happy was humbling.

“And now you can help us!” Chouko chirped, coming to land beside her and hug her legs.

“Help you?” the native girl asked. She went to brush the hair out of her face and noticed there were tiny flowers strung along in it.

“To save the other champions. And the world!” Atsuko reminded her, landing on her other side. The both looked up to her with big, adorable eyes.

She had forgotten they had asked her about that before. There were other champions in need, off the island. She looked back over to Kong, who sat a bit away from them with a new, serious gaze. With a nod from him, Tuhirae straightened up a bit and clenched her fists.

“All right then,” she said with new confidence, “I’m ready to go.”

Chapter Text

It was time for goodbye. Sam watched from the loading bay area as Madison and Francisco prepared to depart. His new friends were heading back to Isla del Mara, so Francisco could solidify his pact with Rodan and inherit his full power from the titan.

And Sam would not see them again.

He had chosen to go home. After a long talk with MUTO, she had agreed to let him go and seek another. But he wasn’t leaving because of her, he was leaving because he just...didn’t want to be a champion. He didn’t want to run around the world or have freaky powers for the rest of his life. Maybe if he had been older, but he was only twelve. He wanted to go to school with his friends and be with his family. Unlike Madison and Francisco, he had a home to return to. People who cared about him and missed him. He wasn’t prepared to leave all that.

And they understood that; it was the one thing he wasn’t prepared for. Everyone was being so nice and understanding and telling him it was okay for him to go. It actually made him feel even more guilty for leaving.

Even MUTO had been really nice about it, although something in her voice hinted that she was secretly sad. He didn’t think a titan like her could have real emotions like him until now.

“And if you should ever need me again, at any time, all you need to do is call.”she told him, “I will always come to help you, regardless of your status as champion or not.”

He sighed and rubbed over his arms as he sat on a crate. There were no more red, glowing veins to weird anyone out with. It was a relief, but...

“Sam?”

He sat up as his friends approached. They both wore sad smiles. He knew it was strange for him to look up to them, since they were only a year older, but he did. He was an only child, and while he didn’t know what it was like to have siblings, he figured his feelings towards them would be the closest he’d ever get.

“It’s time for us to go.” Francisco said awkwardly. Madison nudged him.

“I…” the older boy started, “I hope to see you again someday. Under better circumstances, haha.”

“You, too. I owe you a lot.” Sam said, fiddling with the bottom of his jacket.

Madison elbowed the del Mara boy more forcefully and motioned her head towards Sam.

“Yeah, uh…” Francisco stammered. “Well, don’t mention it, okay? That’s what ...friends do.”

Awkward silence. Neither one wanted to say goodbye first.

Madison rolled her eyes and took the initiative.

“I hope you get home safe, Sam.” She went up and gave him a big hug, which he returned. He was surprised, but happy at this gesture.

“I really hope everything works out for you guys.” he told them honestly. Madison stepped back and gave him and Francisco some room. The two boys looked at each other, and then the older one help his hand up for a high five. Sam did, and then they gripped hand and moved in for a half hug, bumping shoulders.

“Al mal tiempo, buena cara.” Francisco said.

“What’s that?” Sam asked.

“‘Smile even when it rains’, more or less.” he shrugged. “Keep positive. It’s something my mother and grandmother used to say.”

And so they departed with smiles.

Madison and Francisco headed off to Isla del Mara, and Monarch escorted Sam back home to the midwest. Back to the pleasant little house surrounded by farm and field, where both his parents were waiting to greet him with tears of joy and relief.

Monarch had notified them as soon as Sam had been brought to their base. His mother was a mess, kissing and hugging him relentlessly. Even his father was crying, which was something he was completely unused to.

But it didn’t matter. He was home, back with his family, and the whole ordeal was over. No more monsters or crazy religious people. No electroshock therapy, no alien beings with hundreds of eyes attacking him. Everything could go back to normal.

And yet, it didn’t.

Almost immediately after he came home, he was rushed to a hospital to be examined. He was questioned heavily and given an extensive checkout. The tests spilled over into the night. Monarch had offered to cover everything, and even though Sam insisted that he was fine now, the doctors insisted on continuing their examination. And his poor parents, wanting to help him and feeling immense guilt of their own, allowed it.

Spending his first night back in a hospital room instead of in his own bedroom at home made the boy’s heart ache. He gazed outside at the night sky wishing it would all go away. Maybe he would wake up tomorrow from this and be in his own bed, and it would all have been a bad dream.

The room was dark, with only the light from some of the machines he was hooked up to illuminating a few objects. His parents had gone home to pick up some things, but he’d heard them arguing with each other outside his door before they did. They weren’t as quiet about it as they thought they were. Apparently they had been fighting since he went missing, which made him feel terrible. As much as he’d missed them, he was sort of glad they were gone now.

Movement by the doorway caught his eye. He turned, but saw nothing but the shadow of the corner. Something was there, however. He could feel the goosebumps on his arms rise. He couldn’t see it but he felt it there, watching him.

The button to buzz the nurse was by his legs, but he was afraid to move at first. Slowly, he moved his hand forward.

“Go ahead. Call them in.” an unfamiliar voice cooed from the dark.

Sam couldn’t help the scream that escaped his throat, and he lunged for the button. His eyes were wide and frightened, trying to see what it was. Trying to make out some kind of shape. The nurse flew open the door and flick on the light, illuminating the corner.

Nothing. Nothing was there.
He tried to explain to her what happened, what he heard, but she didn’t seem to believe him. She just calmed him down and assured him that nothing was there. He didn’t want her to leave him alone, but she had other patients to check on. She comforted him a little longer, and then left. Thankfully, she let the light remain on for him.

“M-MUTO?” Sam found himself whimpering.

“Yes?” her gentle, sleepy voice called.

“I...I’m alone right now, but I don’t want to be. I’m scared. I just...I don’t want to be alone.” he whispered, pulling up the blanket. He felt like he was being such a whimp. Of course there was no one in here. But he’d heard SOMETHING!

“You are never alone,” she offered simply.

He blinked, feeling a sensation fall over him. Like a warm blanket. His breathing slowly evened out. He relaxed back against his pillow. MUTO was with him. He couldn’t explain it, but even though she was a huge titan thousands of miles away, she was there protecting him. Even though he wasn’t her champion, she was his friend, and she would alert the others if something was wrong.

Sleep finally found Sam, peacefully and naturally. The being in the corner watched him slowly drift off with a smug smile.

“It appears our theory was correct.” it said, stepping over to the boy’s beside. The camouflage dissolved and large winged figure with multiple eyes gazing down at him as he dreamed. “Begin the next phase of the operation.”

_______

“You want me to willingly throw myself into a boiling, active volcano?” Francisco asked in disbelief.

“That’s the idea, kid!” Rodan grinned, although he could not see the giant firebird. The titan was circling around too high in the skies above for them to properly see, due to the fact that a storm was rolling in.

Monarch had alerted the citizens that Rodan was returning, and since the news of the boy with the strange tattoo screaming about Rodan at the hospital weeks ago was, and the fact that Rodan had already been spotted near a few days ago, the people were more than willing to get out of the way.

Madison was with him, along with a few Monarch military soldiers escorting them through the city, in case any of the freaks who kidnapped them before showed their ugly faces.

The city was deserted and halfway rebuilt, so it felt like a complete ghost town. Francisco felt the tattoo on his back start to grow hot the closer they got to the volcano, as if in response to his presence there.

“And then what? Fry to a crisp?” the boy asked. He had a hard time believing that he would actually survive something like that. Even as the champion of a fire god.

“Sort of. Think of it like shedding off a layer of old skin. Or that old story about the bird that turns to ashes and rises up again from them.” Rodan blabbed on, ” You know that whole thing is about me, right? Pretty interesting story behind that! You see, I was -”

“Why don’t you tell me some other time?” Francisco waved his hand. The bird’s chattering in his ear was stressing him out more than he already was.

“Don’t be nervous,” Madison said, placing a hand on his shoulder as they walked. “It may seem impossible, but you’ll be okay. You’re meant to be his champion, just like your ancestors.”

“How come I got stuck with the ancestors’ thing and you didn’t?” Francisco asked. That was something he’d been puzzling over. If his bloodline was so important how come he’d never heard of such a thing before? Why didn’t his family mention it?

“Godzilla says that it’s because fire is the hardest element to connect to.” she explained. “Most titans are tied to the earth, water, or sky, which we all interact with daily. It’s part of us, we need each of them in order to survive. Fire is the outlier. It takes a certain type of human to be able to possess and control it without dire consequences.”

“Oh that’s comforting to know.” Francisco mumbled.

“And it takes a certain kind of titan to be able to wield the fire’s power, too!” Rodan boasted in his ear.

They continued through the city without much problem, but once they reached the edge and the path leading up the mountain side, Francisco made them stop.

This was the path he and Andres had taken. The one they went to hang out on the cliffside or in the forest area. The path they’d come running down when Rodan emerged. This...this was the path he had died.

It had too much history for him. He stood staring up the path, clouded with thoughts of his cousin, but they came in short bursts like firecrackers. The entire event was scattered into pieces, and the more he tried to put them together, the worse he felt. Images of the trees on fire, the feeling of falling on a jagged rock and injuring himself, the scream of his cousin echoing through the brush. He stepped back, his heart beating faster.

“Wait, I can’t...I can’t go up there.” he said. Madison and the soldiers looked confused.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him. She reached out to touch his shoulder again but he stepped away from her. “Francis?”

His eyes snapped from the pathway to her, instantly flipping from fear to anger. “Don’t call me that! Don’t ever call me that! My name is Francisco.” he shouted.

Madison raised up her arms defensively. “Okay! You don’t have to yell.”

It was bad enough his PTSD was acting up, after being in this place for the first time since it happened, but he was in no mood to be doubly reminded of his cousin by having others call him Francis. In the back of his mind he knew it was stupid. Andres wasn’t the only one to call him that. But the rest of his family who did were almost all gone, too. And knowing he would never hear the soft, affectionate way they said his nickname at family dinners and things was making his heart ache.

He turned from her and started to pace. The soldiers looked on, glancing between themselves. Madison herself wasn’t sure what to do. He needed to continue in order to form the pact and get his powers. But he needed to do it of his own free will. They couldn’t force him.

“What’s up with you?” Rodan asked in that snarky tone.

“I can’t.” he muttered, glancing back up at the path. Fresh new plants had grown over the ashfall waste, making the pathway look almost magical. Flowers and trees were in full bloom. Leaves danced in the cool breeze. To anyone else, it would have been the most welcoming sight to see. All it brought Francisco was dread and death.

“You’re scared of hiking?”

“No! I can’t...I just…you don’t understand!” he couldn’t form the words. How was he going to explain this to a literal titan without sounding like a pathetic whimp? That wasn’t how he wanted Rodan to see him.

The wind picked up. One of the soldiers cried out and pointed upward, so they all turned. Rodan decended down from the clouds, huge and horrifying, and landed at the top of the volcano. The ground quaked as he did, causing some of them to loose balance and fall. When Madison turned back to Francisco, she saw that he was gone.

“Francisco?!” she cried. Her eyes took notice of the singed footprints in the green grass that lead back down into the city. He had fled.

From the top of the mountain, Rodan watched his little champion scurry back into the maze of the abandoned city and tilted his head in confusion. He was so similar and yet so different from past champions he’d had. From his throat he emitted a low cry that pierced through the air. To anyone else, this sounded like nothing more than the call of a giant bird, echoing across the land. But to Francisco, who was huddled in fear inside an abandoned building, it was Rodan, right in his ear, beckoning him back. Beckoning him to come to the volcano and seal his fate. And then, as the boy knelt down and covered his ears and tried to block it out, the titan began to sing. The call turned to a repeating chirping, and in his ears the boy heard this:

“ Hay sombra debajo de esta roca roja, (Entra bajo la sombra de esta roca roja)! Y te monstre algo diferente de cualquiera...Tu sombra en la mañana caminando detrás de ti, O tu sombra al anochecer saliendo a tu encuentro; Te monstre miedo en un puñado de polvo…”

_____

Hours later, it was dark and silent. Francisco had refused to come out of the abandoned building, extremely distraught, so they’d decided to make camp there for the night. A few more soldiers came to provide overnight provisions for them, and some medical help for the boy. Since he had started hiding out, his shirt had been set ablaze and burned up as he wore it, and he was closing up from everyone, including Madison.

While a doctor consulted him in a private room, Madison stepped outside to look up at the volcano. Rodan had hunkered down inside it towards sunset, and the cloud above reflected the burning lava and light from inside. It was a miracle his presence didn’t cause an eruption.

“What kind of trial will he face in the volcano?” she asked aloud in the darkness, remembering hers. The giant pools and the destruction and ghosts she had faced.

“Every titan has their own way of forming pacts.” Godzilla’s voice sounded as if standing right next to her, “I can’t say what kind of rite of passage Rodan has in store for him. I do not know. The bird keeps to himself unless provoked.”

Madison felt a presence nearby and turned around. Down the dark street she saw nothing at first. But the sound of tiny footsteps running on the cement could be heard getting closer. She smiled.

“Maddie!” both twins cried gleefully as they rushed up to her. Mothra’s champions fluttered their adorable wings and tackled her in a hug, near knocking her over. If it wasn’t for her newfound strength from Godzilla, she might have dropped them.

“Chouko! Atsuko! You’re back!” she laughed, holding them close. Madison had never had siblings before, but she imagined this was what it was like to have younger sisters.

“And we brought a new champion!” Atsuko said proudly as she set them down.

“Come on out! Don’t be shy, she’s a friend.” Chouko called to the shadows behind them. The older girl watched as a new figure emberged. She was just about as tall as she was, with dark black hair pulled tightly back in a bun, and dark, sun-kissed skin. Almond eyes and high cheekbones, with geometric tattoos covering nearly every part of her exposed body. A forest green dress and a necklace of bones and teeth carved with runes.

They looked each other up and down, and a twinge of tension passed in their gaze.

“I am Tuhirae, Champion of Kong.” she said in her native language, but Madison somehow understood her perfectly.

Kong. She’d heard of that titan, but never really seen him before. He an ape-like creature, isolated on an island in the Pacific, so he wasn’t much of a threat to the rest of the world.

“Madison. Godzilla’s champion.” she introduced herself, extending a hand. The other girl looked at her hand, but did not shake it. Awkwardly, Maddie drew it back.

“He and I have a history.” Godzilla rumbled in the distance.

Madison wasn’t sure what that meant, but she could take a pretty good guess. “Anyways, welcome to the group. Glad to have you.” she tried to be friendly, despite the cloud of tension coming from their patron titans.

The twins were absolute oblivious to it. “Where are the other champions? Did you rescue them?” Atsuko asked.

Madison opened her mouth to answer, when a scream came from inside the building. They all whirled around.

And the building exploded into flames.

Chapter Text

Sam woke up in the middle of the night, forgetting for a moment that he was still in the hospital. The nurse had left a dim light on for him, so it wasn’t completely dark. He blinked, trying to steady his breath. He’d just had a nightmare about being back in his prison cell, being electrocuted and then throw off some kind of cliff. He could still feel MUTO’s presence with him, so he didn’t feel totally alone, but he couldn’t fall back asleep.

He decided to get up and get some water.

The hospital hallway was so creepy at night. The bright lights in the long, blank hallways, the eerie silence, save for the faint beeping of medical machines in the other patients’ rooms. The smell of new clean sheets and hand sanitizer. As he stepped out, he could hear one of the nurses watching something on their phone down the hall at the desk area. He probably could have buzzed them from him room, but he wanted to get up and stretch his legs a bit. He felt restless.

“Excuse me?” he called, approaching the front. The nurse didn’t look up at him, too invested in her drama show. The boy frowned.

“Miss? Excuse me?” he called again, a little louder now. She didn’t move. He reached out to wave a hand in front of her face, but froze.

Something was wrong with the nurse. He could now see that she was eating something, but it was as if someone had hit pause on her midway. She was not moving or blinking or chewing the food she clearly had in her mouth.

Sam cautiously walked around the desk to stand beside her. She still didn’t move. He poked her shoulder. Nothing.

“MUTO,” he whispered, unsure what to do. When she answered, he explained the situation, but she had no answer for him.

“What about the rest of the hospital? Is there anyone else there?” she asked. So he went and peeked into the rooms. Other patients were sleeping soundly, breathing normally. None of them were like her.

He went back to the desk and tried shaking her, but she was stiff as concrete. The tag on her shirt told him her name was Ashley, so he tried calling her name a few times. Still nothing. If she remained like this, and one of the patients woke up and needed her, somebody could die!

“I gotta find another nurse,” he finally decided. “Maybe they’ll--”

A hand clamped down on his shoulder and Sam involuntarily screamed.

“Woah! SHhh! Buddy, you’re going to wake the other patients trying to sleep.” His father said in a low whisper. Sam put a hand to his chest and tried to steady his breath, relieved it was just his dad.

“You scared me. Oh my gosh...Dad you need to help me, this nurse here isn’t moving. I don’t know what’s wrong.” He turned back to Ashley, but she wasn’t the same as before. She was still munching on her salad, but she was watching some cartoons now instead of a soap opera like before. She looked up and gave him a confused look, then addressed his dad.

“Poor guy woke up from a nightmare and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I offered to put on some cartoons to help him relax. Right, Sammy?” Ashley said in an overly friendly tone.

Sam was speechless. That wasn’t what happened at all. She had been frozen when he found her. She hadn’t said a word to him until just now. What was going on?!

“Thank you so much, ma’am. I really appreciate it.” His dad said politely, taking Sam’s shoulder.

“And good news for you, buddy,” his dad went on, leading him back to his room, “The doctor says you’re all clear from your tests earlier, so we can take you home.”

They entered his hospital room to see his mom gently packing away his things. He hadn’t see her walk by the front desk at all, and there was no other way in. How had she…?

“Here Sammy, I brought you some warm pajamas to wear out. You can sleep on the way home.” She handed him his favorite pair of pajamas. A comic book t-shirt and a pair of comfy lounge pants that were his favorite color. He took them in a daze, letting her herd him into the bathroom. Once he was alone, he sat down and blinked, trying to explain what was happening.

“Something is not right.” MUTO warned him.

“I’m not crazy, right?” he asked her in a low voice, so his parents wouldn’t hear. “I really saw her frozen like that, right?”

“I cannot see through your eyes, I only know what you tell me and what I can feel from your emotional state. But you were very concerned and confused earlier.” was all she could offer.

Sam sighed. He didn’t think he was imagining what he saw. And the sudden clearance to go home and his parents randomly showing up to take him was super suspicious. At the same time, he was so exhausted and he wanted to go home so badly and just forget all this. He rubbed his eyes and decided he would figure it all out tomorrow.

So he changed into his pajamas, and his parents escorted him out of the hospital to their car waiting out front. He yawned and curled up in the backseat with the pillow and blanket his mother had set there for him. They smelled like home, and he fell back asleep before they’d even got out to the main road.

________

The explosion knocked all of them back off their feet. As a fire blazed, the people inside began to scream and come running out. Madison’s brown eyes flashed orange and she lept into action. She and the other champions raced into the building. The twins held hands and a protective bubble surrounded them to keep them from getting burned as they searched the place for the wounded and for Francisco.

Tuhirae and Madison were able to pick up a few grown men with little effort and carry them outside where they could be treated before they found their friend.

Francisco was huddled in a corner, the large tattoo on his back burning bright red. Wisps of smoke were sizzling up from it. Madison and the others cautiously approached.

“Francisco? What happened? Are you okay?” she asked, kneeling down behind him.

“I killed them…” his small voice whimpered.

Madison was about to ask, when Tuhirae nudged her shoulder and pointed. There were charred corpses along the far side of the room. Medical equipment half melted lay scattered nearby. The doctors and a few of the soldiers who had been with him were now gone.

The twins hugged each other and covered themselves with their wings. Madison felt as if she were about to retch up her lunch. Tuhirae was the only one would found the strength to speak first:

“What happened?”

Francisco was trembling now. He gripped himself so tight he was drawing blood from his arms with his fingernails.

“They were...I didn’t…” It was all too much. He couldn’t explain to them how he was feeling. That they’d been asking him too many questions. That he was so overwhelmed with fear and anger. That he was haunted by the memories to the extent that he couldn’t think straight. That Rodan had asked him to jump into an active volcano and he was afraid of death. Afraid of what he was and what he would become if he passed the titan’s test. Afraid of betraying Andres and his family.

“Francisco, this isn’t your fault.” Madison said. “These powers are dangerous, yeah, but-”

“SHUT UP!” He hollered, whirling around on them. His dark skin seemed to be flaking and cracking, his tattoo turning from bright red to orange. The other champions all took a step back, unsure of what would happen.

“IT IS MY FAULT!! THEY’RE DEAD NOW BECAUSE OF ME! DON’T YOU GET IT?! I’M THE ONE RESPONSIBLE!! I’M THE ONE TO BLAME!! HE’S DEAD AND IT’S ALL MY FAULT!”

The tattoo flared yellow and Francisco screamed in pain and agony. He rushed to the nearby window and jumped out. The others followed behind as fast as they could. He was headed south, towards the ocean and away from the volcano.

Every step he took burned a footprint into the ground. Every object he touched set fire instantly. The sight of destruction in his wake made his guilt skyrocket. He was a monster now, and he hadn’t even become an official champion yet. He couldn’t even cry because his skin was so hot his tears evaporated in seconds.

“Should we stop him?” Tuhirae asked as they ran.

“We don’t know what he’s doing or where he’s going!” Chouko called.

“His powers are reacting to his emotional state,” Madison replied, “If we can help calm him down, he’ll get better.”

“We’ll follow him from the air!” Atsuko volunteered. Her and her sister spread their wings and took off into the sky, while Madison and Tuhirae followed him on foot.

Francisco knew the city streets by heart, but he was barely able to recognize where he was in the state he was in. He could feel the heat in his body rising, and his lungs felt like they were full of smoke. He started coughing and hacking, stumbling as he ran. His skin was flaking off in larger and larger chunks. His tattoo was flickering between orange and red, and his vision was slowly blurring.

He remembered what Madison had told him earlier, about fire being the most difficult element to control. Long ago, his ancestors had somehow been able to control the fire within them, and use it to be Rodan’s champions. But now he was doing nothing but destroying everything in his path. He’d killed innocent people. How was he supposed to live with that? He was only 13.

By some miracle, he finally made it to the beach and the ocean. Hearing the waves against the sand, he picked up speed and rushed into the water. He was so hot, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He wanted the cold ocean water to cool him down.

He dunked himself under the water, but he could barely feel any cold. In fact, the water boiled around him. He surfaced and yelled out in frustration and anger.

The girls came to the beach and watched him splash about in anger, yelling and screaming curses in Spanish.

“What now?” Tuhirae asked. She barely knew these people, and was unsure how to handle the situation properly. She certainly hadn’t been ready to be thrown into something like this so soon, either.

“Maybe the water will help?” Madison said in an extremely unsure tone, shrugging her shoulders a bit.

A moment later, all the splashing and yelling stopped completely, and Francisco disappeared from view under the waves for too long of a period.

“Of maybe not!” She quickly cried, running and diving into the waves. Thanks to her ability to breath underwater and swim at faster speeds than a normal human, she was able to find him pretty quick.

He was surrounded by a cascade of bubbles, slowly sinking to the bottom. When she tried to grab him, her skin screamed in agony. So she switched to her fight mode, the thick, dark scales rippling up through her skin to create a protective layer so she could safely grab him. She yanked him back up to the surface and headed for shore. Although the scales protected her from getting third degree burns, it was still incredibly hot to hold him to her.

She dragged him on shore just as the twins landed.

“We have trouble.” Atsuko said urgently.

The sand around Francisco’s body was melting into glass as he laid unconscious. Steam coming off his body as the ocean water evaporated and left his body covered in a layer of salt.

“What now?” Madison sighed, reverting back to normal.

“More of the bad guys are coming this way!” Chouko said, pointing back up to the city.

“Bad guys?” Tuhirae asked, confused.

The kids all looked back up to see a bunch of black vehicles block off the streets from the beach. Madison felt the ends of her hair bristle and start to glow. Tuhirae straightened her shoulders back, and the twins spread their wings. A fight was coming, and they could all sense it.

From out of one of the main cars stepped a tall, thin woman in heels with a smug grin on her face. Orange flashed in Madison’s eyes as a burning anger flared through her body.

It was Ms. Mary.

“Francisco hasn’t made the pact yet. He is the most vulnerable of us right now.” Maddie said, glancing back down at her friend, who was still lying motionless on the glass sand. She didn't know how that woman had managed to find them, but there was no way in hell she was going to let her taken any of them back and torture them again.

“We will protect him.” Atsuko and Chouko said in unison, back up to stand between him and the band of men who had come up behind Ms. Mary. They all carried weapons that ranged from ropes, handheld objects, and guns.

“Guess that puts us on the offense.” Maddie said, turning to the island girl. They exchanged a nod and stepped forward. As they did, they both began to transform.

Madison once more doned her scaly dark skin, huge talons, and streaks of glowing blue hair. Her teeth sharpened and her brown eyes became a bright orange once more. Tuhirae felt her muscles throb and expand in her arms, back, and chest. Her black hair, which had been tightly tied back, came undone and grew down the length of her back and around her face, the ends streaking upward with grey. The tattoos all over her body gave a pulsing green glow under her skin, and she felt her fangs grow and sharpen in her jaw.

With a wordless command, Ms. Mary send the mass of soldiers down the beach towards them. Both girls gave their battle cries, mixes of their own and their titan’s, and charged at them.

Chapter Text

Francisco felt like he was dying. He had felt someone drag him out of the ocean, but the mounting pressure in his chest and smoke in his lungs made it hard for him to stay awake. He could hear yelling and gunshots, but they were muffled and far away. He dug his fingers into the glass beneath him and felt it melt and mold around them.

He forced his eyes to open, afraid of letting go. A young Japanese girl with a pretty dress and...butterfly wings? Was hunched over him.

“Francisco?” she asked, leaning down. He groaned and tensed up, feeling the pain intensify in his back.

“Listen to me,” she said softly, “The pain you’re feeling is self-made. Mothra says that in order to stop it, you have to let go of the guilt you have. You have to forgive yourself.”

The boy contorted a bit, coughing up black smoke. His brown skin was now turning bright red. He jolted forward to sit up and clutch the sides of his head, the heat inside overwhelming him.

“But I killed them.” he managed to say through the smoke continuing to emit from his mouth. “Those doctors and soldiers...I didn’t mean to but I got scared…” He hated admitting that, but his anxiety and pain where clouding his rational thinking. He just wanted it all to stop. He didn’t want to die, but he didn’t want to go on, either. He just wanted everything to stop.

“Just because you hurt others by accident doesn’t mean it’s okay to hurt yourself on purpose!” Another girl’s voice said on the other side of him. He looked over to see an identical girl, with the same dress only orange in color instead of blue like the first one’s, but her wings were exactly the same.

“Fire does not burn and destroy because it wants to,” a new, older female’s voice suddenly came from both the girls. Their dark eyes now glowing a soft blue-green. “Fire wipes away old so that new may grow. Like the forest around the mountain. Is it not now lush and green? Are the flowers not now bright and new? Does the ash-rich soil not now grow your people a full harvest?”

He realized it was Mothra who was speaking to him. The queen of the monsters. These were her champions. And they were right. All of those things were true, the forest was replenished now and beautiful, and the farmers nearby were ranking in truckloads of food to the city. And even his city itself was being rebuilt better, stronger, from the aftermath.

But it was hard to ignore the guilt of his actions. Death was not something to take lightly. He looked down at his hands, which seared red, steam starting to rise.

A loud BOOM echoed around them, cause all three to scream. Francisco turned behind them to see a group of armed men in uniforms from the cult base trying to break through a protective force field around them. Both girls stood, eyes still glowing, and flared their wings. Moth wings, he now corrected himself.

The bubble around them expanded and thickened to keep them out, but they continued to shoot their guns and beat at it with their larger weapons. His eyes caught sight of Madison a few yards away, beating the crap out of any of them who came near her, fully decked out in her monster form. Another new girl was also nearby, and although he didn’t know which titan she served, he could definitely tell she was a champion in her monster form, too.

And then he saw Ms. Mary. A new fear struck his heart. She was back and she was trying to take them away again.

“I told you to only bring ones who haven’t made the pact yet” were the words of that weird alien thing from the conference room.

Looking around, he connected the dots; he was the only one among them who hadn’t formed his pact with Rodan. They were all fighting to protect him.

His brain screamed at him, ‘Make it Stop! I want it to STOP!’ Ready to give in. He didn’t feel worthy of their protection. They shouldn’t sacrifice themselves for him. But in his heart, deep down inside, a spark lit. These girls were willing to fight tooth and nail to protect him, just like Andres had. Andres had protected him like a brother, from bullies, adults, and from Rodan’s wrath, and that had cost him his life.

He would not let that happen again. Not to his new friends. And there was only one way to ensure that.

He had to climb the volcano and seal his pact with Rodan.

_____

When Sam woke up in his own bed, in his own room, in his own house, he felt a wave of calm relief fill him. His sheets and pillows were warm and cozy, he was surrounded by his favorite personal belongings, and the familiarity brought him comfort.

But when he rolled over and saw that it was nearly 11am, he decided it was time to get up.

Once he got downstairs, however, the feeling of ease left him. As he scanned the living room and into the kitchen, he noticed how...tiddy everything was. Like some magic cleaning fairy had come overnight to vacuum and dust and straighten and file everything with great precision. Stains that had been in the furniture and countertops since before and after he was born were suddenly gone. There was no pile of bills and newspapers, no indents in the longue chair or couch from years of being sat on.

Sam blinked at how neat the house now was. This was not at all how he expected it to look after having been gone for so long.

“Sammy!” his mother cried, suddenly appearing to give him a big hug and kiss. “Did you sleep well? I didn’t want to wake you since you spent half the night in that awful hospital bed. Come, come, lets make some brunch together.”

She whisked him to the kitchen and started pulling out supplies. Sam just stood there watching her, dumbfounded. She was...home? At this hour? On a weekday?

“M-Mom? Don’t you have work today?” he asked, looking back at the calendar on the wall, and then straightening his back, eyes wide.

Their calendar was the exact same as before. The same beautiful view of a beach with the same month and year, only it was clean. His mother ALWAYS wrote her ever-changing schedule on the calendar for him in case he needed to know where she was or was going to be. It had been scribbled all over the day he left, in pen ink, but now it was all gone.

“Oh, we’re taking some time off work to be with you, dear.” she replied with a shrug, like it was no big deal.

“We?” he asked, reaching out to touch the calendar to make sure it was real.

“That’s right,” his dad smiled, also appearing out of nowhere behind him, “We’re taking an extended vacation to be with you.”

Sam whirled around to face him, absolutely suspicious now. There was no way his dad would get so much time off so suddenly. He was in the navy! He had a specific schedule that he always followed, and said he couldn’t do anything about, no matter how much Sam or his mother had begged.

“We were so worried about you when you disappeared,” his mother said, cracking some eggs onto the skillet, “And then finding out you were kidnapped? By horrible people doing horrible things to our precious baby? We could barely keep it together!”

‘But you were able to clean the house down to the last speck of dust?’ Sam thought, glancing at the living room.

“So we decided that as soon as you came home, we were going to spend as much time with you as possible.” his dad finished, giving him a big hug. Both his busy parents who were almost never around, finally wanting to put their jobs aside to be with him? It was too good to be true; and it probably was.

Sam truly wanted to believe this was all real. He’d had dreams just like this in the past when he was younger. However, after everything he’d been through, and the weird events of last night at the hospital, he wasn’t completely buying it. Something odd was going on, and he was going to find out what it was…

____

Tuhirae had never fought like this before, but it felt oddly natural to her. She felt powerful and strong, and her heart burned with determination to keep this new boy safe. He was clearly hurting and confused, but if what the twins told her was true, then there was no way she was letting these criminals get their hands on him.

She slammed back another henchman, knocking him out, and reared to face another. As she looked about, the mood suddenly shifted. The men and women started pointing and yelling in another direction, and Tuhirae and Madison turned to see Francisco running back into the city. The twins shielding him from the air.

“Where is he going?” Tuhirae asked.

“He’s heading for the volcano. He’s going to form the pact!” Madison cried, rushing after them. Knowing how important that was, she raced to follow behind. Both girls tearing down anyone in their way.

Unfortunately, Ms. Mary heard Madison, and she whipped around to face the rest of her croons. “Get ahead of them and cut them off! We want him alive, but kill the others if you must! DO NOT LET THEM REACH THE VOLCANO!” she shrieked.

Francisco was running so fast he was practically flying. The tattoo on his back was pulsing colors of orange and yellow. The smoke had ceased coming up out of his lungs, and his skin color had returned to normal. The boy maneuvered through the city streets with crisp precision, knowing every alley, turn, and shortcut as the bad guys chased him in their shiny black cars and bikes.

At one point, he knocked into wooden barrels full of sand and dirt for construction, and they immediately caught fire from his touch. He averted his eyes and kept running. His heart was in his throat, pushing back the impulsive feeling of guilt and anger. He had to keep going. He had to get to Rodan. It was the only way to stop this.

Above him, the twins were right on top of him, protecting him from above. When a car or bike got too close, they flew down to attack. Sometimes they used their powers, raining toxic gold pollen or blasting at them with balls of bright light.

“Leave him alone!” Atsuko cried, throwing another ball of light at one of the cars that was getting too close. It crashed down on the hood and smashed the glass. One of the bad guys leaned out the side window, pointing a strange gun up at her and firing. The girl shrieked and dodged the strange glowing bullets. Her sister, Chouko, landed on the top of the car and grabbed the gun, yanking it out of the man’s hand.

“Nobody hurts my sister!” she yelled, smashing the gun in her hands with inhuman strength. Unfourtunately, this caused the gun to explode and the girl was thrown off the car.

“CHOUKO!!!” her sister screamed, witnessing what happened.

Tuhirae kept up just in time to catch her before she hit the pavement. The tiny child was stunned, but unharmed.

Madison then jumped down off a nearby building, fist-first into the hood of the car. The impact sent the car flying up into the air, and crashing back down with another huge explosion.

Francisco glanced back over his shoulder at the sound, and saw the group of girls come running up behind him.

“Keep going!”

“Don’t stop!”

“We’ve got your back, just go!”

They all hollered at him, urging him on. He gave a small smile and nodded, continuing on to the edge of the city.

A net dropped down on him from above, and he tumbled to the ground. Pain shot through his body as he was electrocuted, but this time he could fight back. He hollered and gripped at the wiring, ripping it apart and freeing himself. As a group of bad guys converged on him, his friends rushed in and circled around him, using themselves as human shields.

Madison screamed out, her hair swirling and turning completely neon blue, and a moment later a tremor blasted out from around her, knocking all of the human surrounding them back 20 feet and into the nearby buildings. Blue smoke enveloped around them.

“Run!” She called back to him.

Francisco took off again, through the pain and burning sensation he was now feeling. He looked down to see his skin turning red again. He felt like his skin was going to melt off his bones! When he looked up again, he was at the entrance to the path that led up the mountain to the volcano. He hesitated for only a moment, his heart swelling with grief for his cousin. But a moment later, he shook his head and grit his teeth. He had to do this. He had to push through it. It was going to hurt, but he could do it. His friends believed in him, and they would be with him the whole time. He was not alone anymore.

The five of them dashed up the mountainside, through the blooming forest, with the villians hot on their trail.

Loud gunshots sounded behind them, followed by metal spears whirling in the air past them. Tuhirae turned and stopped to face them, her tattoos glowing. As the other continued up, she lifted her powerful arms up above her head, balls her hands into fists, and brought them down on the earth. Dirt and rock immediately reacted, rippling up and out, exploding in the faces of the men who attacked them a few yards behind.

The twins flew up and scouted ahead.

“They’re still trying to catch up to us!” Atsuko called.

“We just have to keep outrunning them and reach the top!” Chouko added.

Francisco could almost feel Rodan’s subtle movement in the ground below them, stirring as he felt the boy’s presence nearing. Tuhirae caught back up with them and he continued to lead them up the hillside.

“We’re gonna make it!” Madison cried encouragingly.

And then she dropped.

The other halted in their tracks and whirled around, unsure of what just happened. To their horror, one of the metal spears was sticking up out of her back, and she was facedown in the dirt. Her body reverted back to her natural human form and she did not move.

Francisco screamed, louder than he ever had in his life, and rushed down to her.

“Don’t touch her!” Tuhirae called, reaching to grab him and hold him back, despite the burning sensation his skin left on her hands. “It you move her you might made the damage worse!”

“MADISON!!” He screamed, tears boiling in his eyes. “NOOO! NO! NO! NOOOOO!!”

The twins fluttered down to her sides and rest their little hands on her back. “We’ll protect her from here, you have to get to the volcano!” they said in unison. The blue-green bubble appeared around them again, as it had for him down on the beach. The sounds of more men coming up the mountainside alerted them that even more danger was on its way.

And then another sound erupted. The sound of the ocean exploding. An ear-piercing roar shook the entire island to its core. The children all turned to look through the trees in awe and horror as Godzilla, himself, reared back out of the sea; eyes and fins glowing, pissed as all hell.

Chapter Text

Tuhirae and Francisco were frozen, rooted to the spot. Neither of them had ever seen the king of the monsters in person before, only on TV and in drawings on temple walls. He approached the island with a rage so intense it could be felt in their bones just from his gaze. The only thing that pulled Tuhirae out of her horror-stricken trance was the fact that the boy’s skin was searing through her skin as she gripped his arms.

She released him and turned back down the pathway. She could just make out the group of men who had been following them, who had also stopped and were chattering among themselves what to do next. It was their only chance.

“We need to get you to the top, now, while they’re distracted.” the girl stepped in front of Francisco, blocking his view of Godzilla in the bay. The boy blinked, fighting back his tears.

“But Madison…” he managed to mutter.

“Godzilla is going to obliterate those villains and then take her to safety. And the twins are staying with her, too. She’ll be okay. Please, you have to make the pact.” She kept her voice as level and calm as she could. She wasn’t sure if Madison was even still alive, but they couldn’t think like that.

Francisco took a deep breath and balled his fists. Something shifted in his expression. Madison would want him to keep going. And Tuhirae was right, Godzilla would deal with these goons. They deserved that fate. But she was the one who had encouraged him up until this point, who made it all seem less crazy than it was. He was not about to let her down when he was this close.

With a quick nod, the two of them bolted back up the pathway.

Atsuko and Chouko placed their hands on Madison’s back near her wound, and a glow began to form. The girl managed to make a small groan of pain, but did not move.

“Maddie? Can you hear us?” Chouko asked.

The clattering of bullets against their force field rained down on them from outside, as the men came to bombard them. The twins flared their wings increasing the light of the force fields glow, illuminating their spot among the forest for Godzilla to see.

He had been carefully observing the situation through Madison’s eyes and ears as he waited in the open ocean nearby, but when he felt the sharp pain of the spear and everything suddenly went black, he reacted immediately. She was his first champion in thousands of years. She couldn’t die now, he wouldn’t allow it.

The enormous titan breached the shore and cried out a warning to the worthless specks who’d attacked her and the others. On the beach to his left, closer to the city, a row of large trucks came rolling in, aiming large weapons at him.

Missles shot off like fireworks straight for him, but the king didn’t even acknowledge them as they crashed and exploded on his side. In just a few steps he reached the side of the volcano, where the gunmen were frantically trying to flee or shoot at the monster. With a snarl, he swiped his talons across the area, uprooting the newborn trees that had started to grow and decimating the small human surrounding them.

Ms. Mary, who was in a jeep at the base of the volcano, swore under her breath as Godzilla continued to crush the remaining troops and tear up the volcano’s side. From the bluetooth in her ear, a voice told her to signal a fall back. She hesitated for only a moment, knowing that this defeat was going to end bad for her in the future, then called off her men.

But of course, Godzilla did not care. He ripped into the ground where they fled with his talons, crushing them like ants as they scrambled about.

Francisco did his best to ignore the sounds of the titan and the humans behind him. He ran higher and higher up the side of the volcano, feeling the heat of its power below the ground. Tuhirae was with him, only checking over her shoulder once to make sure they were not followed.

”So you’ve finally decided to come.” Rodan’s voice chided him, as if right behind his ear.

“Shut up, I need to focus.” he whispered harshly to his side, opposite Tuhirae.

As they neared the summit, Tuhirae was starting to sweat. The air was growing hotter and hotter, thickening with intense heat. It was as if she was running up to a giant bonfire and she could feel the heat of it edge up her body as she neared.

They were a football field away when she came to an immediate halt. “It’s too much, I can’t go any further!” She took a few steps back. She didn’t want to abandon him in such a crucial moment, but there was no way she could make it to the volcano’s opening. She’d die of a heat stroke or worse.

Francisco stumbled to a stop and looked back on her with pleading eyes. He was clearly unphased by the heat, breathing normally, a bumpy texture on his skin rising to help protect him. He barely knew this other champion, he didn’t even know her name, but he couldn’t go alone.

“But--” he started, his heart rate rising. The sounds of Godzilla’s rage echoed across the island. They turned to see him lash his tail on the beach, swatting the large trucks away like toys. And then to Francisco’s horror, the titan set his aim to the city. There were soldiers hiding in the buildings, he must have spotted them running about. Without Madison to communicate with him, he would level the city worse than Rodan had.

“NOOO!” the boy screamed at the top of his lungs, but neither him nor Tuhirae heard him over the sound of the king’s atomic blast. It lit up the whole of his vision in white and blue, and even from their distance the force of the blast knocked them back off their feet.

Francisco lay on the ground, the entire world silent as he lay in the ashy dirt. Above him the sky was dark. The heat of the volcano was searing beneath him, but it wasn’t painful. Laying like that, he could feel Rodan’s mark on his back was pulsing slightly.

A deep agony twisted in his chest, like a gaping black hole. So much had happened...so much trauma and anguish and terror. His family was dead. His home was being destroyed. He’d murdered innocent people, and been tortured and abused by a crazy alien cult. He closed his eyes, wishing he could just stop everything right then and there and never go back.

He felt the ground tremble.

He opened his eyes.

Slowly, painfully, he sat himself up. Tuhirae was gone. She had probably fled back down to where the others were. Godzilla was being continuously bombarded with gunfire of all kinds. His roars were muffled, as was everything else. He could feel the wind on his skin but he couldn’t hear it.

He rolled over, coughing up black smoke again. The giant hole in his soul, twisting and tightening in his chest, was becoming unbearable. He felt like he was dying. Why was he still here? Why was he still suffering? Again, and again, and again, events around him were beating him down, and now he was at his breaking point. He thought things couldn’t get worse after Andres died, but he had been wrong. Everything awful had come to this, alone and burning to a crisp on the top of a volcano. What was he suppose to do now?

As he hunched over on his elbows, head to the ground, battered and bruised and broken, something in the back of his mind nudged its way forward. Words formed.

Fire does not burn and destroy because it wants to.

He opened his eyes, grip tightening, chest swelling. He heaved and shuttered.

Fire wipes away old so that new may grow.

Francisco grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes. With the small amount of strength he had left, he carefully forced himself to stand. Behind him, Godzilla continued to crush the city beneath his feet in an attempt to exterminate the cultists. The sound of buildings collapsing, metal snapping, and earth shaking grew louder and louder as his hearing recovered from the blast. The boy faced the top of the volcano, the light of the lava inside it sending a glow up into the atmosphere.

With every step forward he took, more of the city fell. The mark on his back glowed red, then orange, then an even brighter orange. From their spot defending Madison on the trail, Atsuko, Chouko, and Tuhirae could see the glow of their fellow champion as he continued on.

He reached the top and stopped on the edge. The heat coming from inside should have killed him, but instead he took a large breath to inhale the scent of brimstone and ash. Whatever test or trial Rodan had waiting for him below, he would complete it or die trying. He had nothing left to lose.

The lava stirred below, Rodan now aware of his presence.

“Come on down, kid. The lava’s fine.” He taunted.

Before he could think twice, before he could do or think about anything else, Francisco tilted himself forward and felt gravity pull him down. He decided to close his eyes and clutched his hands to his chest. The grip of all his anguish and guilt and fear released from inside him as he free fell in the air. He left it all behind him on the edge, and plunged into the inferno.

-----

After a filling breakfast and some time outside playing sports with his dad, Sam had almost forgotten how weird and unsettling all of this was.

Almost.

His dad acted like his dad. Nothing about his attitude or demeanor put up any red flags. He wasn’t suddenly perfect and complimenting him or telling him how much he loved him. In fact, he seemed as unsure of the situation as Sam was.

Once they were all tired out and sat down for some water, Sam noticed a far-off look in his dad’s eyes. Like he was concerned about something.

“I should have done this sooner.”

The offhand comment caught Sam by surprise. He then realized he’d misread his dad’s expression. It was guilt, not concern.

“You have a really important job, dad.” Sam remarked. He really did think highly of his dad, even if he didn’t see him very much.

“I’ve been away from both of you for months at a time. I haven’t been here for this family. And I’m sorry it took you getting taken away for me to come to my senses about what’s really important.” he apologized, fiddling with the football a bit in his hands.

Sam smiled a little, but only for a moment. Being reminded of his kidnapping was not something he wanted to think about. However, he found himself thinking more of Francisco and Madison than anything else. How Francisco had talked to him and protected him like an older brother. How Madison had come to their rescue and reassured him that his choice to leave was valid. He may never see either of them again, and that made his heart ache a little. He liked them. They had been good friends, even if just for a short while.

In the middle of his thoughts, he felt the hair on his neck stand up. They were being watched. Sam turned, but no one was around. Just miles of rolling fields, and a couple patches of trees here and there. He shuttered.

“Hey dad, how about we go down to the store. Maybe get some ice cream?” he suggested, wanting to leave but not wanting to seem rushed. The last thing he wanted was to worry his parents any more.

“We have ice cream in the fridge, buddy.” his dad replied, standing abruptly. “Let’s go back inside and share some with mom.”

He set the football on the picnic table and went through the back door without even looking back to see if Sam was following. The boy blinked, trying to think if this was normal or not. Usually he loved to go down to the store to socialize with the locals and get ice cream. Especially this time of year when the weather was nice.

Again, the feeling of being watched alerted him so strongly that he flinched and whipped his head around. Still nothing. Sam stood and squinted on the horizon. After a minute or two, he gave up and sighed.

“Something still doesn’t feel right.” he said out loud, hoping she heard him. Sure enough, her reply came a moment later.

“Perhaps you should try and reach out to the others? Talking to them might comfort you.”

That sounded like a good idea. Dr. Ling had left her personal number with him in case he needed to contact Monarch again. He headed inside, through the kitchen where his parents were preparing ice cream, to the living room where his duffle bag was. The one he’d got from the hospital from Monarch, complete with their logo and everything on it.

He remembered exactly which inner pocket he’d stashed the card in, and fished it out, along with his cell phone. He went back up to his room and punched in the number.

Busy signal. No dial tone or anything. He frowned, trying again. Maybe he could at least get the voicemail?

No good. Busy signal again. He decided to try the house phone downstairs.

“Sammy! Ice cream is ready!” his mother called.

“I’ll be over in a minute.” he called back, grabbing the home phone and heading over to his dad’s office to call. For some reason it was the best room in the house to get signal for.

Again, nothing but beeping. She must be in a meeting or something. He had to talk to someone, though. Maybe one of his friends from school was home. It was after school hours by now.

He texted one of his friends from up the street. Unable to deliver message. He tried again. Same result. He tried a different friend. Nope.

“Hey, what’s up with the signal in our house right now? Is the internet down?” Sam called out to his parents.

“What are you trying to do, sweetie?” his mother asked, mouthful of mint chocolate chip.

“I was trying to text Devon and see if he could come over.” Sam said, instead daring to call rather than text. He knew how much Devon didn’t like to be called, but Sam was getting nervous. Again, the busy signal. No answering machine or anything.

Desperate, he tried Alex. Jude. Tara. Fritz. Jamie. Every person he’d ever hung out with at school. No texts, and no calls went through.

He was visibly frustrated now, drawing both his parents’ attention. He headed for the front door, but they went after him in a hurry.

“Where are you going?”

“I just want to bike ride down to Devon’s up the street,” he replied.

“But we just scooped ice cream. It’ll melt if you don’t come and eat it.” His mother whined, side stepping in front of him. Sam immediately became suspicious again.

“He and the others have probably been worried about me. I just want to let them know I’m okay.” he tried. “You can drive me down instead of me biking,” he added.

“Or Devon could come here, instead.” his dad offered. “That sounds like a much better idea. I’m low on gas anyway.”

“Yes, we’ll invite him over for you. I’ll call his mom and she can drop him off for dinner!” His mother chimed.

Now Sam really didn’t like this. His parents were physically putting themselves between him and the exit, and were trying to goad him into staying. Something wasn’t right. But whatever it was, it made him scared. He needed more information before he could make a move. So he gave in, and went to eat ice cream.

He made note that they continued to keep between him and the front and back door the rest of the day.

Chapter Text

Francisco felt his body hit the lava and plunge down into the thick, burning abyss. Within milliseconds, his entire body went numb, and everything was white.

Had it not been for the sounds of the boiling lava and the rumbling of the volcano around him, he would have thought he was dead. He tried to move, tried to look around for anything, but he couldn’t even feel his body, so he wasn’t sure if he was moving at all.

“Rodan?” he called out, the sound of his voice tight and confined, like he had spoken in a sound booth.

“Well, well, well,” the monster’s voice chided, “You actually came.”

“Just give me the stupid test, my friends need me up there.” The boy dared to snap at the giant fire demon he still couldn’t see.

“Test? What are you talking about?”

The world slowly began to fade from white to a creamsicle orange.

“The test. My trial. Madison said I have to go through some kind of intense ordeal you put me through in order to gain my powers and bond with you.” he said, not holding back his irritation.

He didn’t want to stay like this for much longer. It was starting to creep him out. He knew he should be dead, after jumping into an active volcano. Yet here he was chatting with the very creature who destroyed his home and killed his family last year like it was totally normal.

A screech-like laugh erupted, sending a cascade of steaming bubbles up around him, and the orange around him became a darker and darker shade, now more reddish.

“I’m pretty sure you already did that, kid.” the titan pointed out.

His senses had barely returned, but Francisco was able to turn his head and look down, seeing his body, and the giant, glowing yellow eye of Rodan in the lava beneath him.

“You climbed the mountain, though you were haunted by the memories of your cousin and his death there. You overcame your anguish, which was literally killing you from the inside out, because you saw that others needed you. You faced the worse the world could throw at you, and still got back up. Not to mention that you took the lept into this active volcano, knowing you would die. All that is proof enough for me of your worthiness.”

There was a woosh, like steam and bubbles rushing upward past him at intense speed. A burning sensation electrified throughout his body, causing him to scream. Francisco’s brown eyes blazed yellow, and his veins lit up all across his form. The mark on his back turned bright white, and a moment later, it turned black and began to consume his form.

His entire body was now encased in a black cocoon of igneous rock. As if he’d been dunked in lava and pulled out to dry. He floated, motionless, for a few silent moments.

“Francisco Javier Mendoza, descendant of la Flor Roja,” Rodan’s voice pierced that silence in a booming, serious tone, “Will you follow in the footsteps of your ancestors, and become my champion? To be my eyes, my ears, and my voice on my behalf, to ensure peace between I, your people, and the world we share?”

For a moment, nothing.

Then a crack.

Another.

The charred, black cast around Francisco began to give. Neon red light split from the crack all over, until it burst. A blazing red inferno swirled around the boy; an ethereal fire, la flor roja.The Red Flower.

“Rodan, demon of fire,” he called, the fire raging around him, “I pledge my flame to you! It shall burn for the world to see, a beacon of hope to our future, starting NOW!”

----

Tuhirae was practically flying down the side of the mountain, her bare feet barely touching the earth as she sprinted back through the trees and wildlife. The twins were still with Madison, and the enemies had fled, but the danger was not gone. If they didn’t get Godzilla’s champion to a safe place with immediate medical attention there was no telling what would happen.

By now, Godzilla had wiped out most of Ms. Mary’s forces, and those who were smart enough to retreat right away were now at a relatively safe distance. However, the king’s wrath was not quenched. His champion still lay dying, and his rage blinded him. He was continuing forward with his destruction of the island’s partially rebuilt city and ruining the hard work of the survivors from their year of healing.

As Tuhirae finally reached her friends’ side, the volcano exploded. From the opening, raining lava and fire down the mountain, Rodan cried out for the world to hear. Flaring his wings, exclaiming to the other kaiju of the pact now sealed.

Godzilla momentarily turned his attention to the commotion behind him, seeing his subject lock his gaze down upon the city.

“The guilty are dead. Leave my island. Now!” the giant firebird cried.

Godzilla snarled, debating his next move. How dare Rodan speak to him like that. He should just grab that annoying bird and stuff him back in the mountain where he came from!

“Madison!” the Skull Island native knelt to examine her friend’s wounds. The girl was unconscious, but still breathing, lying awkwardly belly-down in the dirt. The spear, a thick metal pole, was lodged in her back, moving slightly with her labored breath, but there was minimal blood.

Searing heat began to descend upon the group from behind. Tuhirae turned to see what was happening, and was met with the sight of Francisco as he slowly landed on the ground nearby. His pact sealed, his full power was active. His darkened skin was layered with what looked like hot red igneous rock, pulsing bright yellow underneath with his heartbeat. His eyes, too, were a bright yellow that stuck out from his features, and his hair was like the embers of a fire, the sway of wind making his curls seem like real flames.

Most notable of all was the new layer of skin between his arms and side of his body, giving the appearance of wings.

The ground sizzled and burned beneath his bare feet, but as soon as he stepped away the burn marks would fade. He wordlessly approached and once more took in the sight of Madison’s injury.

“Is she still alive?” he asked, the worry in his voice betraying his stoic expression.

“Yes, but she is in a lot of pain,” Chouko replied.

“We need to get her off this mountain and to a doctor.” Atsuko urged.

“But if we move her, we risk making the injury worse.” Tuhirae pointed out. “I’ve seen our healers deal with spear injuries like this before. We can’t remove it or else she’ll bleed out before we can get her anywhere.”

Godzilla’s ear-deafening roar made them all cringe and cover their ears. The king had now turned his body to face Rodan in the volcano. Rodan replied with a challenging cry of his own and stepped further out of his home. The titans appeared to be ready to fight each other, and the kids were in the middle of it.

“What are we gonna do?” Tuhirae asked, looking back and forth between the two massive giants.

“Without Madison to warn Godzilla that we’re down here, he might blast us without realizing it!” Atsuko cried frightfully.

Francisco turned to look down at his friend, trying to think. His eye caught the sight of the twins as they clutched each other. They may be Mothra’s champions, but they were still only childr--

Mothra’s champions.

His brain clicked.

“Atsuko! Chouko!” he cried, kneeling down close to them. “You’re Mothra’s champions, and Madison is Godzilla’s champion! Since those two titans have a special connection to each other, maybe you guys do, too. Do you think you could try and heal her with your powers?”

They were both silent for a moment, and at first he was afraid they didn’t understand.

“Mothra says we can’t fully heal her,” Atsuko finally answered.

“But we can make her well enough to move her to a safer place!” Chouko added.

“I can carry her, then.” Tuhirae nodded, taking a moment to show off and arm muscle.

“Right. Here’s the plan, then. You two will do as much as you can to heal Madison so Tuhirae can take her over to that far ridge.” Francisco pointed to a section of mountain away from the volcano and beach where the titans were preparing to duel. “I’ll fly out to find help. One of the Monarch ships has to be close by, or at least on their way by now. They can send in a helicopter to retrieve everyone.”

“A heli-what?” Tuhirae asked.

Rodan lept from the top of the volcano and sped down towards Godzilla. Trailing behind him was a deadly wind that would knock them all far into the air. The twins jumped up to spread their wings and put out their hands, creating a new force field around the group. The wind hit with great force, nearly causing the girls to fall back. Francisco and Tuhirae stepped up and put their hands against the front of the massive bubble, helping to hold it against the high speed winds as trees and wildlife crashed against it.

The massive monsters collided, Rodan’s talons gripping Godzilla’s shoulders and attempting to use his full body weight and momentum to shove the king back towards the ocean. However, Godzilla only slid his feet against the earth, holding against him.

The twins dropped the shield and stumbled back, clearly having used a lot of energy. Francisco opened his arms and ran right, toward a nearby steep edge. “Do what you can to help Madison and get her to that ledge! I’ll be back with help!” he called over his shoulder.

As the titans duked it out mere kilometers away, the boy summoned his courage and jumped from the cliffside into the wind. He caught the updraft and soared into the sky above. He’d never known anything like this feeling of flying, and yet it felt so familiar to him. He knew exactly what to do to make sure he didn’t plummet to the earth. The wind was cold and refreshing on his scalding, heated skin. Using his bird-eye vision, he rose higher to scout for a nearby Monarch ship around the island.

Meanwhile, Tuhirae helped the twins back to their feet. “Come on girls, you can do this.” she encouraged them. She sat next to Chouko, who knelt down on Madison’s left side. Atsuko was on her right.

They both exchanged a look and a nod, and extended their hands over Madison’s back around the spear’s point of impact. Their eyes started to glow a beautiful teal color, and softly they began to sing in their native tongue…

“Mosura ya Mosura,
Dongan kasakuyan indo muu
usuto uiraandoa, hanba hanbamuyan, randa banunradan
Tounjukanraa
Kasaku yaanmu”

“Mothra oh Mothra,
With the Power of your Ancestor
Grant the prayer of your followers, arise and
Show
Your Power”

Their hands started to glow as well, and Madison was enveloped in a soft light. Tuhirae leaned in closer and saw specs of white lights flowing into the wound on her back. The healing process was starting!

The twins continued their beautiful melody, perfectly in tune with one another, now rising to stand with wings spread open;

“Mosura ya Mosura
Yasasishasae wasure
Arehateta hito no kokoro inorinagara utaitai
Ai no uta!”

“Mothra oh Mothra
Of forgotten kindness and ruined spirits
We pray for the people's spirit as we sing
This song of love!”

Madison groaned and her hands slowly grasped at the ground. Tuhirae jumped to stop her from trying to get up.

“Just stay down a little bit longer, don’t move. You’re going to be okay.” she comforted her. But Godzilla’s champion was disoriented and in grave pain. Now awake, fear was setting in.

“What...what happened? Where am I?” she asked, trying to move her head but wincing. “My back...oh my god, my back…”

“Please don’t try to move just yet, Madison.” the girl urged, taking her hand. She could feel her start to tremble and she squeeze Tuhirae’s fingers.

“Holy shit, it hurts. Francisco...Godzilla...what’s…” It was too much to try and process. A moment later she closed her eyes and passed out. She was still breathing, and healing, but she couldn’t stay awake. However, her grip did not loosen.

Despite the initial reaction Tuhirae had with Madison when they first met, she could see that this girl was good-hearted, and needed them. They were both champions of titans, and they were both still young kids, too. Tuhirae made a silent vow that she would do whatever she needed to get her to safety.

The brief moment of consciousness Madison experienced was felt by Godzilla, and as soon as she blacked out again he was set off. He put up his claws to grab at Rodan and throw him down to the ground in front of him. The shockwave rippled through the island, coming too close to breaking the twins' concentration. More white sparkles filtered down through Madison’s wound, but she did not stir again.

“We can’t do much more,” Atsuko warned, the glow starting to fade from their eyes and hands.

“Will I be able to carry her?” Tuhirae asked.

“Extremely carefully, please!” Chouko replied. That was enough for her.

Over the sound of the titans fighting, another noise became prominent. Looking up, Tuhirae saw a huge object like some kind of strangely shaped bird, only it had no wings, just a tail and some kind of large head decoration?

“The helicopter is here!” the twins cried. Their magic was worn off, and they helped guide the older girl on how to carry Madison. She was able to get her body slung over her back, careful of the metal spear still sticking out. They began to climb up towards the large metal bird as it started to land in a clearing nearby.

“Where’s Francisco?” Chouko asked, looking around. The boy was nowhere to be seen, on the ground or in the sky.

It took a lot of strength to carry Madison, so much of her focus was on doing that job as carefully as possible. However, as they neared the helicopter, something made her stop. The hair on her neck started to stand up, and a bad feeling rose in her gut.

“Tuhirae?” the girls asked, seeing that she stopped.

She looked up at them, and then at the copter. It was hard to see through the long strands of her black hair as they whipped around in the wind, but it only took a moment to recognize the danger.

This wasn’t a Monarch vessel.

This one belonged to their enemy.

“Girls, run.” she said. The side door of the helicopter opened. Ms. Mary stepped out, along with a few others. In her hands she held some kind of box with a screen on it. She gave a coy smile and waved it at her. Tuhirae looked over her shoulder at the spear in Madison’s back.

Just like some of the scientists who’d come to Skull Island, Ms. Mary had tracked them with some kind of device planted in the spear. Her eyes widened and her heart raced.

“Girls, RUN!” Tuhirae shouted, at the children. “Fly! Get out of here, now!”

Chapter Text

Sam did not bring up his friends visiting again, and neither of his parents did either. They simply continued living life in their little house as if they were the only people in the world. Sharing meals, watching cartoons (his mother did complain a bit about it, which was normal, but she never turned it off or stopped watching, which wasn’t) and playing games. All the while Sam was putting on the act of loving, perfect son.

“I told you before, I cannot say for sure where your location is,” MUTO responded one night when he asked her if he was really at home. “I only see what you see. We’d have to have a pact for any more than that.”

Sam rolled over in his bed to his side, where his window was. Outside the world was dark, the waning moon and a small sprinkle of stars in the sky the only thing really visible. Clutching his pillow, he tried to think and reason with himself.

This pillow felt real, and so did the bed. His room was exactly the same. The smells, the sounds. All of it was familiar. So why did something feel off? Why were his parents acting so weird?

“I’m going to try something,” he told her, sitting up.

He slipped on some pants and sneakers, and a light jacket, and opened the window. He’d never run away before, but he’d also faced worse things than jumping twelve or thirteen feet from his bedroom. Besides, his parents’ room was on the other side of the house, and he’d heard them go to bed. As long as he was quiet and careful, he’d be fine.

Sam was a big kid. He’d gotten called fat a lot in school, which definitely hurt his sensitive heart, but in this case it might prove to be a good thing. Lots of padding for his fall.

He stepped up onto the window ledge, counted to three, and tipped forward. The landing sent a shock up through his body and his knees momentarily ached, but after a brief rest in the grass he recovered enough to stand. No light on in the house, no voices. All was still and quiet, aside from the bugs and the wind.

The boy snuck around the side of the house and made for the road, angling to the side to stay out of the view of his parents’ bedroom window. He didn’t have a flashlight, but he could still feel the grass turn to blacktop beneath his feet when he reached it.

The plan was to follow the road until he got to the store, and then turn down the next road to Devon’s house. The lights of the store were always on, even when it was closed. So he started walking forward into the abyss of black.

”Are you sure Devon can help you?” MUTO asked skeptically.

“No, but it would be a relief to see someone other than my parents for a change. Maybe then it’ll feel like I’m home and out of danger. Maybe then everything will make more sense.” Sam whispered to the moon.

He took a moment to admire the beauty of the moon. There wasn’t much of it, but the little light it provided was something he was grateful for. He smiled to himself and turned his attention back to the road.

He saw another house on the horizon coming up in the dim glow of moonlight. He knit his brow in confusion, not remembering there being any other houses between his and the store. Just empty farmland. As he came closer, he squinted to see better. Maybe they’d built a new one while he was gone?

He stopped completely when he came to the front of the house, because it was his house. At the edge of the road, even from the distance, he could see the shapes of his front door, his porch and swing, his parent’s bedroom window, and his very own bike outside the garage.

This could not be possible, as he had walked straight forward and left his house behind him.

His heart rate picked up, and he took off running straight down the road again. He had to be having some kind of dream or hallucination. That couldn’t be his house. He was just seeing things because he was nervous!

But as he came over the next hill, he saw his house once again nestled in the ground a football field away. He turned around to look back at the house he’d just run from, but it was gone. Just the empty fields and a few scattered trees for miles. He looked back at the house and took a step back.

“This isn’t right.” he panted, fear striking his system full force. “I gotta wake up! This isn’t real!”

“I am sorry to tell you, but it is real.” MUTO’s sad voice confirmed. “I would not be able to see it if you were asleep and dreaming, but I can.”

Sam started running again. He ran past his house on the paved road, about another hundred feet, and then saw his house again. He kept running, continuing to deny what was happening.

“It all makes sense,” he suddenly cried helplessly, running past his house for a fifth or sixth time and falling to his knees on the road. “That’s why they’re acting so weird and don’t want me outside. I’m trapped in some kind of Matrix world or something.”

“What is a Matrix world?” she asked. He caught his breath, reeling his thoughts to try and think what to do. Where was he? Were those even really his parents?? Why did it all feel so real if it was fake? What could he do if he couldn’t go anywhere?

“This is some kind of prison, maybe? But why bring my parents? Why make the illusion that I’m at home?” he thought out loud. When he stood up again, his house was now next to him, which it had not been before. This unsettled him the most. As if the building itself was watching him.

He could only think of one person who would want to trap him like this.

Ms. Mary.

And probably those strange creatures she was with, the winged ones with multiple eyes. He shuttered.

“What are you doing out of bed, darling?”

Sam whirled around to see both his parents standing on the other side of the road behind him in their pajamas. They both appeared to be genuinely concerned, but the fact that he hadn’t seen or heard them come out made him freak out.

“Who are you?” He accused, “What have you don’t with my real parents?!”

Both of them gave each other quizzical looks. “Sam,” his mother cooed, “Are you alright? You seem very distressed. What’s going on?”

“Come back inside, and we’ll talk it out.” his father said gently, and they moved towards him. But Sam quickly moved back.

“Stay away from me!” He screamed. He looked about wildly, trying to find something to grab to protect himself.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore, Sammy. You don’t have to be scared, you’re home! You’re home with us!” His mother tried desperately to reason with him, arms outstretched.

It was terrible because it really did feel like his mother. She wasn’t trying to hurt him, she was just concerned for him. And he really did want to run into her arms and have it all go away and be back to normal. But at the same time, the logical side of his brain reminded him that this world, whatever it was, wasn’t real.

That was when his eyes landed on the shovel. It was old and rusted, but it was propped up against the wall inside the garage. He dashed for it.

“Sam?” his dad cried, going after him in a panic.

The boy grabbed the shovel and rushed to the side out in the lawn. Both his parents were running after him.

“Please don’t leave again!” they begged, “Come back inside where it’s safe!”

His heart cried out, but he fought the urge to look back. He raised the shovel over his head and aimed for the earth below him.

“No! This isn’t REAL!” he brought the tip of the tool down and slammed it into the dirt, only it wasn’t dirt. Bright, white light cracked out around the point of impact. His parents stopped and covered their ears and held their heads and screamed in pain.

“Samuel?! What’s happening?!” his dad shouted. The boy looked back at them once more, not understanding what was happening. But he was right. This place wasn’t real, and whether or not those were really his parents, he had to get out of this cell. Just like he did before with Francisco and Maddie.

He jammed the shovel into the spot again, causing the crack to spread like a broken mirror. White light was pouring up out of the ground. With all his strength, he struck a final blow. He would be no one’s prisoner ever again.

He felt himself fall to the ground and hit hard metal.

It was actually a very short fall, and he hadn’t been expecting it, so it made him all the more disoriented as he stood up. Bright lights were everywhere, and he had to take a moment to let his eyes adjust. The sound of beeping and whirring and machines was all around him. Had he broken out? Where was he now?

A shadow fell over him and he felt someone lift him to his feet. Sam rubbed his eyes and looked up.

It was a teenage girl, older than him by maybe two or three years. She was dark skinned with the longest black hair he’d ever see, even though it was mostly in braids. The most notable thing, however, was the band around her forehead. It looked like the one he and the others had been forced to wear, but more intricate, with wires coming out the side and disappearing under her hair.

She rudely shoved him forward, and another person grabbed him. This one was another girl, but just about his age and the same height. She had brown skin, with curly dark hair, and a headband with wires as well. Both of them were dressed in some kind of white uniform with blue accents, and both of them carried emotionless expressions as they pushed him into another room.

Sam tried to free himself from their grip, but they possessed inhuman strength and forced him onward without speaking. Finally, he spoke, “Who are you?! Where am I? What’s going on?”

“You disobeyed orders. We are taking you to Lord Michael.” The first one said in a deadpan tone.

“Disobeyed orders? I was being held against my will!” Sam shouted indignantly. “I was being tricked into thinking I was home when I wasn’t! Why?! I want answers!!”

For all his struggling, kicking, and yelling, the girls didn’t even flinch. They simply continued to drag him along into a hall and down to a larger room. Sam freaked out even more at that, since the halls reminded him of the building they’d kept him in before.

“You’re working with Ms. Mary, aren’t you?” he accused, “You have the bands on your heads, is she controlling you now? Wait…” he thought for a moment, realizing what that might mean. Were these girls also champions? If so, then what titan were they pledged to? Did they even pledge to one yet?

Finally, they made it to the office of a large man. However, it didn’t look like too much of an office space. There were just some lounge chairs and a couch, with near empty bookshelves and a few religious statues of angels on pedestals. There was no desk or windows or anything like that. It looked more like a break room than an office to Sam.

“Samuel Brody.” A man’s voice called calmly from his left. The girls dumped him on the ground and shut the door, guarding the sides. The boy quickly stood up, although it made him immediately dizzy and lighthearted. He was exhausted and aching, and it was just now hitting him.

The man who had spoken was propped against the wall with his shoulder, reading out of a file in his hands. He was unusually tall, and his hair was bleach blonde, with the palest skin he’d ever seen. It looked completely unnatural and unnerving, especially when the man looked up at him and Sam saw that his eyes were a striking bright silver.

“You have quite the history, young man,” The person he assumed was Lord Michael stood straight and walked towards one of the chairs, continuing to mull over the file.

“A family history torn apart by giant monsters from myth and nightmare. How tragic. Your grandmother and grandfather were killed by the ones you call MUTOs. And it looks like your father helped put an end to them, only to lose more relatives years later in the titan’s rise last year. Aunts, Uncles, cousins...all gone. You and your parents are all that remain, hiding out in the midwest where you believe in hiding in plain sight. Tsk, tsk.”

As tired as he was, Sam was in no mood to hear some random stranger who kidnapped him try and tell him his own life story and remind him of his dark history. From over his shoulder, he felt the gaze of his MUTO watching and listening as well, although she remained silent.

“I’m only going to say this once,” Sam said, clenching his fists. “I don’t care who or what you are, but I’m not going to be anyone’s prisoner or experiment! Now let me go or I’m going to have my titan come and tear this place to the ground!”

Lord Michael snapped the file shut and set it on the table beside him. He did not look at all threatened or impressed. In fact, he gave a light chuckle.

“That’s quite a bluff, Samuel. To be honest, I didn’t think you had it in you. Seeing the way you cried like a coward at the other base while your friends did all the hard work of escaping, and you refused to seal a pact with MUTO, so she has no idea where you actually are and cannot, in fact, tear this place to the ground.” He ended in a mocking tone, his silver eyes shining like real metal as they pierced through the boy.

Sam tried to stand his ground but his knees were starting to shake. He’d been caught in his bluff, and the adrenaline was starting to wear off. His heart was freezing with new fear and uncertainty. Something about this man made him feel twenty times more threatening than Ms. Mary.

“Which is actually why I had you brought here,” Lord Michael quickly added, completely changing his mood to more charming and relaxed. He sat in his chair and beckoned the boy to sit on the sofa nearby. When Sam didn’t move, the girls grabbed him and forced him to sit.

“Samuel, meet Kara and Naeemah.” He nodded to the girls. The both took a seat, but were very stiff about it. Lord Michael tapped his head.

“Ah! I suppose this isn’t the proper way to introduce them to you. Here.” he snapped his fingered and a light on both their headbands shut off. The girls blinked and suddenly became real. They didn’t look too surprised to be where they were, but at least they had expressions of fear and nervousness similar to Sam’s. That was sort of reassuring.

“Kara, Naeemah, meet your newest group member, Samuel.” the man introduced. Both girls moved to speak, but hesitated. They were too afraid to say what they wanted.

“Group member?” Sam dared to ask, returning his attention to the lord.

“Yes, of course. You will join the girls and our cause. We’ll make good use of your talents to help save the world.” He picked up a drink from another table and took a delicate sip.

“Save the world like Ms. Mary wants to? I don’t think I’m a big fan of that.” he tested, being careful of what he said. He wasn’t quite sure what this man was capable of yet.

“Forget about her,” Lord Michael waved his free hand. “You won’t ever have to see or speak to her again. I understand that her methods of recruitment were more forceful, and I do apologize. However, I am giving you the chance to come freely and of your own volition. Just like they did.”

He pointed to the girls and Sam gave them a confused glance. They had volunteered to come here and be a part of this madness? Although neither of them spoke up to disclaim him, they also appeared quite ashamed and regretful of such a decision. Perhaps they had also been in Sam’s situation. Being told to believe they had a choice when they didn’t.

“So, you are both champions, too?” He asked sympathetically.

“Not exactly.” Naeemah, the more egyptian looking one spoke softly, “We are able to communicate with our titans, but we never made a pact. We were...too scared…”

The wheels in Sam’s brain turned. “So which titans are you connected to?”

“They call her Sekhmet.” Naeemah said. “From Outpost 65 in Cairo.”

Both of them looked to the other girl, Kara, but she didn’t seem to be in a talking mood. She would not meet either of their eyes.

“Hers is Mokele-Mbembe from the Congo.” Naeemah finally spoke for her. Kara gave her an unhappy side glance, but stayed in her silence.

“See?” Lord Michael chimed. “You’ll fit right in here. And it will be much more pleasant for you. You’ll have your own living quarters with the finest accommodations, excellent food, and anything else you could possibly desire. Money, friends, powers. The works.”

“I want my parents.” Sam said flatly, rounding back on him. “I want to go home.”

“You are home.” Lord Michael said a little more deeply in his throat.

A section of wall in front of them started to move back to reveal a TV screen. Sam braced himself, fearing the worst. When it flickered on, he saw both of his parents, floating around in some kind of liquid, hooked up to some wires in the back of their head and neck. The boys jumped up in absolute horror.

“We had brought them in with you to help put you at ease until we were ready to approach you, but unfortunately you decided to break out a little early. So now I’m afraid with the simulation disrupted, they’ve both been induced into a coma.” the lord informed him, as if he were reporting something as boring and ordinary as the weather.

Sam felt he might collapse. His stomach turned and nearly made him puke. It really had been them in there with him. Lord Michael had manipulated his parents’ consciousnesses to keep him happy inside his house. He’d taken advantage of their fears of losing him, and their guilt of not being around. And now, because Sam had broken the spell, they were stuck in a horrible limbo they might never wake from.

Tears filled his eyes. Lord Michael snapped his fingers again and the girls straightened and grabbed him. This time, Sam did not resist at all.

“I’ll give you the night to think over my offer.” The man said, getting up to grab the door for them, “Eat some food, get some rest, and we’ll regroup in the morning.”

As Sam walked with the girls out of the room and passed by the man, he was so shell shocked that he didn’t notice the eerie white glow coming from his silver eyes. Which watched him with great predatory interest as he was escorted back down the hall.

Chapter Text

Francisco had never felt freedom like this before. If it wasn’t for the fact that his friend was dying and he was racing to save her life, he might have relaxed and enjoyed his first real flight.

His brown eyes blinked to yellow as he honed his gaze to the horizon, scanning for Monarch’s ships. They had to be nearby. Godzilla and Rodan were both throwing a fit on his island, they would be rushing to the scene in moments. However, the sea was eerily quiet. How was he going to contact them if they didn’t come!

His gaze moved to directly below him, where the open ocean churned below. He was hundreds of feet in the air, flapping around with leathery wings and what felt like fresh lava flowing through his veins. Unexpectedly, he fell the full weight of what he’d become and what had happened to him.

“I really am a champion now.” he said out loud, in disbelief. It was strange and awesome and terrifying all at once. His life was changed forever now. He would never just be Francisco Javier Mendoza, the kid from down the street in the crowded city of Isla del Mara, ever again. Now he was Francisco, Champion of Rodan, the Fire Demon!

A sound caught his ear and he looked back to the horizon. Helicopters. And a large, dark ship right behind them. It had to be Monarch. He took off at incredible speed, reaching them within a minute. He shot past the jets and braked to land on the deck.

But he’d never landed on a large metal platform before, and definitely tripped and fell.

The boy grumbled and quickly got himself up to see the end of a handful of guns.

“Wait! Don’t shoot!! It’s me, Francisco!” He put up his arms and tried to calm himself down so his wings and skin would go away, but they wouldn’t. He gulped as a moment of silence passed, uncertain. Then, from a doorway behind the men, Dr. Ling burst through the door.

“Francisco! Stand down men!” She ordered, running to him. The men backed off, and only then did his monstrous features finally revert back. The boy gave a sigh of relief as she approached.

“You were able to make the pact?! And you flew all the way here? What’s going on? Where are the girls? Are they with you??” The doctor asked frantically. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were red.

“Madison is in trouble!” He blurted out, partly ignoring her questions, “She needs medical attention right away. It’s the reason why Godzilla is freaking out right now!” He pointed back to the island, where both him and Rodan were fighting like crazy. Clawing and biting and shrieking and trying to knock the other over.

Colonel Foster, who had come up being the doctor, heard him and pulled out her walkie. “All medical units on Osprey one through five, I need you at the ready as soon as you land. We have an ally in need of immediate medical attention, repeat, Madison Russell needs immediate medical attention when you land.”

____

Tuhirae was trapped. If she moved to try and dodge any attack, she risked Madison’s life. One slip and her injury could become fatal and kill her. With he hanging on her back, the native girl’s heart raced. Ms. Mary started walking towards them, with a group of men behind her. All had guns pointed directly at her.

“Nowhere left to go, now, children.” the woman called over the roar of the titans and the whirl of the helicopter blades. “May God have mercy on you all.”

She raised her hand to give the command, and Tuhirae felt the anguish in Kong’s heart rage within her own. He could not leave the island to save them.

At least the girls were safe. They had fled as soon as she’d told them to. They were able to fly away and for that she was grateful. She felt tears fill her eyes. There was so much more she wanted to do and see. She wanted to grow closer with her fellow champions. She wanted to explore the world outside of Skull Island, and learn new things. She wanted to save humanity and be a hero and spend more time with Kong.

The guns rose up, aimed at her. She stood up taller, holding Madison’s legs to support her. Perhaps she could use her body to shield her sister champion. Perhaps Madison would survive. She dared to hope.

Her bright green eyes met with Ms. Mary definitely. The woman sneered at her with perfect teeth and an icy gaze.

A moment later, something enormous dropped from the sky and engulfed them all in darkness. The ground trembled violently as it landed, and Tuhirae stumbled to her knees, clutching Madison and holding onto her with all her strength.

A long, thick, pointed object came down and smashed the helicopter. The blast knocked all the men and Ms. Mary to the ground. When she looked up again, the twins were landing in front of her.

“We called for Mothra!” they cried in unison, helping to lift Madison’s body off her back very delicately.

Sure enough, when Tuhirae finally looked up, the giant moth was standing over them, blocking the cult members from reaching them. She made a kind of hissing-clicking noise like a cicada, as if daring them to try anything while she was there.

The sound of another helicopter drew Tuhirae’s attention. She turned to see large flying machines that looked much more familiar to her, with the Monarch logo on the side. Their help had arrived and landed only about 100 yards away.

“I’m going to carry her across the ledge. Cover me!” She told the twins. They nodded and flew around her as she carried Madison in her arms now. The front of her body was held to her chest, with the spear protruding from her back out in front of them. Any men who didn’t get destroyed by Mothra had their shot deflected by the girls, who hung back behind Kong’s champion a bit.

The Osprey landed and immediately a group of medics jumped out and ran towards them with a stretcher. Tuhirae did not stop or think about anything else until Madison was safely on the stretcher, being hauled into the chopper and attended to.

All too quickly, the doors shut in front of her, and the girl was carried away. Tuhirae covered her face as the force of the wind from the blades turning caused dirt and ash to fly everywhere.

“Hey! Over here!”

She turned to see the twins flying over to another nearby Osprey helicopter, where a soldier was motioning and calling her. It felt like forever until she reached them, running but not with as much energy or speed as before. The strength was being zapped out of her. She shrunk back down to her normal form by the time she got to the doors, and had to be carried up into it by two more soldiers.

They laid her down as the doors shut, and her senses slowly shut down. Mothra’s shriek, Godzilla’s roar, Rodan’s cry, voices shouting, Atsuko and Chouko’s small yells at her to stay awake. It all grew soft and muffled, and then everything went black.

___

Sam hated that he’d fallen asleep, but it had only happened after he’d cried for almost an hour straight and exhausted himself. They had given him a nice, clean room with a soft bed, fresh clothes, and even his own bathroom to get washed up in. Like a mini hotel room.

It was nicer than his cell at Ms. Mary’s but it was still a prison, and he felt his crushing anxiety deep in his chest. It was happening all over again.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep, but when he woke up he knew it wasn’t morning yet. The lights were still dimmed down. He rolled away from the wall and looked to the doorway.

Primary fear engulfed him at the sight of two sets of glowing eyes watching him from a spot along the wall. He didn’t dare move or make any kind of noise, although he wanted to. Maybe it was just his imagination? Maybe he was having a nightmare?

After a moment, the eyes stepped forward, and he recognized the shapes of the figures they belonged to.

“Naeemah? Kara?” he called softly.

“We were hoping you were awake.” Naeemah smiled, shuffling to the side of his bed. Kara stayed back by what he now recognized was an air duct in the bottom wall. They must have snuck in through there.

Sam relaxed and breathed relief and sat up. “So what’s really going on?” he asked. “Why are you here?”

Their presence didn’t feel threatening, but Lord Michael might activate their head braces at any moment. He wondered how far his power went, and if he could hear and see through them like the titans could.

“We came to break you out.” Naeemah declared. She took hold of Sam’s arm and pulled him out of the bed.

“Break me out? I thought you were on Lord Michael’s side? Why would you help me?” He asked suspiciously.

“Lord Michael lied to us.” Kara spat, speaking for the first time. “We hate him. He just uses us like puppets for whatever he wants.”

She crawled into the duct, and Sam followed, with Naeemah closing the vent behind them all. He went to ask another question, but Kara hushed him. Even her quick SHHH echoed loudly around them. There would be no more talking until they were out.

About ten minutes later after they’d navigated through a maze of mental tunnels, Kara turned and came to an opening. She checked to make sure no one was outside the other end, and then opened the vent.

They crawled out from a high place on a wall onto some boxes. It looked like a storage room of sorts. The boxes and containers were all labels in a language or code that Sam had never seen before. They locked the door and had Sam sit down with them.

“Before you go, we have to tell you everything.” Kara said solemnly. “We don’t have much time, but we’re counting on you to get the word out.”

“You’re helping me break out so I can tell who, exactly?” Sam asked. The room was still lit with a dim light bulb, and he bumped into some objects as he tried to sit in the cramped space without breaking anything.

“The ones who are allied with the titans. Mozart or Mozaic?” Naeemah tried.

“Monarch? Yeah I know them.” Sam nodded.

“Good, then listen very, very carefully,” Kara said, taking his hand with gentle firmness. He did not pull away, but he still tensed up.

“Lord Michael is not a human. He’s an angel. A true, biblical angel.”

“Like the ones in churches?” Sam asked, imagining a human being with wings and a halo of light around them.

“No, not those ones. The ones from the Old Testament.” Naeemah corrected him, “The ones with misshapen bodies and forms, multiple eyes and limbs and mouths and all that.”

Sam shuttered. He didn’t remember reading about those kinds of angels in Sunday School.

Kara went on, “Except these things those people took for angels are actual aliens. Ancient creatures who want to harvest human souls to feed on and give them power.”

Sam really did not like that information.

“They’ve convinced a bunch of extreme religious groups that they’re messengers from God, sent to rid the world of the titans, AKA the demons of Satan or something like that.” Kara grumbled. “But the truth is that the titans are the ones who originally fought off and protected humanity from these angels ages ago.”

The wheels in Sam’s head started to turn. “So these aliens got mistaken for heavenly creatures. Okay, I can believe that. But then why are they here now? What brought them back to Earth if they know the titans are here and can beat them?” He asked.

“From what we’ve gathered while being here,” Naeemah answered, “it sounds like we’re the only planet left in our universe that they haven’t harvested from yet. We’re their last resort, basically.”

That sent goosebumps up Sam’s neck. There was life out there in the universe. Or at least there had been. It was all gone now because of these creatures? That was...so horrible…

“Lord Michael has been targeting young champions who haven’t sealed their pact yet, but we’re not sure why.” Kara continued. “Our theory is that it has something to do with their harvesting plans. What we do know is that he gave orders to have all the champions who have made their pact to be hunted and killed.”

“So he’s collecting kids who have been chosen but aren’t champions yet, and killing those that already are champions.” Sam concluded. They both nodded.

He thought of Madison, Atsuko, Chouko, and Francisco. He remembered laughing with them, fighting with them, their encouragement and friendship. He remembered how Francisco had stood up for him against Ms. Mary and been struck down for it. He didn’t want anything else bad to happen to him, or any of them. He didn’t want these new girls to be tortured and used either. That wasn’t fair.

Madison had come and broken him and Francisco out. But she had her pact made by then. So these orders to kill champions must be new, and were probably ordered because of them. Still…

“Okay, so how are we getting out?” Sam asked.

“We?” Naeemah asked, hopefulness accidentally slipping into her tone. Kara gave a light laugh.

“That’s a nice thought, but we’re already stuck here.” She tapped the device infused into her head.

“We had those on, too, at the other place I was stuck at.” Sam said, “We found a tool that could take them off!”

“Even if we found the tool, we can’t take it off because it’s surgically attached to our skulls now.” Kara pointed out. She didn’t sound irritated by his optimism, but more realistic.

“We would be a danger to you if we left. Lord Michael might take control of us and have us bring you back.” Naeemah hung her head, already looking guilty at the thought.

Sam balled his thick hands into fists. “No.”

The girls looked up at him, but he just stared at the floor with this intense look in his eyes. “I refuse to leave without you.” He stated with sudden seriousness.

Kara sighed, “We really appreciate it, but -”

His hands reached out and took hold of theirs. He gave a small squeeze and finally looked up at them. His eyes were glassy with tears, but his expression was one of intense determination.

“We champions have to stick together, okay? We’ll get out of here and we’ll find a way to get those things off you. I promise.”

In the dim light, his brown eyes slowly turned to a bright shade of red that overtook his entire retina. The girls looked at each other, unsure. A moment later, they looked back to him, and squeezed back on his hands. Naeemah’s eyes became yellow and cat-like, while Kara’s went from dark brown to a shimmering silver-blue.

It was agreed. They would escape that night... together.

Chapter Text

A light breeze carried the smell of the jungle up the hill to where Tuhirae laid. The sun beat down on her face and momentarily blinded her when she opened her eyes. Confused, she sat up to gather her bearings.

It was the graveyard from Skull Island, but the bones and land were covered in lush green life. Like a perfect meadow overseeing the valley.

“Do not worry, you are not back on the island.” a familiar, gentle voice rumbled. She turned to see the enormous form of Kong sitting farther behind her, looking out over the valley.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “Wait, that’s right. The volcano...the other titans…” It all started coming back to her. She got an almost instant headache.

“You sleep now. Dreaming.” he vaguely explained.

The girl felt overwhelmed by what she’d been through. She grimaced at the memories. The fighting, the guns, the loud screeching, the burning fire, her wounded friend...She clutched herself tightly.

“I...I was so excited to go out into the world.” She muttered, “But I guess I didn’t fully realize how dangerous the world was outside this island. How much I’d go through as a champion. And it’s only been a day!”

Kong gave a brief exhale from his nostrils, amused. “You are young. Learning is important.”

She was quiet for a moment, taking in the calm, peaceful scenery around her. The air was refreshing and warm, the grass was soft and cool to the touch. Colorful birds flew overhead. It was a paradise.

“I wish you could be with me, though.”

He finally turned his head in her direction. She was so, so incredibly tiny down below, only a few feet away. She was hugging her arms and hanging her head, and he could not bear to see her so sad.

With a careful hand, he reached out and scooped her up to sit in his palm. She clutched his thumb tightly, feeling a shiver go through her body as she fully grasped the traumatic events of the day.

Tuhirae would awake in a few hours back at the Monarch base, but for now she continued to sleep, while her pact allowed her to be with her titan. Kong, who was so powerful and so intense all the time, now cradling her close to his body in one hand to comfort her while he sat watch over his island kingdom.

_____

“This really isn’t good.” Atsuko said for the seventh time. She was sitting in one of the lounge areas at the Monarch base with her sister and Francisco as they awaited the results of Madison's surgery.

Her twin was laying on her back on the other end of the couch, staring at the ceiling. “How much longer is she going to be in there?” she whined.

Francisco was pacing the floor in front of them, as he had been for the past hour. He was deep in his own thoughts, so he barely heard them.

Godzilla was no calmer than he was when they left, but at least he wasn’t wrecking Isla del Mara anymore. Instead he was just circling the underwater facility where Madison was being treated like an anxious shark. It was creating a very tense atmosphere in all the adults.

“Can’t say I blame him for getting upset over the potential death of his champion.” Rodan’s unsolicited comment echoed in his brain among his thoughts. “You know we don’t just pick any random person for the job. And if she dies now then it might take a whole ‘nother of your lifetime to replace her. Which would be bad for both our species.”

Francisco stopped and sighed. “Ms. Mary is targeting us. Before, she was trying to convert us to ‘repent’ or whatever. But now she’s aiming to kill. I’m worried about what’ll happen the next time we face her.” He turned to look at the twin at that last part. The two little eight years olds looked up at him with their beautiful brown eyes for guidance. He felt a heavy weight on his heart, but he smiled at them.

“Don’t worry, we’re in this together. And you two have definitely proved yourselves in a fight already.” He sat down on the coffee table in front of them. “But until Madison gets better, we should stay here where it’s safe.”

“What about the other boy?” Chouko mentioned, leaning closer. He blinked.

“The one that was with you at the facility you were rescued from. Isn’t he a champion, too?” Atsuko added.

“Sam? Well, I mean, he…” He scratched his head, unsure of how to answer. Sam had made his choice not to be a champion and gone home. He was under Monarch protection. He should be pretty safe wherever he is now.

“They're right,” Rodan whispered in his ear. “Although he turned down MUTO’s offer, he is still considered a potential champion. There can only be one chosen every hundred years. Rejecting the position does not remove him from danger.”

“We’ll reach out and make sure he’s safe, then.” Francisco decided.

“Mothra can do it!” they both chimed, and folded their hands together to pray. He watched them and waited, glancing over at Tuhirae.

The girl was deep in sleep, looking worn out and exhausted. Although there were plenty of sofas and chairs, she had opted to lay herself on a comfortable rug on the floor. Her black hair was out of its bun and was tattered and frizzed. A soft green glow seemed to emit from her various tattoos all over her body. He wondered what that was. Some kind of healing or regeneration power maybe?

“Oh no!” Atsuko cried. He turned back to them.

“Your friend has been captured by bad guys!” Chouko said, and they both jumped up.

Francisco’s eyes widened. “What? But Monarch said they would protect him! They were going to send people to guard him and his family!”

The girls shook their heads. “Something must have happened. Mothra just reached out to MUTO, and she said that he’s being held somewhere by the bad guys you had gotten away from the other day.”

Against his will, the boy’s veins began to glow bright under his skin, his blood literally boiling in rage. That wretched woman, Ms. Mary, had captured him again?! No. No, he couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t let Sam be tortured again, or whatever else they planned to do with him! His eyes glowed orange-yellow and his hair began to smoke.

“We have to save him. Quemaré a esa perra directo al infierno!” he shouted, talons bursting from his fingertips.

“But we don’t know where they’re keeping him yet!” Chouko quickly said, trying to calm him down.

“He could be anywhere in the world!” said Atsuko.

Damn. They were right. If Sam didn’t know where he was, then MUTO wouldn’t either. The kid didn’t want to be a champion so he never sealed the pact. He’d just wanted to live his life in peace with his family and be normal. Those evil bastards had taken advantage of that and jumped on him as soon as he was out of Monarch’s sight. How dare they?! He was just a kid!

Francisco could barely contain the fire blazing inside him from his anger. He couldn’t just sit around and wait for Sam to try and escape, he had to go out and do something NOW.

“There are a couple of places I could at least go to start searching.” He declared, turning to the door. “Religious hot spots, like Vatican City, Jerusalem, Mecca, Lourdes, Bethlehem. I’ll scout out those places while you guys stay here and help Maddie. Once she’s recovered, we’ll regroup, get Sam, and destroy these horrible people once and for all.”

He left before they could try and stop him, leaving sizzling footprints as he went. It was a miracle that the fire alarm didn’t go off from all the smoke he’d created.

The twins looked to each other doubtfully. Francisco, Sam, and Maddie had been rescued nowhere near a religious hotspot. On one hand it did make sense, since their enemies seemed to harbor religious themes, but there just wasn’t enough evidence to make it a reasonable argument.

“The quicker we help heal Maddie, the sooner we can catch up with him.” Atsuko pointed out. Her sister nodded in agreement.

“But how will we get past the doctors and nurses?” asked Chouko.

“By being super stealthy and quick, like Mothra!” her sister smiled.

----

Water.

She could feel the heaviness of water all around her. She was underwater? Had she fallen off one of the cliffs on Isla del Mara? Maddie could remember running to the top of the volcano with the others, but nothing after that. Everything was dark.

And she couldn’t move. Something was restraining her entire body.

Light was starting to emerge from above. Like the surface of the water was hundreds of meters above her. She remembered she could breath underwater now and exhaled a long breath, but no bubbles came out of her mouth. Her lungs were already filled with water.

“Madison?”

It was him. His voice was low and far away. She couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from.

“Godzilla? I’m...I’m over here.” she muttered softly. The light got a bit brighter, a bit closer.

“Madison, I hear you!” Was that...concern? It was strange sounding in his tone, but it made her smile. He was all she had left, and she didn’t want to lose him.

“Here. Godzilla, I’m okay.”

She willed herself to move towards the sky blue light. She now recognized it as the same color from his scales when he was charging for a blast. But the moment she moved, a terrible pain shot through her body like a bolt of lightning. She cried out.

“Madison!” The light brightened, but was moving farther away.

“It hurts!” she cried. It was so agonizing that she instantly began to cry. “Oh God, it hurts so much!”

“Stay with me Madison!”

She grit her teeth and refocused on the light. It slowly descended closer.

“I’m afraid.” She said meekly. She hated sounding so weak, but this pain truly was unbearable. She didn’t even want to try and move again.

“You were struck down, but you are alive.” He comforted her. “The pain is strong, I can feel it, too. But you are stronger! You will survive. Reach out for me and I will help you heal.”

“I can’t! If I move at all it gets worse.” She explained. She went to try and twitch her fingers, and her whole arm exploded with pain.

“Do not succumb to it!” He growled. The light dimmed. Maddie’s heart pounded. What would be worse? The agonizing pain, or being completely alone in this void?

“You are my champion! The champion of the king of all monsters! You must endure that pain to achieve your goal, as I always have. You have that strength in you, I know you do. Show it to me!”

The light seemed so far away, so high above her. And yet, closer than it had been before. He was trying to get to her so he could help. She had to do her part, too.

Centimeter by centimeter, inch by inch, she began to move her body. It was like pushing up against a wall of needles and a crushing force on her chest. Her entire body screamed for her to stop, to end this horrible torture. However, she knew that it was temporary. No matter how bad it was, no matter how unbearable it became, she kept pushing herself to keep moving.

“You’re almost within reach. Keep going!” Godzilla called.

She could feel the warmth of the light on her face now. Her arms were above her head, slowly stretching up towards him. She grit her teeth and screamed as loud as she could and shoved herself forward. The light enveloped her.

Her eyes flashed open. Bright white light blinded her vision.

“Ms. Russell?!” A woman’s voice called. A shadow of a person fell over her. Then a few more.

She blinked to adjust her eyes. Doctors surrounded her. She was in an operating room. Blood covered surgery tools were on the medical tables around her. Everyone looked completely shocked that she was awake.

Her last memory popped up into her mind.

“Francisco. Rodan! What happened? Are the others okay?” She asked, but when she went to sit up a little, pain struck her again and she collapsed back on the table.

“The other kids you were with are waiting outside the operating room, they’re fine.” The head surgeon replied, stroking her hair. “You were the only one with major injuries.”

The woman ordered her to be taken to the recovery room, since the surgery was over. Apparently a spear had been lodged into her back and severed her spine. It was a miracle she was even coherent enough to speak and try to move.

“A normal human would never have survived an attack like that.” Godzilla told her as she was settled into the recovery room. “But with time you will heal back to perfect health, as if it had never happened.”

Maddison sighed. Already the pain was dulling. Not by much, but she definitely noticed a difference. They brought her some food and an extra blanket. The more the pain subsided, the drowsier she became.

“The healing process will go quicker if you rest.” Godzilla assured her. She nodded, closing her eyes. She was so exhausted, and she hadn’t even done anything…

“Madison!” Two little voices whispered.

The girl turned her head slightly to see the twins peeking over the side of her bed. There were no others around. She wanted to reach out a hand to them, but she didn’t even have the strength to do that much.

“Hey girls,” she smiled sleepily. “I’m gonna be okay. Don’t worry.”

Atsuko ducked down and crawled under the gurney to the other side of her bed.

“We came to help.” Chouko whispered, double checking that none of the adults were around.

“I could use all the help I can get, thank you.” Maddie sighed, resting back against her pillow.

The girls nodded to each other from across the bed and stood, folding their hands together in prayer. Beautiful moth wings fanned out from their backs and they began to sing the same melody they had earlier to help heal her.

“Mothra, Oh Mothra,
If we were to call for help,
Over time, over sea, like a wave,
You’d come,
Our Guardian Angel!

Mothra, Oh Mothra,
Of forgotten kindness and ruined spirits,
We pray for Madison’s spirit as we sing,
This song of love!”

They opened their hands in unison, and held them forwards in front of them; towards their dear friend. The magical glow from before came back around them, and then enveloped Madison as she fell back into slumber.

____

Tuhirae jolted awake on the couch and sat up. The waiting room was completely empty. She was no longer on her beautiful island with her patron, Kong. She was back in this cold, metal, underwater city, and now she was all by herself.

“Francisco?” She called nervously. “Chouko? Atsuko? Anyone?”

“They are nearby.” Kong assured her. “Godzilla’s champion lives.”

Tuhirae breathed a sigh of relief. Shortly afterwards, she noticed the singed footprints leading out the opposite doors. She stood up in curiosity.

“What about Rodan’s champion?” she asked aloud.

“Took off. Another champion is in danger.”

“And he went by himself?” she cried. She went and followed his footprints out the door and through the maze of hallways and corridors. She passed by all kinds of strange people in all kinds of strange outfits. They spoke in languages she couldn’t understand, and gave her odd looks as she passed by. It was all quite frightening. However, she pushed to keep her focus on Francisco’s trail and headed onward.

His tracks led her to a wide open area where he was arguing with some adults dressed in thick gear and suits. She could only understand his half of the conversation, since he was a fellow champion, but it sounded like they were trying to stop him from leaving.

“It’s your fault this happened to begin with! You lied to us and now my friend is in serious danger again!” he hollered. Flames were seering atop his curly head, and his veins were like a small river of light under his skin.

“That’s not good.” She muttered to herself as she approached.

She was finally able to get his attention and pull him away from the armored men to talk. When he explained the situation and what he was going to do about it, she pondered it for a moment.

“Perhaps there is another way,” she said, fiddling with her necklace.

“If there is, I’d love to hear it.” the boy crossed his arms. “I know how crazy my own plan sounds, but I figured it was better than nothing. What’d you got?”

“I believe we are connected to not just our titans, but an element of the planet as well.” She pointed out. “When I made my pact with Kong, a wasteland of death and decay sprouted new nature and life. When you made your pact, an entire volcano erupted and you gained fire powers. The twins can fly with wings in the wind, and since Godzilla’s main domain is the ocean, I presume Maddie has water powers of some kind, too.”

Something clicked in Francisco’s brain.

“Oh yeah, I remember Maddie mentioning something about elements to me right before we got to the island! She said that most titans are connected to the earth, sea, and sky.”

“So why don’t we figure out a way to use that connection?” Tuhirae suggested.

“I’m not really an expert, but if we really can do it, I think we might want to be where an earth connection like yours would be strongest. Like, somewhere that’s not in here.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, motioning to the giant Monarch base made of thick metal that surrounded them. Not to mention underwater in the middle of the ocean.

“But it sounded like those guard types wouldn’t let you leave.” Tuhirae pointed out. The boy rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, apparently they’re under strict orders not to let us leave the base no matter what. If we do this, we’ll have to sneak out. But how?”

Neither of them knew how to fly a plane, or coordinate machines to lift them up on top deck. There were guards everywhere, too. And cameras!

“We could just barge our way through to the top.” Francisco offered.

“Then they’d really lock us down if we got caught. We can’t risk that.” She shot down. He groaned and scratched his talons through the embers still burning beneath his hair.

“We don’t have time for this! Sam needs us!”

They continued to stand around the hangar and think, trying desperately to come up with a plan while under the watchful eye of nearby employees. A couple more people that Tuhirae didn’t recognize came strolling by. She couldn’t understand a word they said, but Francisco’s ears perked up at their conversation;

“Do you think he’s gonna keep circling the base until that girl wakes up?”

“Probably. But what do you think is gonna happen if she kicks the bucket while she’s down here? I mean, you saw how Godzilla went off when she first got injured back there. We could be next!”

“Oh shit, I hope not! That girl better pull through, at least until we’re done with our drop off.”

As the crew walked away, Francisco got a gleam in his eyes. A big, devilish smile spread across his face.

“That’s it!”

“What’s it?” Tuhirae asked.

The boy rubbed his palms together in excitement. “A distraction to cover our escape. A really, really BIG distraction…”

Chapter Text

Sam was sure that there had to be a way to shut off the devices stuck to Naeemah and Kara’s heads, even if he couldn’t take them off right away. So that was the first priority. If Lord Michael found them during their escape, they would lose instantly once he took control of them. At least with the headbands turned off they stood a fighting chance.

Kara once again took the lead, as she had been there the longest and knew the layout of the base pretty well. Just like with the first place, there was an odd lack of security camera. Did these aliens have some other form of technology to watch them with that they couldn’t see?

The boy didn’t have much time to think on it. They had to stay focused and be quick.

“If there’s any place that would tell us how to turn off the devices, it’s in the main lab two floors down.” Kara whispered. She peeked around a corner before giving them the clear to go. The pale, blank walls and corridors were reminding Sam of the other facility and made his heart rate speed up. The soon they could get out of here, the better. Then he could go and tell Monarch and let his parents know he was--

Sam stopped completely, and Naeemah ran right into him.

“My parents!” Sam whispered. “I can’t believe I almost forgot about them! They’re still being held here somewhere in a coma. I can’t leave them.”

“You can’t just wake someone up from a coma, Sam.” Kara pointed out. “How would we get them out if they can’t walk?”

“At the last place they held us, Maddie was able to call Godzilla and he brought all the other monsters to us.” Sam explained, trying to figure out a solution.

Naeemah shook her head, “That won’t work with any of us. None of us formed a pact. We can talk to our titans and have limited powers. Unless we know where we are, they can’t come here.”

Sam’s heart sank. He began to panic and his courage faltered.

“But if we do escape, Lord Michael could use his parents against us.” Kara added. She put a hand on his shoulder. “So we’ll split up.”

“What?” Naeemah cried.

Kara turned to her friend and her expression softened. “You will take Sam to the lab. Free yourself and get out. I’ll find Sam’s parents and make sure Lord Michael can’t hurt them.”

“I won’t leave without you!” Naeemah cried, grabbing hold of Kara’s hands. The girls exchanged a look between each other that displayed to Sam just how much they cared for each other. He had no idea how long they had been trapped here, and it was clear that they were all they had during their stay. It had created a deep bond between them.

“There’s no way to rescue his parents AND escape.” Kara reasoned, “As soon as I enter the codes, Lord Michael will be coming straight for the infirmary. While he’s distracted with that, you could slip out under the radar.”

“Then I’ll go to the infirmary.” Naeemah said firmly. “You’ve been here for far too long, you deserve to go and be free.”

The sound of a door opening nearby made them all jump. Instinctively, Sam began lightly pushing the girls in the opposite direction to avoid detection. As soon as they were around the corner and the footsteps faded, he turned to them.

“I don’t want to be rude but we don’t have time to argue about this.” He told them, “Here’s the new plan. We shut off your headbands, we figure out where the heck we are, and then we go to the infirmary to protect my parents until the kaiju arrive to rescue us. How does that sound?”

The girls looked at each other. That made sense. If Lord Miachel couldn’t control them with the headbands, it would be a lot easier to attempt a rescue mission, AND reach out to their titans for help. It was agreed.

“Good, now let’s get to this lab.”

To further avoid detection, Kara led them to the stairwell. The elevator was too risky, since there were more scientists and guards going up and down it routinely. The floor levels were huge, so the stairs were huge, too. Sam was just thankful they were going down and not up.

Once more making sure it was clear to go, Kara led them along the back hallway behind the main lab. It was pretty dimly lit, since most of the people had gone to sleep and barely anyone was working. Save for the night owls completely focused on their work.

Sam could see them through the big windows in each lab room, along with those strange machines he’d seen at the other place. Big tubes and barrels containing strange colored substances. He still had no idea what they were used for, but he was afraid to find out.

“Wh-What are they doing?” he whispered, deciding to ask anyway.

“We told you they were harvesting souls, right?” Naeemah said over his shoulder. “Those machines are being built to extract souls from humans, and then process the leftovers.”

“Leftovers? You mean our bodies?” He felt a chill go down his back. “What would they need to process them for?”

“Fuel for their spaceships.” Kara said through gritted teeth. “We’re the last planet in the galaxy they haven’t harvested, so they need lots of fuel to get them to the next galaxy they want to invade. Apparently, they’ve done it with every species they’ve taken from.”

“But because each species has a different, unique biology, they have to completely rebuild their ships each time.” Naeemah added. “It sounds excessive, but I guess it’s part of their culture or tradition? So way of ‘honoring’ us or some crap.”

Sam felt ready to puke. He put a hand to his mouth and shuttered. He’d seen a lot of horror movies where aliens invaded to eat brains or take over the planet, but it was always done in such a forward way. Cities being attacked by saucers, green men with lazer guns and fishbowls on their heads. This was all happening underground, out of sight. And for who knows how long?

His gaze went back to the scientists attending some of the operations.

“Why are there humans helping these aliens?” Sam wondered.

“I have yet to meet a real human at this station besides you two.” Kara whispered. “They’re all angels in disguise. But not as powerful as Lord Michael.”

She finally nudged them further down the hall away from the operations rooms. They came to a giant solid metal door that looked fit to seal off a nuclear leak. Kara put her code into the keypad and the door slowly pulled open.

“Oh, hello girls.”

The three of them froze in horror. A couple feet away inside the room was a big control panel with many computer screens encircled around it. Everything on them was written in an alien language that none of them could understand, but it didn’t matter. Their eyes weren’t on the screens. They were on the figure of Lord Michael sitting in front of the control panel, looking over his shoulder at them.

His silver eyes seemed to reflect off the light of the monitors as he stood up. Sam glanced at the girls, but the lights on their headbands were still red. He hadn’t turned on the mind control yet.

“I was doing some late night work and you came to pay me a visit, how sweet.” His voice was so cool and calm as he meandered towards them. “Did you come to tell me that you’ve managed to convince Sam to join us? How wonderful.”

“Sam,” Kara said, mouth agap. “I-I didn’t know he was down here. I swear!” He saw the genuine panic and guilt in her eyes. It only lasted a few seconds before her entire expression went blank.

They both gripped his arms with brute force, causing him to cry out. The mind control was on now. Their plan had failed, horribly. Sam’s anxiety skyrocketed.

“I’m glad you came around, Samuel.” Lord Michael said, as the girls walked him passed the computer and towards another end of the room. The man flipped a switch and lights came on above. There were several seats with restraints on them, hooked up to machines and wires.

“K-Kara, Naeemah, w-wait!” He struggled, but they looked right through him. His heart pounded, as if it was trying to burst out of his chest. He began to hyperventilate as they shoved him into the chair and clicked the metal restraints on his wrists.

“You will be part of the saving of an entire species. A higher purpose granted to your once meaningless life.” Michael went on.

The angel stepped over to a table and opened a metal cabinet to reveal more headbands. Sam could feel his pulse in his neck, and he fought with all his strength to break free.

Under the metal on his wrist, the blood in his veins began to glow a faint red. Michael approached with the headband and a devilish smile. Sam shut his eyes, not wanting to believe this was happening. He pulled and yanked and struggled so hard that it would later leave bruises on his skin.

More red veins began to spider across his face from the corners of his eyes. His heart seemed to be going faster and faster with every passing second. It felt like something was putting enormous pressure on his chest.

Michael’s footsteps go closer. Sam leaned forward and tensed his entire body. Eyes still squeezed shut.

He remembered Francisco and Maddison. He saw their smiling faces in his mind. He wanted to see them again, and introduce them to Kara and Naeemah. He wanted to be together with all of them. All the champions. He wanted to see MUTO in person, after all they’d been through together. It couldn’t end like this! He didn’t want to be a puppet to these awful, evil creatures and help them destroy the world!

“Welcome to the Kingdom, Samuel.” Michael said as he lowered the crown towards his head.

His pulse reached its breaking point. Sam threw back his head and screamed, releasing all the tension in his body. From inside him, some invisible force exploded and rippled outwards. The computers flickered and went dark. The lights blacked out. Some of the machines short circuited and sparks flew out everywhere. Lord Michael, Kara, and Naeemah were thrown back from the force of the blast.

Darkness. Silence.

Sam was heaving and gasping for air. Only now in the darkness could he see that the veins in his body were glowing. Was this...his power? He couldn’t think. Everything was spinning.

“Naeemah? Sam?” Kara’s voice called in the dark.

The cuffs on Sam’s wrists broke open. It felt like someone had just punched him in the chest and knocked the wind out of him. The room was completely dark, but he could feel the girls reach out from either side of him, using the glow from his veins to find him.

“I’m here. What happened?” Naeemah asked. “Sam? Are you okay?”

Light filled the room. The teens looked up towards it and huddled together in shock.

It was Lord Michael. He was glowing with intense bright light, and his human disguise was morphing and disfigured. His body contorted and massive eyeballs sprouted out of his skin. Several wings stretched out from random angles. It was both the most amazing and terrifying sight to Sam.

“So you wish to do this the hard way, Samuel.” The archangel said in a new voice that seemed to echo from all around them. “Very well.”

From his hand, a sword appeared. He spread the wings wide on his back and drew the blade up to strike. Sam jump out of the way moments before it came down and sliced clean through the thick metal chair he had been sitting on.

Kara took the opportunity and body slammed herself into Lord Michael’s side, tripping him over Sam’s back and tumbling to the floor. Naeemah’s eyes flashed yellow and thinned to slits, like cat eyes, and she pounced on him while he was down. Massive claws suddenly appearing on her fingertips as she clawed and scratched at the figure, sending feather’s and cloth flying.

Michael yelled out as she caught some of the extra eyes in her claws. Meanwhile, Kara grabbed the nearest blunt object, a desk chair, and reared it over her head. Naeemah ducked out of the way as the girl brought it down on his head, creating a sickening cracking sound.

While they continued to brawl with him, Sam scrambled up and over to the cabinet where he’d seen Lord Michael stash the headbands. Although the light were still out, the angel was producing enough of his own glowing light for him to see. He theorized that if that was where they kept the headbands, that would also be where they kept the tool to take them off.

Bingo! There it was, hanging on the side of the cabinet door. He snatched it and called for the girls to get out of there. Lord Michael was still on the floor, even more disfigured now from their attacks, hopefully injured enough to give them time to escape.

The three of them burst out of the room and into the hallway, heading to the stairs. The lights began to blink back on as the backup generators kicked in, revealing more angels waiting for them ahead. Glowing and floating with wings on their backs and multiple eyes on their faces and limbs.

“What do we do now?” Sam cried.

“I got these guys.” Kara said, sticking her hand out against the wall as they ran.

Her eyes glowed blue, and there was a loud, metallic sound from inside the wall. Moments later, a pipe came bursting out in front of the angels, power washing them back with water. Some of them were hit so hard they went crashing through the glass windows into the operations room.

They ducked under the raging water and continued to run towards the elevator.

Lord Michael came limping to the doorway, and watched with burning rage as the teens entered the elevator and shut it behind them.

“Lock down this facility, NOW!”

---

“Okay, now hold still.” Sam said, carefully placing the tool on Naeemah’s headband. They had decided to take them off now in the safety of the elevator, and she had volunteered to go first.

However, as Sam twisted and turned the device, nothing happened. He tried again and again, but the headband still stuck.

“Why isn’t it working?!” He cried in exasperation. “They came off right away when Francisco and I tried it.”

Kara leaned back against the wall and slouched to the floor. “Of fucking course…” she grumbled.

“Try it on Kara, maybe mine is just harder to get?” Naeemah offered.

Sam knelt down and did the same for the other champion, but the result was the same. The headbands would not come off. In frustration, Sam threw the tool against the opposite side of the elevator and sat back.

“It’s no use.” Kara shook her head. “These headbands are different. They’re already hooked up to our nerve system, remember?” She pointed to the wires and tubing coming from the back that went into their heads and neck.

“So, what?” Naeemah said meekly, “We’re beyond help?”

“No, I said I wasn’t leaving without you guys!” Sam reaffirmed. “We just have to figure out another way to get them off.”

“Forget it!” Kara said, gritting her teeth. “The best thing you can actually do for us now is to get out of her and get outside help.”

“But-”

“Listen to me!” She was in his face now. Her voice was aggressive but her face betrayed that anger. She was on the verge of breaking down but was doing everything to hold it back.

“You are our only hope right now. We did even have that before you got here. You said you were gonna help us escape? Well this is how you can. We’re going to sneak you out, like we had originally planned, and you’re going to go get the army or government or whatever other group you can to put an end to this invasion before it begins. Got it?”

Sam didn’t know how to respond. He just sat there with confusion and heartbreak. Kara turned away from him, and he looked to Naeemah. The girl gave him a pleading glance before kneeling to hug her companion.

What were they gonna do?

“Sam! I heard you!”

He blinked, startled. It had been a while since he’d heard MUTO’s voice, but once he realized it was her, he gave a breath of relief.

“Muto! Am I glad to hear you, too. But wait, I...didn’t say anything?”

“Your call for help. I heard you! Everyone heard you! They’re on their way, now, just hold tight.” She replied with great joy. He knit his brow, even more confused.

“I still don’t understand.” he told her.

“You figured out how to use your electromagnetic powers from me, didn’t you? It created a call from across the world.”

HIs eyes widened, and he looked at his wrists. The red glow was gone, but...Of course! He remembered now! One of MUTO’s powers was electromagnetic pulsation! It was able to knock out anything electrical, or communicate from across the globe. He had used it back then in the lab when Lord Michael was trying to put on the headband…

An idea struck him.

“Can I use it to destroy anything electrical? Or at least get it to stop working permanently?” he asked her.

“Absolutely. But be careful! You still haven’t made a pact with me, yet, so you might not have full control.” She warned.

Sam nodded to himself and clenched his fists, concentrating. He imagined himself helping Kara and Naeemah, riding them of their chains from this horrible place. He thought of them all escaping together, meeting their champions, going home. He imagined rescuing his parents and being able to hug them and take them away from here. If he had the power to do these things, then he was going to do it!

The glow filled his veins, spidering up his arms from his wrists and down his face from the corners of his eyes. The girls took notice and sat up to watch him. The glow extended even further as he concentrated, streaking through his hair and down his back. He looked up to them with bright red eyes and took a calming breath.

“Hold still,” he told them.

Carefully, he reached out and grasped their headbands. The zig zagging glowing lines started to move up from his body and up into his hands. He felt that same pressure in his chest start to build up. The girls glanced at each other, a little concerned, but didn’t protest.

The elevator came to a stop.

Sam took a deep inhale to steady himself. His pulse increased rapidly. The glow flashing up his arms into his hands.

The doors opened.

He closed his eyes. The pulse quickened.

“There they are!” a voice cried from outside the elevator. Footsteps approached. Angry voices.

“Sam..” Kara whispered urgently.

He exhaled, releasing the build up.

Both girls were jerked as the electromagnetic wave came out. The sound of people falling back on the floor. Lights flickered. Glass cracked somewhere nearby. Sam opened his eyes and let go. Had it worked?

Kara and Naeemah slumped a little, but were conscious. The lights on their headbands were out. No red or green. They blinked and looked at each other.

“I...I think it worked!” He said.

An alarm went off, loud and everywhere, causing them to cover their ears.

EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN! EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

“Okay, time to go!” Kara cried, grabbing their hands and getting up. “We can figure out if it worked or not later!”

Chapter Text

Tuhirae followed Francisco down through the base to the infirmary where they were keeping Madison. If they were going to talk to Godzilla and get him to go along with their plan, they needed her to send the message. Plus, they wanted to make sure she was okay. If she wasn’t conscious, they’d have to find another way to contact Godzilla.

They had almost made it to her room when Dr. Chen appeared around the corner.

“There you are!” she cried, stopping them in their tracks. “I told you all to stay in the waiting room until I got back. And where are the girls?”

Francisco shot his companion a confused glance. Last he’d known, he’d left the twins with Tuhirae while she was sleeping. But she could only return the expression, as they had been gone when she woke up.

“They...disappeared! So we went looking for them.” The boy lied.

“Oh no, they probably went to find Madison.” the woman sighed. “You two go back to the waiting room, I’ll bring them back.”

“What? That’s not fair! We want to see Maddie, too.” Francisco cried, following her as she walked off. Tuhirae trailed behind.

Dr. Chen was going to protest but the radio on her side crackled. A voice called for her to answer. It was Stanton.

“Go ahead, Rick,” she replied into the device. The three of them continued to hussle down the hall of the infirmary, passing a few medics and guards.

“We got a MUTO signal coming from Damascus, Syria.”

Dr. Chen knit her brow. “Syria? But the last MUTO is documented to be in Argentina right now?”

“And get this; it was a male signal.” Rick added.

Francisco perked up a bit. MUTO was Sam’s champion. Could that call be him somehow?

“I’ll be up in a minute, I have to take care of the kids and make sure they’re all safe.” Dr. Chen answered. She turned off the radio before the man had time to reply. It sounded like he was going to make some kind of snide comment anyway.

“Rodan, why didn’t you tell me there was a MUTO signal?! That could be Sam!” Francisco scolded internally.

“I’m nowhere near that area of the world. It’s not my business.” He heard the titan shrug. “But what they say is true. There was a distress call coming from that area that matches a male MUTO call. Pretty sure whatever titan is closest will be going to scout it out anyway.”

“And which titan would that be?” The boy asked.

“Probably Sekhmet.”

Dr. Chen entered a room labeled with Maddison’s name and the others followed her in. There on the bed, the girl lay perfectly still, sleeping. On both sides of her, Atsuko and Chouko had their wings out and were chanting a prayer. Some kind of magical energy was drifting from their outstretched hands and into Maddison’s body.

Neither of them took notice of the newcomers, as they were too focused on their healing. Dr. Chen opened her mouth and stepped forward, but hesitated. She didn’t want to break the enchantment and risk hurting Maddison.

Francisco was relieved to see that she was okay, and better yet that the girls had snuck in to use their healing powers on her, just like Mothra for Godzilla. It made sense.

He quietly stepped over to the end of the bed, deciding what to do. It was clear now that Maddison would be out for a while to recover. They’d have to find another way to call for Godzilla’s help. He had an idea, but knew that Rodan wasn’t gonna like it.

Before he could ask, however, Tuhirae stepped up beside the bed by Maddison’s head.

“Let’s help them.” She said to him.

“I...don’t think healing comes as part of Rodan’s Champion package.” he replied awkwardly. He looked down at his hands. They looked pretty normal right now, but he could still remember the death and destruction he caused with them. How could fire powers help?

“No, but you could give her some of your strength.” She answered, as if that was supposed to be obvious. “She’s so weak right now, and the girls are working on her wounds, all her energy is being drained into that. She needs a boost, don’t you think?”

She was right. He recalled how sore and weak he had been after the first attack from Rodan. Even after his initial wounds had healed, it took him a few extra days just to get back on his feet and feel normal again.

He nodded in agreement. He would try.

“What are you going to do?” Dr. Chen asked. Francisco had forgotten for a moment that Tuhirae was speaking her native language and he could only understand her because he was also a champion.

“We’re going to give Maddie the boost she needs.” he told her, holding out his hands over her legs. Tuhirae gently placed both hands on the girl’s forehead. Green mist started to flow around her palms and into Maddison’s body. The girl stirred in her sleep.

Francisco took a deep breath and exhaled. He wasn't sure about this. He didn’t want to accidentally burn his friend when she was already struggling with other injuries. But she had saved his life once, so he owed it to her to try.

“Think of it like you’re trying to warm her up on a cold day.” Rodan advised. “You’re one of those space heaters you humans build, trying to thaw her out.”

That...actually helped. That’s exactly what Francisco imagined as he began to feel the power run up his arms and into his hands. His veins glowed slightly around his wrists and palms, going from red, to orange, and finally bright yellow as it flowed out towards Maddison’s body.

‘Please be okay,’ he thought as he looked down at her. ‘Sam needs our help, and we can’t do it without you.’

Energy flowed and enveloped Maddison from all four of them; Tuhirae, Atsuko, Chouko, and Francisco. Dr. Chen watched in absolute awe as they worked, concentrating on their beloved friend, their fellow champion, to help her recover from her devastating wound.

Outside the base, Godzilla stopped. Everyone inside held their breath, unsure what his next move was going to be. Had something happened to the girl they brought here? Was he going to attack? No one knew for sure, and it made the air tense.

“What’s going on down there?” Rick’s voice tentatively asked over the radio. But Dr. Chen was too enraptured by the sight to move or say anything.

The colors were so bright and colorful, filling the whole room with a warm, magical feeling. Tiny plants were starting to sprout from Tuhirae’s tattoos, Francisco’s arms were darkening and cracking like lava rocks. The twins’ wings shimmered with every little move they made, like painted glass.

And in the center of it, Madison Russell laid. Her breathing was steady, and her heart rate stable.

“Your friend is in danger." Godzilla’s voice echoed in her mind’s darkness. "MUTO’s champion needs you. Get up!"

A bright, electric blue color seeped out around her and mixed with the others. It streaked through her hair, and covered her eyes as they flashed open. She gave an intense gasp and arched her back, the last bits of skin and muscle healing over. It was as if the harpoon in her back had never happened.

The others stopped and stepped back as she sat up.

“Madi!” The girls cheered, jumping up onto the bed with her. She calmed her powers down and gave them both a hug, albeit still a little groggy and confused.

“What happened? Francisco?” She turned to him, her last memory being of them running up the volcano.

He held back his tears and smiled at her. “I did it, Madison. I’m Rodan’s champion now.”

She relaxed and reached to hug him. It was unexpected, but he reciprocated.

“But now Sam needs our help again.” he told her after pulling away.

“He was captured by the bad guys who took you before.” Atsuko explained.

“Can you ask Godzilla to distract the people at the base here so we can escape to find him?” Tuhirae pleaded.

Madison blinked, taking in the new information. While she did, Dr. Chen stepped over.

“Incredible…” She mused, looking the girl over. “I’ve never seen anything like that. How are you feeling?”

She looked from the doctor, to her friends, and then back to the doctor. “Like I could take a good, long swim in the ocean, actually.” She smiled.

The woman seemed slightly confused by her specific desire, but she had no time to comprehend it. There was a tremor that shook the entire room and nearly knocked them all to the floor. The lights went red. Alarms blared around them.

Godzilla was attacking.

“Go! Go! Go!” Madison cried, leaping out of the bed. She led the others out of the room, rushing down the hallway. Dr. Chen called out after them, running to catch up, but a mass of people were now out in the halls, running to emergency exits and safe rooms. She stumbled through the chaotic crowds, but soon lost them in the panic.

“What do we know?” Madison asked her companions.

“It sounds like Sam may have used his powers to signal us.” Francisco yelled over the alarms. “He’s in Damascus, Syria.”

“That’s on the other side of the ocean from us.” Madi growled. “We’ll never be able to get there in time on our own.”

“Well then it’s a good thing we’re friends with a bunch of titans, right?” Tuhirae grinned.

They reached the deck area where the ships came down to, but the exit above was sealed off. And it looked like the elevators were shut down, since all the guards and everyone else were using the stairs.

“That’s a pretty long way up.” Tuhirae muttered to herself. The hangar was indeed hundreds of feet down into the ocean, and to reach the top docking area would take forever via stairs.

“We can carry you if we do it together!” The twins piped in unison, fluttering their adorable little wings.

“Do you think you can carry me?” Madi asked Francisco. He rolled back his shoulders and willed his wings to appear under his arms. His skin got a reddish tint to it, and similar scales to Rodan’s grew out.

“I can try.”

None of the people scrambling around them took notice as they began to ascend the hangar. Atsuko and Chouko had hooked themselves to Tuhirae’s arms, while Madison had climbed on Francisco’s back. The alarms were still going off, and the loud sound of metal being hit and scratched could be heard from Godzilla outside. She had told him to lash out, but not actually destroy anything if possible.

“Oh no, the opening!” Chouko cried.

They all looked up and realized that the massive doors of the entrance were sealed shut. And since Godzilla was attacking, they were probably locked, too. There was no way out.

They paused in mid-air, trying to think.

“Francisco, can you launch me at them?” Madison asked.

“Qué?!”

“Throw me at the doors, I’m going to blast them to make an opening.” She explained.

“Are you sure that’ll work?” Tuhirae asked nervously.

“Trust me.”

The boy took a large inhale and exhaled. He didn’t like the idea, but Godzilla could only distract the adults for so long. They were running out of time and had limited options.

“Grab onto my ankles.”

Madison slid down his back and grabbed his ankles before she fell completely. The force jerked him a bit, but he steadied himself. Beating his wings, he began to swing his body back and forth, swinging her.

“Make it count!” He yelled as the momentum neared its peak. He swung harder, faster, aiming towards the ceiling above.

“Uno...dos...TRES!!”

He swung so hard that he actually backflipped. Madison released her grip as soon as he gave the signal and rocketed towards the hangar doors above due to his newfound strength. As he had been working up the swing, she had started summoning her own power. Her hair and eyes glowing bright neon blue, she twisted herself in mid-air and opened fire.

The force of the blast actually shoved her backwards, but it did what she wanted it to do. The intense concentration of the blast went straight through the thick metal above like butter, creating an opening for all of them to get through.

“Madison!” Francisco shouted, watching her plummet downwards. He dove for her, but his hands and arms were his wings, he had nothing to grab her with. She reached her hand out towards him desperately.

Without thinking, as soon as she was near close enough to touch, he thrust his legs forward and...grabbed her? With talons?! What had happened to his shoes??

He gripped her wrist and she held tight with both hands onto his ankles. He swore out loud as he floundered in the air for a minute to regain balance.

“I didn’t know I could do that.” He huffed.

“You get used to it.” She laughed.

He carried her back up through the opening, where the rest of the group was waiting on the other side. They landed and Francisco immediately reverted back to his regular human form.

“Ay Dios mío...I don’t think I can carry you like that across the whole ocean.” He confessed, catching his breath.

“You won’t have to!” Atsuko beamed excitedly.

“Mothra will take us to Sam!” Chouko pointed up towards the sky.

The rest of them turned and looked to where she was pointing. High above the clouds, seeming to come straight out of the light of the sun, the elegant form of Mothra could be seen. They stood in absolute awe for a few moments. The queen of the monsters was beyond lovely.

They stepped towards the edge of the base, and noticed the water below was churning. Moments later, Godzilla broke the surface and gave a call to the heavens. She answered him with a beautiful sound like the notes of a song.

She came down to land right on his back, and greeted the children with a soft chipping.

“All right then,” Madison said, “let’s go rescue Sam!”

Chapter Text

Sam, Kara, and Neemah raced through the halls, passing the angels who had been knocked out by Sam’s electromagnetic wave. The girls directed them through the building to where they suspected Sam’s parents were. It would do Sam no good if they were still hostage. Or worse; they would be the first victims of the feeding. He couldn’t let that happen.

They burst through a set of doors into some kind of infirmary. Three angels, humanoid but with multiple limbs, wings, eyes, mouths, etc. They turned and rushed the kids.

Naeemah launched herself, claws and teeth out, and took down two of them. She was in a frenzy of fury, scratching them up and shrieking like a banshee. The third angel jumped back and went to hit an emergency call button along the wall.

Kara’s eyes lit up blue and with a flick of her wrist, another water pipe in the wall burst out and shot the angel back against the far wall with powerful force.

Sam looked about for a moment, but his eyes landed on a cell in the back with metal bars. There was only one occupant inside, and they were too small to be an adult. He stepped over.

A boy looked up at him with cautious hope. He was native american, with dark hair and skin. He looked pretty beat up, with his clothes ripped and dirty. There were also some bad bruises on his arms.

Sam remembered what he had endured at the other base with Ms. Mary. It was almost like looking in a mirror. This kid had to be a champion they were trying to convert, like they had tried to do for him and Francisco.

“Are you a champion, too?” Sam asked, kneeling in front of the bars.

“Amhuluk speaks to me.” The boy said in a small, whispered voice. He seemed almost ashamed of it.

Kara came over, the water from the pipe encircling around her. With all her strength, she used it to slice through the metal bars and create an opening. “Come with us. We’re getting out of here.”

He struggled to walk out on his own, so Naeemah came and helped him. “My name is Naeemah, and this is Kara and Sam. What’s your name?”

“Call me Donovan.”

“Donovan,” Sam asked, “Did you see two human adults in here at any point? A man and a woman? They would have been unconscious in a coma.”

The boy pointed along the other wall. There were three big pod-looking things hooked up to a machine. Sam ran over and tried to look inside the same window on top of them, but it was dark. Kara went to the panel, and after pressing a few buttons, light came on inside.

Inside two of the pods was Sam’s mother and father, still knocked out.

“How are we going to get them out of here?” he asked.

“According to this,” Kara said as she gaze upon the screen, “they are set for extraction. Which means we can’t leave them or…” She stopped herself and looked at Sam. He suddenly felt faint. Lord Michael was going to feast on their soul energy for sure. There was no way they could be left behind.

“The head doctor…” Donovan said weakly, “She brought them in here like that. In the pod. I think it can be detached from the wall and floated out.”

Kara continued to type of the keyboard and see if she could figure out how to do that.

“There’s a risk that we’ll set off another alarm when we take them out, so be ready to move quickly.” She prepped them.

Naeemah took Donovan to get a head start and scout the hallway. A minute later, Kara unlocked the code and her and Sam were able to unlatch the pods from the wall. His parents floated horizontally above the floor in their pods and the kids easily started pushing them out to follow the others.

“Do you know where the exit is?” Sam asked. “Like, the exit exit? Out of the building?”

“Uh..well,” Kara hesitated.

“We have an idea of where it is,” Naeemah called back over her shoulder as she helped Dovovan move forward. “But we’ve never actually left before. Not since we got here months ago.”

“We were tricked here.” Kara growled. “They took advantage of our fear and confusion, being new champions. We thought they were going to help us better control our abilities, but instead they cut us off from our titans and put these mind control devices on our heads.”

Sam seemed confused. “Why would they keep you from activating your pact? Wouldn’t they want to mind control you once the pact is made? So it would be easier to control the titan?”

“That’s not how it works.” Naeemah shook her head.

They turned a corner to see more angels on alert. They saw the group and made a mad dash for them, calling for them to halt. Before anyone else could do anything, Donovan stood up straighter.

The air suddenly got thicker. Mist and fog seemed to rise up out of the ground from below the boy’s feet and envelope around them. Naeemah felt something on his body and pulled her arm back away from him. His skin was now covered in blotches. Not like the bruises they saw earlier, but dark, mossy looking patches all over his exposed skin. She also noticed that his eyes were glowing a faint yellow.

“Didei, didei, didei,” Donovan chanted under his breath.

Soon the fog took up the entire hallway. None of the angels could see, and were heard clamoring about trying to find them.

“I can’t hold it for very long,” he told them, the yellow glow in his eyes flickering. “Follow behind me and I’ll get us through.”

Naeemah stayed close behind him, in case he fell or need assistance. Sam and Kara pushed the pods and kept them close behind her as well. They had to lean forward just to be able to see Naeemah through the fog.

It was very thick, and Sam found that if he opened his mouth, he could taste it. It was a sickly taste that made him gag. Like rotting fish and wet dog. It had an earthy smell as well. It was actually pretty terrifying. He didn’t know much about the titan Amhuluk, but perhaps it was better that way.

“Amhuluk is a reclusive titan not to be medled with.” MUTO’s voice whispered in his ear. “He never had a people like most of the rest of us. His territory was the lakes in the north, where he would drown trespassers, and mutate the creatures surrounding it into his own personal minions.”

“Is he evil?” Sam asked quietly, getting goosebumps and shifting his gaze around, as if the titan would jump out at him through the fog at any moment.

“There is no such thing as an evil titan, but he would be the closest to one, I suppose.” She mused thoughtfully. “he is quite selfish, but I would consider him a neutral party. He tends to only look out for his own interests. But there is a group of human people he liked. All of his champions have been born to that tribe. He has a fondness for them, like pets.”

Sam was quiet for a moment. “Is that all champions are? We’re just…pets to you guys?”

“No, Samuel! That’s what makes you champions. You stood out among the humans as ones to be respected and connected with.”

He frowned. That didn’t exactly ease his mind, or the thought that titans in general looked down at humans like pets, or maybe even less than that.

Suddenly there was a thud, like something heavy dropping to the floor.

“Donovan!” Naeemah cried.

It only took seconds for the fog to suddenly dissolve and clear. They had almost made it to the end of the hall to the next exit. But now the angels could see them again. They hissed and charged.

Sam and Kara were the closest to them, but as Sam was starting to charge his pulse, Kara beat him to the punch. She once more pulled water from the pipes and created and tidal wave to knock them all back.

“Donovan fainted!” Naeemah cried, clutching him on the floor in her arms. The blotches went away on his skin as he lay there. The poor boy had exhausted the last of his strength.

“Can you carry him?” Sam asked.

“I can.” Kara volunteered. She quickly scooped him up and Naeemah took her place behind one of the pods. They rushed back off as fast as they could. Kara leading them towards the place they had entered from almost a year ago, when Lord Michael had tricked them. How many times had they tried to escape now? A few, certainly. But they’d all ended up going badly.

Truth be told, Kara didn’t truely believe they would be successful this time either. But now there was more at stake than just her and Naeemah. There was Sam, Sam’s parents, and Donovan now. She looked down at this new boy, seeing the marks of abuse so clearly visible on him. She would not allow him to be harmed anymore. Not Donovan, not Naeemah, not anyone.

Another elevator. She punched the button to open but it wouldn’t. A red light flickered above the door.

“Damnit!” She swore. “They shut down power to the elevators! We’re almost there but we need to go up stairs now.”

“Will the pods be able to go up a staircase?” Sam asked.

“We’ll have to try. Come on!” Kara veered to the right to another doorway. She busted through and started up the stairs. Sam and Naeemah had to push the pods up, single file. It was difficult, as gravity wanted the pods to go backwards and they were actually pretty heavy. Sam started to break out in a sweat after only one set.

“How much further?” He asked.

“Don’t think about it, just keep going!” Naeemah called behind him.

A moment later, the girl suddenly screamed. They all turned to see that an angel had gotten ahold of Naeemah from behind. She was kicking and flailing and hissing, trying to claw her way away from the creature. But without Naeemah in the way, the pod started to go backwards, right into the angel.

“Naeemah! Mom!” Sam cried.

The pod shoved into the angel and it fell back, crashing against a wall. The pod smashed into it as well, and Naeemah had only a moment to move herself out of the way or face the same fate.

“NAEEMAH!!” Kara screamed. If she wasn’t carrying the limp body of Donovan she would have jumped over the railing down to save her. But Naeemah was quick, and avoided the blow.

The angel was injured, but not knocked out. It screeched and continued to hold onto the girl, struggling to get back up.

“Hang on!” Sam cried, propping his dad’s pod against his back and facing them. His wrists lit up again and he focused on his pulse. His eyes glowed red and his veins spidered out. He focused the blast through his hands, specifically targeting the angel, trying to be careful of his friend.

He released it when he felt the power was high enough to knock the angel out but low enough not to do any major damage to those around him. Everyone got shoved back against the wall by the blow, and the lights in the stairwell went out. As they flickered back on a moment later, they could see the angel laying still on the landing, unmoving. Naeemah felt dizzy, and stumbled to her feet.

“I’m okay, I’m okay!” She called, hunching over the pod next to her. “I might get a headache but I’m okay.”

The sound of more angels in the stairwell below them echoed.

“Keep moving!” Kara called.

They made it to the next landing before the entire world gave a huge jolt, knocking them all back on the ground. Large tremors began to shake everything, including them. The lights flickered on and off.

“What’s happening?” Kara asked, looking around.

“I think it's a titan!” Sam called over the loud sounds. He remembered how it felt when Godzilla and MUTO came for them in the Canadian facility. This is exactly what it was like.

“SEKHMET!” Naeemah suddenly cried. “It’s Sekhmet! I can hear her! I can hear her again!”

The girl was in tears, and in her joy she forgot about the others and rushed up the stairs by herself. They called to stop her but she didn’t listen.

“Now what do we do?” Sam said, looking at the two pods containing his parents. There was no way he could push them both up the rest of the way. And Kara was still carrying Donovan.

The world shook violently around them, and the walls started to crack. Part of the structure was being attacked now. Debris started to fall on top of them. The sound of the angels was getting closer.

“I can stop them. You stay here.” Sam said, getting up. But Kara snatched his arm and pulled him back down.

“Don’t be stupid! We have to get out of her before the building comes down on us first.” She told him.

“But you can’t help my parents if you’re carrying Donovan!”

“Then I’ll walk.”

They looked to see the boy starting to come around. He still had a faint yellow glow to his eyes, but it was receding.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Kara asked, placing a hand on his back as he sat up.

“Amhuluk is my titan. I was chosen out of the entire Kalapuya tribe. I will not fail him, nor you.”

The determination in his eyes was intense. The others nodded in understanding.

Donovan lead the way, clinging to the railing as he ascended the stairs. Sam and Kara were behind him, pushing Sam’s parents up into front of them. The building shook. Gunfire could be heard above them somewhere. The angel still howled from below, getting closer. Every few minutes the structure would shake so bad that they almost fell again. The walls were cracking.

“One more floor!” Kara finally shouted. “Keep going!”

The news drove them to move even quicker, using up all of their reserve strength to climb. Donovan reached the doorway exit and shoved it open. It was a heavy metal door, and he leaned against it with his full body weight to keep it open for the others.

They were now inside an abandoned warehouse, with rusted old machinery, rotting wood, and broken windows. It was bright daylight outside, and extremely hot. Sam couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like they were actually in a city. He could now hear cars honking and people screaming in the distance outside, and there were definitely structures visible outside the windows.

Kara slammed the metal door behind them and used a piece of metal to bar it shut, so the angel couldn’t come out.

“Let’s get outside.” Sam pointed to a nearby exit from the warehouse. It was an old docking bay for trucks, but the doors were wide open. Mindful of Donovan’s weakened state, they hurried down and outside, pushing the pods with them.

The sunlight was harsh. It was early morning. They were definitely in a city, as they were looking out over the structures from high ground.

The earth shuddered again and they turned. Behind the warehouse, a shadow came looming up and blocked out the sun. A pair of gigantic wings spread out from it, and a low growl so deep came from it that the kids could feel the reverb in their chests.

Missiles launched from somewhere to their left and hit the beast, but she appeared unphased. Still, she turned and swatted at the perpetrators, causing a loud explosion.

“Kara! Sam!”

They turned to see Naeemah coming around the corner. She was beaming, and seemed to glow a bit in the light of the sun.

“Sekhmet has come to rescue us! She said she heard Sam’s call earlier. She’s going to destroy this whole place and then take us home!” The girl cried gleefully.

“Then we did it.” Kara spoke softly, almost not believing herself. Naeemah gave her a big hug and Kara blushed.

“We did it, Kara! We’re free! Finally free.” Sam noticed the black girl start to tear up and respectfully looked away. He decided to check on Donovan while they took in their moment together.

There was a small stream of water nearby that the boy had hobbled his way to, and was now knelt in. The water seemed to bunch up and swirl around him on its own, as if it knew he needed healing.

“Hey, how are you holding up?” Sam asked, sitting on the slope of the creek.

Donovan turned to him with tired eyes, but he smiled. “Getting better.”

The earth shook again and Sekhmet gave an angry bellow. The sounds of crunching metal and destruction could be heard. Like demolition on a construction sight. They were still firing at her with all they had, but she didn’t bat an eye at it. They were going to face her fury for harming her champion.

“Who is your titan? You never said.” Donovan asked as he scooped up some of the water and rubbed it on his arms.

“Oh. MUTO.” Sam looked down, thinking about her. About everything he’d gone through since becoming her champion.

“Why did she choose you?” The boy asked. He splashed water in his face as well. Some of the minor cuts he had started to heal up.

Sam blinked. “I…don’t know, actually.”

Donovan sat back in the creek and stared at him for a moment, examining him up and down.

“Champions are not chosen randomly, you know. There is always a reason.”

Sam soaked up the words. He turned to look over at the girls, who were cheering on as Sekhmet destroyed their prison with great ferocity. His gaze went to the pods that housed his sleeping parents.

And suddenly an image appeared to him, as if answering his question. He was in a classroom. It was early morning. Children were fleeing, running out of their seats and screaming. The teacher was rushing them to the door. But one boy was standing still, his gaze focused outside the window.

Sam turned to see what he was looking at.

In the distance, not too far away, a nuclear power plant could be seen. It was collapsing.

Something in Sam’s chest twisted. The power plant felt familiar. Didn’t…didn’t he have visions of that power plant before? Was that the same one the MUTO came out of years ago? When he was a kid? But if that was true then that meant-

“Ford!”

Sam turned at the sound of his father’s name. The classroom was empty now, aside from the other boy. The boy who he now recognized as a younger version of his dad.

Everything inside Sam froze in shock and horror. The teacher came running back in to grab Ford and yank him out of his stupor. She pulled him out of the room, speaking in Japanese, but Ford’s eyes never left the window.

The vision ended.

Sam was back at the creek, now standing. The realization that his father had watched the power plant fall, with his grandmother still inside, was heartbreaking. MUTO was the reason he never met his grandmother. And his grandfather had died trying to find the truth and warn everyone. He had almost lost his father in San Francisco when he was on the bomb team to get rid of the MUTOs.

Was all this the reason why he had been picked to be champion? So many other people had died and suffered at the hands of these titans. Why was he picked? Out of them all, what made the MUTO choose him?

“Is that Mothra?” Donovan asked, raising his hand to cover his eyes from the sun.

Mothra? Sam shook his head and looked up. And sure enough, the benevolent titan gave a welcoming cry as she circled above. And from atop her head, Sam could see his friends waving to him.

Chapter Text

Mothra’s wings flared out to the side to slow her descent to the ground. Light poured through her wings and colored the earth like stained glass windows. She gave a kind of chirping sound that echoed off the hill that, somehow, released all the tension from Sam’s body. He knew he and the others were truly safe now that she was here. Her presence just emitted that feeling.

“SAAAAM!”

Something flew off of her back and dove straight for him. He barely had any time to register what it was before-

“OOF!! Francisco?!” Sam cried as the boy wrapped him in a hug upon landing in front of him. The hug was made even more enveloping by the fact that his arms were crimson, leathery wings.

“Dios mio, estas bien!” Francisco cried, clutching him tightly for a moment. Sam took a moment before hugging him back just as hard. He hadn’t realized how much he needed to be comforted after everything that just happened.

Seconds later, through the blur of his tears, Sam could see the others rushing up towards him. Madison was leading them.

She joined the embrace, hugging both of them. “Sam, oh my god! We’re so glad that you’re safe!”

Francisco finally pulled away, and Sam could see that he also looked ready to cry. “We never should have left you alone,” he said shamefully, “We should have made sure you got home okay ourselves. If we had escorted you then maybe we -”

“Hey, hey, its okay.” Sam stopped him, wiping his own eyes and smiling. “It ended up being a good thing. I got to pay it forward and help them escape, like you guys did for me.”

He gestured to the others. Donovan, who had fully healed now and stepped out of the creek, and Kara and Naeemah as they walked over, hand in hand. He introduced them, and Madison introduced him to Tuhirae and the twins. And once that was done, all of their knowledge and information was exchanged. Lord Michael, his plans for humanity, and the mass weapon that was being created.

“There’s a good chunk of us here, but I know there are plenty of other titans, aren’t there?” Kara pointed out. “Lord Michael was trying to ‘recruit’ as many of us as possible before we made pacts.”

“That’s right, I remember Ms. Mary talked about that with one of the angels before.” Francisco added, recalling their time at the Elizabeth Islands facility. “They made it sound like there was a reason they wanted champions before they made their pacts.”

“If there is a reason, we don’t know.” Naeemah shook her head. “We were there for a long time, but we were never told outright.”

“They are trying to use the pact as a means to control the titans.”

Everyone jumped and turned at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. All eyes fell on Madison. Her eyes were glowing orange, and her scales were appearing. Her brown hair was starting to turn into the vibrant blues hues. When she spoke, it was her own voice layered with that of another, deeper male voice. Sam and Francisco recognized it from before in the conference room. Godzilla himself was now speaking to them through Madison.

“Thousands of years ago, these creatures came to the planet to try and consume humanity, as it did for many other worlds beyond the stars. But they did not know about us. The titans. They were unprepared. We struck them down and protected your people. We ran them off the planet, and threatened them never to return.”

Kara crossed her arms. “That makes sense then. Lord Michael never seemed like the type to hide in the shadows and plot in secret. He has mentioned that Earth is the last planet in this universe they haven't hit yet.”

“And why are they making a machine that uses human bodies to power a new spaceship.” Sam replied, “For them to survive, they need to be able to get from this universe to the next one where there’s fresh food for them. This is a desperate last ditch attempt for them. They can’t take any risks.”

“So what does the pact being sealed or not have to do with anything?” Donovan questioned.

This time it was the twins who stepped forward. Their eyes glowed that teal blue color, and their wings fluttered out behind them. “The pact is not a one way street, children.” Mothra’s soft, motherly voice spoke through their mouths. “We titans have to be careful who we choose not only because of the power it grants them, but also because of the vulnerability it forces on us.”

They all looked confused.

Francisco’s eyes shined bright yellow, and the curls of his hair began to burn like the embers of a fire. “Once the pact is forged, we can see and interact with the world through your eyes…and vice versa. As you grow older and the bond strengthens, you will be able to act and speak through our eyes and bodies as well.”

All of them grew wide eyed and mouth agape.

“It is the entire reason the champions exist.” Godzilla went on. “Once we realized that humanity could be connected with, that you were all your own unique, intelligent species, we as titans agreed that we had a responsibility to live in peace and harmony with you. But in order to do that, we had to have a way to communicate. A way to know and understand things that were important to your kind. Our battles were happening on top of your cities and killing you without us even realizing it. Thus, we each forged a pact with a single human we thought worthy to share a lifeforce with. We called it The Tether.”

The twins chimed in, “This is also why we choose champions at such a young age. Your lifespans are significantly shorter than ours, and it is a learning process for both parties. Every champion is different, and no matter how many times we bond with one, it is never the exact same experience twice. It takes around a decade just for you to be able to get used to being inside the body of a titan for a minute or two, let alone fight alongside us in battle.”

Godzilla made an unnerved growl and Madison clenched her fists at her sides. “My guess is that Lord Michael wishes to have control of the children when they seal the pact. If he can mind control the the child, then-”

“Then he could control the titan!” Sam cried in horror. He covered his mouth immediately after realizing that he just interrupted Godzilla, but the king did not seem bothered. He went on,

“Forcing the champions to dwell inside their titans and control them for any length of time beyond a few seconds will have irreversible consequences. The champions WILL die, and their deaths will be excruciatingly painful.”

“Not to mention being possessed for that long of a time and being forced to do some ugly alien’s bidding.” Rodan sneered uncomfortably. “At least with Ghidorah, we could stay inside our own heads.”

Godzilla gave a warning growl at him for the mention of the golden hydra.

“What are we going to do, then?” Naeemah asked fearfully. “We have no idea where any of the other champions are. How can we rescue them before the invasion starts?”

Tuhirae’s eyes suddenly flashed green and her tattoos lit up. “Not all of the titans have chosen champions just yet. Tiamet, Sycalla, and Sargon are the only three left.” Kong’s voice came from her throat.

Godzilla frowned. “That still leaves eleven titans and their champions who are vulnerable. We would be outnumbered at this point, with only five pacts tethered. “

“So the rest of us will seal our pacts before the invasion.” Sam suggested, “in the meantime you guys can search for the other eleven champions, and make sure they’re okay.”

“I thought you had rejected your champion title?” Rodan cocked an eyebrow and slyly smiled at him through Francisco. But part of him thought it was also his friend talking, too.

“I did,” Sam sighed, glancing down at his hands. They appeared normal now, but he remembered what they had looked like when he had used his powers to save his friends hours ago. Using the gifts that MUTO had given him.

MUTO…who had run through mountains and storms to see him safe when he had been captured in the Elizabethan Islands. Who had comforted him when he was scared, and kept him company and advice when he needed it most. He could feel her company even now, listening in the background as if standing right behind him. She had been so nice and respectful to him. She could have easily forced him to be her champion, or made him feel guilty about wanting to opt out, but she never did.

“But after what’s happened to my family, and seeing what he’d done to my friends,” Sam looked up at the girls and Donovan. “And knowing what he plans on doing to the rest of the world, I feel ready to do something. I WANT to do something. Even though I’m still scared of what it means for my future, I’m more scared of what will happen if I do nothing at all.”

Sam looked over to see his other friends; Madison, Francisco, and now Atsuko, Chouko, and Tuhirae. Their eyes were still glowing and their titans' features showed through, but they were smiling at him. And he could tell it was pride coming from both parties.

“Now that is the human spirit we saw all those thousands of years ago.” Godzilla nodded. “The spirit that made us acknowledge your kind as equals.”

Nearby the group, both Mothra and Sekhmet looked on at them patiently, and with great admiration.

“Then let’s waste no more time.” Mothra said through the girls. “Let's get these children to their patrons so they may seal the pact at once. We don’t know how much time we have left before the angels strike.”

—-

Sekhmet agreed to take Kara and Donovan to their titans with Naeemah, and regroup with the others later. For Sam, it was a hard goodbye. He hadn’t known any of them very long, but just like with Madison and Francisco, he felt that their time together had bonded them close. He promised that they would figure out a way to safely remove the bands as soon as they could, but for now they were useless to Lord Michael’s control. Sam had made sure of that.

It was his turn now. After everything that had happened, he was ready to accept being the MUTO’s champion. They made sure that Monarch came to pick up the pods containing his parents before they left, so that they were in safe hands.

“Do we know where we’re going for your pact with MUTO?” Tuhirae asked as they all climbed up onto Mothra’s back.

“She had shown me these images of the Nazca Lines once before.” Sam told them, “I think those are in Peru?”

“I am unfamiliar with what your people call these lands now.” MUTO told him honestly. “But when you find those drawings, you will find me.”

“Off to Peru we go then!” Francisco said, seating himself next to his friend. “And I can pretty much guarantee that whatever it is you gotta do, its not going to be as scary as mine. Trust me.”

“Oh yeah? What did you have to do?” Sam asked.

Mothra took off into the sky as soon as everyone was settled, heading towards the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest.

“That big flaming buzzard had me jump into an active volcano.” Francisco complained. He leaned back into Mothra’s fluffy mane and crossed his hands behind his head. Sam adopted a look of horror on his face.

“There was more to it than that, you impish little twerp!” Rodan snapped in the boy’s mind.

“MUTO is a creature of the earth, so whatever it is you have to do, it probably will have something to do with the ground.” Madison called over her shoulder in front of them.

“When I made my pact with Kong, it made an entire valley blossom into a lush meadow,” Tuhirae said from beside her. “He loved it so much he started rolling around in the grass like a little kid.” She giggled at the memory.

“Don’t tell them that,” Kong muttered to her in embarrassment. “The other titans are listening through them.”

Sam seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as the others continued the conversation. The sky and clouds around them were so beautiful. Mothra was making sure she wasn’t too high in the sky that the altitude would be harmful, so he could also see the expanse of the land out to every side of them. Rural areas, tight knit communities, the towers of cities. It was hard to fully enjoy it with his thoughts racing.

“It won't hurt, will it?” He spoke the words softly enough that the others couldn’t hear over the wind. But he wasn’t talking to them anyway.

“Not to my knowledge.” MUTO said confidently. “It is simply us coming together to face each other and the thing we have in common.”

Sam gave a confused glance to the side. “What does that mean?”

“You will see.” Her voice sounded…sad? As if it was something she was dreading, just like him. He wondered what on Earth could possibly make a giant titan feel that way?

___

Lord Michael was in his human disguise, his silver eyes piercing as he stared out the window. He was overlooking a large city from one of the highest floors in the building.

Another figure was standing a few feet behind him. A human looking figure, but with silver eyes as well. She held the report in her hands, reading it over for a minute, before speaking, “The champions of Sekhmet and Mokele-Mbembe have lost all connection to their headbands. And the champion of Amhuluk is missing. Either he escaped with the others or he is a corpse in the rubble.”

Lord Michael said nothing.

She turned to look at him with a stern expression. “We lost a dozen or so of our own as well. On the bright side, their deaths mean more food for the rest of us. Less mouths to feed.”
She tossed the papers down on the desk and sighed.

“We have little time left, Michael. We might as well begin with those we have and start this now.” She advised him.

“The Will of God will be done.” He said to the window in a strained voice, barely containing his anger. The glass around the edges of it started to crack.

He turned to face her, now six eyes showing. “Prepare the eight champions we have now, Jophiel, and lock them in the deepest part of Heaven’s Gate.”

She gave a curt bow as he continued in a vengeful tone, “We will not be defeated again.”