Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In his sleep, the King was there again.

The huge human hive – no, city, that was what they called it – was an inferno. Thick black smoke billowed into the air from a thousand fires, making it difficult for most eyes to see. His senses, however, could handle far darker and murkier conditions than this, although the overpowering smell of smoke did make his nose itch.

The itching was the least of his concerns, however, as his senses were focused entirely on his enemies. The two creatures that he had sensed from afar and tracked across the world had finally come together, and he had to stop them. He had heard their mating calls echoing through the ocean, the familiar and hated sounds rousing him from his slumber and spurring him into action.

In most cases, this wouldn't have been a problem for him: usually, if he'd heard two Kaiju calling to each other to signal their readiness for mating, he wouldn't really care and would probably have just rolled over and gone back to sleep. But this was different, because the moment he'd heard those mating calls, he had known exactly what had created them. They were the Jinshin-Mushi, the parasites, the enemies of his kind, and if he allowed them to meet and reproduce, they would more than likely create a plague of parasites that would cause chaos and destruction across the entire world. It had happened before, and if he didn't do something about it, it would happen again. So when he sensed that one of the parasites was fully-awake and moving, he had roused himself and gone after them.

Tracking the male parasite hadn't been difficult, although he was still annoyed that the little bastard had been able to get away from him so easily after their first fight on that tropical island. The fact that the humans had actually attacked him as he was tracking the male down had been even more annoying, as he was still irritated by the fact that they apparently didn't remember who he was anymore, but he'd brushed aside their feeble attempts to harm him without much trouble.

Now, however, he was really starting to get annoyed.

Thanks to the humans' interference, the two parasites had found each other and mated before he could bring either of them down. Now the female was hiding somewhere in the burning city, using the smoke to conceal herself as she built a nest to lay her eggs, while the male was continuously pestering him and keeping him from tracking her down.

"Damn you!" he snarled, lunging and snapping his jaws at the winged parasite with no effect, as the male nimbly darted sideways out of range. "Stand and fight, you little coward!"

"I don't think so!" the male shot back, his fanged beak curved in a grin of amusement as he dodged left and right, evading the King's increasingly-frustrated attacks with ease. "You won't get to her while I'm breathing!"

"Then allow me to fix that!" the King spat. He attempted to launch himself up at his irritating enemy, but missed again, crushing several of the smaller human nests – no, buildings, he reminded himself – in the process.

Their game of cat-and-mouse continued for over an hour, with the King growing increasingly frustrated. He knew he was being played, and he longed to turn away from the irritating male and work on locating the female, but whenever he tried, the male would immediately attack him from behind or from above, forcing him to stop and defend himself or risk incurring injury.

Eventually, something unusual happened: he caught sight of a group of tiny red sparks that dropped out of the darkening clouds overhead, descending swiftly into the human city a short distance away. Squinting and looking closer, he eventually recognized the tiny falling forms as humans, each of them trailing a cloud of glowing red smoke. He was a little confused by their presence, as he didn't have the faintest idea what they were doing, but he shrugged it off. No matter. The affairs of humans were of little concern to him, as long as they stayed out of his way. However, they did help him to spot what he'd been looking for: on a hilltop some distance away, still partially obscured by smoke, was the unmistakable form of the female parasite.

Luckily, the falling humans also distracted the male as well, even if it was only for a moment, and that gave the King an opening. He lunged forwards and was able to grab one of the male's wings with one clawed hand; his weight gave him the advantage in this instance, as he pulled with enough power to swing the male in a full circle before letting go of him and flinging him away. The male smashed through several large human nests, bringing them tumbling down, before crashing to the ground.

Normally the King would have pursued his foe, but under the current circumstances the female was a higher priority. She would be guarding their nest, so he had to get her out of the way and destroy the eggs before they could hatch. Under no circumstances could he allow another parasite plague to begin. With that in mind, he turned away and started walking quickly towards the female, his footfalls booming through the burning city as smaller structures were crushed and smashed aside by his passing.

As he walked up the hill where he had seen the female, the King was greeted by a wall of billowing smoke. His burning orange eyes narrowed and he turned on his heel in a quick circle, swinging his tail through the air and generating a strong gust of wind that dissipated some of the oppressive smoke. Sure enough, the female came into view, crouched protectively over a smoldering pit in the earth that must be her nest. Her red eyes gleamed angrily as she saw him coming, and she rose to her feet with a clattering hiss of warning.

The King snorted at that. She wanted to trade threats? Very well, then. His eyes flashed, and he reared back slightly as he sucked in a deep breath of air, before letting out a long, drawn-out, thunderous roar that filled the air around them.

He had to give the female a little credit, as she wasn't cowed in the slightest by his threat display. Instead, she screeched in defiance and charged towards him, her eyes flashing with rage. It was true of all species that a female defending her young was the most formidable force in existence, and that was as true for Kaiju as it was for smaller creatures.

The King didn't break stride. Instead, he sped up a bit, snarling in eagerness, and slammed into the female with his full weight behind him. Their collision rocked the city, but he stood firm; his larger size gave him an advantage, and the female was knocked back by the force of the impact. He leaned in, jaws clamping onto the side of her neck, and felt her natural armor crunching under his teeth, but she didn't try to retreat. Instead, she bit back, her own fangs sinking into his hide as her jaws latched onto his shoulder.

The King growled in pain, but didn't let up, shoving the female backwards and driving her along one of the larger pathways between the human nests, her longer forelimbs taking chunks out of the buildings on either side as she tried to slow down her backwards slide. Releasing his hold on her neck, he drew back his left arm and slammed a fist into the side of her face, catching her in her right eye. That forced her to release her own bite, and he promptly spun around and swatted her with his tail. The impact knocked her off her feet and sent her tumbling head-over-heels, bringing down several buildings with her flailing limbs before she rolled to a halt.

Sensing victory, the King rushed after his fallen enemy, slamming into her as she scrambled to her feet and pinning her against a larger building with both arms. His jaws were going for her neck again when the building collapsed under their weight, sending her toppling backwards to the ground. Satisfied with this, the King reared back, raising one foot and slamming it down on the female's chest to pin her in place. He started bearing down with all his strength, hoping to crush her, but he didn't have time to do any serious damage before the male swooped down from above and crashed into him again.

Staggering away from the female, the King thrashed about with a snarl of rage, trying to latch onto his smaller opponent. Just as he was on the verge of grabbing the infuriating male, however, the female charged back into the fray and rammed into his right flank, knocking him off-balance and sending him crashing to the ground, crushing one of the smaller buildings beneath him. He roared a challenge as he pushed himself back up and turned to face the female, only for the male to slam down on top of him; as he swung back around and snapped at the male, the female landed another blow from behind.

The battle raged on, and to his dismay, the King realized that he was starting to tire. He hadn't fought like this for thousands of years, and he'd gotten a little rusty, but that wasn't the real problem. The problem here was numbers. One on one, he could easily handle either of these two in a straight-up fight, but together they were fighting with a flawless display of teamwork that was more than even he could withstand. Every time he seemed to be gaining the upper hand on one of the parasites, the other one would hit him from behind and prevent him from inflicting any serious damage. He'd had plenty of experience with this sort of tactic, but normally he had a partner of his own to help him deal with it, and this time he was alone.

Snarling in rage as they forced him back, the King flung up his arms to hold off a diving strike from the male, but in the process he left himself open to the female, who lunged up and sank her fangs into his neck, holding his arms back with four arms of her own. He snapped at her, but failed to connect; the male slammed down hard on his back again, beak pecking at his head, while the female's fangs dug in deeper.

Damn it…! The King snarled, his mind filled with a mixture of rage and pain, as he struggled desperately to free himself. Not many things scared him, but the idea of dying at the claws of a Jinshin-Mushi was one of them. The loathsome creatures had killed countless members of his species over the eons, including his own father, and he had no intention of becoming the latest of their victims. But, for the life of him, he couldn't think of a way out of this one. The parasites had him on the ropes, and unless a miracle happened…

And right at that moment, as if his own thoughts had conjured it up, the sky overhead suddenly lit up with an unearthly light.

The King's eyes widened, the pain of the parasites' attacks forgotten for a moment, as he looked up. What…?

The dense storm-clouds, the smoke, and the oncoming night had mixed to render the city nearly pitch-black except for the orange glow of the fires. But now a new light shone down from above: a flickering blue glow, eerily similar to the one that came from the bony plates on his back when he charged up his fiery breath. The clouds glowed brighter… brighter…

And then they parted, blown aside by a brilliant pulse of light and a rippling shockwave, and a piercing, trilling screech echoed through the city. Both parasites flinched back, dazzled by the burst of light, but the King had realized what was about to happen a moment before it did and closed his eyes. As a result, he couldn't see the source of the light, but even with his eyes closed he instantly recognized the voice that rang out over the devastated city, a voice he knew as well as his own.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

As he opened his eyes, the brilliant white light shifted back into blue, revealing another winged Kaiju hovering above the city through the gap that her pulse had blown through the clouds. This one looked vaguely similar to the male parasite in terms of size, shape, and body proportions, but she was more streamlined, her wings were larger, and her body was aglow with a brilliant blue light instead of being dark-toned like the parasites. Her wings were lit up with the same luminescence as her body, and a glowing eyespot on each wingtip shone with the same orange light as his own eyes. Her eyes were bright blue, not red like the parasites', and were blazing with an uncharacteristic level of anger at the sight of her King in pain.

"Mosura?" the King whispered, his eyes wide in astonishment.

The Queen didn't hesitate. Her eyes flashed and she dove towards the fight, her trilling battle cry ringing out like a bell.

To his credit, the male parasite reacted quickly. His own wings flicked out and he launched himself into the air to shield his mate, but he didn't have time to do more than raise his claws in a defensive posture before the Queen hit him like a thunderbolt. The impact knocked him backwards, and the two of them went tumbling away through the air, clawing and tearing at each other, their wings churning up the clouds of smoke.

"Damn it!" the female parasite hissed, shooting a glare after them before she turned to glower at the fallen King, who was on his hands and knees as he gasped for air. "Don't think this changes anything," she spat, taking a step towards him and kicking him in the side of his head with one clawed foreleg. "You can't stop us. Our children will be born, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

At that exact moment, another thunderclap reached their ears, and a colossal fireball erupted from the parasites' nest, roaring up into the air like a miniature volcano. The King was surprised for a second, before he realized what must have happened: that explosion was similar to the ones that the humans' new weapons had produced when they'd attacked him, so they were probably the ones who had done it.

"You were saying?" he coughed, a distinct note of mocking amusement in his voice.

The female's eyes widened in shock and horror, her claws flexing and her jaws hanging open silently. "No," she breathed, before her eyes flashed brighter and filled with a mix of fear and rage. " NO! " Instantly forgetting about the King, she turned away from him and took off, rushing back up through the city towards the nest as fast as she could.

The King groaned as he shook his head, trying to clear his vision. The fight had been severely draining for him, especially with his normal abilities weakened from the start by the parasites' electric auras. Right now, all he wanted to do was lie down and go back to sleep.

Don't you dare!

The telepathic voice sent a bolt of clarity lancing through his mind, and his head snapped up. "Mosura?" he murmured, reaching out with his mind and feeling the bond between them, pulsing just as strongly as it had back before they'd both gone into their long hibernation during the Cold Times.

Don't you dare give up, Goji! The Queen's voice echoed through his mind again, along with a mental image of her kicking the male parasite away with enough force to send him crashing into a human building, bringing it tumbling down in a shower of rubble. She hung in the air, wings flapping steadily, watching the resulting dust cloud for any signs of the male emerging. You're stronger than that; I know you are! You're not going to lose to a couple of parasites, are you?!

The King managed a weary grin. "You always know what to say to get me motivated," he chuckled.

That's because I know you so well, the Queen replied with a soft chuckle, before her emotions grew more serious as the male burst back up out of the rubble with an angry screech and soared up towards her. Now get back up and show that parasite what you can really do. With that, her wings swept back, the orange eyespots at their tips flashing brighter, and she dove back down at the male with a piercing cry of defiance.

The King felt a surge of strength rush back through his tired limbs. His own eyes glowed brighter, burning with the same orange light as the Queen's eyespots, and his claws dug into the rubble as he pushed himself back to his feet. He started after the female parasite, his strides growing stronger and more confident with each step as he lumbered up the hill.

He'd had enough. Weakened or not, there would be no more holding back.

As he finished ascending the hill and caught sight of the female, the King's eyes narrowed and a growl rumbled in his chest as he began summoning up the power that lurked within him. The bony spiked plates on his back began to glow as well, a vibrant blue light radiating from them as a deep humming noise vibrated through his bones. The glow started at the tip of his tail as it waved back and forth, before coursing upwards and rising up his back. His eyes also changed color, their normally-orange glow replaced by the same piercing blue, and he could feel the heat welling up in his throat, ready to be unleashed.

The female was crouched over the burning ruins of her nest, hissing and shrieking in anguish and fury. When she heard him coming, she turned, her eyes flashing with rage, but she was brought up short when she saw the glow radiating from his spines. Some of the rage was mingled with fear, and she took a step back.

The King smirked humorlessly as he sucked in a deep breath and rocked back on his heels, his chest expanding with the air he'd accumulated. And then he swung his head forward, jaws wide, and unleashed his power in a blazing stream of blue fire.

The most dangerous thing about the Jinshin-Mushi, other than their ability to produce large numbers of offspring, was that, as natural enemies of his kind, they were more resistant to his more powerful abilities than most other Kaiju. The electrical auras that they produced had originally been designed to interfere with the fire-breath that his species could summon forth, weakening the force of the attack and making it easier for the parasites to overpower them. The strongest Jinshin-Mushi, the Alpha female known as the Prime, was said to possess an aura so strong that it could snuff out his fire-breath entirely, which was part of the reason why she had been able to bring down many members of his kind so easily.

This female, however, wasn't anywhere near that strong. Her aura was able to weaken his fire-breath, but she couldn't extinguish it entirely, and the blast he unleashed upon her still had more than enough power to do some damage. It hit her squarely in the chest, scorching and burning her exoskeleton; she staggered back, screeching in pain and flailing wildly in an attempt to douse the flames, but without success. The stream of fire cut off for a moment as he sucked in another deep gulp of air, before he unleashed a second blast as she lunged back in towards him.

Blown backwards by the burning power, the female crashed into another human building and lost her footing, falling sideways to the ground. She hissed in pain as she tried to push herself back up, the armor of her chest and stomach charred and smoking.

Meanwhile, the Queen was fully occupied with her own fight. The male parasite was about the same size as she was and had similar physical anatomy, so he was able to hold his own. Her wings were larger and broader than his, giving her greater speed, but his longer limbs gave him more reach. His fang-lined beak was much more formidable than the Queen's mandibles, so she couldn't really bite him back and had to devote more of her time to avoiding his snapping jaws. However, the Queen was far from defenseless; while the parasites' limbs ended in simple curved claws, her arms and her front legs ended in large, razor-sharp, bladelike claws, designed specifically to slice through tough vegetation and to help her defend herself from predators.

In truth, however, it was experience and skill that made up the real gap between them. The parasite was strong and fast, but he was also very young by Kaiju standards; his two fights with the King, first on the island and then here in the city, were the sum total of his combat experience. The Queen, however, had been defending herself from predators and enemies for longer than the male could comprehend, longer than any other Kaiju alive, and she had gained a vast amount of fighting experience during that time.

When the King unleashed his fire-breath upon the female, the Queen and her opponent both looked in that direction, landing on adjacent buildings. The male's eyes widened in alarm as he saw his mate fall; he let out a cry and sprang back into the air, trying to break away from his own fight and rush to her aid.

"No you don't!" the Queen snapped. Her eyes and eyespots flashed brighter, her luminous glow shifting from blue to red, as she jumped into the air and sped after him. With a clap of her wings, she shot forward and landed hard on the male's back, one of her clawed forelimbs wrapping around his neck and the other one slamming repeatedly down on the top of his head. A powerful, twisting lunge of her body wrenched him off to one side, her bright wings and his dark ones flailing in unison as they crashed into another building.

The male used the impact of the collision to his advantage, spinning his body and smashing the Queen against the building with enough force to dislodge her grip on his neck. His wings slammed down and he propelled himself up into the air, before circling back and lunging down towards her, but the Queen was ready. This time, her mandibles snapped open wide and she spat out a jet of sticky white silk. The male's eyes widened and he twisted his head away in time to avoid being blinded, but the silk still covered one side of his face and enveloped his front legs, sticking them together. The Queen jumped nimbly to the side as he sideswiped the building she'd landed on, landing on another one nearby as her previous perch collapsed.

"Damn it!" the male screeched, shaking his head back and forth as he tried to get the silk off without much success. His wings flared out and he rose swiftly up into the air, clearly trying to get some distance so he could figure out how to free himself.

The Queen, however, had no intention of giving him the chance. Her eyes narrowed and she launched herself up off the building, chasing after the fleeing male as they spiraled upwards into the smoke-filled sky.

The King's attention had been briefly diverted by the male's cry; his head snapped over to the other fight for a moment, until he relaxed when he saw that the Queen had matters under control. Time to finish this. He turned back towards the female, who was dragging herself away from him as she attempted to recover from the damage his fire had inflicted.

"Why?!" the parasite hissed, her eyes burning with anger and pain as she glared at him. "All we wanted to do was mate and have our offspring! Why did you have to ruin it?!"

"Because I know your kind," the King shot back, his eyes narrowing as he stalked after her. "Your 'offspring' would be a plague that would turn the whole world into a lifeless wasteland. And there's no way I'm going to let that happen." His eyes flashed from orange to blue again, his spines starting to glow as he prepared another blast of fire.

"Damn you…" the female panted, fear joining the pain in her eyes, before it was suddenly overpowered by a surge of boiling hatred. "DAMN YOU!" With a scream of rage, she hurled herself at him, but this time the King was ready for it. He landed a solid uppercut to her jaw, snapping her head back, and deflected her charge with a swing of his arms, shoving her to the side. Before she had time to recover her balance, he wrapped his arms around her neck in a headlock, each of his hands clamping onto one of her jaws and ignoring the pain of her teeth digging into his clawed fingers. Twisting and wrenching her head back awkwardly, he snarled as his spines glowed brighter. Ignoring her forelimbs as she clawed frantically at his head and neck, he wrenched her mouth open as wide as he could…

And then he unleashed a third blast of his fire-breath, directly into her open mouth and down her throat.

The female's shriek of agony was cut off with a choking gurgle as the fire poured down her throat and into her body, burning through her lungs and roasting her from the inside out. The King didn't let up until her clawing limbs finally went limp and fell away, and as the fire burned through the thinner flesh of her neck, he made a swift twisting motion with both hands and ripped her head from her shoulders.

Satisfied, the King cut off his fire and stepped back as the female's headless body toppled to the ground at his feet, dropping her severed head beside it. "Good riddance," he growled, before turning and scanning the darkened sky for any signs of the Queen or the male parasite. He couldn't see either of them, so he reached out with his mind. Mosura? Are you –

Right here! The telepathic call came an instant before the Queen and the male burst down out of the clouds, a few hundred feet above him. The male had freed his front legs from the silk and was lashing out wildly at the Queen, who was giving as good as she got, each of them taking blows from the other's claws as they spiraled towards the ground. Suddenly, the Queen deflected a strike from the male's claws and swung her abdomen forward like a striking snake. The King saw her stinger extend a moment before it pierced the male's left wing, punching through the armored scales of the wing's surface and delivering a dose of paralyzing venom.

The parasite cried out in pain, his back arching, and the Queen yanked her sting back out before kicking him hard in the chest with her hind legs to propel herself away from him. She pulled away from the male, wings flapping to help her gain some altitude and slow her plunge towards the ground. The male tried to do the same, but his left wing was already going limp and he couldn't use it to slow himself down effectively. He tumbled to the ground and slammed into the earth not far from where the King stood watching, leveling several smaller human structures beneath him.

The King couldn't resist another grin as his eyes flicked up, tracking the Queen as she circled the spot where the parasite had crashed. She let out a loud, triumphant trill, before flapping a couple of times to slow herself down and landing atop one of the largest intact buildings in the area.

The King didn't waste any time. He stalked down the hill, a deep growl rumbling in his lungs as he approached the fallen male. The Queen's venom had done its work; the parasite was sprawled in the crater that his impact had gouged into the earth, twitching and jerking spasmodically but unable to get up or lash out. The poison that her stinger produced had been specifically designed to be nonlethal, due to her dislike of killing; instead, it induced a temporary paralysis, which usually lasted for at least a couple of minutes when used on another Kaiju. The length of time a victim would remain paralyzed depended on the amount of venom they received and also on how big they were.

None of that mattered here, though, as this parasite wasn't going to get enough time to recover.

This time, there was none of the drawn-out struggle that had accompanied the female's death. The King just walked over to the paralyzed male, raised one massive clawed foot, and slammed it down on the parasite's head with all of his weight behind it, crushing the male's skull and snapping his neck in one brutal motion with a sickening crunch of bone and chitin. The parasite's limbs twitched and jerked a couple of times, before he finally went limp and still forever.

After twisting his foot back and forth once to finish the job, the King nodded in satisfaction and stepped back, turning away from the dead parasites and looking up at the sky. His head tilted back, his mouth opened wide, and he let out an ear-shattering bellow of victory.

As the echoes of the roar slowly faded away, the King sighed and let himself slump against a nearby building, bracing himself against it with one arm. Pain and exhaustion poured into him now that the adrenaline of battle was fading away, and his shoulders sagged as he panted heavily in an attempt to catch his breath.

A soft blue glow filtered through his hazy vision, and he looked up as the Queen landed lightly on a building right in front of him, at a height where she could stand at eye level with him. She chirped softly, her eyes sparkling like twin sapphires. Any wounds she'd sustained during her fight with the male were gone, as if they'd simply melted away.

"Hi," she whispered, her mandibles parting in a soft smile.

The King smiled faintly, feeling a trickle of comforting warmth running through his mind via the link between them. "Hello," he murmured, leaning forward and lightly bumping his nose against hers. His spines and her wings pulsed blue in unison, a soft humming noise echoing from both of them. His glow was brighter now, as with both of the parasites dead, the effects of their electric auras were gone.

"I've missed you so much," the Queen breathed, her glittering eyes welling up with tears as she rubbed her cheek against his. "It's been so long, I thought something might have gone wrong, and I wasn't sure if I would ever wake up. It took me quite a while to summon up enough energy even to contact you like this."

"I've missed you too," the King admitted, a deep, soft purr rumbling in his chest as he savored the softness of her downy fur against his scales. "I…" He blinked and frowned, feeling a little confused by that last bit, and drew back a little so he could look at her properly. "I'm sorry… what did you say?"

The light in the Queen's eyes brightened a bit, and her smile grew warmer. "I said," she replied, "it took me a while to gather up enough energy to reach out to you like this. I don't think I could have gotten through to you when you were awake – I won't be strong enough for that until I hatch – but since your mind's more open when you're asleep, I was able to contact you like this." She chuckled softly, nodding to their surroundings. "I mean, come on: I've seen your dreams before, and they aren't normally this vivid, are they?"

The King frowned, glancing around at the ruined city. He had assumed that this was a normal dream, as he remembered how this fight had really gone and he'd simply been reliving it until Mosura had joined in, but…

His eyes widened as he looked back at her, the stirrings of hope rising in his heart. "Are you saying… that you're actually talking to me right now? The real you? I'm not just dreaming about you and imagining this conversation?"

The Queen nodded, her smile widening as her bioluminescence pulsed a little brighter. "That's right, my love. We're in your dream right now, but you're not imagining me here. I just projected my mind into your dream so I could talk to you." She spread her wings, the glowing orange eyespots – identical to his own eyes – gleaming from their tips. "It's really me, Goji. I'm alive, I'm awake, and I'm really here."

The King's eyes widened as the realization really sank in. "Mosura…" Unable to contain himself, he surged forward, carefully sliding his arms around the Queen in a gentle embrace. She hugged him back as hard as she could, her forearms wrapping carefully around his neck and her front legs resting on his shoulders as her wings wrapped around his torso.

"How?" the King questioned, his voice actually a little unsteady and much softer than it normally was, his eyes closed as he rested his snout against her neck. "How are you awake?"

"Well, technically I'm almost awake," the Queen explained, smiling as she nuzzled into the side of his neck. "One of the eggs I laid in my last life, back during the Cold Times, is finally ready to hatch. It's only a couple of days away from hatching now, and the larva inside is fully developed, so I'm finally able to think consciously again. I wasn't quite ready to hatch when I became aware of myself again, but I was able to feel our connection, so I tried to see if I could contact you. But since I'm not very strong yet, I had to wait until you fell asleep and contact you through your dreams." She shrugged, smiling as her glow pulsed warmly. "And, well… here we are."

The King mirrored her smile with his own as he drew back, gently running his claws through the soft fur over her thorax and along the leading edge of her wings. "So you're ready to hatch, then?" he inquired. "Do you know which of your eggs it's going to be? I can come and find it if you do."

The Queen shook her head. "Unfortunately, no, I don't know which one it is. It's been such a long time since I laid that last batch of eggs that I have no idea what each one of those nesting sites is like now. I'll have to figure out where I am when I wake up, and then I'll come find you."

"Sounds good," the King replied with a smile. "So that means I get to see you as a worm this time?" His tone became a little teasing as he asked that question, and he chuckled softly when the Queen's glow immediately flushed pink.

"Hey!" she protested, playfully swatting at him with her shorter forelimbs. "You know it annoys me when you call me that!"

The King laughed, rolling his eyes. "Oh, all right, as a larva." He'd almost completely lost the soreness and exhaustion from the fight by now – which actually made sense, since he was just dreaming and he hadn't actually been in a fight.

"That's better." The Queen grinned cheerfully, nuzzling him again, before she blinked and looked around as the sky overhead began to lighten. "Oh, it looks like you're waking up."

"Damn it," the King growled, trying his best to hold onto the dream even as it started to dissolve bit by bit. Although the Queen was still solid and clearly visible, everything around them – the clouds of smoke, the shattered buildings, and the bodies of the parasites - was starting to become translucent and indistinct, like fog burning off as the sun rose.

"It's okay," the Queen soothed him, smiling as she gently stroked his cheek with one forelimb. "I'm going to hatch within the next day or two, and I'll come find you as soon as I do. I can't sense any other Kaiju awake except for you, so I should be safe in my larval stage until we can find a safe place for me to cocoon and transform."

"All right," the King replied reluctantly. He pressed his forehead lightly against hers, finally feeling the faint mental connection flowing back and forth between them for the first time in thousands of years. "I can hardly wait."

"Neither can I," the Queen replied, her eyes bright and full of emotion as she felt the connection too. She took a step back and spread her wings, floating in front of him as the rest of the dreamscape dissolved into a soft, glowing mist around them. "I love you, Goji."

"I love you too, Mosura," the King murmured, his smile mirroring hers. "I'll see you soon."

Then the mist swirled up and enveloped them, and everything was light.

The pale, warm glow of dawn was abruptly replaced with an icy blackness as the King opened his eyes. The transition was so jarring that he momentarily had no idea where he was, until he felt the water flowing through his gills as he shook his head back and forth, and his waking memories started to filter back into his mind.

He was back on the ocean floor where he'd fallen asleep some time earlier, dozing under thousands of feet of water. Once he'd regained his bearings, the darkness was of no concern to him, and his ability to breathe water as easily as air meant that he had nothing to fear from the crushing water pressure of the deep ocean.

Taking a few deep breaths and letting the cold seawater flow soothingly over his gills, the King tried to relax. Instinctively, he thought back to the advice his Queen had always given him back in the old days whenever this sort of thing became a problem.

"Just listen, my love. Listen to everything you can hear, let your thoughts slip away, and let the song of the world calm your mind."

And he did. His senses were more acute than those of virtually any other creature in the world, and he used them to their full extent now as he did his best to shift into a meditative state. He reached out with his mind and his ears, listening to the sounds of the world around him.

The lowest noises he could hear were the sounds produced by time itself: the deep, slow grinding and rumbling of stone on stone, or the distant crackling of an undersea volcano, as the earth itself moved and churned at a slow, oceanic pace. Those sounds weren't audible through his ears, but through his bones, as the deep vibrations pulsed through the rock beneath him and reverberated gently through every inch of his body.

Above those sounds, there was the softer, ceaseless rhythm of the tides, as ocean waves washed onto every beach in the world, outlining all of the continents in a map of sound that the King could use to navigate. Even he couldn't truly comprehend the vastness of the world, regardless of how long he had lived and how much of it he had explored. He distinctly remembered that the shape of the world's continents had once been very different than the way it was now, but the transition from then to now had been so slow and gradual that he had hardly ever noticed it.

And above those slower sounds, above the rumbling of the earth and the murmur of the tides, he could hear the sounds of life. The echoing calls of whales, the high-pitched chirps and whistles of dolphins, the bubbling and churning motions of countless schooling fish… the sea was filled with a complex and wonderful song, one that had echoed in his ears for his entire life from the moment he'd entered the ocean for the first time as a hatchling. And according to the childhood stories that he'd heard from his parents and the memories that his Queen had shared with him, that song had been there for as long as there had been living things to hear it, and even beyond that. As long as the ocean had existed, so had its song: always evolving, always changing, but timeless and eternal at its core.

But he was also aware that in the decades since he had woken up from his long hibernation during the Cold Times, the song had become very different than it had been before he'd gone to sleep. Now, the deepest, richest songs of living things, the songs produced by other creatures like himself – his own species and those of the many other types of Kaiju that lived all over the world – were almost entirely gone.

In the absence of his fellow Kaiju, the sea now echoed with a different chorus of sounds: those produced by the humans, and their strange creations. In his absence, they had populated the oceans with floating metal fish in a wide variety of sizes that drifted back and forth across the surface of the water, as well as other metal fish that could dive beneath the surface like whales. It was one of the latter that had woken him from his hibernation, when it had come close to his sleeping place: the pinging noises it produced and the radiation contained within it had sparked his senses to life, awakening him once more. He had risen to the surface and begun to explore the ocean, destroying a few of the noisy metal surface-fish when they attacked him with stinging projectiles and bursts of fire, until he realized that they were all seemingly infested with humans. After that, since he tried not to kill humans unless absolutely necessary, he had adopted a policy of avoiding them.

The noise that the metal fish made, however, was still present and annoying no matter where he went. Their strange banging, screeching, pinging sounds seemed to permeate every corner of the sea, a discordant new addition to its song, and one that he didn't enjoy. He'd only heard of a change like this in the ocean's song having happened a couple of times in the history of his people: once, long ago, when the Devastation had come from space and shaken the world, bringing about an end to most of the reptiles that had once dominated the seas and allowing the whales to evolve in their place, and once much further back when the Great Dying had come and nearly all life on the planet had been snuffed out. If the world was really in the process of a third devastating transformation like those ones, he wasn't sure what he should do about it.

As he listened to the song of the world and felt himself returning to a calm and relaxed state, the King suddenly twitched. His eyes narrowed and he turned to face in a different direction, as a new sound reached his ears. At first he had no idea what it might be: it was faint and distant, echoing dimly through the depths. But on closer examination, it almost sounded like the voice of another Kaiju.

The King's eyes widened slightly and he blinked in surprise. Somebody else is awake?

He could sometimes sense the presences of other Kaiju during his wanderings, but they were almost always from ones that were still hibernating, deep in slumber. Only the two parasites that he'd killed had awakened during the time since he'd emerged from hibernation, but he could tell that many others were still alive and asleep, hidden all over the world. He was fairly certain that he could wake at least some of them up if he wanted to, by sending out an Alpha call that would compel them to awaken, but he didn't really care enough to do that. They would wake up when they were ready. Until then, he was content with the peace and quiet. There were only two particular Kaiju that he genuinely missed: one was his Queen, and the other had been forever silenced even before he had gone into hibernation and would never return. He tried not to think about that one.

But this voice didn't belong to any type of Kaiju that he'd ever heard before. It was vaguely similar to his own voice, but he could also hear many subtle differences; it almost sounded as if a second, higher-pitched voice had been merged with the voice of a member of his own kind, creating a strange mixture of high and low tones.

The King had never heard anything like this call before, but its presence was unsettling. His eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed as he stared fixedly off into the distance, trying to puzzle out what it could be. Finally, after a few minutes, it faded away, and the song of the sea returned to its new normal.

The King frowned as he returned to his patrol, cruising leisurely through the depths of the ocean and letting the cold water flow soothingly through his gills. While the knowledge that his Queen was coming back lifted his spirits tremendously, the presence of that strange new sound offset it somewhat. He had no idea what it might signify, or what the result of those two events would be, but he was sure of one thing.

Things were about to change.

Chapter Text

She had been alive for unfathomable eons. She honestly couldn't remember exactly how long it had been, because she had countless lifetimes' worth of memories stored in her mind, and so it was very hard for her to remember when the tipping point had been: when a species had become an individual, when the line between reproduction and reincarnation had blurred and finally disappeared altogether.

This was what she knew:

Her life cycle always started with a single egg, when a special genetic timer that had been encoded into its DNA was triggered. Once that happened, the larva inside the egg would begin to grow and develop, and after a certain period of time – usually a few weeks or a couple of months, but sometimes just a few days – it would be ready to hatch. When that time came, her newest incarnation would tear open the soft membrane of the egg and emerge from it in her larval form, remembering everything from her previous lives.

The time she spent in her larval form varied, depending on the environment she was in. If she was in a dangerous area with the potential for predators to find her, she would normally speed through that stage of her life cycle as quickly as she could, as she was much more vulnerable in that form. But when she was in a safe environment, with her King or another friendly Kaiju around to protect her, then she would take her time with it, letting herself grow and develop at a more natural pace.

Either way, when the time came for her to change again, she would find a safe place and spin a silken cocoon around herself, sealing herself off from the outside world once more, before her mind and body would dissolve and reform as she rewrote herself from the inside out. Once her transformation was complete, she would cut her way out of the cocoon and emerge in her adult, winged form, fully matured and ready to continue her newest life.

As part of her adult life, her most important job was to continue her own cycle of reproduction and renewal. Therefore, she made a habit of regularly patrolling the world to check on all of her eggs that hadn't hatched yet. She always made sure to have numerous eggs in existence at any one time, usually at least half a dozen or more, so that even if she lost a few of them she would always have more in reserve. If she discovered during her patrols that any of her eggs had died due to natural causes or had been eaten by predators, she would find a new nesting site and lay a new egg to take its place. In addition, she would use her telepathy to reset the genetic timers in each egg when she visited its nest, thereby ensuring that none of the eggs would start to develop too soon.

Of course, no one lifetime could last forever, and her adult bodies did not have as long of a lifespan as many other Kaiju did. So eventually her living body would die, either killed by another Kaiju or simply dying of old age. But while death was the end for any other creature, for her it was only a temporary setback. Because when her current living body died, that meant that there would no longer be an adult version of her around to reset her eggs' genetic timers, and so they would continue ticking onwards. And eventually, one of the eggs' timers would reach its limit, and the unborn larva inside would begin to stir and develop. The egg would hatch, a new incarnation of her would be born, and the cycle would continue once more.

This was the way of things.

Most types of egg-laying Kaiju didn't produce nearly as many eggs as she did. There were only three types that she knew of which did: the energy-thieving dragonflies, which lived in large swarms ruled by a dominant breeding female; the squid-spiders, like her old friend Scylla, which gathered together in large groups to spawn and raised large batches of offspring communally; and the Jinshin-Mushi, the parasites, whose females could sometimes lay dozens of eggs in a single clutch.

She was actually fairly certain that she and the Jinshin-Mushi were related, that their species were distant cousins which had both evolved from some common ancestor many millions of years ago. That could explain why the males of their kind looked so similar to her winged adult form. Of course, there was no way to know for sure, as it wasn't like any of them would know the answer to that question even if she asked them; unlike her, they could not inherit memories from their parents, so none of the parasites that were alive today would have any way of knowing how their species had originally evolved.

She did know, however, that her reproductive method and theirs were completely different. A clutch of Jinshin-Mushi eggs all hatched at once, and if there were too many offspring in that clutch, they could become a destructive swarm that could scour the land of everything edible during the early stages of their growth. In her case, her eggs only hatched one at a time, and every time the hatchling inside was the exact same creature, containing the same mind, the same memories, and the same soul as its mother.

There was only one Mosura. There was only ever one Mosura.

The way her eggs worked was also fairly straightforward. Normally, their genetic timers were each set for a different amount of time, and were "programmed" to only begin developing once that amount of time had passed. As long as the eggs' genetic timers continued ticking away, the unborn larvae inside would remain in stasis, frozen in time, passively absorbing their mother's memories via the psychic link that she maintained with all of her unborn future selves. When an egg's "timer" finally went off, the larva inside would be sparked to life, and it would begin to grow and develop until it was ready to hatch.

Typically, she would set the eggs' timers for a relatively short amount of time compared to her normal adult lifespan, perhaps a few decades or a couple of centuries. Then, every year or two, she would fly around the world and check on each of her eggs in turn, making sure that nothing had happened to any of them and laying a replacement egg if any of them had been destroyed.

But in her last, most recent lifetime, things had changed. The world had begun to grow increasingly cold; ice caps were expanding outward from both poles, sea levels were falling, and the global temperature had begun dropping dramatically. A few of the more recently-evolved species of Kaiju, mainly the mammalian species like the tusk-sloths or the giant apes, could better tolerate this new, colder climate and had remained active, but most of the surviving reptilian and invertebrate Kaiju had taken refuge underground or beneath the sea and had gone into deep hibernation, planning to sleep through these Cold Times and to wait for the world to warm up again. She and her King had remained active the longest out of those types of Kaiju, but as the planet continued to cool, they had ultimately decided to do the same. She had allowed her most recent body to die peacefully from old age, after resetting and extending all of her eggs' timers so that it would take several millennia at least before any of them hatched, while her King had gone into hibernation in the deep ocean .

Time passed. The ice advanced and receded, the planet began to grow warmer again, and still her last batch of eggs remained, safely tucked away in their hidden nests. Thousands of years went by without incident. Her mind, a single consciousness distributed into a network among all of her slumbering unborn selves, slept and dreamed, blind to the world around them, waiting patiently for the time when she would awaken once more.

And then, one day, one of her slumbering eggs finally reached its time limit, and the hatchling inside began to stir.

As she woke slowly from her dream, the Queen began to properly take stock of her situation. She was still inside her egg, but as far as she could tell, her new body was fully developed, and she was ready to emerge at last.

Finally! She smiled brightly and began carefully squirming around inside the warm liquid that filled her egg sac, doing her best to twitch or wiggle each part of her body so she could make certain that everything was in order. Each of the small, hooked claws that made up her limbs in this form, arranged in a double row along her body, flexed in readiness. Her mandibles opened and closed, testing their sharpness, and she let out a soft chirp that echoed oddly in the liquid around her. She wanted to tear herself out of the egg right away, eager to be awake again and anxious to go find her King, but the experience gained from countless previous hatchings told her to take her time.

Finally, after about an hour of slow, patient tests and exercises that she had developed over the years as a way to make sure that she didn't have any more growing left to do, she pronounced herself satisfied. Her body was fully formed, all of her limbs and organs were functioning properly, all of her prior memories were present in the back of her mind, and her thoughts were clear and focused, not fuzzy or muddled as they often were during her development process. All of that could mean only one thing: the process was complete, and her new body was fully grown.

It was time. She was ready.

Tensing her muscles, the Queen arched her back and started pushing upwards, feeling the soft membrane of the egg sac starting to bulge and stretch as she pressed herself up into it. Tilting her head back, she dug her mandibles into the soft material and began slicing through it, opening a long and thin cut across the top of the sac. Nodding in satisfaction as the liquid inside the sac began leaking out through the hole she had made, she closed her mandibles and drove her head up against the cut in the sac, shoving upwards and forcing it open wider, until finally the egg burst open entirely. Her claws hooked into the edges of the cut and pulled them down, peeling the collapsing egg membrane off of her body and letting it fall away.

Finally free of the egg, the Queen uncurled her body fully and reared up to her full height, arching her back and stretching the front half of her body upwards in a long, luxuriant stretch. Her eyes sparkled in the gloom, her body lit up with the pulsing blue light of her bioluminescence, and she let out a soft, joyous trill that echoed in the quiet space around her.

That was when she realized where she was and took notice of everything that lay around her… and her happiness at her rebirth quickly shifted into a mixture of surprise and confusion.

When she had contacted her King in his dreams a couple of days earlier, the Queen hadn't been sure where her developing egg was located. This wasn't due to negligence on her part: it was based on the simple logic that she had left a dozen hidden nests scattered around the world when she'd gone into her long sleep during the Cold Times, and this egg could have been located in any of them. There had been no way for her to know which nest this was while she was still inside the egg; that would only be possible once she had emerged from it and could take stock of her surroundings.

In general, however, there were two basic options for where this egg might have been located, because she had two types of nests. The first type, which she'd been using for her entire life, were the nests that she had built either by herself or with her King's help: large underground caverns beneath a hill or inside a mountain, which she had carved out for the express purpose of storing an egg. The second type, which she had started using much more recently, were those nests that had been built for her by humans. And based on what she now saw around her, this appeared to be one of the latter.

In the days before the Cold Times, the Queen had spent many years interacting with humans. She'd always found them to be fascinating creatures: tiny in comparison to her and the other Kaiju species, certainly no match for any of them in terms of strength, but with highly-intelligent minds that were equal to a Kaiju's in complexity. In addition, despite their diminutive stature, by working together the humans could build enormous structures that rivaled any Kaiju nest in size.

The Queen had been quite impressed by this talent for construction, so after some of the humans had formed a relationship with Kaiju like her and her King – a fairly simple arrangement, where the humans provided them with various kinds of offerings, usually food and sources of energy, in exchange for their protection from any hostile Kaiju that sought to do the humans harm – she had reached out to them to request that they build some artificial nests for her: strong, durable stone pyramids, designed to last thousands of years, which could be used to safely store some of her eggs and keep them hidden from predators.

Judging by her surroundings, this egg had been one of those, as she appeared to be inside one of the humans' pyramids. The egg had rested on a large, flat stone platform – an altar, she remembered the humans calling it – in the center of a huge, high-roofed hall. Flowering vines cascaded down the walls of the great chamber from small gaps and cracks in the ceiling, filling the air with a lovely, fragrant scent that made her mandibles twitch. On either side of the altar loomed a pair of large stone statues, depicting a pair of human women dressed in robes. Those statues were an artistic representation of her highest priestesses: the special human twins that she had modified genetically, giving them the same powers of telepathy and parthenogenesis that she herself possessed, so that they could communicate with her much more easily and serve as her emissaries and voices to the rest of the humans.

Among the humans of old, her special twins had been called by many different names: they'd been known as the Houtua, the Shobijin, the Elias, or the Cosmos, just to name a few. But she had always just referred to them as her Singers, because, just like her, they loved to sing. They sang before the crowds of worshippers who gathered at the humans' temples to pay homage to her and her King, and they would often entertain her by telepathically sharing the songs and music of their own people with her. She had possessed the same type of mental connection with her Singers that she had with her King; she could contact them from across the world, she could connect her thoughts with theirs and speak to them telepathcally, and they could translate the speech of other humans for her without her needing to establish a telepathic connection with those humans (which was useful, as a telepathic connection with her could sometimes be overwhelming for a human who didn't have the twins' enhanced abilities).

Leaving her Singers behind when she went into hibernation had been almost as hard as being separated from her King, as of course they couldn't hibernate like a Kaiju could, but she had been sure that the gifts she'd given them would hopefully keep them safe and would enable their line to endure through the millennia. Just like her, they could reproduce whenever they wanted without needing a mate, each producing their own set of twin daughters in turn, and their telepathic abilities gave them some formidable natural defenses against enemies in their own size range. As long as ordinary humans were able to survive, her Singers should be able to do the same.

In any case, the Queen could tell now that the egg she'd just hatched from was in one of the artificial nests that the humans had built for her. That much was obvious. But what surprised her was everything else that she saw around her, as she turned to look around at the temple's interior.

She hadn't known what exactly she would find when she emerged from the egg, of course. But if this egg was in a human temple, then she would have imagined one of two possible options for what she might see upon awakening. The first option was that the humans who had built the temple for her – or their descendants, at least – would still be living in this place, and that they would be there to greet her when she emerged. That had always been a time of great celebration back in the day, on the few occasions when she had hatched from an egg inside one of the human-built nests. There would be cheering, dancing crowds of worshippers everywhere, singing songs and chants in her honor, and they would normally provide a feast of tasty vegetation and flowers to help her grow stronger and settle into her new life. Her King would always be there too, of course, and sometimes one or more of their other Kaiju friends would be present as well. She had always loved those special occasions.

The other option, of course, was that the humans who had built this temple would no longer be here: that they had moved elsewhere or died out entirely during the Cold Times, and that there would be none of them left to greet her. In that scenario, she had expected to wake up alone, in an empty and silent temple that would likely be overgrown by plants but devoid of humans. That wouldn't be quite as pleasant, as she had cared greatly for the humans and the idea of them all being gone made her just as sad as the idea of losing one of her Kaiju companions, but she could have understood that.

But interestingly enough, what she saw now was neither of those options. There were humans here, but not nearly as many of them as she would have expected… and they were utterly unlike any humans she had ever seen before.

Most of the humans that she could see and sense were gathered at the other end of the large nesting chamber, tucked into a smaller room that was set into the far wall of the chamber and that appeared to be the entrance to the humans' path into the temple, which seemed to be sealed off from the main chamber by a strange, transparent wall. The rest of the humans, perhaps a dozen of them, were all gathered around the altar where her egg had rested, perched on a series of elevated walkways that seemed to have been added in quite recently and led back to the room where the other humans were gathered. Curiously, the walkways seemed to be made of metal, not of wood or stone as the humans had done in the old days. It seemed that they had continued to develop their craftsmanship while she had been asleep.

What was also interesting was that the humans gathered before her weren't wearing or carrying anything that resembled the attire or offerings of the worshippers in the old days. The ones on the walkways around her were clad in what appeared to be full-body suits of armor, light blue in color, with helmets covering their heads. Instead of fruits, leaves or flowers, they carried what appeared to be bulky black sticks, made from some kind of metal; she could also see that the tip of each stick appeared to be glowing blue and was emitting a faint crackle of electricity.

"Weird," the Queen murmured thoughtfully to herself. She frowned and glanced around curiously as another thought occurred to her: no one here was dressed in the style of her old priests and priestesses, or even the attire of the ordinary worshippers who had once congregated in her temples. And when she reached out with her mind again, it only took a moment to confirm that none of her Singers were within range of her senses either.

What was going on here? What were these humans doing? Perhaps the customs they'd been using to worship her had changed dramatically since the last time she'd been awake? Or was something else happening here?

At that moment, a soft voice, which seemed to be a human voice amplified to an unusually-loud volume, echoed through the space around her. While most Kaiju couldn't understand human speech at all, thanks to her Singers she could understand enough of their language that she could comprehend the words, although their true meaning was harder for her to understand without the accompanying telepathic impressions that she was used to.

"Activating containment grid," the voice intoned. With a strange humming sound, what looked like a column of glowing blue light suddenly flared to life around the Queen, rising up around her altar and extending all the way to the ceiling of the chamber.

The Queen frowned and tilted her head curiously as she examined this strange phenomenon; it wasn't like anything she'd ever seen before. Maybe this was some kind of new custom that the humans had invented? The blue glow did resemble the same blue light that she herself emitted. Perhaps that was its purpose: to mimic her bioluminescence as a way of paying respects to her?

She looked down at the circle of humans around her again, and found herself feeling more and more confused by how quiet they all were. The humans back in the old days would have been singing and chanting this entire time, so she couldn't help but find it strange that these ones weren't making any noise at all, except for the occasional crackle of electric sparks from the strange metal sticks in their hands. What kinds of offerings were those supposed to be, anyway? They clearly weren't edible and they weren't producing any radiation, so maybe they were some kind of ceremonial instruments?

And what was the purpose of this glowing blue column around her? Curiously, she reached out one hooked claw, poking it lightly into the inner surface of the column, but the dense blue light stubbornly resisted her efforts to push through it, and she felt a strange tingling sensation running up through her claw. She tried scraping her claw along the surface of the column, but it slid harmlessly over the mesh of blue light without any effect.

The Queen's confusion deepened for a moment, before her eyes narrowed and her feelings slowly morphed into suspicion as she realized what this glowing column reminded her of. The strange, mesh-like design of it bore a striking resemblance to the nets that humans back in the old days had used to catch fish in the ocean, except that this one was much bigger, and made from glowing blue light rather than ropes or vines.

Was this glowing light-column supposed to be… some kind of trap? For her?

Just as those suspicions began growing in her mind, the glowing "net" suddenly changed color, shifting from blue to red, the way her own bioluminescence did when she became agitated or upset. There were a few explosions of sparks on the ceiling above her, raining down around her… and then the flickering red "net" dissolved into the air, evaporating like mist, and was gone.

The Queen tilted her head back and forth, feeling more perplexed than ever. What just happened? She turned to examine her surroundings, her body bumping against the metal walkways that the humans appeared to have built around her egg and sending tremors through them. The blue-clad humans around her stumbled back as she moved, but she ignored them for the moment, scanning the surrounding area with both her senses and her telepathy for any signs of anything familiar, particularly searching for any traces of her Singers. But try as she might, she still found nothing useful; there were a few other humans outside the pyramid, but she couldn't sense anyone with telepathy.

Frowning, she turned back to face the semicircle of humans beneath her, leaning down towards them. "What's going on here?" she questioned, her voice accompanied by a series of staccato clicks and snorts. "Why are you all acting like this? Explain yourselves!" To add a bit of emphasis, she swayed a little closer to them and slapped one claw down lightly on the near edge of the walkway, digging it into the metal. She knew the humans probably couldn't understand her, but she was getting increasingly confused and frustrated by their bizarre behavior, and she definitely wasn't comforted by the idea that they might have been trying to imprison her somehow using that strange light-net.

What happened next only confirmed those misgivings. Instead of bowing, speaking to her, or doing anything that the humans back in the old days had normally done, one of the blue-clad humans beneath her let out a yell and raised his metal stick to point up at her. A moment later, a bolt of crackling blue lightning leapt from the tip of the stick and hit the Queen in the stomach, sending a stinging electric jolt racing up through her body.

"Ow!" the Queen cried out at the stinging sensation of the electric shock, much more startled than actually hurt but feeling a jab of pain regardless. Her body reflexively jerked backwards, rearing back away from the humans, as her mind whirled in shock and disbelief.

They'd attacked her. They'd actually attacked her! The humans who worshipped her back in the old days had never done that, not even once, both because they knew she would never harm them and also because, frankly, they weren't stupid enough to pick a fight with a Kaiju, no matter how gentle she was normally.

This was completely unheard of… well, almost. Prior to her hatching, she had seen some flashes of her King's recent memories while they'd been sharing dreams through their mental connection, and she'd glimpsed some images from when he'd been hunting down two Jinshin-Mushi parasites a few years earlier… memories of humans attacking him, using strange, flashing weapons that launched stinging bursts of fire from a distance. But she hadn't really believed that humans could have changed that much, even in a few thousand years. Surely it must have just been some kind of misunderstanding on their part, especially since her King had been trying to protect them from the parasites at the time.

But clearly, she had been wrong about that. The humans in this new age were willing to attack Kaiju, even friendly ones, without provocation. And if these humans were willing to attack her like this, it meant that they weren't worshippers; they were hostile. At the bare minimum, the group of them around her now qualified as a threat.

The Queen was silent for a moment, her eyes still wide and astonished. Then her eyes narrowed, and her glowing bioluminescence melted from blue into red as a surge of annoyance and anger welled up inside her. Who the hell did these humans think they were, attacking her for no reason?!

"Okay," she muttered, her mandibles snapping pointedly at the air. "You know what? That does it."

And with no further hesitation, she let out a piercing screech and struck.

Luckily, it wasn't difficult. With three quick flicks of her head, three jets of sticky silk burst from her open mouth, and all three hit their targets, wrapping around most of the humans who had attacked her and knocking them off their feet. After those three quick bursts of silk, most of the humans had been stuck to the walls of the chamber, glued firmly in place and unable to move or threaten her any further.

Several of the humans were still on their feet, running away along the metal catwalk, but the Queen noticed that the one who had attacked her first was with them, and she was in no mood to let him off easy for that. She lunged forward, her mandibles clamping down – as carefully as possible – around the legs of the human in question; she dragged him backwards, hoisted him into the air, and gently tossed him into one of the silken webs that she'd just created along the nearby wall. As soon as he hit the curtain of silk, he was immobilized by its glue, held there motionless and out of the way just like the others. None of them were dead or seriously injured, but they were all safely stuck in place and wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. Therefore, none of them were a threat to her any longer, which meant that she should be safe while she figured out what to do next.

With most of the strangely-hostile humans trapped and out of the way, while those who hadn't been trapped were quickly vacating the chamber, the Queen was able to relax a little, although she still felt unnaturally tense. Turning around and scanning the room, she tried to make sense of this bizarre situation, but she still felt thoroughly confused. Why would they treat her like that, as if she were an enemy or a threat? Had they all somehow forgotten about her?

Putting her confusion aside for a moment, the Queen lowered her head and reached out with her telepathy, extending it farther this time and seeking out the connection between her mind and her King's. After a moment's focus, she could feel their connection, but it was faint and indistinct, which meant that he was a long way away. She'd been pretty sure this would happen, as the odds of his being near whichever nest this happened to be at the time of her hatching were fairly low, but unfortunately it meant that she wasn't going to be able to get his help right now. She would have to get out of here, find a safe place to cocoon and transform, and then she could go and find him. Hopefully, once she'd tracked him down and they were reunited, he would be able to explain why the humans were behaving so differently now.

The sudden flicker of another mind approaching snapped the Queen out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see another human approaching down the elevated walkway. She tensed up for a moment, expecting another attack… but on closer inspection, something about this human seemed different. This one was an adult female, by the looks of it, and she was moving much more slowly and cautiously than the others. In addition, unlike the humans that had attacked her, who had been clad in blue armor, this one seemed to be wearing some kind of loose-fitting white robe. Instead of a metal stick crackling with electricity, this female carried some sort of dark metal box, which looked more like an offering basket than a weapon. Her demeanor was also very different from that of the blue-clad humans who had attacked the Queen; she moved slowly and carefully, and kept her head inclined respectfully as she approached.

The Queen cocked her head, feeling intrigued by this human's clothing and her attitude. Some of her priests and priestesses back in the old days had worn robes that vaguely resembled this one, and they often behaved in a similar way when presenting offerings to her. Could this female be one of their descendants, perhaps?

This female's attitude seemed much more like the type of behavior that the Queen had been expecting, but she was still wary. She leaned down, putting her head on the same level as the human, and deliberately banged her chin lightly against the metal platform, shaking the structure as a warning. "Don't try anything," she warned, despite knowing that this human probably couldn't understand her. "I won't kill you… but if you try to harm me, I will defend myself."

The white-robed human approached, slowly and cautiously, until she was just a few yards away from where the Queen was waiting. A short distance away, she crouched down on the walkway, sinking to her knees and bowing her head as she set the metal box down on the floor in front of her. The Queen regarded it with some interest, wondering what it might be. She couldn't sense any radiation emanating from it, but it didn't look edible either. Maybe it was meant to be some sort of decoration? Shiny rocks and crystals had often been used to adorn her altars back in the old days, and she supposed that this might fall into that category. Or perhaps the real offering was something inside the box, contained within a protective metal shell?

After setting the box down, the human continued fiddling with it for a moment, until the box suddenly opened, unfolding in a manner that made it look like a strange metal flower. The Queen was still puzzled, but interest was overtaking her confusion: maybe it was some sort of artistic decoration after all? She leaned in a little closer, watching intently as the human continued tapping the interior petals of the metal flower for a few more seconds.

But then, suddenly, the human's hands made an odd twisting motion, as if she were turning something inside the metal flower… and a strange, pulsing voice rose out of the flower and sliced through the warm air of the chamber like a blade. It almost sounded like the voice of another Kaiju, but it was warped and distorted beyond recognition, melted into just a series of loud, blaring tones.

"Ah!" The Queen jerked back with another cry of pain, shaking her head back and forth as if stung, as the shrill, piercing warble dug into her sensitive ears. The red light of her bioluminescence flashed brighter, and she instinctively spat a burst of silk in the direction of the noise. Due to the pain in her head, her normally-accurate aim went wide and the silk missed its target, splattering over the railing on one side of the walkway instead of trapping the white-robed human, who ducked to one side to avoid it and made a quick adjustment to the metal flower. The pulsing, grating voice shifted tones, becoming deeper and slower but no less confusing. It was like listening to somebody slurring all their words together, a confusing warble that was impossible to understand; she couldn't make any sense out of it, but it was still sending jolts of pain through her brain with each throbbing pulse of the noise.

"Stop that!" the Queen cried out. She spat another jet of silk in the direction of the noise, missing with this one too, and continued whipping her head around in an attempt to get the noise out of her ears. "That hurts!"

As the Queen thrashed back and forth, trying to relieve the nagging lances of pain that were stabbing into her head, she dimly sensed another mind approaching. She heard a high-pitched human voice shouting, and looked up to see another female human – this one noticeably smaller than the white-robed one, and dressed in darker colors – running along the walkway to where the white-robed female was still fiddling with the warbling metal flower. Normally she would have regarded this development with more interest, but with her head feeling more and more like it wanted to split open every time the flower's discordant song pulsed, she didn't really care right now.

"I said stop it!" the Queen snapped with a furious glare down at the white-robed female, her mandibles clattering together angrily and her red glow intensifying. "Either you stop that noise right now, or I will!"

Seemingly ignoring her, the white-robed human shouted something over her shoulder as the smaller female approached her, and finished making another adjustment to the metal flower. The warped "voice" that was coming from it promptly changed again, but this time was the worst one yet: the low-toned, guttural warbling of the last sound now rose into a piercing, high-pitched wail that set the Queen's mandibles on edge. If the other sounds had been like spikes lancing through her mind, this one felt like she'd driven one of her own claws straight into her brain and was deliberately twisting it around. She screeched in pain and recoiled, lashing back and forth as the pain in her head quickly fed her growing anger, and finally came to a decision.

That was it. She was done playing nice.

She wasn't going to kill these two humans, as she didn't kill other living things unless it was absolutely necessary… but she was going to grab them, pick them up, and throw them both into the silk webbing with the others who'd attacked her. Then she was going to smash that metal flower and hopefully shut off the agonizing racket that was echoing from it, and then she would get out of the pyramid and figure out what to do next.

Rearing back with a clattering hiss of anger, the Queen coiled like a snake and struck down at the pair of humans, her mandibles spreading wide to snatch them up and toss them into the silk. The white-robed human made one final frantic adjustment to the metal flower, and its voice shifted again –

"Be calm."

And the Queen froze, just feet away from the pair, as the pain in her head vanished and the discordant chorus of noise echoing from the flower suddenly snapped into crystalline clarity.

"Be calm."

The Queen's bioluminescent glow melted from red back into blue in the span of a heartbeat, as she stared wide-eyed at the pair of human women and the strange metal flower. A flower that was still somehow speaking to her, sound echoing out from its metallic petals… but this time, it wasn't a random chorus of nonsense. It was a voice, similar to the voice of a Kaiju, but with something very strange about it.

"Be calm," it murmured. "Be calm. Be calm."

To the Queen's sensitive ears, as she focused more intently on the voice of the metal flower, it almost sounded as if two different voices had been blended together, like two rivers converging and flowing into each other until they merged and became one. One of the voices was softer, higher-pitched, and distinctly feminine, but not like the voice of any Kaiju she'd ever heard. But the other…

It was a familiar voice. A deep, masculine, very familiar voice.

It was her King's voice.

"…Goji?" the Queen murmured in shock and disbelief.

What in the world?

The Queen was more confused in this moment than she could ever remember being. She'd assumed that this metal flower must be some kind of an attack on her, due to the pain that its raucous "song" had caused, but now she wasn't so sure. The voice she was hearing now was unlike any she'd ever heard… but the deeper half of its song, the deeper and rougher tones, was unmistakably the sound of her King's voice.

Could this be some kind of attempt by these humans to communicate with her, since her Singers weren't here to translate on her behalf? She remembered that back in the old days, some human groups would use simple noisemakers, like giant horns, to communicate with other Kaijus that lacked her telepathic abilities, calling them in to receive offerings of food or to defend their homes from hostile groups of humans or other Kaijus. Perhaps this metal flower was simply a more advanced version of such an instrument?

As she listened more closely, something else caught her attention. The second voice that was intermingled with her King's in the flower's song – the soft, high-pitched voice – didn't actually sound like the voice of another female Kaiju. In fact, on closer inspection… it actually sounded like a female human. And as the Queen focused more intently on the female portion of this strange double-voice, she actually recognized it: she'd heard it shouting just a few moments earlier.

One of the two voices that had been fused into this strange chorus was her King's voice… and the other was the voice of the smaller female human who was currently cowering on the walkway below her, the companion of the white-robed female who had been using the metal flower.

Fascinating…

The Queen leaned down slowly, tilting her head from side to side as she examined the pair more closely. "It's okay," she murmured, making her voice as quiet and soothing as possible. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sorry for attacking you like that; those noises just really hurt my ears, and I thought you were trying to hurt me."

The humans didn't respond, of course, as she was pretty sure they couldn't understand her. Her Singers were the only humans who could understand her normal speech, and she could only communicate telepathically with other humans by forming a mental link with them. She could try that with one of these two, but that could potentially be risky if they did turn out to be hostile.

But after a moment of deliberation, she decided that it didn't matter. She needed to know why things were so different now, and how this little human had managed to mingle her voice with the voice of the King. And the only way to communicate with this little one right now was if she formed a link between their minds.

With that in mind, the Queen carefully leaned down further, leaning inward towards the little human. Her mandibles clicked softly together as she approached, her eyes sparkling brightly as she held her head level with theirs. "It's okay, little one," she breathed to the human girl, slowly moving closer. "I won't hurt you, I promise."

The girl seemed to understand this, as her previously-fearful expression softened and she took a couple of steps forward towards the Queen. The larger, white-robed female held one of her hands, as if making sure she wouldn't get too close, but the dark-haired girl was clearly focused entirely on the Queen. She lifted one arm and held it out, her hand open and reaching out towards the Queen's head.

The Queen hesitated for a long moment, not sure whether she should really go through with this. But eventually she shook it off and leaned forward a little bit more, enough that the human's hand was able to make contact with the soft chitin of her forehead. Physical contact was the key to establishing a mental link; as soon as that connection was made, the Queen's mind reached out, gently and carefully brushing against the mind of the human girl. She heard the girl let out a soft gasp as she felt the contact, and smiled faintly at the note of wonder and awe in her voice.

Hello, the Queen projected, making her telepathic voice as soft and gentle as possible so it wouldn't overwhelm the girl. Seeing the girl's eyes widen in amazement and happy to see that there was no trace of fear, she continued. It's okay; I promise I won't hurt you. My name is Mosura. What's yours?

The girl's thoughts were a little jumbled – which was understandable, given the circumstances – but the Queen was able to distinguish a name. …Madison.

The Queen's smile widened. Excellent! She'd been able to make the initial contact without causing the human – Madison – any significant pain or discomfort. It would take more time and effort to expand this first tentative thread into a proper telepathic connection, but this was a start. A soft, pleased snort escaped her mouth, creating a rush of warm breath that ruffled Madison's hair, but the smile on the small human's face reassured the Queen that she hadn't frightened the child.

It's very nice to meet you, Madison, she replied, her voice still as soft and kind as possible. Could you tell me where –

And then the thunderclap of an explosion echoed through the great chamber, and the Queen's eyes widened in surprise. She and Madison both jerked back, their connection cutting off as they turned to face the far end of the room, where the other white-robed humans had been watching from their observation room. Now, however, an explosion appeared to have gone off in that room, with flames licking up the walls and smoke billowing out of the room. Some of the white-robed humans were crumpled on the ground, unconscious or dead; the others were promptly attacked as well, as more humans, these ones dressed in black, burst into the room. These ones were holding weapons, which she dimly recognized as some of the smaller fire-stingers that her King had mentioned, and they used them to deadly effect. The remaining white-robed humans in that chamber were cut down in a matter of seconds, crumpling to the floor in lifeless heaps.

The Queen's eyes widened in alarm. "No!" she gasped, rearing back and clattering her mandibles in alarm. But she was too far away, and there was nothing she could do; before she could even move in that direction, all but one of the white-robed humans in that observation chamber had fallen. Only one was left standing, his arms raised in surrender, as another black-clad figure – presumably the leader of these new arrivals – stepped into that chamber. He regarded the last white-robe for a moment, then lifted a small fire-stinger in one hand. There was a crack, and the last white-robe fell as the transparent barrier between the observation room and the larger chamber shattered and fell away.

The dark-haired girl, Madison, screamed and shrank back; the older white-robed woman wrapped her arms protectively around the girl, in a manner which suggested that she was Madison's mother. The Queen's eyes narrowed and she swayed a little closer to them, before letting out a low, warning hiss as the leader of the black-clad humans stepped out into the main chamber. While she wasn't very good at distinguishing individual humans from each other by their facial features, something about this one sent a chill through her. The impression she got from his mind was unlike any human she'd ever felt before: a cold, calculating, predatory intelligence, with flickering images of death and destruction boiling under the surface.

Come with me, little one, the Queen projected to Madison, a telepathic whisper that should hopefully be understandable through the flickering connection between them. I can get you and your mother out of here, but we need to go now.

Madison blinked and turned to look up at the Queen, her eyes wide. After a moment, though, she tentatively shook her head. N-no… no, it's okay, her mind whispered back, much softer than the Queen's but still audible through their faint connection. They… they won't hurt us. My mom won't let that happen. But… Her eyes widened a little more, and she glanced back over her shoulder at the dark-clad man before turning back to the Queen, her mental voice becoming more urgent. But you do need to go. They might hurt you if you stay here. Get out of here and get someplace safe. Go, please!

The Queen frowned, feeling conflicted. Surely the girl and her mother would be safer with her? She couldn't just leave them here to deal with these hostile humans on their own, could she? But Madison did seem certain that these newcomers wouldn't harm her, and she had to believe that there was a reason for that.

Besides, the girl was definitely right about one thing: it wasn't safe for the Queen to stay here. If she were in her adult form, she would have no hesitation about staying behind and challenging this new batch of hostile humans. But in her larval form, she was much smaller and more vulnerable… and if the humans' fire-stingers were capable of inflicting injuries on a Kaiju as large and powerful as her King, they could certainly harm her in her current state.

After thinking things over for a long moment, the Queen nodded slowly. She didn't like the idea of leaving Madison here, but under the current circumstances she didn't have much of a choice. All right, little one, she murmured. But I promise, if you need me, call out to me and I will come for you.

With that, the Queen swung around, away from the humans, and lunged towards the back wall of the immense chamber.

Luckily, when her human worshippers had built this pyramid for her, they had thought ahead. Since she hadn't wanted to destroy the pyramid to get outside after she hatched, they had built her an exit: a tunnel that led out of the hatching chamber, then curved down under the ground and led out of the pyramid, and then curved back up to ground-level again a couple of miles from the pyramid. The entrance to this tunnel, a large opening in the back wall of the chamber, had been concealed by a thick curtain of hanging vines and greenery that had accumulated over thousands of years, but the tunnel itself had been built to last just as long as the pyramid, and it was still there.

Without hesitation, the Queen pushed through the curtain of vines and plunged into the tunnel, fleeing into the darkness. I will find you again, little one, she thought, sending a last reassuring telepathic call back towards Madison. I promise.

And she would; she vowed it to herself as she scrambled along the tunnel, her hooked claws moving in a series of rhythmic waves along her body to pull her along as quickly as possible. But she needed to be stronger, faster, and better-informed first, and that meant her original plan had to be changed. She could no longer afford to stay in her larval stage for a while; she needed the speed and the heightened telepathic power that her winged adult form gave her. Therefore, right now she needed to find a safe place to cocoon, and then she needed to go find her King as soon as she finished transforming.

Once she was with her King, they could figure everything else out together. He could help her figure out why the humans were so different now, and maybe she would be able to track down her Singers, if their descendants still lived. Everything would be fine.

But before she could track her King down, she had work to do.

As it turned out, the other end of the Queen's escape tunnel had been buried by a landslide at some point in the past few thousand years. No human could have cleared away the wall of displaced earth and rocks that had filled the tunnel's mouth, but the Queen barely even slowed down. Her larval form might be fairly small by Kaiju standards, but she was still a Kaiju, and a little digging wasn't going to stop her. She plowed through the mound of rubble with barely any effort, smashing it aside and bursting out of the tunnel exit in a massive cloud of dust.

The exit from her tunnel was set into the side of a hill, and as the dust cloud settled, the Queen found herself on the bank of a large river. Finally being outside again was a little overwhelming, but the reassuring warmth of the fresh air and the calls of countless living creatures helped to soothe the fear and confusion that she'd felt inside the pyramid. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down as much as she could, taking a cue from her King and just listening to all the sounds of the forest around her to help her relax.

She glanced back and forth, evaluating her options. If she went downstream, she would be closer to the ocean, and therefore closer to finding her King… but right now, what she really needed was a safe place to make her cocoon. So she closed her eyes for a moment and focused on her sense of hearing instead, listening intently for any sounds that might give her some useful information. What she really needed was someplace where she would have shelter while she was transforming, a place where, on the off-chance that any other Kaiju were still awake, they wouldn't find her while she was immobile and defenseless. But she was sure there had to be someplace suitable in the area; she just had to find it.

And sure enough, as she listened closely to her surroundings, she heard a promising sound: the soft, crashing rumble of a waterfall, echoing down the river from somewhere upstream.

The Queen smiled. If the waterfall was big enough, it could be ideal for her purposes. Making her decision, she turned upstream and set off, crawling along the river as quickly as she could, while keeping both her ears and her telepathy on full alert for any signs of potential danger.

It didn't take long for her to find what she was looking for. The waterfall was only a few miles upriver, and it took less than an hour for her to reach it. She didn't think she'd been there before, but it was ideally suited for her needs: a very high and very broad set of falls, wide enough that her King could have stretched his whole body out under them and taken a nice bath if he'd been there. Best of all, the rock of the cliff-face was undercut, creating an open space behind the curtain of falling water that appeared to be more than large enough to accommodate her, even in her cocoon.

"Perfect," the Queen murmured to herself, nodding decisively. After scanning the surrounding area to make sure there were no hostile humans nearby, she crawled up the river to the base of the falls. Moving slowly and carefully so her claws could find purchase on the slippery rocks, she clambered up to the falls and ducked through the sheet of falling water, washing away the dirt that had accumulated on her body during her crawl through the escape tunnel. She pulled herself into the cavity behind the water, and was pleased to see that her guess had been correct; there was more than enough room for her to fit comfortably in here.

As she settled in and prepared to get started, a strange humming sound reached her ears, echoing over the rushing din of the falls. Turning, she cautiously poked her head out through the sheet of water, just in time to see several strange creatures flying into view over the nearby hills.

Hmmm… The Queen regarded these new arrivals carefully as they began circling over the falls. At first glance, she thought they might be some kind of large bird, or small insect Kaiju, but on closer inspection they were unlike anything she'd ever seen. They didn't have flapping wings extending from their sides, like the wings of her adult form or of any other flying creature that she'd seen before; instead, a set of narrow, bladelike "wings" appeared to jut out into the air above them, and spun around in a circle to give them lift. In addition, they seemed to be covered in metal, not in feathers or scales. And when she reached out with her telepathy, she didn't feel any life from them; instead, she felt the presences of several humans inside each of the strange "birds." She couldn't sense the girl Madison or the strange, predatory man aboard any of them, though, so she assumed that these must be a new group.

After contemplating for a moment, the Queen shook her head. Whatever they were, these strange metal birds and their human riders didn't seem inclined to attack her, which meant she could afford to ignore them for now. And frankly, that was a good thing, because she had a more important job to do at the moment. She let out a warning chirp, directed up at the metal birds, before pulling her head back behind the falls and into cover.

From here, it was academic. She'd spun a cocoon for herself countless times before, so she barely even needed to think about it at this point. Grasping the rocks with some of her claws to hold her body in place, she tilted her head back and began spraying jets of silk over herself, using her upper claws to manipulate the strands and spreading them out into a silken "shroud" around her body.

As time ticked by and the minutes stretched into hours, the cocoon slowly grew larger and denser around the Queen as more and more silk poured from her mouthparts, her claws still instinctively weaving each new strand of silk into place as she turned around and around inside the cocoon. She barely noticed, as she was already slipping into a trance: a reflex that was designed to make the transformation process easier for her.

After a few hours, the cocoon was finally completed, shutting out the outside world. Only the soft rumbling of the falls echoed through the silken membrane, like a lullaby that was ushering the Queen deeper into her trance. As her mind started to soften again, she reached out with her telepathy one more time, flinging a message out like a dart along one of her mental connections: not the new, faint one that she had developed with Madison, but a connection that she'd held for millions of years.

I'm coming, my love, the Queen thought, just before she slipped fully into her trance as the transformation began and her DNA started rewriting itself from the inside out. Don't worry; I'll see you soon.

A day later and half a world away, the King floated motionless at the bottom of the ocean. His eyes were closed, only a faint orange glow filtering under their lids. He'd found it nearly impossible to sleep ever since his dream-conversation with the Queen a few days earlier, so he was trying to calm himself with his meditation instead. Listening to the song of the ocean always helped him to relax, and with luck, maybe he would be able to sense her awakening.

Over the last few hours, though, his meditation definitely hadn't been helping him relax.

When the Queen had first emerged from her egg the day before, he had felt the flicker through their telepathic connection, faint but unmistakable: wherever she was now, she was alive and fully conscious. A surge of joy had rushed through his heart in that moment, but it had soon been mixed with a dose of mild annoyance when he realized that, just as she had predicted, her current hatching site was too far away for him to pinpoint its location.

Then, however, things started getting worse. While Mosura was too far away for the King to sense most of what she was experiencing, the flashes of fear, anger and pain that he could feel filtering through their connection were quickly putting him on edge. He scowled, his rows of pointed teeth grinding together as his tail lashed back and forth behind him, churning up the water.

When he'd heard a second voice echoing through the deeps, the King had tensed up. This one was the same strange Kaiju-esque voice that he'd heard before, but this time it kept going, changing tones several times. Even at this distance, the first few garbled voices had put his teeth on edge, and a low growl had rumbled in the back of his throat. However, his anger had died down a bit when the warbling chorus settled into an actual voice, again one that was vaguely similar to his own. He'd been too far away to tell what exactly it was saying, but it seemed to be coming from the same area as his Queen, and his hands had clenched into fists at the thought of another Kaiju threatening Mosura right after she'd hatched, when she was smaller and more vulnerable.

Luckily, whatever strange Kaiju was generating this voice didn't seem to be hostile, as the impressions that he'd gotten from his Queen were feelings of confusion and curiosity, rather than anger or fear. And after a few minutes, the new voice had faded away, leaving only the faint trickle of sensations coming through the Queen's telepathic connection. He could barely even feel her presence, although he could tell that she was still alive and awake. Despite that, he had remained focused on their connection for a few hours after that until her telepathic message had echoed through it, and then the faint sound of her thoughts had dissolved into a familiar soft murmur, like the telepathic equivalent of someone snoring gently, which meant that she was in the process of cocooning. After that, he hadn't been able to hear anything more from her, but he could tell that she was still alive and unhurt.

Clearly, something had happened to alter their original plan, and the Queen had been forced to cocoon and transform immediately instead of coming to find him first. The question was, what could have triggered that change of plans?

Although he knew that Mosura was safe for the moment (she had to be, or else she would never have made herself vulnerable by cocooning), the King still found it impossible for him to relax; his hands wouldn't stop clenching and unclenching, and his breathing was significantly faster than normal. The idea that his Queen might be in danger, and that he was totally unable to help because he had no idea where she was, kept gnawing at the back of his mind, urging him to take action despite the fact that he currently couldn't do anything.

And the humans – or, to be more precise, their annoying little pets – weren't helping matters.

For most of the time since the King had awoken from his hibernation, he had only been acquainted with two types of the metal fish that the humans had apparently created in his absence: the floating surface-fish that drifted across the sea without submerging, and the whale-like diving-fish that could spend long periods of time underwater but still needed to surface again eventually. He'd assumed that those were the only two types of these strange fish… but ever since he had emerged from the depths to track down the pair of Jinshin-Mushi parasites, he'd found himself plagued by a new type of metal fish.

These ones had first appeared after his fight with the male parasite on that tropical island, when he'd been swimming across the ocean in pursuit of his prey. They were much smaller than the metal diving-fish that he'd encountered before, and their physiology seemed very different from that of their larger cousins: there was no radiation emanating from them, and he couldn't sense any humans concealed inside them. But the fact that they were made of metal, and the fact that they were usually found near the larger metal fish, suggested that they came from the same origin.

At first, the King had assumed that the smaller metal fish might be scavengers following after the humans' larger surface-fish, like the normal small fish that followed after predators like sharks to feed on the scraps from their kills. But after a while, he'd figured out that whenever these smaller metal fish showed up, they always seemed to be focused totally on him rather than on their larger brethren, always staying close to him as if their only goal was to track his movements. Eventually, he had realized what must be going on: these little metal fish were keeping tabs on his whereabouts for the humans, following him wherever he went and somehow reporting that information back to their masters. Ever since then, he'd dubbed them "spy-fish," and he had developed a strong dislike for their presence.

Right now, he could sense at least a dozen of the spy-fish in the area, significantly more than normal. Three of them were very close to him, close enough for him to see the odd, blinking lights that they produced as they circled leisurely around him, but he could hear many more of them beyond visual range, concealed by the rocks and crevices of the underwater terrain that lay between his current location and the underwater nest that the humans had built into a nearby seamount.

The King's eyes narrowed, their faint orange glow brightening briefly, and he let out a low, irritated growl. Normally he tolerated the humans' observations of him without any complaint, as they didn't really do anything to him, but right now he really wasn't in the mood for it.

Come on, Goji, just listen and try to relax, he thought irritably to himself, trying to think of what Mosura would tell him if she were there. He closed his eyes to block out the lights of the circling spy-fish and reached out with his other senses instead, letting the timeless song of the ocean fill his mind and wash everything else away.

After a couple of minutes, though, the King frowned as a strange sensation began creeping up his spine. His fists clenched again, his teeth ground together, and he felt a surge of adrenaline starting to flow through his body. He felt as if something was threatening him, as if an enemy was approaching, but he couldn't sense anything of the kind nearby. His normal senses all told him he was alone down here – except for the spy-fish, of course – but his danger-sense was murmuring in his mind with increasing urgency, as if it was trying to warn him of an impending threat.

The tipping point came when one of the spy-fish buzzed right past the King's face, one of its blinking lights shining directly into his closed eyes. That was too much: the King's lip curled and he lashed out, one hand swinging up through the water and snatching the spy-fish in a vice grip. He knew there were no humans inside this creature, so he was in no mood to show mercy to it; a single squeeze of his hand crushed it in an instant.

Snarling, the King's eyes snapped open and he burst into motion, propelling himself forward. A flick of his massive tail pulverized one of the other two spy-fish, and he smashed the third against the rocks with a backhanded sweep of his arm.

The King accelerated through the depths, weaving back and forth through the maze of rock formations. Whenever another one of the spy-fish came into view, he smashed it and continued on, barely even slowing down. He'd had enough of humoring the humans for the moment, and maybe a good scare would convince them to keep their distance for a while.

As he approached the humans' underwater nest, the King scowled as he heard an echoing series of high-pitched whines and metallic clanks coming from the seamount that they'd colonized. They had closed armored metal shields over their observation windows, and he could sense the energy of their fire-stingers charging up. Clearly, they were interpreting his approach as a threat, and were preparing to defend themselves.

A deep, low growl welled up in the King's throat. His body trailed a river of current as he circled around the nest, keeping a careful eye on the stingers as they swiveled to track him. His usual rule was that he wouldn't deliberately attack humans without provocation… but if they attacked him, then he would defend himself. So if these humans opened fire on him right now, he wouldn't hesitate to smash their nest to pieces.

Unfortunately, the King couldn't actually talk to the humans the way his Queen could, as her telepathic abilities were much more advanced than his. However, he did have his own ways of communicating with others, and he used one of them now: the spiked plates on his back began rhythmically pulsing and crackling with light, similarly to when he was charging up his fiery breath. A deep humming rumble echoed in his chest, timed to synchronize with each pulse of his plates. This behavior could be used in two ways, depending on its target: to most creatures, it was a threat display meant to intimidate rivals or drive off enemies, while to an interested female it would serve as a display of his strength and vitality. In this case, it was definitely the former.

Luckily, as the King cruised slowly in towards the humans' nest, they apparently came to their senses, as their fire-stingers pulled back into the burrows that they'd emerged from. The King relaxed slightly, but his eyes were still narrowed warily, and their normally-orange light was still the same pulsing blue as his spines.

After another moment, he relaxed a little more as the metal armor plates that had covered the humans' observation windows slowly retracted. Clearly, they didn't actually want to fight him – or, at least, they'd thought better of it – and they were trying to let him know that.

Good. The King nodded in satisfaction, but he still felt unusually tense. His danger-sense was still going haywire and sending jolts up his spine; he'd assumed that it was because of the humans spying on him, but apparently it was about something else. But what could it be? Maybe whatever had forced his Queen to cocoon early?

His spines still pulsing every couple of seconds as a warning to any enemies that might be lurking nearby, the King reached out with his mind and his ears again, trying to identify the source of the threat that he was sensing. Finally, he caught a faint trace of something, something very distant but vaguely recognizable: the same strange voice that he'd heard near his Queen when she'd hatched the day before. This time, however, it was much softer, barely a whisper, and it was coming from a completely different direction, far away from its previous location.

Since the humans no longer seemed inclined to bother him, the King stopped focusing on them: he ceased his display and closed his eyes, focusing as intently as he could on the source of the whispering voice. While the first call had been coming from someplace far to the east of him, this one felt like it was coming from the south. Far to the south.

As a matter of fact… it felt like it was coming from somewhere near the spot where…

And then the King's eyes snapped open wide, and a furious roar erupted from his mouth with an explosion of bubbles. The glow in his spines blazed back to life and he thundered forward with a sweep of his tail, swerving to the left at the last second just in time to avoid smashing into the side of the humans' nest. Banking into a high-speed 180-degree turn, he accelerated back the way he'd come, swimming due south as quickly as he could.

He still had no idea why that strange voice sounded so much like his own, or what sort of bizarre Kaiju was creating it, but it no longer mattered. What mattered was that right now, the voice – and whatever was creating it – was in the one place in the world where no other Kaiju should be located. The place where, back during the Cold Times, he and his Queen had fought their final battle with the creature that had been their greatest enemy.

The enemy of all life. The creature that had fallen from the stars to wreak destruction on their world, that had tried to steal his throne, and that had come close to causing a third great extinction event before he and his friends had miraculously defeated them. The Devil with Three Heads. The Deathbringer.

The Golden One.

Chapter Text

They had wandered the galaxy for countless millennia. Their life had begun on a world much like Earth, where they had been left as an egg to hatch and grow. They had hatched without any parent to care for them, but that had not been too much of an obstacle for them; their kind could pass some basic memories and information to their unborn children telepathically, giving the newborn hatchlings all the knowledge that they would need to survive on their own.

In their case, they had not hatched alone: their parent had left two eggs on the same world, producing two nearly-identical siblings. The two of them had grown up side-by-side, outcompeting all the native predators as they grew and ultimately establishing their dominance over that entire world.

Unfortunately, their kind were solitary for a reason: a full-grown adult of their species required a very large territory to sustain themselves, and two adults could not stand to live on the same planet for any length of time unless reproduction was possible between them. So when the time came, they had faced their sibling in a territorial battle for control of their home planet… and they had lost. Defeated despite their best efforts, they had been forced to leave the planet of their birth and flee into the stars in search of a new home.

They had visited many planets over the eons since then, each one different. Some were lush and beautiful, some barren and desolate. Some had been inhabited by sentient beings, and some had not. But they all had one thing in common: all of those worlds had suffered at the hands of their temporary occupant, some more than others. In particular, after a horrible experience that had befallen them when they were still young, any world that had been inhabited by an intelligent civilization was utterly decimated, reduced to a lifeless cinder by their wrath.

This was in the nature of their species: they inflicted chaos, death and destruction everywhere they went. But in this one's case, their destruction was inspired not just by the natural behavior of an apex predator, but by a genuinely malicious mind spurred into action by memories of hatred and pain. They would not stop until every possible threat to them was destroyed, and the entire cosmos was under their claws.

But then they had happened upon one fairly-unremarkable world, a blue-green world covered in life… and their crusade had been brought to a crashing halt. Not by choice, but due to the actions of a quartet of the larger creatures who inhabited this planet, who had banded together to oppose their campaign of destruction, and – to their shock – had stopped them dead in their tracks.

The faces of those four enemies were forever engraved in their minds, rivaled only by the hatred that they felt for their sibling and for the captors who had long ago enslaved them. The psychic moth, the arrogant fire-wing, the eternally-stubborn spike-shell… and their deadliest enemy, the one they referred to as the Lizard King.

Individually, none of those four had what it took to defeat them on their own, but together they were able to repel the would-be conqueror's attacks time after time. Even after their enemy finally managed to kill one of the four defenders and drove another of them to give up the fight, the Lizard King and his little Queen refused to abandon their cause and fought all the harder to avenge their losses.

Over thousands of years, they clashed time and time again, neither side giving way. No matter how many times the invader was driven back, they would always return once they had regained their strength; the desire to conquer and destroy this planet had grown into an obsession, its fire fueled by their own frustrated rage. But there was method in their apparent madness; they were sure that, with enough time, they would be able to figure out a way to destroy this planet's last two defenders and finish things once and for all.

Through all of that, they had certainly never considered the possibility that they might actually  lose  this war that they had been waging. After all, they had conquered hundreds of planets over the course of their lifetime, and they had defeated plenty of other giant and powerful creatures in the process. Surely this world, and these creatures, couldn't be  that  different.

Could they?

Thousands of years ago…

The frozen wasteland echoed with the characteristic sounds of a bitter Antarctic winter. The howling, icy wind that billowed across the ice carried a surging blizzard of snow, turning the world white and covering the night sky with a thick, dark blanket of clouds. The world was cast into shadow, veiled in a haze of concealing white and gray.

But the night was not entirely dark. In one area, on a huge flat glacier that led down to a large, open bay, the darkness was lit up by brilliant flashes of light: pulses of brilliant azure light and gouts of cobalt flame, interspersed with crackling bolts and arcs of golden lightning. The storm seemed to be focused around this point, rotating around it in a vortex of biting wind and swirling snow. But the storm's fury barely had any effect on the three monsters who were dueling at its heart; their own powers were far too great for that. All their attention was focused on each other.

This battle had played out a dozen times before, on many different battlegrounds all over the world. But somehow, someway, the three combatants knew that this time would be different. None of them had any intention of fleeing; this time, there would be no retreat and no surrender, no mercy offered and no quarter given.

Win or lose, this war would end tonight.

Lightning cracked again, lighting up the sky and illuminating the dark, towering form of one of the combatants. The King stumbled backwards as another bolt of golden electricity hit him in the chest, roaring angrily as the plates on his back clattered together. He slammed his tail down into the glacier with all his strength, sending a shockwave rippling through the ice and throwing his opponent off-balance for a moment, giving him the time he needed to catch his breath.

A hundred yards away, his opponent staggered as the ice under their feet heaved, but a flare of their wings enabled them to keep their balance. Their sheer size helped with that: they were enormous, nearly half again as tall as he was, although they didn't mass much more than he did. Their trio of long, serpentine necks coiled and shifted, six glowing red eyes locked on him, and a trio of cackling roars echoed over the roaring wind.

This was the King's nemesis, the enemy of all life and the Destroyer of Worlds. They had many names, supposedly given to them on a dozen different worlds that they had visited in the past, but he preferred to keep it simple.

Their true name was Ghidorah... but he referred to them as the Golden One.

The two Kaiju had already been fighting for several hours, and both of them were battered and weary. The King's vision was blurry due to a wound on his forehead that was dripping blood into his left eye, while his left arm hung at his side thanks to a deep gash on his left shoulder. His opponent wasn't much better off: their left wing was badly torn, keeping them temporarily grounded, and their left neck was leaking black blood from a ring of puncture marks left by the King's teeth. Both of them were slowly healing, but neither of them were anywhere close to recovered yet.

"Come on, little King," the Golden One's middle head taunted, his teeth bared in a cruel smirk. "You can do better than that, can't you?" His brothers, the right and left heads, locked their eyes on the King, a golden glow rising up both of their necks as their mouths began to crackle with energy.

The King snarled, his own glow flaring up as blue light coursed up along his back-plates. "With pleasure," he spat, his eyes flashing from orange to blue. His mouth also started glowing as he felt the familiar heat welling up in his chest and rising up his back; he reared back slightly and unleashed his fire-breath with a roar, the concentrated blast aimed straight for his enemy's chest.

"Nice try," the middle head laughed. "Now!" His brothers fired simultaneously, their own blasts of golden lightning streaking towards the King and swirling together into a single concentrated beam in midair. The blasts collided midway between them with a thunderclap, shattering the ice beneath the collision point. They each threw everything they had into the blast, blue fire and gold lightning crackling back and forth as they struggled to overpower each other.

The King dug in his heels, his eyes flashing brighter as he pushed harder, but the colliding beams remained deadlocked. Damn it…! His eyes suddenly widened in alarm as he realized his mistake: only two of the Golden One's heads had committed to the attack, not all three. And now, with him temporarily locked in place by the beam-clash, the middle head's neck and mouth also began to glow, as he charged up a third blast of lightning.

"Got you," the middle head hissed, his smirk widening and his eyes flashing as he lined up and aimed directly at the King's head.

The King's mind raced as he tried to think of a way out… but a moment later, he felt a reassuring surge of warmth in the back of his mind, and he grinned inwardly as he forced an additional surge of power into his blast. At the same moment, the dark clouds above and behind the Golden One burst asunder with a flash of blue light, and the Queen dove down towards the fight with a piercing trill. She was injured too, several holes burned into her glowing wings and one of her forelegs hanging limp, but defiance still blazed in her bright blue eyes.

The middle head saw her coming, of course. His neck twisted as he swung around to face the diving Queen, and he fired his growing blast of lightning up at her instead. She flared out her wings to cancel out her momentum and flung herself to one side, narrowly avoiding a direct hit, but the beam still struck her right wing. She cried out in pain as a searing burst of electricity flooded her body, before losing control of her flight and spinning to the ground. Luckily she was able to flare out her wings before hitting the ice, and a powerful downward flap turned what would have been a debilitating crash into merely a hard landing, but she was still stunned by the impact.

Mosura! The King's eyes widened in fear and anger, before he growled as his burning blue gaze flicked back over to the Golden One.

The middle head laughed, his eyes sparkling malevolently. "Nice try, little bug," he drawled, before leaning down and taking deliberate aim at the Queen's fallen form as he started to charge another blast. She was picking herself up, shaking her head to clear her vision, which made her an easy target.

The King felt a searing rush of fury welling up in his chest, and he howled around the beam that was still erupting from his jaws. Instinctively, he swung his head downwards, dragging his beam of fire – and the opposing beams of lightning – down and out of alignment. The beam-lock was broken, and both blasts slammed into the surface of the glacier midway between the two combatants, setting off a colossal explosion that blasted both monsters clear off their feet.

A geyser of superheated steam and water blasted skyward as the combined explosion of the King's fire-breath and the Golden One's lightning carved deep into the heart of the glacier. The entire glacier shook from the force of the explosion, and both the King and his nemesis were knocked sprawling to the ground. The Golden One was knocked flat on their back, a startled squawking cry escaping their left head's mouth as the other two heads screeched in rage, while the King slammed down on his side with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

Choking and coughing as he tried to get his breath back, the King dragged himself closer to where the Queen had hit the ground. Fortunately, she had already rolled back to her feet, and was staring wide-eyed at the site of the explosion.

"Mosura!" the King panted, his eyes wide and concerned as he looked over to her. "Are you all right?"

Yes, I'm okay, the Queen replied through their connection, sending a quick smile his way before turning her attention back towards their enemy. Look! Over there!

The King frowned for a moment, briefly confused as to why she had spoken telepathically instead of verbally, but then he got it. If she was using their connection when they were right next to each other, that meant she wanted to tell him something without their enemy hearing her. Glancing back over towards the Golden One, his eyes widened a little more when he realized what she was indicating: the deep hole that their combined blast had gouged into the glacier was getting bigger. Deep cracks were spiderwebbing outwards from the perimeter of the hole, and he could feel a deep rumbling in the ice beneath him.

The glacier's weakening, the Queen murmured urgently. Now's our chance! With no hesitation, she scrambled in front of the King, her wings flaring out like a protective wall.

The Golden One hauled themselves to their feet, all three heads growling and muttering curses as they rose back to their full height. Their wounds were still healing, but they were recovering more quickly than the King and Queen, which wasn't a good sign.

"That is enough!" the middle head snapped, his eyes flashing as he glared down at the battered pair. "I am sick and tired of you two getting in our way!"

"Damn right," the right head agreed with a venomous hiss as he bared his fangs. "This shit ends right now."

Despite the threat facing them, the emotions that were filtering through from the Queen's mind were reassuring for the King. Instead of being worried, she was calm and calculating, poised to strike. Goji, listen to me very carefully, she murmured through their connection. Close your eyes, right now, and look through mine instead. I can see; I'll guide you.

The King frowned in confusion for about half a second, until he realized what she had in mind and grinned. Gladly, he sent back as his eyes closed.

The Queen's mandibles flared as she let out a soft laugh, bringing a confused expression to all three of the Golden One's faces. "You want to end this now?" she demanded, an uncharacteristically-fierce grin widening on her face as her eyes flashed. "That's fine with us!" With no further hesitation, she leapt upwards into the air, flung out her wings, and let out a piercing screech as her bioluminescent glow shifted from blue to white. In the same moment, a luminous pulse of force rippled outwards from her, slamming into the Golden One with enough force to rock them back on their heels, accompanied by a searing flash of brilliant light. All three heads shrieked in pain as all six eyes were dazzled by the blinding rays.

Even more importantly, as the Queen's pulse slammed down on the already-weakened glacier, it finished what the combined blast from earlier had started. The deep cracks widened and split open, and the ice all around the Golden One's feet buckled and splintered. As they stumbled backwards, away from the blinding light, one of their taloned feet slid down into one of the widening cracks, and they toppled as the ice caved in beneath them.

Normally, the Golden One would have been able to escape by taking to the air, but with one of their wings still in the process of healing and all three heads blinded and disoriented by the Queen's light, they had no way of doing so. They slid down into the widening rift, screeching in rage and clawing at the ice to try and slow themselves down. The right head was roaring and cursing at the top of his lungs, while the left head was mostly just crying out in pain and trying to clear his vision. The middle head was trying to reassert control over their wings and take to the air, but the brilliant white void that had momentarily consumed his entire field of vision and the stabbing pain in his eyes were hampering his efforts.

The King, however, had no such problems. While his own eyes would have been just as dazzled by that pulse of light, they were tightly closed at the moment; instead, his mind was linked to the Queen's via their connection, allowing him to see through her eyes – which were unaffected by the pulse – and giving him a full view of the area in front of him.

Goji! The Queen directed both of their gazes up towards the icy mountain that loomed on one side of the glacier, almost directly above the widening crack where the Golden One had fallen. Aim at the mountain!

The King's smile widened as he realized what she had in mind. On it! His plates lit up with another surge of blue light, and he let out a roar as he craned his neck and unleashed his fire-breath with everything he had left. The blast shot under the hovering Queen, arced up and over the cracks in the ice and the struggling form of the Golden One, and slammed into the side of the mountain. The King swung his head back and forth, allowing his beam to carve through layers of ice and rock, until finally it burned deep enough and the entire face of the mountain collapsed. A massive avalanche thundered down the slope and onto the glacier… and poured straight into the rift, where their enemy was still trying to escape.

"No! No! NO!" All three heads seemed to realize what was about to happen a moment before the avalanche hit them, but there was nothing they could do. Thousands of tons of snow, ice, and shattered rock crashed down on the Golden One, driving them deeper into the crevice and completely engulfing them. Within seconds, they had disappeared from view, and a massive cloud of snow and steam billowed up into the air, covering the entire glacier and enveloping the King and the Queen in a shroud of icy fog.

A few seconds later, the King hauled himself to his feet, finally opening his eyes and blinking repeatedly as his vision returned to normal. The Queen landed lightly on his back, her limbs hooking onto his spines to keep herself balanced, and they both gazed warily into the swirling cloud of snow and steam as it slowly dissipated. Neither of them could really bring themselves to believe that the battle was over; it seemed all too likely for their enemy to return at any moment. They had battled the three-headed monster far too many times to assume the best.

Finally, however, the cloud faded entirely, and they both felt an enormous weight lift off their shoulders. The Golden One was gone from sight, vanished as if they had never existed; the avalanche had filled the rift in the ice completely, and had buried all trace of the three-headed Kaiju. The only sign that remained of what had just happened was a slight depression in the snow.

The King took a slow step forward, part of him still tense. The Queen's hold on his plates tightened a bit, and they both watched that part of the glacier intently for a long moment, waiting for any sign that their enemy was trying to come back up. But after a full five minutes of this, nothing moved or surfaced. Even the storm around them was finally starting to die down: the dark clouds overhead were beginning to part and fade, allowing flickers of the star-filled night sky overhead to shine through. There could be no denying it: if the Golden One was still alive, they were buried deep beneath countless tons of ice, with no hope of escape.

Finally, the King allowed himself to relax. "Did…" he managed to get out. "Did… we really do it?" Did we really just win?

The Queen clung to his back, fighting a wave of exhaustion that had finally set in as the adrenaline of the battle began to wear off. "Yes," she whispered softly, resting her head lightly on his shoulder. "Yes… I think we did."

The King's eyes widened and his expression softened, as he turned his head slowly to meet her eyes. He couldn't believe it; they had been fighting this war for so long that part of him hadn't believed it could ever actually end, much less that they would actually win. That hope had faded, at least in part, on the day when they'd lost their two closest friends to that monster, one to death and the other to despair. But it had really happened: the Golden One was gone, and they were both still here.

They had won. The Golden One was gone, and the world was safe at last.

Joy, wild and untamed, rushed through both of their minds in that moment, and the Queen nuzzled into him, rubbing her cheek against his as they both closed their eyes and a torrent of emotions began rushing back and forth between their minds. Love for each other, lingering grief for all that they had lost since the Enemy had first appeared, overwhelming relief that it was all over at last… for a long moment, they both forgot about everything else, thinking only of each other and of the wonder of that moment.

Finally, they came back to awareness of the world around them. Turning back to face the depression in the ice, the Queen frowned. "I can still feel them," she murmured softly. "It's very faint, but there's no mistaking it: they're still alive down there." She looked back up into the King's eyes. "If this ice ever melts, they might be able to escape."

The King's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the spot where the Golden One had disappeared. "If they do ever get out of there," he growled, "we'll be ready for them. And if that does happen, then we'll finish what we started, and we'll put them down for good."

The Queen nodded in agreement. "All the same…" She shivered. "I hope they never do. And if they ever do get out… then we'll have to be ready."

"We will be." The King nodded firmly as he regarded the icy grave one more time. "I guarantee it."

Most creatures, even most Kaiju, would have been killed if they had suffered such a fate. Either they would have been crushed outright by the avalanche, or they would have frozen to death and/or suffocated as the ice re-solidified around them, freezing them in place and entombing them for all eternity.

The Golden One, however, was not most Kaiju. They could survive in the depths of space without much trouble, and their unique physiology allowed them to recover from all manner of wounds, so being crushed and buried under a few hundred feet of ice wasn't enough to kill them.

What they could not manage to do, however, was to escape from the icy tomb that had suddenly become their prison; there was far too much ice bearing down on them for even their strength to have any hope of dislodging it. The only thing they could do in that moment was to go into an emergency survival mode: their body shut down almost completely, and they slipped into a state of suspended animation, the same type of hibernation trance that allowed them to survive in deep space for long periods of time. In this state, they could last for thousands of years without needing any sort of sustenance; they didn't need food, water, or energy, although they would certainly need all three of those things when they eventually awakened. But in the meantime, kept safe from the outside world by their unique abilities, they were entirely confident that they would be able to survive until their environment changed and they could find a way to escape.

And sure enough, after many thousands of years had passed, the Golden One's surroundings did change. Something new touched their senses: the sensation of many small minds, somewhere nearby. They still couldn't rouse themselves from their torpor, but they noticed the small minds nearby, and their own minds were stimulated in response. But despite those strange presences, there was still far too much weight bearing down on them for them to have any chance of escaping, so they had sunk back into their torpor and continued waiting for an opportunity.

But then, on one dark and stormy night… their situation changed entirely.

Now…

The first thing that they felt was a soft and subtle vibration, pulsing through the ice around them. It wasn't enough to rouse them fully, but it was enough to begin pulling them out of their torpid state, making them a little more conscious and a little more aware of their surroundings.

The next vibration, however, wasn't subtle at all. A burst of intense heat, accompanied by jarring waves of force, thundered through the glacier, shocking them awake. The ice around them began cracking and breaking asunder, until the whole thing finally collapsed.

They had been standing more or less upright when they'd been buried in snow and ice, so they'd been immobilized in that position. But after so long in hibernation, there was no strength in their muscles, so when the ice around them collapsed, they dropped forward, crashing into the rubble.

Ichi twitched, lifting his head wearily as his eyes drifted open. Part of him just wanted to sleep forever, but he shook his head and tried to snap out of it. What just happened? He reached out through the mental link that he shared with his brothers, but their minds were both as dazed and muddled as his was. His vision was still blurred and indistinct, and he could see nothing but swirling white snow and the distant orange glow of flames.

Then, however, something strange happened. A strange, pulsing voice reached his ears, echoing through the air and even reverberating in the ice beneath them. It sounded vaguely similar to the voice of the hated Lizard King, but also different.

"Awaken," the voice whispered. "Awaken. Awaken." Something about its tones helped to spark Ichi's mind back to full consciousness; the ringing in his ears and the fogginess in his head faded away, and he snorted in surprise as his vision cleared. He sensed his brothers' surprise and confusion as the same thing happened to them.

Their wings were still held in place by the ice, albeit weakly, so Ichi stretched out their tails first, the spiked tips giving off a rattling sound as they waved back and forth. Ni's head rose past him, his brother shaking his head and snorting as he reared up out of the pit. San did the same off to his left, blinking sleepily and tilting his head back and forth as he took in their changed surroundings. All three of them swayed back and forth, deep growls and hisses rumbling in their throats as the storm began whipping back up around them.

Ichi's eyes narrowed, and he took a deep, slow breath, savoring the icy, tingling burn as the cold air whistled down his throat. Normally he communicated with his brothers telepathically, saving vocal communication for contact with others, but in this case it felt necessary. His voice was hoarse and rattling, serving as additional proof of just how long they had been asleep, but the notes of cold, crisp satisfaction in it were crystal-clear.

"Finally," he rasped, before stretching up and throwing his head back with a triumphant howl that rang out through the gathering storm. "FINALLY!"

Damn right! Ni concurred telepathically, his brother snorting in satisfaction as he stretched himself out and heaved upwards, yanking their right wing up out of the ice and shaking the frost off of the thin membrane. I can't fuckin' believe we got stuck under all that crap.

No kidding, San muttered, somehow managing to give the impression of chattering teeth even through their mental link, as he leaned down and wrenched their left wing free as well. I'm pretty sure I've felt warmer in space than I do right now!

Oh, quit your bitching, Ni growled sourly. Why am I not surprised that the first thing you do when we finally wake up is start complaining?

"Both of you, shut up!" Ichi ordered curtly, speaking out loud to add emphasis. He was about to continue, when a chorus of soft popping sounds reached all three heads' ears: they looked down at the rim of the ice crater, and Ichi frowned as he saw a group of small bipedal creatures gathered around its edge, looking up at them and apparently firing at them with some sort of small projectile weapons. The hell are those? he questioned.

"I think they're some of those little sentients that the little bug Queen likes so much?" San thought out loud as he leaned down closer and peered curiously at the small bipeds, completely ignoring the futile shower of tiny projectiles ricocheting off his scales. "Humans, or something like that?" He nudged one of the little mammals lightly with his nose, knocking it off its feet. "They build cities, if I remember right." He swayed his head back and forth a little, grinning as the humans stumbled back. "Awww, they're all scared. That's cute."

Ni's eyes narrowed as he glanced over to Ichi. If they've gotten more advanced weaponry, that might be a problem, he commented.

I concur, Ichi agreed coolly. We may need to purge them sooner rather than later. Realizing that San was still totally preoccupied with the humans on the ground, he rolled his eyes and leaned down, headbutting his brother and shoving him back into line. "Focus!" he hissed.

"Can we get rid of this lot already?" Ni growled, glaring down at the humans as more of their little projectiles bounced off his head. "We've barely been awake for two minutes, and they're already annoying me."

"Agreed." Ichi snorted and lifted his head up, beginning to charge a blast of lightning deep in his throat as Ni did the same. San?

San let out an exaggerated sigh, rearing back along with his brothers and charging a blast of his own. Fiiine, he groaned. Have it your way.

And with that, all three heads unleashed the electric blast they had been charging up, completely obliterating the group of humans that had gathered below them. Flesh, bone and cloth disintegrated within seconds, leaving only blackened, twisted scraps behind.

Ichi nodded in satisfaction, shaking his head as he lifted his gaze back up. Much better. He and Ni both turned, scanning the horizon for any signs of other Kaijus nearby. Fortunately there was no sign of the Lizard King or his Little Queen, but if they were anywhere nearby, they would undoubtedly have sensed Ghidorah's awakening and would be on their way shortly.

What does it matter? Ni questioned. They're not gonna get lucky like that again; we can take 'em.

Ichi snorted. I know it's hard for you, dear brother, but at least try to think. He cut off Ni's impending angry snarl with a commanding hiss. There is a reason why we lost that last fight. The same reason why we have continually failed to finish our work on this worthless planet: We keep underestimating our enemies. The last time we did that, it nearly cost us our lives. He shot a red-eyed glare at his brother. And I do not intend to let that happen again. Are we agreed?

Ni was still angry, but he was smart enough to know when he'd lost an argument. We are, he conceded, lowering his head slightly in deference to his brother. In that case, we'd better get outta here before they sense us and come looking. I dunno about you, but I don't think we're in top form right now, and I'd like to get some rest and some food before we do anything – "oh, for FUCK's sake, San!" This last verbal outburst was directed at their brother, who had leaned down to the area of blackened ice where the humans had been and was licking the ground and the humans' charred remains with his forked tongue, as if trying to find some edible remnants among the debris.

Ichi scowled and leaned down, snarling at his brother. "Snap out of it!" he ordered, speaking both with his voice and his mind.

San flinched back, sighing and nodding reluctantly. "All right, all right!" he whined. "I'm just really hungry, okay? We haven't eaten anything since before that last fight."

"We all feed the same stomach," Ichi cut him off with a snort as he turned his attention to the surrounding area. "If Ni and I can wait to eat, so can you." He raised an eyebrow ridge as he caught sight of something interesting: a small metal vessel, resembling some sort of aircraft, sitting on the ice a short distance away. A second one, identical in design, was slowly rising up and away from the area, held aloft by a pair of whirling propellers. The latter also seemed to be the source of the strange voice that had awakened them, as he could still hear the strange, repeating call of "Awaken" echoing down from it.

Aircraft? San's eyes widened, his hunger forgotten for a moment. Whoa… that's crazy.

Looks like it, Ni murmured contemplatively. Shit… those humans really have progressed a lot since we went to sleep.

It appears so, Ichi intoned, his eyes narrowing. If their technology has advanced much more than this, they could be a real threat. We need to start the purge as quickly as possible. Walking on all fours, he started their body moving forward, lumbering across the ice towards the landed aircraft.

As they approached the stationary craft, however, something tore into all six of their sensitive ears, and all three of them recoiled in shock and pain. The low murmur of the strange voice had suddenly melted and swelled into a deafening, clanging whine, slicing at Ghidorah's minds like a set of razor-edged claws.

"My ears!" San shrieked, whipping his head back and forth. "Make it stop!" Ni howled a series of thoroughly unprintable curses as he did the same.

Ichi, meanwhile, was gritting his teeth and trying to fight off the pain. His eyes fell on the other aircraft, the one that was rising up and away towards the clouds, and he immediately recognized that the agonizing din was coming from that craft. "There!" he snapped. "It's coming from up there!"

Ni and San heard him; despite the pain lancing through their minds, all three heads reared back, the golden glow flowing up their necks again as they prepared another electric blast, ready to annihilate the aircraft and cut off that irritating voice. But just as they were about to strike, the voice suddenly fell silent, and the pain in their heads vanished completely.

What…? Ichi blinked, the golden glow in his mouth dissipating as he relaxed and released the energy that he'd been charging up. "What just happened?"

"No idea," Ni replied with their equivalent of a shrug, a rippling motion that flowed along the length of his neck.

"San?" Ichi glanced over at their left head: San was still shaking his head and groaning a little, so Ichi leaned down and grabbed one of his brother's horns in his mouth, yanking his head up to the same level as theirs. "San! Are you all right?"

San winced and frowned at his brother reproachfully, but sighed and nodded. "Yeah… yeah, I'm good. Head hurts a bit after that, but I'm okay."

"Excellent." Ichi nodded, before turning his attention back to the humans' aircraft. He considered pursuing the flying one, but it had already disappeared into the storm, so he focused his attention back on the grounded one. "Now, then. Let's have a look at this, shall we?"

Walking forward until they were standing over the downed aircraft, Ghidorah leaned over and began examining it, each of them nudging it lightly with their snouts and ignoring – or, in Ni's case, chuckling at – the panicked cries of the humans inside the damaged craft as it was knocked and jolted back and forth. This did indeed seem to be a form of powered air transport, not as advanced as the vehicles of some civilizations that they had seen in the past, but far beyond anything that these little bipeds had been capable of building prior to their hibernation.

We'd better hurry up the damn purge, Ni growled. This thing's no danger to us, but if they've got more advanced or more powerful craft than this, they could turn into a real threat pretty quick.

And if they continue progressing at this rate, that possibility will likely become a certainty before long, Ichi remarked. I concur. We should leave here immediately and begin surveying the planet, so we can determine how far they have spread and which areas we should target first. He gave a pointed glance to his brother. But we will hold off on attacking them further until we know what we're dealing with and are prepared to counter their capabilities. His eyes narrowed. And the same goes for the Lizard King and his Little Queen, if they still live. I will not put us in danger by going into battle against them unprepared again.

Yeah, yeah, I know, Ni groused. Gotta have every little thing planned out down to the second, right?

Correct. Ichi smirked. One of the many reasons why I am our leader, and you are not.

Okay, you know what? Ni bristled, scowling over at his brother. Fuck off, Ichi. I'm seriously not in the mood for any of your self-indulgent shit right now, so how about you –

Uh, guys? San's mental voice cut in, drawing both of their attention over to him. He had stopped examining the aircraft and was staring out towards the horizon, his eyes wider than normal. Do… you guys sense that? Or is it just me?

Ichi and Ni exchanged glances, then frowned and turned to follow San's gaze. Although their brother could be absentminded and overly-curious at times, there was no denying that his senses were even sharper than either of theirs. It was all part of the system of checks and balances that kept the three of them in harmony: each head had his own strengths and weaknesses, making it so that none of them could thrive without the other two. That was how their kind worked: it might be annoying sometimes, but it could also be quite useful.

And sure enough, as the brothers gazed out over the ice-covered waters of the bay, all three of them could feel what San had sensed: there was something coming. The water beneath the ice was swirling, a faint rushing sound reaching their sensitive ears, and a moment later a familiar blue glow came into view, filtering up through the ice sheet from the water beneath. A large patch of ice near the shoreline in front of them began to glow, the blue light slowly intensifying and getting brighter as its source rose closer to the surface.

Ghidorah shifted uneasily, each of their heads flexing and twisting in a different angle as they took a few steps back from the water's edge.

Uh… San's mental voice was a little nervous. Guys, is that…?

Yup. Ni snarled lowly. Who the hell else would it be?

Ichi sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, just as the ice sheet exploded upwards with an all-too-familiar flash of blue light. Of course. Of course it's him.

The King snarled as he rushed through the water towards the shore, accelerating beneath the ice sheet as he swam into the bay. He had really been hoping that his danger-sense had been wrong and that whatever the strange voice-mimic had been up to wasn't actually going to cause any trouble, but based on what he'd been hearing and sensing from up ahead of him for the last few minutes, that obviously hadn't been the case. Sure enough, his instincts had been right: his ancient enemy had finally escaped, and this time his Queen wasn't with him to help.

Still, the King had never backed down from a challenge in the past, and he wasn't about to start now. He'd fought the Golden One plenty of times in the past, and he knew he could hold his own against them even without Mosura's help. And even if he couldn't defeat them alone, thanks to the fact that he knew Mosura was in the process of transforming right now, he should at least be able to keep their enemy busy until she could emerge from her cocoon and come to his aid.

A deep growl rumbling in his chest, the King dove slightly as he approached the shoreline, and then rushed upwards to ram into the ice sheet. It was thin enough that one impact smashed right through it, shattering the ice and knocking it aside. The King rose up through the gaping hole, heaving huge slabs of ice aside and letting them crash down harmlessly as he hauled himself up out of the water and onto the shore of the ice-encrusted bay.

"You," he spat, his eyes flashing with rage as he rose up to his full height and shot a withering glare at the Golden One. "Didn't I kill you already?"

"Didn't take," Ghidorah's right head snarled back, grinning maliciously as his red eyes met the King's. "Wanna try it again, asshole?"

"Now, now, brother, mind your manners," the middle head chided his brother with a chuckle and a shake of his head. Turning back to face the King, he smirked. "I take it you're here to pick up where we left off, little King? Fine by us, I suppose. Although I notice your little Queen isn't with you this time." His smirk widened. "Why is that? A lovers' spat, perhaps?"

"Shut up," the King snapped, his voice flat as his glowing orange eyes blazed with hatred. His mouth curled in a scowl, baring his teeth. "I've gotten stronger while you've been on ice. I won't need her help to kill you this time."

"Is that so?" The middle head's smile shifted into a cold glare as Ghidorah took a step back, their necks stretching up and their massive wings flaring out as much as possible to make them look even bigger. "Come and prove it, then."

The King didn't hesitate. Instead, he reared back slightly, took a deep breath as he tensed his muscles, and let out a thunderous roar. Ghidorah did the same, all three mouths shrieking their challenge, and they both charged simultaneously.

A visible shockwave expanded outwards as the two Kaijus collided, hundreds of thousands of tons slamming together with an impact that shook the icy ground beneath them as they spun around, grappling with each other and trading rapid close-range blows. The King weathered every impact and struck back, catching the right head with an uppercut as he lunged in to strike and grabbing him by the throat while he was disoriented. Yanking the head in close, he bit down on the neck and shook it back and forth, savoring the snarl of pain that burst from the dragon's mouth, before the middle head's teeth latched onto his right shoulder and he had to let go. Gripping the right neck with both hands, he swung it downwards like a club and slammed the right head into the ice with enough force to knock him senseless for a moment, before he rounded on the middle head.

The middle head had enough time to send out one burst of electricity as he bit down into the King's shoulder, provoking a pained snarl from the King as the lightning crackled painfully down his arm, before the King's free arm swung around and his fist smashed into the side of Ghidorah's head. The middle head was knocked away with a hiss of pain; the King raised his arms above his head, clenching both fists to slam them down, but was caught off-guard as all three heads suddenly snapped up towards him and unleashed a point-blank triple blast of lightning. The explosion of power went off right in the King's face, momentarily stunning him and knocking him off his feet. He crashed heavily to the ground, but immediately rolled over and roared angrily as he scrambled back to his feet.

This time the Golden One was ready; they'd taken a quick hop-step back out of arm's reach, and a quick burst of lightning flashed from the right head's mouth and arced towards the King just as he regained his footing. Raising one arm in time to shield his face, the King snarled in pain as the lightning hit his forearm instead, sending shocks of pain racing down it; he staggered back a couple of steps, but stayed on his feet, slamming his tail down into the ice to brace himself.

That did it. Against an enemy like this, there was no point in holding back.

The King's eyes narrowed, flashing from orange to blue, as the spines on his tail started glowing. The glow swiftly coursed up along his spine until it reached the back of his neck, and he felt that familiar heat welling up inside his mighty chest. He inhaled deeply, rocking back on his heels to brace himself further, and swung his head forward as he opened his jaws and unleashed his fire-breath in a torrent of deep blue flame.

This time, however, his enemy was ready again. Ghidorah yanked their heads to the sides with surprising speed and dexterity, and the beam thundered past between their necks. The King's eyes widened in shock; he was about to swing his head straight down so the beam would hit them in the torso, but all three of their heads spat lightning a moment later and their combined blast hit him squarely in the chest. Roaring in pain as the force of the impact knocked him backwards, the King toppled and his beam went wide, cleaving through a nearby human-built structure and into part of the glacier's surface with a powerful explosion.

Damn it–! The King lost his footing and crashed to the ground, the lightning still blasting into his chest and pushing him back across the glacier. He snarled, clawing at the ice and trying to slow himself down, but he couldn't regain his footing. What the hell were they trying to...

And then the ice suddenly dropped out from under him, and the King had just enough time to think, Oh, son of a bitch, before the lightning abruptly cut off and his voice rose in a bellow of "SHIT!" as he tumbled over the edge of the huge, steaming crater that had formerly been the Golden One's tomb and went crashing down into the mass of icy rubble at the bottom.

"HA!" Ni cackled as the Lizard King tumbled into the same crater that they had just escaped from. "Let's see how you like it, asshole!"

Ichi allowed himself an amused chuckle – he wasn't the type to overly indulge in displays of emotion – before his attention was drawn by some small movements on the ground below them. It seemed that the human occupants of the crashed flying machine were making a run for it, fleeing across the ice away from them. Two of them were still quite near their feet, close enough that he could reach down and grab one if he wanted to.

Actually, thinking about it… while San's over-the-top hunger might be irritating at times, he did have a point that it had been quite a while since they'd eaten anything, and Ichi was feeling a little hungry himself. So, while he was loath to admit that his absentminded brother had the right idea in a situation…

It was the work of a moment: his head darted down, striking like a taut cord being released, and he plucked one of the humans off the ice with a quick and effortless snap, taking a chunk of ice along with it. Crushing and swallowing the unfortunate human in a single bite, he shook his head and snorted as the snow tickled the back of his throat, letting most of the shattered chunk of ice fall to the ground. Not really worth it.

Ni snorted in amusement and took a lazy snap at some of the falling pieces of ice, while San frowned in disappointment. "Awww, c'mon, no fair!" he complained, before turning and leaning down towards the rest of the nearby humans. "Okay, then; let's just catch a few of them and get outta here before he comes back – Ow!" This last startled cry came as something slammed into the top of his head and exploded.

A second explosion went off right in Ichi's face, and he recoiled with an exclamation of "What the hell?!"

Incoming! Ni warned, and the three brothers swung around to face a group of incoming shadows that were diving out of the dark clouds: a large, fast-moving shape with sleek, stiff black wings, attended by half a dozen smaller shapes flying just below it. At first they mistook it for some kind of flying Kaiju, but after a moment it became clear that these new arrivals were actually more artificial aircraft, of a different design to the propeller-driven ones.

Clearly, Ichi mused, the humans had indeed much more advanced than he would have expected. His musings were abruptly cut off, though, when the approaching aircraft launched another salvo of fiery projectiles.

Oh crap! San, for once, thought quickly, and swung Ghidorah's left wing up to shield their heads and necks from the new attack as the next volley struck home, exploding all over their body with a series of concentrated thunderclaps and surprisingly powerful explosions. A sweep of their wings deflected several of the projectiles, which hit the ice around them instead, but another volley came hurtling towards them a moment later.

A deep, rumbling growl reached the brothers' ears, and they turned just in time to see the Lizard King clambering back up out of the pit in the ice. His eyes were blazing with rage, and any damage that they might have inflicted on him so far had already healed. Clearly he hadn't just been bragging: he had gotten stronger since the last time they'd fought, while they were still low on energy and recovering from their long hibernation. Not a good situation to be in, all things considered.

Normally I hate to say it, Ni muttered inwardly, but I think we might wanna get the hell out of here and finish getting back to a hundred percent before we tangle with this asshole again.

For once, I'm with him, San agreed a little nervously. Ichi?

Reluctantly, Ichi nodded. I believe you're right, he agreed. Raising his voice, he turned towards the Lizard King. "My apologies, little King!" he called. "We'll have to finish this another day. But I assure you, we will meet again very soon… and you will not be so fortunate next time!" With that, he lowered their body into a crouch and flared out their great wings.

The King's eyes widened in a mixture of realization and anger. "Don't you dare!" he snarled, already charging towards them, but he wasn't quite fast enough. Ghidorah leapt into the air before he could reach them; their wings cracked the air with a thunderclap as they caught a powerful gust of icy wind, and they soared up and away into the dark and stormy sky.

As the King's furious roar of "You fucking cowards, get back here!" echoed behind them, the Golden One rose higher into the air and soared north over the ocean, leaving the frozen continent behind them as they headed towards the warmer parts of this planet. They needed to find sustenance and regain their strength before they could risk fighting him again; Ichi's calculating intellect, Ni's battle-hunger and San's curiosity were all working in unison, trying to remember which parts of this planet might have an energy source powerful enough to replenish their reserves. Luckily, this planet did have numerous options for that sort of thing, so it shouldn't be too hard to find what they needed.

And once we have done that, Ichi reassured his brothers, we will finally complete our mission here. The Lizard King and his Little Queen, wherever she is, will die; the humans will be purged before they can become a threat to us; and we will finally be rid of this damnable planet.

Once and for all.

Chapter Text

From the beginning, his life had been filled with challenges. Born in a nest inside a boiling volcano, he had been forced to grow up fast, according to the lifestyle of his kind. Luckily, he and his sister were very close growing up, sharing everything with each other. When they finally reached young adulthood and left their parents' nest, they even staked out a new territory together, hunting and fighting side-by-side as they grew older and stronger. But nothing lasts forever; eventually, he and his sister became too large to share the same volcano, and they were forced to split up and find their own separate homes.

Over time, however, he made other friends: a friendly spike-shell, a kind-hearted Great-Moth, and a proud but protective sea-dragon. The four of them were merely acquaintances at first, until they were brought together by a common enemy... the three-headed one, the terror from beyond the sky, which sought to gain dominion over their entire world. But the four of them refused to submit: they stood together and fought as one to defend their home, forcing the monster from the stars to retreat before their combined might. That first battle cemented a bond between the four of them, forging a pact of friendship that should have lasted forever.

For many years, they lived and fought together, repelling the Enemy's invasions time and time again. They all grew closer, becoming a rather unconventional "family" of sorts, and worked together to keep their world safe and peaceful.

But again, sadly, nothing lasts forever. And on one dark and terrible night... everything went wrong.

Thousands of years ago…

Thunder boomed, lightning flashed, and rain poured down as the storm continued to hammer the tropical island. Parts of the forest were burning, but the rain was already in the process of snuffing out those flames. Luckily there were no humans in the area, but any who had been here would have fled long ago. For echoing out over the sounds of nature's wrath were the roars and cries of clashing monsters, as three gigantic creatures battled amid the wind and rain.

Rodan banked hard to the left and winced as a bolt of golden lightning arced past him, barely missing one of his wings. He continued dodging and weaving through the sky, narrowly avoiding several more blasts as he swooped low over the surface of the island. The wind of his passing flattened a hundred trees in seconds, cutting a swathe through the forest below. Damn it, damn it, damn it! he thought to himself, his mind racing as he flared out his wings and veered to one side, just in time to evade a pair of lightning blasts that slammed into a nearby mountain instead.

This fight had been going badly right from the start. Unlike his past experiences with the enemy that was currently pursuing him, this time his strongest allies, the King and the Queen, had been absent when their nemesis had arrived, forcing him and his partner to fight alone. While Rodan and his partner had been holding their own at the beginning of the fight, their enemy had quickly turned the tables and gained the upper hand.

"Come on!" a voice yelled from behind him, ringing out over the background noise of the thunder. "Stop running and face us, you little coward!" The Golden One's right head laughed wildly and unleashed another burst of lightning, this one sizzling past Rodan's head and nearly scoring a hit.

Rodan snarled and accelerated, hating that he was running but not having any better options. One-on-one, he was no match for the Golden One in a straight-up fight; his best chance was to keep one step ahead of them. Unfortunately, they'd managed to get above him, hemming him in against the ground and preventing him from gaining a height advantage. In a straight line, he could fly faster than they could, but that wasn't an option right now since he had to keep swerving and diving to avoid their deadly beams. The pouring rain wasn't helping either, as while the water evaporated on contact with his superheated scales, it meant that he was constantly producing clouds of steam which made it harder for him to see clearly.

Putting on an additional burst of speed, Rodan suddenly flared his wings out and slammed them down, propelling himself straight up in the air with a thunderclap that scattered the surrounding rain. He was aiming for the dense clouds above them, as he might be able to lose the Golden One in there and buy himself some extra time. If he could keep them busy for long enough, the King and Queen should be able to reach them and add their strength to the fight.

This time, however, luck was not on his side. By flying straight up in the air, Rodan had abandoned the cover of the island's mountains and forests, and this time the Golden One did not miss. The right and left heads' beams crackled past on either side of him, cutting off his escape routes… and then the central head's blast hit him square in the back.

Screeching in pain, Rodan flung out his wings and tried to slow himself down as he was sent spinning towards the ground, his muscles struggling to respond as the electricity crackled through them. He almost managed to regain his balance and peel out of his uncontrolled dive, until the Golden One sideswiped him, both of their spiked tails cracking like whips and smashing into his left wing. Bones splintered with an agonizing snap, and Rodan howled in pain as he lost control entirely and tumbled to the ground. At the last second, he managed to flare out his wings enough to avoid a head-on impact, turning it into a sliding crash instead, but he was still sent tumbling head-over-heels through the island's forest, bringing down hundreds of trees before he finally skidded to a halt.

Coughing and wheezing as he tried to get his breath back, Rodan forced his battered body into motion, rolling over and pushing himself back up. His left wing was definitely broken: it wasn't working properly and just hung limply at his side, and it sent bolts of pain through his body every time he tried to move it.

"Damn it…" he hissed, before a triumphant trio of cackles drew his attention back to his enemy. The Golden One descended slowly to the ground opposite him, flapping their massive wings several times to slow down before landing with an impact that shook the earth. All three heads were grinning, savoring the moment. Rodan scrambled to his feet and flared out his uninjured wing with a shrieking cry of defiance, but a quickly-charged electric bolt from the right head forced him to hop awkwardly backwards as it hit the ground at his feet. Stumbling and nearly falling, he braced himself with his good wing, glaring at his monstrous enemy.

"You've put up a valiant effort, little fire-wing," the middle head called out, his usual condescending smirk firmly in place. "But you never really had a chance against us. Without your Lizard King and his little Queen backing you up, you're nothing special." His smirk widened, and the other two heads' mouths began to crackle with electricity as they charged up another pair of beams. "Now, then… let's finish you off before –"

That was when a high-pitched, honking roar cut through the storm, immediately followed by a rumbling noise that had nothing to do with the thunder overhead. All three pairs of the Golden One's eyes widened in alarm, just before a massive, rounded object – like a mountain-sized boulder covered in pointed spikes – bounced directly over Rodan's head and hit them squarely in the chest. The colossal impact knocked the Golden One flat on their back, splintering the scales on their chest and stomach; all three heads were left coughing and hacking, the wind temporarily knocked out of them. Rodan distinctly heard the right head roaring something along the lines of "That goddamn cheap-shotting son of a…!"

Rebounding backwards and crashing to the ground in front of Rodan, the "boulder" promptly unrolled itself and rose to its feet, its back shielded by an armored shell covered in sharp, pointed spikes. Four powerful legs ending in clawed feet dug into the ground, as a long, muscular tail waved back and forth, ending in a lethal-looking club of bone that was also adorned with several protruding spikes. Glowing green eyes flashed in the darkness of the storm, set below a crest of spikes and above a powerful beaked snout that was tipped by a single upward-curving horn.

Rodan exhaled heavily. "Anguirus," he sighed in relief. "The hell took you so long?"

"Hey, I got bitch-slapped into a mountain; what's your excuse?" Anguirus quipped, flashing a grin over his shoulder. As always, Rodan felt a momentary surge of warmth in his heart that had nothing to do with his own fire; all it took was that carefree, easygoing smile from his partner, and suddenly his usual pessimism melted away. Even right now, despite the danger that they were in, that smile still made him feel a little better.

Honestly, he was pretty sure the spike-shelled Kaiju was some kind of a miracle. No matter how hard things got, no matter how bleak the situation was, Anguirus could always be counted on to find the positives, and he would never give up no matter what.

There's no way I deserve him.

"Oh, come on, they didn't hit you that hard," Rodan snorted as he clambered back up, shaking himself off and wincing at the pain from his wing.

Anguirus laughed briefly, before his attitude became noticeably more tense as he turned back to face the Golden One, who was in the process of picking themselves up. "This isn't going well," he muttered. "We might wanna start thinking about getting out of here. Can you still fly?"

"That's an understatement," Rodan snarked. He tried to spread out his injured wing, but winced again as another jolt of pain shot through him. "I don't know," he admitted. "I think my wing's broken; I won't be able to fly very far like this."

Anguirus sighed. "Well, that sucks. Guess we've just gotta hope Goji and Mosura get back here soon, then." His eyes narrowed and he let out another honking roar as Ghidorah hauled themselves back to their feet.

"You know, it's almost impressive," the middle head growled, his usual composure having been broken by Anguirus's sucker-punch attack. "Even on your own, you two are proving to be just as irritating as when we're dealing with all four of you."

"To hell with all of this crap," the right head spat, his eyes blazing with hatred as he glowered at Anguirus. "I say we put an end to them both right now."

The left head appeared to be a little more nervous than his brothers, but he also looked annoyed by the resistance that Anguirus and Rodan had displayed. Even without the King and Queen to help them, they had been able to hold off the Golden One for the better part of an hour. Unfortunately, with Rodan grounded and injured, the tag-team strategy that they'd been employing so far wasn't going to work anymore.

"Stay behind me," Anguirus ordered Rodan in a low voice. "I'll take 'em up-close; you watch my back. And make as much noise as you can while you're doin' that; if Goji and Mosura are anywhere near here by now, we want them to know exactly where we are." He shot another brief glance back at his partner, his usual cheerful grin resurfacing for a moment. "Got it?"

Rodan's eyes widened and he felt a growing rush of dread at the prospect of Anguirus fighting the Golden One alone… but under the current circumstances, it seemed to be their only choice. He certainly wasn't going to be able to do much against Ghidorah like this. "…Okay," he conceded reluctantly. "Just… be careful."

Anguirus's grin widened for a moment. "Hey, relax," he reassured Rodan. "It's me we're talking about. I'm the king of careful." Swinging back around, he glared defiantly at the Golden One, his eyes burning green. "C'mon, then, you bastards!" he barked. "I'm not scared of you!"

The middle head chuckled darkly, his eyes glittering with malice. "Oh, we'll see about that," he intoned. "But fearful or not, your fate will be the same."

Both Kaijus sprang into motion at the same moment, as a deafening clap of thunder and a brilliant bolt of lightning split the darkened sky. Ghidorah thundered forwards, leading with a swipe of one wing, but Anguirus ducked under it and put all his weight into a shoulder-charge that knocked the Golden One back on their heels. Spinning around to intercept a strike from the right head, he smacked it aside with a swing of his own head, then lunged up, opening his mouth as wide as possible, and clamped his jaws down on the right head's neck, just below the head.

The right head screeched in pain; while Anguirus might not have the mouth of a predator, like Rodan or the King, his jaws were certainly still powerful enough to do some serious damage. The hard "beak" at the front of his jaws crunched deep into Ghidorah's scales, and he hung on like a bulldog, shaking his head back and forth as he tried to make the damage worse.

"Ni!" the left head cried out, his eyes widening in alarm. He reared back and struck, trying to grab Anguirus by the base of his tail so he could pull the spike-shell away from his brother, but Anguirus reacted faster. Leaning forwards, he swung his tail up high into the air just as the left head lunged in, and then brought it crashing down with all of his strength. The solid, bony club at the end landed two staggering blows, one with each swing: the upward strike stunned the left head for a moment and knocked out several of his teeth, before the downward strike cracked his skull and almost caved in the top of his head, smashing him down into the dirt. He was knocked completely senseless by the force of the impact, slumping limply and letting out soft gurgling sounds.

Both of Ghidorah's other heads shrieked as they felt the impacts through their telepathic bond, the right head in pain and the middle one in fury. The right head was squirming frantically as he tried to escape, bursts of lightning spraying wildly from his jaws, but Anguirus was grappling that neck with his front legs to keep him pinned down, the spike-shell's beaked mouth digging deeper into the Golden One's hide and drawing trickles of black blood.

Rodan felt a surge of hope in that moment: he honestly hadn't believed that they could win, but it seemed like his partner was actually launching a successful attack! He prepared to let out a piercing cry of his own, as another signal in case the King and Queen were getting closer… but then his eyes widened in horror and his signal call came out instead as a desperate screech of "Anguirus, behind you!"

Unfortunately, the warning came too late. While his brothers had been hasty in their attacks and had been unsuccessful, Ghidorah's middle head had been biding his time and waiting patiently for their attacks to force an opening in Anguirus's nearly-impenetrable defenses. And now that Anguirus's deadly tail was occupied in dealing with the left head, and the spike-shell was fully preoccupied by struggling to keep control of the right head, his neck was vulnerable.

In an instant, the middle head struck down and his jaws clamped onto the side of Anguirus's neck, one of the few points on the spike-shell's body that weren't shielded by his natural armor. Ghidorah's fangs sank into the tough hide; Anguirus snarled in pain, but refused to relinquish his death-grip on the right head's neck. Unfortunately, this left him open to an additional attack, as Ghidorah swung one of their legs up and latched onto Anguirus's tail with one grasping foot. Their claws dug in, seizing his tail in a vice-grap and preventing him from using it effectively.

As Anguirus struggled desperately to free himself, Ghidorah's wings flared out and started flapping, slowly lifting both Kaijus off the ground. The left head and neck still hung limp, although he was starting to regain consciousness, and the right head was still struggling to free himself from Anguirus's death-grip, but the middle head was still in control of the Golden One's body and was able to keep them on course.

Rodan had started rushing forwards, moving as quickly as he could, but with his broken wing slowing him down, he wasn't fast enough to keep Ghidorah from taking to the air. Driving the pain down, he forced both of his own wings out and started desperately flapping, ignoring the agony that seared through his injured wing with each beat. His flight was slow and painful, but he managed to rise off the ground and began chasing them up towards the swirling clouds overhead. Lightning crackled around him, but he ignored it, focused entirely on Ghidorah and Anguirus.

Anguirus, for his part, was latched on for dear life and refusing to let go. The middle head had been forced to let go of his neck and focus on flying, while the right head was now choking and desperately trying to throw him off. The left head was waking up, the damage to his skull slowly repairing itself, but he still wasn't at 100% yet.

"Hey!" Rodan screeched, flapping his wings harder as he chased up after the struggling pair. "Put him down, right now!"

The middle head, even through the immense strain that he was clearly experiencing, still managed a harsh chuckle as his glowing red eyes shone down at Rodan through the darkness. "Quite a poor choice of words, little spitfire," he commented, his cruel smirk growing wider. "But if you say so..."

Before Rodan had any chance of overtaking them, Ghidorah lifted their other foot and slammed it down on the back of Anguirus's neck with all of their strength, wrapping that foot's talons around Anguirus's neck. His spikes punctured the bottom of their foot, but they didn't care.

The strike also wrenched Anguirus's neck painfully into an unnatural position, tearing his beaked mouth free of the right head's neck. A deep gash had been opened in the side of the right neck, with black blood spilling out, but it wasn't deep enough to disable or sever that head. The neck twisted free of Anguirus's front paws as well, so that now he was only being held aloft by Ghidorah's feet, with their grips on his neck and his tail.

Rodan realized what was about to happen a moment before it did. "No," he breathed, his eyes widening in horror, but he was too far away to stop it.

Ghidorah opened their claws, and Anguirus fell. And as he fell, rolling over and plummeting towards the ground, all three heads unleashed a combined blast of lightning that struck his softer, less-armored belly, crackling over his body and searing into his flesh as it propelled him downwards, trailing an echoing howl of pain.

Rodan barely even realized that he too was screaming; it didn't really register in his mind. All he was aware of was that he'd instinctively shifted into a dive, plunging through the sky after Anguirus in a desperate attempt to catch him, to slow his fall, to do something, before he could hit the ground. But he was too far away, and the injured wing made him too slow, and the ground was coming up too fast…

And he was too late.

Anguirus slammed into the ground with the force of a bomb, generating a thunderous explosion of dust and shattered rock. A rippling shockwave blasted outwards in all directions, sweeping across the entire island, as fissures opened up in the earth itself.

Rodan barely managed to pull up in time to avoid crashing headfirst into the ground himself. As soon as he saw Anguirus hit the ground, however, his thoughts had shifted from overpowering terror to pure, unthinking rage. Suddenly, his broken wing, and the other wounds that he'd taken so far, felt like nothing. A searing, burning heat filled his entire body, and he shrieked out a challenge as he slammed his wings down and propelled himself back up towards Ghidorah.

But the Golden One was ready for him, and the right and left heads had now been given the moments they'd needed to recover, at least in part, from the damage that Anguirus had inflicted on them. Once again, all three necks lit up with their baleful golden glow, and lightning blasted from all three mouths. And with no time to dodge or deflect the attack, he took all three beams directly in the chest.

The world turned gold, and then white, as every nerve and muscle in Rodan's body erupted simultaneously with a crackling electric agony. His beak hung open in a silent scream, the sound now just echoing in his own head. He was barely even aware of himself as he seized up, plummeted limply back to earth, and crashed into the ground.

When he feebly regained consciousness, he found himself lying flat on his back, near the edge of the crater that Anguirus's impact had smashed into the island. Overhead, the Golden One was descending leisurely towards their broken bodies, now supremely confident in their victory.

"Well, now," the middle head purred. "It seems that we're finally done here. To be quite honest, I'm surprised that you two weaklings managed to last as long as you did against us without your precious King and Queen protecting you. But perhaps you may be able to take solace in the fact that you shall die together." He shrugged, chuckling softly. "Or perhaps not. It doesn't concern us either way."

Electricity began crackling in Ghidorah's right and left mouths again as they prepared to deal the finishing blow. "And on that note… farewell," the middle head declared, as he began charging up his own blast.

And then, suddenly, the darkened sky above them burst asunder with a brilliant flash of light. All three of Ghidorah's heads screeched in pain as they were blinded and dazzled by the searing glare, their charging blasts forgotten. A moment later, they shrieked in renewed pain as a sizzling beam of blue-white fire hit them squarely in the chest, burning into their scales and knocking them backwards through the air. A pair of furious cries – a deep, thunderous roar and a high-pitched trill – cut through the thunder, as the blazing blue light hurled back the darkness of the storm.

That was when Rodan's vision finally faded to black, his head slumping back against the ground as he lost consciousness.

Rodan was awakened by the sensation of a gentle warmth flowing through his body, as if he was lowering himself slowly into a warm pool of lava. His eyes flickered open for a moment, but all he saw was a soft blue light before they drifted closed again. For a moment he couldn't remember where he was or what had happened, so he slumped back to the ground and sighed in relief as he felt the pain fading away, his injuries slowly mending themselves as his body began to heal.

"It's okay, Rodan," the Queen's voice murmured as a gentle shower of glowing particles rained down over his body again. "Just let yourself rest, all right? I'm healing you, but it's going to take a few minutes before you'll be fully recovered." She was crouching next to him, holding her wings out over his fallen form as she let a gentle cloud of healing scales rain down onto him. Her voice was unusually shaky, and it sounded like she was trying to keep herself from crying.

Rodan frowned, still dazed but feeling better with each passing second as the fuzziness in his head slowly melted away. "What… what's wrong?" he murmured, still trying to remember how he'd ended up in this position. "What happened? And… Gojira… Anguirus? Where are they?"

"They…" The Queen trailed off for a moment, a brief, choking sob echoing in his ears as she tried to compose herself. "Rodan… there wasn't anything we could do. I tried, but he… he didn't…" She sobbed quietly again, her wings trembling as she let a final shower of healing particles drift down onto him. "I… I'm so sorry…"

And then Rodan remembered where he was and what had happened, and all of his confusion and dizziness vanished in that single moment of horrified realization. Ignoring the Queen's plea of "Wait, no, you're not fully healed yet!" as she tried to keep him still, he rolled over and looked up… and his heart froze in his chest.

The King was crouching in the nearby crater, down on one knee and digging his claws into the earth. His spines were dark, their usual blue glow almost completely absent, and his eyes were tightly shut, with visible tears leaking from them.

But Rodan's attention was focused entirely on what lay next to him: the crumpled, motionless body of Anguirus.

"No…" he breathed, his voice trembling even as he began dragging himself towards the body. No, no, no, no… Scrambling to his partner's side, he started pushing at Anguirus's chest and side, trying to roll him back and forth to wake him up. "Anguirus? Anguirus! C'mon, buddy, wake up!" His voice cracked, his body shaking as he desperately shook the body more forcefully. "Seriously, this isn't funny! Wake up!"

"Rodan!" the King's deep voice growled. The Alpha tones of that call cut through the haze of shock and desperation in Rodan's head, snapping him back to clarity; he felt a sick, twisting sensation in his gut, and his heart sank as the reality of the situation slowly set in.

"Anguirus…?" he whispered. He tentatively reached out, brushing his claws against the spike-shelled Kaiju's face, but there was no response. He strained his senses as much as he could, leaning in and resting his head on Anguirus's chest for a moment, but there was nothing: no sounds of breathing or of a heartbeat, no energy radiating from the body.

Still. Cold. Lifeless.

Gone.

Rodan stared at his companion's lifeless face for a full, unrelenting minute, without moving or blinking. Then he threw his head back and howled into the sky, shrieking at the top of his lungs as his whole body ignited in a hellish blaze of orange fire. His voice rang out into the night: a scream of utter, heartbreaking loss, shot through with despair and rage. The cry carried for miles, echoing again and again through the cold night air.

As Rodan's scream finally died down, the fire-wing's flames evaporated as well, and he collapsed forwards onto Anguirus's body, wrapping his wings around the fallen spike-shell and hugging him close. Hot, angry tears leaked from his eyes and promptly evaporated in the searing heat that his body was generating, reduced to wisps of quickly-dissipating steam. His cry of pain and sorrow trailed off into a series of quiet, racking sobs, his body shaking as he buried his head against Anguirus's chest.

Rodan honestly had no idea how long he lay there, slumped over his partner's body and lost in an all-consuming fog of grief and pain. Finally, however, he slowly came back to himself… and, slowly but surely, his pain shifted and transformed into a slowly-growing anger. His head slowly lifted back up, the yellow light in his eyes growing darker as his gaze slowly locked on the King and Queen, who were now standing together and watching him from a few paces away.

"You did this," he hissed, his voice low and cold.

The Queen inhaled sharply and looked like she'd just been punched in the face, while the King's eyes flashed with indignation and a deep growl rumbled in his throat. "What the hell are you talking about?!" he snapped. "Have you completely lost your mind? We didn't do this!"

"You might as well have!" Rodan spat, his eyes suddenly blazing. "You two ran off on your little couple's vacation and left us here to fight that monster all by ourselves, and now Anguirus is dead!" His voice cracked on that last word, but the rage in his eyes never flickered as his gaze shifted over to the Queen. "And why the hell didn't you save him?" he demanded. "You saved me! You could have saved him instead, but you just left him to die!"

The Queen flinched, her expression pained and conflicted, but the King's eyes flashed with anger. "Watch your mouth!" he ordered, taking a step forwards and placing himself between Rodan and his mate. "It wasn't her fault, and you know it! There was nothing she could have done for him." His eyes flicked down to Anguirus's motionless form, and his posture sagged slightly: it was clear that the loss of their friend was just as devastating to him as it was to the others. "There was nothing any of us could have done."

In that moment, however, Rodan didn't even notice, and he couldn't have cared less. "Bullshit," he spat, his eyes blazing as his flames flared up more intensely. "You're always the ones saying how important it is for us to stick together and help each other, but when we really needed you – when he needed you…" He felt another shock of pain twisting in his gut, but he refused to look down at the body again, and bit out his next words with an almost-visceral effort. "You. Weren't. Here." He laughed, a harsh and bitter cawing sound that was almost like the rasping squawk of a crow. "Not that I'm surprised. You two have been putting each other ahead of everyone else for thousands of years; why should he and I be any different?"

The King's eyes blazed, a deep growl rumbled in his throat, and he almost took another step forward, but the Queen flared out a wing to block his path. "Rodan…" she murmured, her voice filled with pain and regret as she met his gaze. "I'm sorry. If I could have saved him too, I would have. I promise you." She looked down. "But… I only had enough time to save one of you, and he–"

"Then you should have saved him!" Rodan hissed, an additional surge of rage and pain almost choking him. The Queen flinched back as if his words had been a slap, and the King snarled under his breath as he moved closer to her protectively.

Rodan couldn't take it anymore. The anger in the King's eyes, the guilt and sadness in the Queen's, the grief radiating from all three of them, the sight of the Kaiju that he cared about more than anyone else in the world lying dead at his feet… all of it was suffocating him.

"I'm done," he declared flatly. "I'm done with all of this. The fighting, the Golden One, this whole damn war… I'm done. You two can get yourselves killed on your own time; I won't be a part of it anymore." Swinging around, he flared out his wings in preparation for takeoff, before sending one last parting shot over his shoulder as he indicated Anguirus's body with a swipe of one wing. "And you'd better make sure he gets a proper burial. Considering that you two just let him die, that's the least you can do for him now."

Without waiting to hear anything they might have to say in response to that, he took a few quick, bounding hops and leapt into the air, his now fully-healed wings catching the air and propelling him aloft. Soaring quickly away from the island, he rapidly accelerated as he raced out over the ocean, producing a sonic boom as he reached top speed.

But however far and however fast he flew, he already knew that there was no escape from the grief and pain that were tearing his heart to pieces.

After parting ways with the King and Queen, the grieving fire-wing flew far and wide across the world, trying to put as much distance as he could between himself and the site of his closest comrade's death. He avoided all signs of the Golden One as well, not wanting to risk facing that monster in battle again now that he no longer had anyone else to help him. He kept mostly to the empty, barren wastelands, the most expansive deserts and the most inhospitable mountains, trying to stay away from other Kaiju as much as he could. The hostile ones saw him as a threat, and most of the ones who were friendly just reminded him of everything that he had lost, so he preferred to be alone.

Over time, however, he grew tired of wandering. The planet's climate was changing, gradually growing colder with each passing year, and many of the other Kaiju began going into hibernation or retreating down to the Underworld as a result. For a creature like him, who preferred hot and tropical weather, this spreading chill was quite unpleasant for him, and he wasn't interested in moving down to the Underworld since there weren't any open skies down there. So instead of seeking out lonely places where he could lose himself, he began searching for someplace where he could go into hibernation, a secluded hiding place where he could sleep without being threatened or disturbed.

Finally, after spending quite some time wandering the barren places of the world, he found a new place to call home: a burning volcano, located on a small island surrounded by warm, tropical waters. This seemed like a suitable home for him: no other Kaiju lived on the island or in the waters surrounding it, but it was the perfect spot for a fire-wing to nest. A small village of humans dwelled upon it, but they were of no concern to him… not anymore, at least.

Landing atop the volcano, he tore away the rocks at the top of the cone, widening the opening enough for him to climb inside. Wrapping his wings around himself like a protective cocoon, he sank slowly into the bubbling lava inside, his glowing yellow eyes closing as his head disappeared beneath the pool of molten rock. Allowing himself to sink deeper into the caldera of the volcano, he settled in and let his body relax as he slipped into a hibernation trance. In this state, a Kaiju could sleep for thousands of years without suffering any ill effects, which meant that he would not need to awaken again for several millennia.

After everything that he had been through, that was fine with him.

If no one had seen the fire-wing take up residence in that volcano, he might have slept there for countless millennia until all traces of his presence were forgotten. But his arrival on the island, and his occupancy of the volcano, had been seen, by the humans living on the shores below the great mountain. They renamed the volcano, calling it the Demon's Nest after the great burning monster that now dwelled within it, and told fearful stories to their children of what might happen if that monster ever awakened.

Those humans never did anything that might disturb the demon's slumber, of course… but thousands of years later, other humans began to arrive. And one particular group of them knew full well what was sleeping in the volcano. They set up an observation station atop the volcano, designed to study and monitor the sleeping demon without awakening him, which functioned as they'd planned for many years. The humans believed that they had the situation under control.

Until one day, an artificially-generated Alpha Kaiju call echoed over the speakers of the humans' containment facility... and the demon within the mountain began to stir.

Now…

"Awaken."

The distant voice filtered through Rodan's sleeping mind, bringing him slowly back to awareness. His wings twitched, his claws clenched and flexed, and his eyes shifted beneath their lids as his dreams faded away.

"Awaken," the voice repeated. While normally he would have ignored it, something about it, a deeper quality that went beyond mere sound, sent a surge of adrenaline down his spine, sparking him into consciousness.

Groaning softly, he reached up and rubbed his head with the claws on his left wing. "All right, all right, I'm awake," he muttered under his breath. He dipped his head under the surface of the lava again, trying to use the bubbling heat to soothe his growing headache. It worked for a moment, but then another echoing call pulsed through the rock around him, followed by another and another, each one sending another jolt through his mind.

"Awaken. Awaken. Awaken."

"All right, already!" Rodan snapped, letting out a piercing screech to express his annoyance. "I'm awake! You can shut up now!" Being awakened rather abruptly and painfully hadn't done much for his mood.

As he looked up, searching for the source of the voice, he blinked curiously and frowned as he tilted his head to one side. For some reason, the top of the volcano wasn't open anymore, as it had been when he'd taken up residence here and gone into hibernation: instead, it was somehow closed up now, blocking out the daylight and leaving him in darkness except for the deep orange glow of the lava. It almost looked like some kind of lid had been placed over the opening of the cone, like how humans built roofs on the wood or stone nests that they lived in.

"Weird…" Rodan muttered, shaking his head back and forth to clear his head, before shrugging it off. Eh, doesn't really matter where it came from. All that matters is that if I'm gonna get out of here, that thing needs to go. Reaching up with one wing, he pushed lightly against the lid, trying to lift it up, but it was firmly lodged in place. All right, then… His gleaming yellow eyes narrowed, and he clenched the claws on his wings into makeshift fists and began slamming them upwards into the lid.

Fortunately, while the lid seemed to be made of metal, it wasn't too durable. A few solid blows caused it to bend upwards, the metal buckling and giving way, until it was on the verge of failing. The lava around his body was churning more and more violently as his movements and the growing heat from his body stirred it up.

"One more oughtta do it…" Rodan murmured to himself. He grinned, winding up, and smashed another rising blow up into the lid with his full strength behind it. This time, the lid gave way and exploded upwards, accompanied by a massive plume of fire and ash as the heat and pressure that had been rapidly building up were suddenly unleashed. The entire top of the volcano burst open, unleashing a shockwave that rippled outwards in all directions.

There we go! Yawning, Rodan reached up and grasped the edge of the crater with one set of wing-claws, digging them into the rock. The other wing followed suit, and he pulled, hauling himself slowly up out of the volcano and into the daylight. His wings unfolded as he climbed up onto the top of the mountain, stretching his limbs out to help him finish waking up. Throwing back his head and flinging out his wings, he greeted the sun with a loud, echoing roar.

As he took in his surroundings, he frowned when he saw no sign of any other Kaiju in the area. The voice that had woken him up had certainly sounded like another Kaiju, but there didn't seem to be anyone else around. The only signs of life on the island came from the human village down near the water, which seemed to have gotten significantly bigger while he'd been asleep.

So where the hell was that voice coming from, and who was it? Rodan wondered, before shrugging it off. Eh, doesn't really matter, I guess. If whoever it was wants to talk to me now that I'm awake, they obviously know where to find me. Standing up to his full height, he stretched out his wings and legs one at a time, loosening up his muscles after all the time he'd spent sleeping in the volcano. He could tell that he had been hibernating for quite a long time, thousands of years at least, as the gnawing hunger in his belly indicated that he needed food. Fortunately, the radiation emanating from the volcano beneath him had been more than sufficient to keep his energy levels well-supplied during his long sleep, but radiation didn't completely fill a Kaiju's stomach, and he would need physical food as well.

"Well, might as well go find something… maybe a whale or two, something like that," Rodan murmured to himself. As he stretched out his neck and yawned, however, a strange sound in the distance drew his attention, and he noticed something unusual nearby: a large flying creature of some kind, flying slowly towards the island. He tensed up for a moment when he saw the creature's sleek black wings, briefly mistaking it for a male Jinshin-Mushi, before he realized that no, this was something different. There were no long, trailing limbs extending from this creature's underside, and its wings were rigid and inflexible, not flapping at all. Maybe it was some kind of glider? He knew of a couple of species that could do that – the Nozuki, the flying serpents that lived down in the Underworld, and a type of large lizard Kaiju which used a membrane stretched between their front and hind legs to glide on the wind – but this thing didn't look anything like those creatures did.

This strange flyer also appeared to be accompanied by a dozen or so smaller flying creatures that soared around it, perhaps juveniles of the same species. Several of those smaller flyers suddenly accelerated forwards, flying directly towards Rodan. He watched their approach with some interest, particularly when what looked like several small projectiles popped out of their wings and shot towards him as the small flyers abruptly veered off course and banked away from him. Weird… what the hell are –? Rodan's curious thoughts were abruptly cut off as the strange projectiles hit him in the chest and stomach… and exploded. Like some kind of explosive stinger, they burst into fireballs that exploded violently against his torso, rocking him back on his heels.

They didn't do much damage, of course: Rodan's armored scales could withstand the heat of molten lava with no difficulties whatsoever. But they did sting a bit, and that – as well as the sheer annoyance of being attacked by such small creatures in the first place – pissed him off. His eyes narrowed and focused on the larger flyer, as the smaller ones that had attacked him flew back towards it and a few others soared in to launch their own attack.

Now this was starting to make sense to him. Maybe this larger flyer was the creature that had awakened him? Perhaps it had come here to challenge him, wanting to drive him out of this place so it could feed on the radiation from his volcano? And the smaller flyers, perhaps its young, were fighting on their parent's behalf?

If so, this creature was an idiot. Although it was still some distance away, he could easily tell that it was significantly smaller than he was, and yet it had still chosen to challenge him. That was something he wasn't inclined to forgive.

"Okay, then," he growled as another wave of exploding stingers detonated against his hide. Snapping at one of the smaller flyers as it shot past him, he fixed his gaze on the larger one, which suddenly banked into a turn away from him. "You want a fight? You've got one." Snarling, he stepped up to the edge of the crater, flared out his wings, and leapt into the air. His wings caught the wind for the first time in millennia, and he accelerated as he swept down the slope of the mountain. Already he could feel the wind rushing behind him like a bow wave, sweeping over the human village and razing it to the ground. He felt a little bad about that for a moment, as back in the old days he'd tried to avoid doing that kind of damage to human cities since the Queen would always get mad at him for it, but he shook his head and focused back on the business at hand.

Nobody challenges me for my turf and gets away with it.

Bursting up through the low-hanging layer of clouds with a challenging roar, Rodan quickly zeroed in on the strange, dark flyer. Possibly having realized the foolishness of its challenge, it was fleeing across the top of the clouds, its smaller attendants flying in formation around it. As he accelerated after them, however, the smaller flyers looped back and accelerated back towards him, as if trying to intercept him.

Rodan snorted. Good luck with that. Another volley of explosive stingers leapt forth from the smaller flyers, but he ignored the minor stings of their impacts and waited for the right moment. He angled himself slightly upwards, so that he would pass just above the small flyers, and as soon as some of them were beneath him, he drew his wings up and clapped them together as hard as he could, with so much force that it released another shockwave and slapped three of the small flyers right out of the sky. The force also propelled him straight up, gaining a thousand feet or more in seconds; from that higher vantage point, he angled himself and dove back towards them, screaming down like an eagle targeting a flock of sparrows. Snatching one of the little flyers with each taloned foot, he crushed them both with a single, effortless squeeze, snapping his beak at one of them even as it blew apart and exploded.

That dive had brought him a little too close to the ocean; one of his wingtips brushed the water, sending up a burst of seaspray, but he ignored it as he closed in on one of the remaining small flyers. Several of the others fired more of their stinging projectiles at him again, but he ignored them, focused on this particular individual. His beak gaped open, snapping at its tail, until suddenly its head burst open and a smaller object shot up and out into the open air. Instinctively, he snapped at that instead, catching and swallowing it in an instant. He didn't get much out of it, as it was so small that he hadn't even really tasted it, but he was fairly sure it had been… a human? Were these flyers somehow being ridden by humans? He'd certainly never heard of anything like that before.

"Weirder and weirder," he muttered, shaking his head and continuing the chase. He took a snap at another of the small flyers as it came near his head, but it nimbly rolled to one side and out of reach. That, however, gave him an idea, and his beak curved in a grin. Nice trick, he thought to himself with some amusement.

My turn.

Spinning in the air, Rodan duplicated the agile barrel-roll that the small flyer had employed, his wings sweeping through the air and leaving trails of flame behind them as if he was trying to drill a hole in the sky. The remaining small flyers were caught completely off-guard; his wings swatted each and every one of them like bugs, smashing them to pieces and sending them all tumbling towards the sea below. By the time he'd finished making about half a dozen spins, all of them were gone.

"And that's the end of that!" Rodan called out with a laugh as he pulled out of his roll, driving his wings down and sending up clouds of steam as they dipped into the ocean. He hissed in pain at the sensation of water enveloping his wings – being immersed in water was usually painful for him as it quenched his flames, which was why he usually opted for a dust or sand bath instead when he needed to clean himself up – but shook it off and focused back on his last opponent, the large flyer. Presumably having noticed the loss of its attendants/offspring, it was currently accelerating directly into an approaching stormfront, probably trying to lose him in the clouds.

"Nice try!" Accelerating back to top speed as he rose up and away from the water, Rodan raced after his fleeing challenger, his eyes narrowing as he prepared for the final strike. He had no intention of letting this creature escape; he was going to finish this quickly and decisively, so he wouldn't have to worry about this thing trying to challenge him or raid his territory again in the future.

The dark flyer was barreling straight into the storm, so he went in after it, weaving through the thickening clouds and matching its every move. He drew closer and closer, closing the gap a little more with each wingbeat. His talons reached out, ready to seize his enemy and complete the kill…

And then Rodan froze. His head snapped up, the dark flyer forgotten in an instant, as he stared wide-eyed into the swirling dark clouds in front of him. He hadn't realized it before now – it hadn't even occurred to him as a possibility – but now he was close enough that he could see the shape at the heart of this storm, its outline illuminated by the constant arcs and flashes of lightning around it.

Enormous, batlike wings, significantly wider than his own impressive wingspan.

Two long, lashing tails.

Three heads at the end of long, serpentine necks.

And three pairs of glowing red eyes, now fixing on him and the dark flyer as a trio of all-too-familiar cackles echoed out over the rumble of the storm.

Impossible, impossible, impossible, was all Rodan could think in that frozen moment. It couldn't be them. It couldn't be. They had been defeated by the King and Queen some time after he'd parted ways with them, buried beneath the ice of the frozen southern continent and sealed away forever.

And yet… somehow… there they were, right in front of him.

The Golden One.

Ghidorah.

Right in front of him.

Coming straight at him.

Rodan's brain finally caught up to reality, and he let out a strangled screech as he flung out his wings to slow down his forward momentum, veering off to the side and forgetting all about the dark flyer. His former challenger dove towards the sea below, barely avoiding the Golden One's waving tails before it vanished into the darkness of the storm.

"Well, well, well!" the Golden One's middle head called out, a distinct note of amusement in his voice. "Look what we have here! If it isn't the Lizard King's former bodyguard." All three heads chuckled. "It's been a while! How have you been?"

Rodan's fear suddenly faded away, replaced by a surge of blazing, white-hot rage. He hadn't seen Ghidorah in the flesh since that last battle, the day Anguirus had died. He'd tried to put all of that behind him, forcing himself not to care about it anymore. But now… he couldn't do that anymore. While realistically he knew he should probably just turn tail and run right now, some part of his mind wouldn't let him.

"Go to hell," he snarled, his eyes flashing as he and the Golden One circled each other at the heart of the storm. "I'm not crippled this time."

"No, indeed you're not," the middle head admitted, his brothers snickering as he grinned. "Let's fix that, shall we?" With a clap of their wings, they rushed forward, all three heads letting out a chorus of cackling roars.

Rodan forced down his fear, letting his hatred overwhelm and replace it. His flames flared up, and he swept in to meet his enemy with a piercing, defiant shriek.

Wings flared back, talons raked forwards, and the two winged Kaiju crashed together in midair with the force of a tidal wave, throwing out a shockwave that rippled outwards in all directions and producing a thunderclap that briefly drowned out all of the background rumbling.

Both Kaiju's roars and snarls echoed through the storm as they locked claws and began tumbling down through the clouds, writhing and twisting back and forth, biting and clawing at each other. Rodan took a solid hit from one of Ghidorah's sweeping wings that knocked him backwards, but he dove right back in and slammed down feet-first onto their exposed torso, raking his talons down their chest and stomach, drawing blood from half a dozen deep cuts.

"You seriously think you stand a chance against us?!" the right head spat as his brothers both struck out at Rodan. "You couldn't even put up a halfway-decent fight when you had your buddy helping you; the hell d'you think you can do by yourself?!"

"Shut – the fuck – up already!" Rodan roared back, slashing furiously at Ghidorah with the claws on his feet and the ones on his wings, training arcs of flame and smoke as he whirled and spun. Unfortunately, not all of his abilities worked very well against the Golden One, as the torrential rainstorms that were produced by their electric aura also tended to quench his flames.

Unfortunately, while Rodan's anger was helping him to put everything he had into this fight, it was also making him sloppy, and Ghidorah was quick to take advantage of that. A solid blow to his back from their spiked tails knocked him off-balance, and they struck again before he could react: the right and left heads reared back and struck forward with lightning speed, each of their jaws clamping onto one of his wings and yanking them outwards, stretching them out fully so he couldn't flap them and gain any momentum to break free. Their teeth punched through Rodan's armored scales, and he cried out in pain as he felt a sudden surge of energy being drained out of him, some of his own radiation being siphoned out of his body and flowing back down the length of Ghidorah's necks.

"Thank you for the energy boost," the middle head commented, his face hovering in front of Rodan's with that same damn smirk once again fixed on it. "Considering our currently-weakened state, that will be quite helpful. But for now…" His smirk widened as he glanced over Rodan's shoulder. "I believe this is where you get off."

And with that, the middle head reared back, a pulse of golden light running up through his neck, and blasted Rodan squarely in the chest with a concentrated bolt of lightning. A searing burst of pain rushed through Rodan's body, and his wings seized up for a crucial moment. In that moment, Ghidorah released their grip on him and kicked him in the stomach with both feet, launching him down and away from them. He plummeted downwards for several hundred feet, and then his entire body was enveloped in an explosion of cold, stinging pain as he plunged into the ocean.

And then slowly, gently, everything around him went black.

Rodan's last thought before he slipped into unconsciousness was: I should've just stayed in the damn volcano.

Ichi nodded in satisfaction as the fire-wing tumbled downwards and crashed into the sea, sending up a massive explosion of water and steam. Excellent, he thought to himself. Even if he lives through that, he won't trouble us again for a while, and the energy we drained from him should help to sustain us until we can find a more significant power source.

Maybe that volcano that he was sleeping in? San suggested, nodding off in the direction that the fire-wing had come from. It feels like it's erupting: there should be plenty of energy coming from that, right?

Yeah, you're not wrong, Ni admitted. Their victory over the fire-wing had definitely helped him to relax a bit, as he'd been feeling quite annoyed after their earlier struggle with the Lizard King. We should get moving, then. The Lizard King's probably gonna figure out where we are eventually.

Just a moment, brothers, Ichi spoke up, reasserting his primary control over their shared body for a moment as he directed their attention off in the opposite direction from the volcanic island where the fire-wing had been hibernating. Before we go there, I think we should dispose of that little irritant first.

The object in question was the large human aircraft that the fire-wing had been pursuing, which appeared to be the same one that had helped the Lizard King by attacking them on the frozen continent. It was now a short distance away from them, cruising slowly over the water.

That vessel has already aided two of our enemies, Ichi continued, which makes it an enemy and a threat in its own right. Therefore, I suggest that we eliminate it now, while it has no other allies present. Then we can feed and recover our strength without needing to worry about any further interruptions.

Fair enough, Ni growled. He hadn't forgotten their encounter with this strange craft earlier that day, and he had no intention of letting it get away with arranging a second attack on them. Let's blast that damn thing out of the sky and be done with it, then.

San groaned softly, but conceded. Okay, fine, he replied reluctantly. Let's just hurry, okay? Even with the radiation that we drained from the fire-wing, I'm seriously getting hungry.

Trust us, we know, Ni snarked, rolling his eyes. You're always hungry.

Enough. Taking command and overriding his brothers' bickering, Ichi flared out their wings and altered their course, soaring away from the area where the fire-wing had crashed and heading across the water towards the human craft. The humans onboard clearly saw them coming, as the craft banked into a turn and began to flee across the water, but it had no chance of escape and Ghidorah's powerful wingbeats carried them closer with each passing second.

Ichi visualized the next couple of seconds in his mind as they closed in on the fleeing aircraft. There was no need to bother with using their lightning here; they would simply catch the human craft in their talons and tear it to pieces, or perhaps they would knock it out of the sky and into the water with a single blow. Either way, it would be a quick and easy kill, and then they could go back to the fire-wing's volcano and replenish their energy before starting their purge of the rest of the planet.

Ghidorah let out a chorus of cackling roars as they swept in for the kill, skimming low over the water as they bore down on their target. Their talons spread wide, ready to strike.

And then, faster than any of the three brothers could react, the water to their left suddenly exploded as the Lizard King erupted from the depths with a thunderous roar, his entire body launching out of the water. "Got you!" he bellowed, his eyes blazing with a savage delight.

Even with three independent brains, Ghidorah only had enough time for a single thought – Oh, shit – before the King slammed into them and both Kaijus went crashing down into the water.

The King hadn't wasted any time in chasing after the Golden One. They were weak enough after their time in the ice that they'd chosen to run from him rather than staying and fighting, which meant that if he could catch up to them before they could find a source of radiation and recover their full strength, he might be able to take them down for good. If they had flown all the way back up into the void beyond the sky, as they had often done in the past when a battle didn't go their way, he would not have been able to follow them, but luckily it seemed that solar energy alone would not be sufficient to recharge them this time, which meant that they would need to land somewhere. And if he could stay close enough on their trail, as soon as they came to ground, he would be able to catch them and finish things.

As the King had been traversing the underwater tunnels that he used to speed up his travels around the planet, he had felt a surge of annoyance when he felt the strange voice-mimicking Alpha call echoing through the deeps again. But this time, that annoyance had quickly been replaced by surprise when he'd heard the distant voice of another awakened Kaiju… and not just any Kaiju, but Rodan. His feelings regarding the fire-wing were mixed, to say the least: they had been friends once, although they'd never really been close, but that had changed after Anguirus had died. Rodan had placed a large portion of the blame for their comrade's death on the King and Queen for not being present when the Golden One had targeted them, and had then abandoned their former friendship altogether and forced them to continue fighting the Golden One on their own. That event had severed the bonds of friendship that had connected them, and the King honestly hadn't been interested in trying to fix things between them after that. The Queen had tried once, after the Golden One had been defeated and sealed away beneath the ice, but even then Rodan had made it clear in no uncertain terms that he wasn't interested in seeing either of them again, so she too had given up.

However, while the King might not care too much about Rodan anymore, the sounds of his former friend battling with the Golden One – and losing, by the sound of it – had sent an additional surge of anger rushing through his body, and he'd increased his speed. Having used the underwater tunnels which connected to the Underworld to speed up his travel from the southern ocean to here, he had raced to the scene, bursting up out of the hole in the sea floor just as the battle concluded. Unfortunately, he quickly realized that Rodan had been defeated, but he could sense that the fire-wing was still alive and not seriously injured, so he focused his attention on the Golden One. They appeared to be chasing after the large human-piloted metal flyer that had come to his aid on the frozen continent, and they were so distracted by the chase that they were paying very little attention to anything else, which gave him the perfect opportunity.

After swimming along the bottom until he was beneath his target, the King accelerated and charged up towards the surface, gaining speed with each passing second as he angled to intercept the Golden One just before they could overtake the human flyer. With a triumphant roar of "Got you!", he breached the surface and slammed into the Golden One with a full-body tackle, savoring the startled squawks and cries that escaped from all three of their mouths in the moment before he smashed them down into the water.

This was an opportunity that had almost never happened before. The only other time he'd had a chance like this had been during one of his first battles with the Golden One, when he and Rodan had been able to tackle them off a cliff into the ocean. As soon as they'd hit the water and submerged, the battle had shifted dramatically in his favor: while the Golden One's enormous wings were quite useful in flight, they also made it very hard for them to swim effectively. He had almost managed to overpower them then, but the Golden One had unleashed an enormous blast of lightning that had thrown him off long enough for them to get back into the air and make their escape.

But the King had never forgotten that incident. As powerful as the Golden One was, they had a weakness: they were designed for flying and walking, not for swimming. Just like Rodan or his Queen's winged form, Ghidorah would be at a significant disadvantage if they were forced to fight in the water. By contrast, the ocean was the King's element, where he was at his strongest. Right now, the Golden One was off-balance, unprepared, and trapped in the King's domain.

And he was going to make them pay dearly for that mistake.

The Golden One had clearly realized their predicament as well, as they were frantically struggling and trying to squirm out of his grasp so they could take to the air again. All of their usual skill and power seemed to be forgotten: the middle head was furiously struggling to maintain control, while the other two heads were rapidly descending into panic mode as they thrashed about in a desperate attempt to escape.

"I don't think so!" the King snarled as he grappled with his nemesis, rolling and twisting as he repeatedly dunked each of their heads underwater to disorient them. "I've got you now, and you're not – going – anywhere!" With that last word, he clamped his jaws onto the middle neck and swung that head forcefully down into the water again as it reared up, gasping for air, before driving a series of punches into Ghidorah's chest and stomach to force them a little deeper.

The Golden One fought with everything they had to try and break free, but all their efforts were failing and the King had control of the battle now. He landed a pair of solid hits to the right and middle heads, before lunging forward and biting down on the left neck as hard as he could. He felt his teeth pierce Ghidorah's scales, and growled with a predatory satisfaction as they sank in deeper. Seizing the left neck below the biting point with one hand, he clamped down with all his strength and pulled as hard as he could, twisting his head back and forth as he tried to crush the vertebrae in the neck and pop them free.

The left head was shrieking in pain and terror, his cries audible even through the water. "No!" he screamed, his voice muffled as he squirmed desperately in the King's jaws. "No, please, no, don't –" His voice was abruptly cut off with a sickening crunch as the King's teeth crushed his spine, and with a final twisting rip, the King tore the Golden One's left head and neck clean off, leaving a ragged stump behind.

Both of Ghidorah's other two heads howled in agony, the sound muffled by the water. Black, oily blood poured from the stump and from the severed neck; the King resisted the urge to gag as the disgusting taste of the Golden One's blood filled his mouth. Normally he didn't mind tasting blood, but the three-headed Kaiju's blood tasted like tar and rot, sending a disgusting flavor over his tongue.

Shaking the severed head and neck back and forth as it stopped twitching, the King lifted his head out of the water for a moment and tossed it away, roaring in triumph as it fell into the sea and sank beneath the surface. He'd burn that head later: right now, he needed to sever the other two heads before the Golden One could manage to get free of his grasp. While they could keep moving and fighting as long as they still had at least one head left, they would be completely helpless if they lost all three. Until the heads grew back – which they could, in time – they would be at his mercy, and he would be able to finish them off once and for all.

Despite his triumph, the King forced himself to remain as calculating and strategic as possible in that moment, the rest of his plan playing itself out in his mind. Bite off the other two heads. Drag the body to land before any of them can grow back, and burn the whole thing to ashes. Then do the same thing to the severed heads, so there'll be nothing left for them to regenerate from. And then this whole thing will be over.

For the first time since he'd sensed the strange mimic-voice near the Golden One's sleeping place, he felt a surge of genuine excitement rush through him. He was actually winning! Clearly all of the power and experience that he'd gained over the last few millennia had not gone to waste: even without his Queen or their allies backing him up, he'd finally managed to overpower the Golden One on his own, and now he had a perfect chance to finish them once and for all.

As he prepared to continue his attack, the King heard a high-pitched whine approaching, and he briefly glanced over his shoulder in time to see a single human fire-stinger plummeting towards them out of the cloud-filled sky. He couldn't sense any radiation coming from it, so he ignored it and swung back around, plunging beneath the surface and falling upon the Golden One again. Both of their remaining heads frantically struck out at him, but he caught each of them by the throat with one hand, using all of his strength to drive them deeper. "Next… you," he growled, his voice echoing oddly through the water as he opened his jaws and prepared to bite down on the right head's neck.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a splash as the human fire-stinger hit the water just a few yards away, but he paid it no mind. He could tell that it wasn't one of their exploding radiation-filled pebbles, so it wasn't like it could have enough power to actually hurt him…

And then the stinger exploded in a flash of blinding light, the world turned green, and everything was pain.

Chapter Text

Gulf of Mexico

Titanus Gojira

The King had been caught completely off-guard. He hadn't been concerned about the humans' fire-stinger when it first hit the water: their normal weapons didn't do any serious damage to him, and even their powerful exploding radiation-pebbles couldn't really hurt him, particularly since he could absorb the radiation from those blasts. But this was different.

When the stinger detonated, a blinding flash of cold green light rippled outward, accompanied by a massive shockwave that flung both the King and the Golden One through the water, ripping them away from each other. Curiously, this explosion didn't have any of the usual radiation that their more powerful weapons generated, which made it harder for them to withstand the blast.

Dazed and disoriented by the shockwave, the King forced himself to a halt and kept his attention fixed on his enemy, using their energy as a focus point to help him maintain his bearings. Snarling, he sucked in a deep inhale of water, letting it wash over his gills as he prepared to rush back at the Golden One…

But nothing happened. The water swirled over his gills, but he didn't get anything from it. It was as if the ocean around him had turned stagnant in an instant, robbed of all its life-giving oxygen.

The King gasped and choked, shaking his head back and forth as he tried to force more oxygen over his gills, but it still didn't work. He could barely breathe, and the effect felt like it was getting worse with each passing second. The water around him was now bubbling violently, its color shifting from blue-green to a sickly red for as far as he could see.

This was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. Normally, his kind never had any trouble breathing, whatever environment they found themselves in. In the water, they could use their gills; out of it, they could switch to their lungs without any trouble. This dual system was what had enabled them to survive in almost every conceivable habitat. Normally, he never had any trouble breathing in water, but whatever weapon the humans had just used was making it impossible for him to breathe using his gills.

Using his gills…

The King's eyes widened in realization and he started swimming upwards, doing his best to ignore a strange tingling sensation that was quickly spreading over his entire body. Of course! If this water wasn't breathable for the moment, that was fine: he could just swim up to the surface and switch over to his lungs. He'd have to hold his breath while he finished dealing with the Golden One underwater, but that was fine. All he needed to do was –

And then, suddenly, the tingling sensation that had been enveloping him melted into an explosion of horrific, searing agony.

The King roared in pain and spun in the water, thrashing wildly as he tried to throw off whatever was attacking him, but to no avail. Was it the Golden One? No, he could still dimly sense them: they were a few hundred yards away, also thrashing about but rising slowly towards the surface. Then what's attacking me?!

Suddenly, he realized that the water around him was turning a darker shade of red… and then he recognized a familiar taste in his mouth.

Blood. His blood.

What…? The King looked down at himself, and his eyes widened in shock and horror. His body… his skin was melting. He could see it happening, the scales dissolving away at a thousand points all over his body to expose the raw red flesh and muscle underneath, spilling blood into the water. It was as if the bubbling seawater around him had turned into some kind of acid. He could see the same thing happening to other animals all around him, distant schools of fish suffocating as they lost their oxygen and then dissolving as the acid took effect. His regeneration was fighting the process, his damaged flesh already trying to patch itself back together, but the acid's damage was spreading faster than he could heal it.

As soon as the horrified realization properly sank in, the King howled in agony and dove, plunging towards the seafloor as fast as he could. He forgot about the Golden One, about Rodan, about the humans, about everything except survival. Rising to the surface to breathe wasn't an option anymore, as while he would be able to breathe up there, that would do nothing to counteract the acid. He could already tell that his size and his regenerative abilities were the only things keeping him alive right now, and he couldn't swim fast enough normally to outrun the effects of the poison.

His only chance was to reach the underwater tunnel entrance that he'd used to get here: the acceleration of the tunnels could get him out of the area in a matter of seconds, to an area with clean water and no poison. If he could do that, he would be safe. But the tunnel entrance was still thousands of feet below him, and the acid was everywhere.

The King gritted his teeth and forced himself to swim faster, faster, FASTER, as more of his hide melted and dissolved, the wounds slowly growing and expanding. Another wordless cry of pain spilled out through his teeth, and he forced all the power that he had left into his tail and limbs, pouring on more speed and trailing a river of blood in his wake.

He could feel himself weakening, his regeneration unable to keep up with the acid's effects, but he was so close! He could see the ocean floor beneath him, could make out the faint outline of the tunnel entrance up ahead. His damaged muscles screamed with the effort, but he refused to relent.

The tunnel entrance yawned ahead of him. His body felt like it was on fire, and his muscles were on the verge of giving out, but he forced himself to make one final push. For an instant, the image of his Queen flashed across his mind, and he felt the reassuring warmth and love of their connection piercing through the fog of pain. His eyes flashed, rage overcoming the pain and fatigue for a few precious seconds, and he bellowed out his defiance as he dove towards the rift.

Mosura –!

And then he plunged into the tunnel, and everything went black.

Isla de Mara

Titanus Ghidorah

The boiling, dark-red ocean erupted as the Golden One broke the surface, their wings flaring out and cracking the air with each flap. Their left neck hung limp and ended in a ragged stump, but the other two heads were still fully functional and were able to steer their body through the air.

Both Ichi and Ni were, for once, genuinely shaken. They had been minutes, perhaps seconds, away from suffering another defeat at the hands of their nemesis, and this time they would not merely have been trapped beneath the ice. The Lizard King had already ripped off one of their heads, and if he'd managed to sever the other two then they would have been left completely at his mercy. The strange explosion of green fire that had blasted them apart had come as a complete surprise, but neither of them was questioning it.

Both heads had screeched in anguish when their entire body had abruptly been enveloped in a shroud of pain, but fortunately their tightly-knit scales had been able to at least partially resist the effects of the suddenly-acidic seawater. It hadn't been perfect – a few hundred small wounds across their body and wings were now dripping black blood as they flew, and the stump of San's severed neck was bleeding more heavily now as the acid ate away at the exposed flesh – but they were still alive, and mostly unharmed.

"What…" Ni panted as they rose up, his usually-aggressive voice quieter than usual and laced with pain, "the hell… was that?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Ichi admitted, gritting his own teeth against the pain and weariness that ran through their body as he kept flapping their wings to gain a bit more altitude. "Some sort of explosive weapon, I think. Perhaps the humans were trying to aid the Lizard King in finishing us off."

"Well, if that's what they were trying to do, it sounds like they fucked it up pretty bad," Ni snarked as he glanced down towards the ocean. "Hear that?"

Ichi was silent for a moment as he too listened, tilting his head down towards the water as he steered their body into a large circle over the growing patch of blood-red sea. Then he smirked darkly and let a soft chuckle escape his mouth, as he heard the muffled but unmistakable sound of the Lizard King's distant voice howling in pain. "Well, well," he murmured. "How unfortunate for him."

The two heads listened intently for a long minute, waiting to see if their enemy was going to come back up. But, to their surprise, he didn't. There was a final echoing roar, filled with agony… and then the Lizard King's voice trailed off into silence.

Ni blinked, tilting his head back and forth. "Wait…" he muttered. "Did he just…?"

Ichi's eyes widened in surprise, before his smirk widened in an expression of cruel delight. "I believe so, yes," he drawled, triumph and satisfaction filling his voice. "I cannot sense his presence anymore. It seems that our dear nemesis has just met his end."

Ni stared down at the water with wide eyes for a long moment, not entirely able to believe that their enemy was really gone. Then he threw his head back and howled with laughter, his voice ringing out over the ocean. "Serves you right!" he called down at the water with a mocking cackle. "Spent all those millennia protecting those worthless humans from us, and they end up killing you! How pathetic is that?!"

Ichi, for his part, was more reserved, as he genuinely felt taken aback by this turn of events. They had fought the Lizard King so many times that he hadn't been entirely sure if the bastard could die; he seemed to have as many lives as that damn Bug Queen. But there was no denying that their enemy had disappeared, and if those screams that they'd heard prior to his going silent were any indication, there was a good chance that he might actually have died.

But they hadn't killed him. Ghidorah was not the one who had brought their nemesis down; it seemed that a human weapon had done that, the same one that had inflicted some damage on them as well. And if the humans were capable of building weapons that could take down a creature as powerful as the Lizard King, then they were indeed just as much of a threat as he had feared.

We need to start the purge immediately, he decided, his telepathic voice drawing Ni's attention away from his derisive tirade. If that was a human weapon, then they have indeed become a serious threat to creatures like us… potentially just as great a threat as the Exif were.

That name stopped Ni's laughter completely: his eyes widened, and his breath momentarily caught in his throat as he turned to regard his brother. You… you really think these humans could become like the Exif? he questioned. Those aircraft we saw aren't nearly as advanced as theirs were.

No, but any civilization that can bring down a creature like the Lizard King could potentially do the same to us, Ichi replied. The humans may not be as advanced as the Exif were – at least, not yet – but if they have advanced this much while we were buried in the ice, they could easily reach that level before long if we do not stop them.

Ni nodded slowly. Yeah, you're not wrong, he conceded. All right, then. Let's heal up, bring San back, and get to purging.

Agreed. Ichi reasserted a more direct control over their wings, and Ghidorah soared back towards the fire-wing's island. The energy radiating from the erupting volcano there would be more than enough for them to heal and recharge. It didn't take long for them to get there: they swooped in and landed atop the volcano, before settling down into the boiling, fiery cauldron of the fire-wing's former nest. The searing heat of the lava would have been deadly to a lesser creature, and even to some lesser Kaiju, but Ghidorah's scales could withstand the heat of atmospheric reentry, so the interior of a volcano wasn't more than they could handle. The radiation welling up from beneath the earth was absorbed into their body on contact, accelerating their regeneration and enabling them to heal much faster. Their smaller wounds quickly closed up and disappeared, new scales growing until their hide was restored to its usual gleaming perfection. Energy poured back into them, until they were finally back to full strength, just as powerful as they had been prior to their imprisonment in the ice.

As they basked in the heat and let the healing energy continue flowing into them, however, a worrisome thought began to form in Ichi's mind. The Lizard King might be gone, but if the humans had weapons that could take him down, that made them a threat. Even without Ghidorah's Kaiju enemies, the humans had now proven themselves to be a legitimate adversary, and it could potentially be dangerous for Ghidorah to try and purge the entire planet on their own.

But… did they really have to do it on their own? Once, a long time ago, they'd had allies who had joined them in purging worlds… although those purges had been on behalf of the civilization that had once enslaved them. They had parted ways with those allies long before coming to Earth, as their species was solitary by nature and they'd had no interest in traveling with companions.

But under the current circumstances, when they were up against a civilization capable of creating Kaiju-killing weapons, recruiting allies to help them seemed like a good solution to that problem. If there was one thing that the Exif had taught them all those years ago, it was this: never do a dangerous task yourself, when you can use others to do it for you.

Ichi was drawn out of his thoughts by a pained hiss from Ni, a moment before he too felt a rush of pain lance through the left side of their body, signifying that they had absorbed enough energy to trigger the regeneration of their severed head. Sure enough, the stump of San's neck wasn't bleeding anymore, and the severing wound was bulging and rippling as it began to grow.

"Finally," Ni growled. "Took you long enough."

The stump of San's neck burst outwards, flesh and bone spearing quickly out as his head began to regrow. The whole thing was covered by a translucent, slimy membrane, insulating the raw flesh so it could grow more quickly; as the head grew enough to begin stretching the membrane, Ichi reached over and clamped his jaws onto the membrane before ripping it off so the new head and neck could finish growing.

For some reason, the new head's tongue grew back first, flicking about like a worm as the bones of the skull grew out around it, welding together into an upper and lower jaw. Flesh grew next, muscles and tendons wrapping themselves over the bones and molding into the proper shape. A new pair of blood-red eyes grew in the empty sockets, as golden scales grew to cover the exposed flesh and a new set of horns sprouted into place. In just a few seconds, San was fully regrown, blinking a few times to let his vision adjust. "Okay, I'm back!" he gasped as his mouth and throat finished reforming. "Ah, man, that sucked!"

"No shit," Ni deadpanned, rolling his eyes. So, now that we're back at 100%... what do we do now? How should we start the purge?

Ichi smiled as the ideas that he had been turning over in his head finally crystallized. I think I have an idea for that, brothers, he spoke up, drawing both of their attention. Let us take a cue from our former masters' methods. They used intermediaries to carry out their purges when an enemy posed a threat to them, as disposable cannon fodder: we can do the same.

San frowned. What do you mean? he inquired.

Yeah, for once, I'm with him, Ni agreed. What scheme are you cookin' up now?

Simple enough, Ichi explained. There are plenty of other creatures like us on this planet, although it seems that almost all of them are currently in hibernation. I suggest, therefore, that we wake some of them up, and have them aid us in carrying out the purge.

Ni snorted. And you think they'd do that willingly? When this planet dies, so will they. They're not gonna destroy themselves just 'cause we tell them to.

Always missing the obvious, brother, Ichi remarked dryly, ignoring Ni's irritated hiss. Think for a moment. The only Kaiju on this planet that have posed a genuine threat to us are the Lizard King and his Little Queen. He is dead, she is either dead or sleeping, and no other creatures on this world are a match for us. Combined with our telepathy, an Alpha call should be more than sufficient to round up some cannon fodder for us, and their compliance will not be a factor. They will be forced to obey us, whether they want to or not.

Both Ni and San's eyes widened in surprise, as neither of them had ever considered that idea before. I mean… that would make things easier, San thought contemplatively.

It would, yeah, Ni mused, a grin spreading slowly across his face at the thought of the carnage that they could unleash by doing something like this. Sounds good to me.

Excellent. Ichi's smirk widened and he nodded decisively. Then let's get on with it. Now is as good a time as any.

Ghidorah's wings flared out, and all three heads tilted back and stretched up. Three sets of dagger-filled mouths opened, and the three brothers screamed at the heavens at the top of their lungs, putting all of their telepathic power behind the Alpha call.

Their cry circled the globe, radiating outwards and washing over the Earth. Three voices howled out as one, sending a single message that only other Kaiju could properly understand.

"We speak now to all the creatures of this world. Your King is dead, and you answer to us now. Rise up and join us, hunt with us, and do as we command.

Destroy the humans, those insects who think themselves to be our betters. Hunt them down, crush them, consume them. Obliterate all traces of their vile presence from this world.

We are Ghidorah, the Golden Demise, the One Who Is Many. We are your King now.

And all those who stand against us will perish."

Arizona

Titanus Scylla

Although her appearance was terrifying to lesser creatures such as humans, she was actually very kind at heart and had once been quite a social creature. The females of her species typically lived in groups, inhabiting shallow coastal waters and raising their young communally, so although she had never known which adult female had laid her egg, she had grown up surrounded by dozens of mothers and hundreds of siblings. Even after a terrible disaster had struck her ancestral nesting grounds and many of her kind had lost their lives, she had never been alone, thanks to her connection with the other survivors and with the kind Queen Mosura, who had become one of her closest friends.

But when the Cold Times had come and the world had changed dramatically, her kind had been forced to adapt. They had no problem with cold temperatures – their males spent most of their time in the icy depths of the deep ocean, and all of their species were entirely comfortable in cold climates – but the growing ice caps had caused a massive drop in sea levels, which had left many of their ancestral breeding grounds dry and useless for developing eggs (as their eggs had to be laid in water). Most of her fellow survivors had traveled down to the Underworld, where the underground seas were unaffected by the changing surface climate, but she had decided not to go with them. Her best friend lived up here, and she didn't plan on leaving the surface unless she had no other choice.

Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to remain in her ancestral territory, as there wasn't any water there anymore. Deciding to find someplace safer to hibernate, she had left the ocean and traveled inland, until she found a large underground oil field. Such a place would be distasteful to most other Kaiju, but it didn't bother her, so she had torn up the ground and submerged herself in the oil, allowing herself to sink beneath the surface. No enemies or predators would find her here, as there was no radiation present and most Kaiju would never dig around in oil since it tasted disgusting.

Once she was completely submerged, she had tucked her limbs in close and slipped into a hibernation trance. In that state, she didn't need to worry about breathing or eating, although she would need to replenish her energy once she woke up depending on how long she slept for. Millennia passed without her noticing, as she slept on undisturbed, safely hidden away beneath the desert.

And then she heard the call.

It stabbed into her brain, sending painful shocks coursing up and down her limbs. She let out a chattering hiss of pain as she was wrenched back into consciousness, her tentacles practically tying themselves into knots as she tried to drive the pain out of her head. She jerked back and forth, sending ripples out through the oil and into the earth around her.

Finally, she could take it no longer: her limbs unfolded and she reached up, easily punching through the thin layer of rock and earth that had accumulated over her sleeping place during the last few thousand years. Her six long, segmented legs, each tipped with a sharp, pointed claw, curved through the air and slammed back down into the ground on either side of her body, anchoring her. With an almighty flex, she pulled herself up out of the ground, rising to her full height and using her tentacles to wipe the tar away from her eyes as a cascade of black, bubbling oil poured off her exoskeleton.

Scylla winced as the Alpha call drove itself into her mind again, before focusing on her surroundings. She couldn't see any other Kaiju anywhere, but she could still hear the Alpha call ringing in her ears. It wasn't the King or the Queen, she knew that: she could recognize their voices anywhere, and in any case neither of them would ever order her to do something like this. This was the voice of the Golden One, the Destroyer, and feeling their call like this was utterly horrifying. She felt like their mind was pressing down on hers, as if they had their foot on her back and were crushing her into the dirt. She let out a series of pained clicks and hisses, rubbing at her head with a few of her tentacles as she tried to fight off the Alpha command, but their will was too strong.

How could this be? The Golden One was gone, buried beneath the ice of the southern continent and sealed away forever. How could they be back? And… was the King really dead? The thought of that sent a chill through her guts that felt even colder than the liquid nitrogen that her kind could spray from their mouths as a defense mechanism. If he was gone… did that mean Mosura was gone too? And without them, how could anyone stand up to the Golden One now?

Wincing again as another bolt of pain lanced through her mind, Scylla looked down and noticed something odd. It appeared as if a group of humans had set up some sort of settlement near her sleeping place, and many of their small buildings had been knocked over by the turmoil of her emergence. She could see a few humans among the remaining buildings nearby, gazing up at her, and as she looked down at them she felt the Alpha call's compulsion kicking in, urging her to violence.

Normally, Scylla didn't harm humans. Mosura cared about them, which took them off her usual list of prey items, and they were too small to make for a decent meal anyway. But under the current circumstances, she could already tell that only pain would come from resisting the Alpha command… and, unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to overpower it.

"I'm sorry, little ones," Scylla murmured sadly as she advanced on the nearby humans, her tentacles slowly reaching down to pluck them from the ground and deposit them into her waiting beak. "Please forgive me."

Germany

Titanus Methuselah

He was old. Unfathomably old, by human standards. His kind, the mountain-shells, were among the oldest and longest-lived of all Kaiju, and he was old even by his kind's standards. He had lived a long and fruitful life; he had spent much of it with his mate Kamoebas, a beautiful female whose shell was covered in flowering trees and lush vegetation, and they had sired many offspring together.

When the Cold Times had come, Kamoebas had suggested that they travel down to the Underworld as part of the Great Migration that had taken place back then. Many of their kind had done the same, but Methuselah had chosen to stay behind. He had been born on the surface, and he preferred it to the Underworld: if he was going to hibernate anywhere, it was going to be up here, not down there.

As the world continued to cool, however, he had suggested that his dear Kammie descend to the Underworld with the rest of their kind, promising to find her when the Cold Times passed and they woke up. She preferred to sleep in warmer environments, so he had reasoned that she would be more comfortable hibernating down there. She had done so, albeit reluctantly, and he had found a secure place to sleep on the surface: a wide expanse of forest with numerous real mountains that he could use to help conceal his presence, in case any hostile Kaiju came through the area while he was sleeping. Nestling himself down, he had burrowed into the earth until only his armored shell was still visible, coated in its usual outer layer of earth and vegetation.

The plants that his kind cultivated on their shells served two purposes: they were often used for decoration, with some mountain-shells taking great pride in cultivating many kinds of plants on their backs, but they were also useful for camouflage when they were sleeping or hibernating, helping them to blend into their surroundings and avoid predators. This had helped to keep him safe as he slept, ensuring that no enemies could take advantage of his vulnerable state. Sure enough, he was left in peace as he dreamed away the centuries, and no one disturbed him.

Until the Alpha call speared into his mind, and he was forced out of his slumber as the shrieking cry of a devil tore through the peaceful silence of the hibernation trance.

"Agh, my head…" Methuselah groaned as he shifted and slowly pushed himself up out of the ground. He had clearly been asleep for a long time, as the earth had fully covered his head and limbs, and great chunks of earth and rock tumbled away as he rose up on all four legs. He snorted and shook his head slowly back and forth, his curved horns shedding dust and dirt with each motion. He might be old, but he still possessed just as much power coursing through his muscles as he always had.

Unfortunately, age did come with its drawbacks, even among Kaiju: he was stiff and sore from having been stuck in one position for so long, and his joints cracked audibly as he stretched himself out. A deep rumble echoed in his chest as he opened his glowing white eyes and winced in the bright sunlight. The temperature felt much warmer than it had been when he'd gone to sleep, so that was something, at least.

Methuselah didn't get much time to focus on the changes in his surroundings, however, as the Alpha call's effects dug deeper into his mind in that moment, drawing a hoarse bellow of pain from him. He took a slow step forward, shaking his head and trying to drive out the effects of the Golden One's cry, but to no avail. It felt like the Enemy's talons had clamped down around his brain, forcing him into motion like a puppet. He would resist as much as he could, and hopefully he could find a way to break free of their control eventually, but it wasn't going to be easy.

Slowly, Methuselah's head turned, his gaze focusing on what appeared to be one of the humans' cities in the distance, visible over the nearby hills. "Fine," he muttered under his breath. "Have it your way, you bastard. But once I get out of this, I vow that you will pay dearly for what you have done."

With another deep, rumbling growl echoing in his throat, he set his sights on the human city, and began to walk.

Brazil

Titanus Behemoth

He had remained awake longer than most other Kaiju during the Cold Times. His species, the tusk-sloths, had evolved more recently than many other types of Kaiju, and they had fared perfectly well in the cooling climate while many of the older species had retreated to the Underworld or gone into hibernation. But over time, as more and more Kaiju departed the surface, many of his kind had gone to sleep or down to the Underworld as well, planning to wait until the world warmed up and other Kaiju began waking up again.

Behemoth had stayed awake longer than most; he didn't mind sleeping, but he had a few friends who had chosen not to hibernate, and he had visited them whenever he could, until he'd finally chosen to join the other Kaiju in hibernation to wait until the world became more interesting again. Traveling to his favorite resting place, a huge cave in the jungle, he had made his way deep into it until he'd found a great cavern that was more than big enough to comfortably accommodate him. Once there, he had settled down to rest, curling up on a huge bed of soft moss and slipping peacefully into a hibernation trance.

Thousands of years passed without his notice. Slumbering peacefully in his underground sanctuary, he paid no mind to his surroundings, ignoring the occasional presence of humans who came to the cave to watch him. They never bothered him, and their presence was easy enough to ignore, so he didn't feel threatened enough to rouse himself from the trance.

The Alpha call that echoed down through the cave, however, was impossible to ignore. Behemoth groaned in his sleep, rubbing his head with one front paw, as the Golden One's voice drilled its way into his mind like a claw, slashing at his thoughts and battering through his defenses.

"Ugh… the hell, man?" he mumbled as he slowly came back to consciousness, shaking his head and doing his best to ignore the throbbing pain. His long, curved tusks scraped through the layer of plants on the floor of the cave as he moved; his legs were folded under him, his chin resting on his front paws. He rubbed his head again, running the long claws on his paw through his fur to try and soothe his growing headache.

As he tried to sit up, he was confused when he bumped into something. At first he thought it was the roof of the cave, but that didn't make sense; the whole reason why he'd chosen this cave for his hibernation was because it was big enough for him to stand up comfortably, even on two legs. As he rubbed his eyes with his front paws and blinked several times to clear his vision, he realized that there was something above him which hadn't been there when he had gone to sleep: a strange, translucent dome, glowing with a soft blue light.

What…? Behemoth frowned, not sure what he was looking at, and pushed up against the glowing dome again. It flexed slightly with his movement, and he felt a strange, electric tingling on his back, causing his fur to stand on end for a moment.

Now that his vision had adjusted, he could see his surroundings more clearly. A series of small buildings had been constructed around the strange dome, and he could also see a strange, rounded structure attached to the ceiling of the cave above him. He could also make out the small forms of humans darting around among the buildings, and he tilted his head quizzically. The heck're they doin'? What's this thing supposed to be?

As he pushed against the dome again, struggling to break free, his curiosity turned into annoyance. "All right," he muttered. "Enough a' this crap, man." Scowling, he ducked his head and then swung it up as hard as he could with a roar of effort. The sharp, pointed tips of his tusks punctured the dome where his simple pushing had failed, and the whole thing burst asunder and dissolved with a flash of light and an explosion of sparks that rained down around him. A series of bright lights snapped on all around him in the same moment, beams of light shining down on him from a variety of different angles.

"Whoa…" Behemoth's eyes widened as he brought one paw up to shield his eyes. He rose up to his full height, resting on the knuckles of his front paws: his species typically walked that way to keep their long claws from getting dull. "What's with all the lights, man?" he groaned, shaking his head back and forth. "You guys are really killin' my buzz right now!"

A chorus of loud popping sounds echoed through the cave, and Behemoth blinked as he looked down at the cave floor. Dozens of humans had gathered among the buildings around him, and seemed to be firing at him with some sort of flashing projectile weapons. Of course, their weapons weren't doing any damage to him, but it was still mildly annoying, and the Alpha command in his head prompted him into action. One backhanded sweep of his front paw smashed through the low-lying structures and scattered the attacking humans, crushing most of them outright and sending the rest flying.

Frowning, Behemoth turned towards the entrance of the cave, but suddenly he heard a roaring sound from behind him and felt a surge of intense, painful heat on his back. "Ow!" he yelled, swinging around to see a concentrated jet of roiling blue-white fire pouring down from the ceiling of the cave towards him. "Seriously, what the hell?!" He lifted one arm to shield his face as he looked for the source; luckily, it didn't take him long to spot the point where the fire was pouring from the ceiling. Roaring, he surged forwards and swung his tusks up into the cave ceiling, aiming for the source of the flames.

That single massive blow did the trick: his tusks smashed through the rock, sending huge chunks of stone tumbling to the floor of the cave as a massive fireball went off right in his face. He stumbled back, momentarily stunned, as the explosion rang out through the cave. Most of the plants on the cave floor were now smoldering, and more loose rocks were cascading down from the ceiling.

Oh, man… I better get outta here! Behemoth swung back around towards the cave entrance and started moving, taking a moment to pat out the flames that had been crackling over his fur before they could take hold. Shifting into a loping run, he barreled towards the cave entrance and left his former sleeping chamber behind him.

The humans had apparently constructed some kind of barrier across the cave entrance, but it barely even slowed Behemoth down; he just lowered his shoulder and crashed straight through it, tusks swinging to help clear himself a path. Bursting out into the open, he staggered to a halt and looked around, taking in his surroundings and taking a few deep breaths. Being outside immediately helped; he could already feel himself relaxing, now that he was out in the open and surrounded by the wide, peaceful expanse of the jungle.

Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to stay that way for long, as the Golden One's Alpha command kicked in again, spurring him onward. He could see a distant human city on the horizon, and the command ordered him to head for it. He didn't really want to, as he had nothing against the humans and didn't like the idea of hurting them, but the call drove him on regardless.

Damn it… Behemoth sighed heavily. I can already tell this day's gonna suck, man.

New Jersey

Titanus Jinshin-Mushi

Her name was Barb.

Her kind all had names, although they usually didn't bother introducing themselves to anyone outside of their species, since most Kaiju only saw them as enemies or threats so interspecies friendships weren't exactly common. She knew many of her fellow parasites' names, of course; she'd had to become well-acquainted with many of them, as she held a high-ranking position among their kind. Among the Jinshin-Mushi, her authority was second only to that of their Alpha, Mother Prime, and that position came with certain responsibilities, although she didn't always enjoy them.

She had been asleep for a long time. She wasn't entirely sure just how long it had been, as time became difficult to measure during hibernation. The last thing she remembered was a war, between her species and that of the King. After the defeat of the Golden One, he and his allies had launched a campaign of extermination against her species, determined to eradicate the potential threat that they posed to his rule. The war had raged for centuries, with both sides suffering losses, but their species was losing ground and being pushed back by the grand alliance that had been formed to bring them down.

With their numbers growing smaller every year, Mother Prime had decided to send her daughter into hiding as some extra insurance, to make sure that their species would be able to carry on even if the war was lost. As Mother Prime's heir and the next leader of the Jinshin-Mushi, Barb's survival had been of paramount importance, so she had been sent into hiding with a few other parasites to guard and protect her. All of them had been killed over the years, though, leaving her alone.

Hoping to avoid drawing any attention to herself, she had found a safe hiding place along the coast, burrowed underground, and dug out a sleeping chamber for herself. She concealed it as much as she could, before going into a hibernation trance. In that state, her radiation signature would drop almost to nothing, which should hopefully prevent any other Kaiju from detecting her location. And sure enough, it worked: in her sleep, she was left undisturbed, with no other Kaiju detecting her presence or attempting to harm her.

In her sleep, she had been left unsure of whether any other Jinshin-Mushi remained alive. She had contacted two younger members of her species a few years earlier, shifting from her usual trance to a lighter doze while she communicated with them using a series of soft, long-range calls. They had both been immature when she had begun speaking with them, still growing into their adult forms within their respective cocoons, but she had guided them through the process and taught them what they should do once they had finished growing. Once she had taught them as much as she could, she sank deeper into her trance, assuming that they would seek her out and awaken her once they were done growing.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Instead, she was awoken by something very different: a harsh, ringing Alpha call, spiking into her mind and shocking her awake. Her eyes flashed and she shook her head, scratching at the side of her head with one claw.

"The hell?" she muttered, wincing as the call's effects continued to sink in. Who was doing that? The lizard King? No, the call was claiming that he was dead, so it couldn't be him, and in any case his Alpha call didn't work on her kind since they often preyed on his species. This was something else: the power and the malicious intent behind it were entirely different from anything that she'd heard from the King or his species before. The revelation that it was the Golden One had shocked her, as she knew full well that the three-headed Kaiju had been defeated and buried in the ice long before the war between her kind and the King had even begun.

She could partially resist the effects of the call, at least to a certain extent; her species were a type of Alpha Kaiju as well, so a normal Alpha command would have no effect on her. But this call had something else layered on top of it, a mental probe that had sunk into her mind and spreading its influence through her consciousness, forcing her into motion despite her best efforts to resist it.

Reaching up, she began clawing at the ceiling of her sleeping chamber, digging through the earth and rock until the ceiling began collapsing around her and the chamber caved in. Tearing her way up through the ground, she broke the surface and let out a clattering cry that echoed loudly around her, before hauling herself up onto solid ground and looking around her with a puzzled frown.

When she had dug her sleeping chamber and gone to rest here, this area had been covered by a mixture of forest and open grassland. Now, however, the landscape had been transformed beyond recognition: dozens of artificial structures that she recognized as human nests were scattered all over the place. A particularly large one had been directly over her sleeping chamber, and about half of it had collapsed when she had dug her way out.

Shrugging, Barb turned her attention to her surroundings. So the Golden One wanted her to kill the humans? Fine with me. She couldn't care less about those tiny creatures, and it would give her something to do while she tried to figure out how to free herself from the influence of this annoying Alpha call.

Smirking, she advanced towards the nearest human buildings, and began to hunt.

Skull Island

Titanus Kong

The island was peaceful and quiet. The sky overhead was clear and blue, in stark contrast to the ever-present ring of gray storm-clouds that hung on the horizon in all directions, forming a ring that helped to keep the island isolated from the rest of the world. Despite the distant storm, the island itself wasn't experiencing any wind or rain at all: a soft breeze rustled through the treetops, carrying the sounds of distant animal calls, but that was all.

Kong sat alone on a mountain ridge, the highest point on the island, and gazed out over his territory. From here, he could see all of it: the many ridges and valleys, covered in a patchwork of jungles and open grassland, and laced through in places by the gleaming silver lines of rivers, all of which eventually led out to the sea. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the rock wall behind him, allowing the sun's rays to warm his fur.

He had spent his entire life on this island, growing stronger and more experienced with each passing season. By now, he knew every inch of it, as naturally as the back of his hand. All the creatures that lived on this island were known to him, whether they were prey, enemies, or allies. He had once been small enough that he had been forced to worry about predators, to fear the threat of other, larger creatures, but that was no longer the case. He was fully-grown now, just as large as his parents had been before their deaths. As a result, none of the other creatures that lived on the island were capable of posing a serious threat to him any longer.

The only inhabitants that did still count as a threat were his ancient enemies: the Crawlers, the Deep-Dwellers, the Eaters of the Dead. They still appeared on the surface from time to time, although they were not nearly as numerous as they had once been, but he was much bigger and stronger now than he had been just a few decades earlier, and he could easily handle any Crawlers that appeared these days. But he knew full well that it was not a good idea to be overly confident in battle. The sets of old white scars that ran down his chest and across the ribs on his left flank served as a permanent reminder of that, prompting him to think back to the battle when the Crawlers' Alpha, Ramarak, had nearly killed him because Kong's own overconfidence had left him vulnerable.

Thinking of the Crawlers spurred him into motion, prompting him to check on his domain and see if any possible threats might be presenting themselves. Taking a break from his rest, he pushed himself upright with a grunt of effort and slid down the ridge, dropping quietly into the valley below. He spent the rest of the day wandering around the island, patrolling his territory and searching for any warning signs of the enemies that lurked below. Luckily, nothing was present – there were no sounds or scents emanating from any of the vents that led down to the caverns beneath the island, and he didn't sense any vibrations in the stone beneath his feet that would indicate any ascending Crawlers. That helped him to relax a bit, but he still felt strangely on edge, as if there was some other threat present that he couldn't see or sense.

Wondering if perhaps something was amiss with the humans, he checked on them as well. First he visited the Iwi, the Old Humans, who still lived in their village behind the great stone wall that they had built long ago to protect them with help from his ancestors; then he passed by the domain of the New Humans, who had come from across the ocean much more recently and lived in a secured area that they had carved out on the island's coast, near the mouth of one of the rivers. He didn't really trust the New Humans, as the first batch of them to visit the island had attacked him twice and had actually managed to injure him in the process, but the Iwi seemed to trust these ones, and the Iwi had actually lived on this island for far longer than he had (as they had first come there thousands of years earlier, along with his ancestors), so he trusted their judgment in such matters.

Unable to find any threats, or any explanation for why he had been feeling uneasy, he made his way back up to the ridge and sat atop it again, leaning back against the cliffs and watching as the sun sank low on the horizon, beginning to disappear behind the clouds to the west. The moon was also visible now, and he gazed up at it as he waited for night to fall. Perhaps there would be a display of the dazzling, multicolored sky-lights tonight: he always loved watching those.

It was as he lay there, watching the sky and waiting for sleep to come, that he heard the call.

It did not come from the island, from any of the animals on or below it. It echoed across the ocean, coming from somewhere far to the east. The voice did not belong to any creature that he had ever heard, but he had heard calls like this one occasionally in the past: they came from creatures who did not live on his island, but in other lands across the ocean. When he had been young, he had not heard the calls very often, but in recent years they had been more frequent. Once, he had heard one of the others nearby, just a few hundred miles from his island, but it had not tried to contact him directly and it had not wanted anything from him, so he hadn't really cared.

But this one, whatever Kaiju was behind this call, did want something. They wanted him to come to them. To hunt together, to track down the humans and destroy them.

And in the aftermath of that thunderous, ringing call, he heard responses beginning to echo in the distance. Many of them, a dozen or more.

Kong's eyes narrowed and he felt a brief flicker of pain, a strange pressure in his mind, as if the call was somehow trying to force him to do what it wanted. But he was able to resist it; the call had merely washed over him, not really affecting him, and he shrugged off the compulsion without much effort. The strange effects of the call still left him puzzled for a moment, until he realized what it meant: the Caller had to be an Alpha Kaiju.

He had learned about the difference between Alpha Kaiju and other Kaiju when he was young, from his parents. Alphas, from what he remembered, could sometimes exert their will over other Kaiju, forcing them to submit in battle or to follow their orders. He had only done that a couple of times in the past, but there was something different about this one: it seemed specifically designed to override another Kaiju's free will, forcing them to carry out the Caller's orders even if they did not wish to do so.

This was troubling. For most of his life, conditions on the island had been calm and unchanging. Despite the ever-present threat of the Crawlers, things had still been peaceful for the most part. The rains came and went, the animals of the island were born and grew old, and he and his companions went on as always. But now things had changed, and he didn't like it. Change was not something he enjoyed.

Kong scowled, rising to his feet and glaring off into the distance towards the source of the distant call. He had no idea who this Alpha Kaiju was, but he would not serve them, and he had no intention of doing what they wanted. This island, and the humans who lived upon it – all of the humans, both Old and New – were under his protection.

Then he heard other calls, coming from much closer, and his eyes widened in alarm as he turned and looked out over the island. His companions, the other Kaiju who inhabited the island, were on the move. Unlike him, they were not Alphas, and they were not immune to the stranger's call. They were moving towards the humans' territory, driven into action by the stranger's will and unable to stop themselves.

Kong's scowl deepened, and he felt a surge of fury in his heart. How dare this stranger try to control his friends?! Instinctively, he threw back his head and bellowed at the top of his lungs, sending out his own opposing Alpha call as he pounded on his chest with both fists. The deep, bestial roar echoed across the entire island, sweeping over his comrades and washing away the stranger's influence, snapping the other surface Kaiju of Skull Island back to themselves.

Kong had only been able to do that because his companions were close enough to him, and because they had already sworn their loyalty to him as their Alpha, but it had worked, and he breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he heard their calls returning to normal. He had been legitimately worried for a moment that he was going to have to fight his own comrades to snap them out of it, and he was happy that it had not been necessary.

Then, however, he sensed something else… not a sound that he heard in his ears, but the sensation of shifting movement in the stone underfoot, coming from far below him in the caverns beneath the island. His scowl returned in an instant, his hands clenching into fists once more as the movement grew more forceful, and he reached up for a moment to touch the old scars on his chest and side.

He and his companions were not the only giant creatures on the Island of Bones who had heard the distant Alpha call. The Crawlers had heard it too, and some of them were awakening and heading towards the surface. Many of them, more than he had sensed in a long time.

The time of peace was over.

Snarling, Kong leapt off the ridge and plunged down into the valley again, letting out another booming roar to his comrades as he did so. This time, it was not merely an attempt to free them from the stranger's control; this one was a summoning, a call to arms.

The Prince of Bones was going to war.

Gulf of Mexico

Titanus Rodan

The distant, muffled echoes of the fight between Ghidorah and the King had pulled Rodan out of his unconscious state, bringing him slowly back to consciousness. He'd been mildly annoyed by the fact that the King had only seen fit to show up after he'd gotten his ass kicked, but since it sounded like Ghidorah was getting the same sort of treatment that they'd given him, he wasn't going to complain. He listened dimly as the battle raged on in the distance, with the Golden One seemingly at a severe disadvantage, until suddenly he heard the distant thunderclap of a powerful underwater explosion…

And then the King's triumphant roars were suddenly replaced by a series of tortured, agonized howls, before trailing off altogether.

Those agonized cries shocked Rodan fully awake. Shaking his head, he swung his wings through the water and forced himself back to the surface, bursting up out of the ocean with an explosion of foam and steam as his flames reignited. He forced his wings to keep beating, doing his best to gain some altitude, and banked into a turn as he tried to get his bearings back.

What had he just heard? It had unmistakably been the voice of his former friend screaming out in pain, but Rodan had never heard that kind of tone from the King, not once in all the time that they had known each other. For all intents and purposes, it had almost sounded like a death-scream, the final howl of a tortured body being overwhelmed by pain and fear.

But could that really be possible? Rodan had fought alongside the King in countless battles before they had parted ways, many of them against the Golden One, and while he'd never been very close to the other Kaiju, he had to admit that the King had always seemed to be nearly indestructible. And for most of that fight, from what he'd been hearing, his former friend had held the upper hand over Ghidorah. So how could things have changed so quickly?

Determined to find out what had happened, Rodan soared quickly towards the location where he'd heard the screams. When he reached the site, his eyes widened in alarm and his blood ran cold as he circled over a large patch of ocean that had changed from its normal blue-green to a dark red in color. Countless gas bubbles were popping on the surface, and among them he could make out the lifeless bodies of schools of fish and marine mammals, most of which seemed to be decaying and rotting even as he watched. He shuddered, something about the grisly sight sending icy chills through his guts. His instincts all told him that he was looking at something wrong, something that should not exist.

As he was circling over the patch of blood-red sea, Rodan suddenly jerked violently in the air as Ghidorah's Alpha call swept over him, thundering in his ears. He screeched in pain, clawing at his ears for a moment before forcing his wings back into motion to keep himself airborne. For all his speed and power, he was not an Alpha Kaiju, and the dominating tones in the Golden One's distant shriek bore down on him with just as much crushing force as an Alpha roar from the King would have. A moment later, his pained hiss took on a more urgent note as he felt a bolt of mental power lance into his mind alongside the vocal tones, trying to overwhelm his mind and force him into compliance.

But unlike all the other Kaijus who could hear the Golden One's call, Rodan was not affected by the accompanying telepathic attack. This wasn't due to anything special about him personally: it was, instead, the lingering effect of a gift from the Queen, back during the days when he and Anguirus had fought alongside the Royal Couple against Ghidorah. Once she had discovered that Ghidorah had access to psychic attacks as well as physical ones, she had taken steps to help protect them from those attacks. As two Alpha Kaijus with a powerful psychic bond, she and the King were both completely immune to Ghidorah's psychic abilities, but since Anguirus and Rodan didn't have those protections, she had used her own telepathic powers to implant a mental "shield" or "barrier" in their minds, enabling them both to resist any attempts by Ghidorah to seize control of their minds.

As a result, thanks to that mental shield, Rodan was able to resist the telepathic portion of Ghidorah's Alpha call. While the vocal portion still affected him, battering at his will to continue fighting, he was able to fight it off and focused back on their nearby presence. From the sound of it, they had flown in the direction of his volcano, and if they were still wounded after fighting with the King, he might have a chance.

Banking into a turn and leaving the lifeless patch of ocean behind him, Rodan sped off towards his island home.

As it turned out, he was wrong. By the time he got close enough to the island to see Ghidorah perched atop his volcano, Rodan could tell that whatever damage they had sustained during their fight with the King had already healed. They looked even stronger than they had been when he'd fought them earlier, their entire body crackling with power as they crouched in the boiling cauldron of fire and lava. All three pairs of eyes locked onto him as he approached, smoldering red, and all three mouths curved into cruel grins.

"Well, look who it is," the middle head called out. "What, no tears for your fallen Lizard King?" He laughed softly as he saw the look on Rodan's face, a mix of alarm and anger. "Oh, yes, I'm afraid he's gone. My condolences, even though I know you two weren't particularly close."

"Shut up," Rodan snapped as he came in for a landing, touching down on the slope of the volcano and digging his talons into the rock as he flared his wings out in an attempt at an intimidation display. "You're lying! Why should I trust anything you bastards say?!"

The right and left heads snickered, and the middle head's smirk grew wider. "In most cases, you'd have a point there," he quipped. "But in this case, there's no reason for us to lie when the truth is so much sweeter." His eyes narrowed. "Your King has fallen, fire-wing… just as your spike-shelled lover once did."

Rodan's yellow eyes widened, a surge of fury blazing in them, but the middle head's amused smile remained unchanged. "If you wish to join them," he continued casually, "feel free to attack us now. Perhaps we'll even make it quick." All three of Ghidorah's necks began glowing from within, a luminous golden pulse crackling up and down their lengths as a warning that they could easily release a combined blast of lightning at any moment.

Rodan tensed, preparing to try and dive out of the way, but he could already tell that he had made a very big mistake by coming here. If the King really was dead, that meant he was completely alone; he had no idea if the Queen was even still alive, let alone awake, and on his own he was no match for the Golden One. When he'd fought them earlier that day, he had been at full strength while they had seemingly been weaker than usual, and he'd still lost. Now, he was still battered and weary from that fight, while Ghidorah was fully healed and stronger than ever. If he tried to fight them now, he would lose. While he didn't want to admit it, that was an absolute certainty.

"So, you have a choice, fire-wing," Ghidorah's middle head went on nonchalantly, completely ignoring Rodan's inner turmoil and growing panic. "You can attack us again, like you did earlier today, in which case we will kill you." He paused deliberately, his eyes locking onto Rodan's. "Or…"

Rodan had been tensed up to launch himself into the air, planning to try and flee as fast as his wings could carry him, but his eyes widened at that and his wings sank slightly. "'Or…'?" he repeated slowly.

"Uh-huh," the right head put in, his grin widening. "Or… you can work for us."

Rodan's eyes widened further, and he felt a sick lurching sensation in his stomach. "You… you want me to work for you?" he questioned.

"Yep!" the left head spoke up, smiling cheerfully, an expression that was very much at odds with the menacing smirks on his brothers' faces. "See, we've got a lot of work to do: we wanna get rid of the humans, before they can invent weapons that could hurt us. And Ichi had this cool idea of getting some of this planet's Kaiju to help us with that, so –"

"That's enough, San," the middle head cut his brother off curtly, ignoring the left head's slightly-disappointed frown: if he hadn't known better, Rodan would've sworn that the left head was pouting as he nodded and pulled back.

"My brother is a little too enthusiastic," the middle head continued offhandedly, "but he has summarized the situation nicely. With your Lizard King gone, our aim now is to destroy those little swarming mammals who have constructed an elaborate civilization on this planet: humans, as you call them. Based on the responses to that call, I believe we have successfully recruited a few other Kaiju already to aid us in that task. You seem to be resistant to our telepathy, which is unfortunate, but you could still be helpful to us if you are willing to cooperate."

"And if not," the right head finished, "I'd be happy to tear you apart right here and now." He grinned savagely, running his forked tongue over his teeth. "So if you'd rather go with that option, just say so."

"Easy, Ni," the middle head admonished his brother, shaking his head with an amused snort before focusing back on Rodan. "Well, fire-wing? Death, or service. Which do you choose?"

For a long moment, Rodan didn't say anything, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what to do. Running wasn't an option: in his current condition, he might be able to outrun the Golden One, but he wasn't willing to bet his life on that. Attacking them, as much as he wanted to do so, would be a death sentence under the current circumstances.

Which meant that, as much as he hated it… if he wanted to live, he really only had one choice.

Logic won out over emotion, and Rodan nodded slowly, lowering his eyes to the slope in front of him. "Fine," he muttered. "I'll help you."

The middle head chuckled softly, his voice filled with a cruel amusement. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he inquired. "Could you say that again? I may have misheard you."

"Yeah," the right head seconded with a sneer. "And show some respect, this time."

Rodan almost choked on hatred and bile, but he forced it back down. "Yes," he gritted out. "I'll help you." Hating himself more with every passing second, he slowly lowered himself into a crouch, fanning out his wings and bowing his head in the same gesture of submission that he used to assume to signal his loyalty to the King and Queen. "My King."

All three pairs of red eyes blazed with triumph and sadistic glee. "Excellent," the middle head purred, not bothering to conceal his amusement. "Now, then..." He tilted his head back, gazing off into the distance as his smile widened and his brothers' eyes flashed with eagerness and bloodlust. "Let us begin."

Yunnan Rainforest, China

Titanus Mosura

The Queen had remained aware of events elsewhere in the world even during her transformation process, albeit subconsciously, due to the psychic link that she maintained with her King even when she was asleep inside her cocoon. While she wasn't conscious during the process, she could still feel what the King felt and see glimpses of what he was seeing, although she couldn't fully process it while she was still in her trance.

She had felt a chill of horror when she had witnessed the Golden One's return: even in her sleep, she knew full well what their escape from their icy prison would mean for the entire world. Her mind had followed her King as he had pursued them across the world, and she had felt a trace of worry pulse through her subconscious when they had heard the distant sounds of Rodan's battle with Ghidorah; while Rodan had made it very clear that he no longer had any interest in maintaining any kind of friendship with either of them, she couldn't help but feel concern for his safety, as they had once been part of the same "family" until Anguirus's death had torn the group apart. And her King's second battle with the Golden One had gotten her heart racing, as she shared in his triumph and exultation as he managed to gain the upper hand against their enemy and seemed to be just moments away from finishing them off for good.

But then the searing explosion of green light filled the King's field of vision, and the Queen gasped so violently that her body actually twitched and jerked inside her cocoon, causing the entire structure to shiver. Considering how securely she had attached the cocoon to the rock wall behind it, that was an impressive feat.

The Queen was horrified when she felt the agony and terror filtering through the connection as the King dove desperately for the seafloor, fighting to escape even as his flesh and scales began to melt away in a thousand places. One final surge of pain, accompanied by a desperate mental cry of Mosura–!, and then the connection faded to black.

If the Queen had been fully developed, she would have ripped her way out of the cocoon immediately, but she was still only partially-transformed, and she would be of no use to her King like this. So she focused back on herself and doubled down on her efforts, accelerating the process as much as she could, hurrying towards her second birth with as much speed as she could muster.

Finally, several hours later, the transformation was complete. The Queen carefully flexed her limbs, one by one, checking to make sure they were functioning properly. She didn't have the time for an hour-long checkup like the one she'd carried out when she was in her egg, but she forced herself to double-check every part of her body to make sure everything was in order and that her transformation was fully complete. Once she had checked everything, she sent a luminous pulse rippling up and down her body, testing out her bioluminescence. The cocoon pulsed in response, sending a wave of blue-green light shining out through the waterfall, along with a flickering wave of energy that momentarily calmed the driving rainstorm outside.

Her cocoon was sturdier than her egg, as the interweaving matrix of silk had hardened once the transformation had begun, changing it from a silken bag into a durable casing. But it wasn't more than she could handle, and all it took was one forceful push of a clawed foreleg for its surface to bend outwards and rupture. Several bright lights shone through the curtain of falling water, reflecting onto her face; she drew back a little, shielding her newly-formed eyes with one foreleg while reaching out through the water with the other. She could tell that those lights seemed to be coming from some sort of human machines, so she released a concentrated pulse of energy from her forelimb, and the lights blinked out with a few small bursts of sparks, leaving her own bioluminescent glow as the only light illuminating the small valley.

Much better. The Queen nodded in satisfaction, before she dug her claws into the cocoon and pulled them downwards, slicing it wide open and allowing her to pull herself out. Her limbs stretched out: not the many short, hooked claws of her larval form, but four long, powerful legs designed to support the weight of her larger adult body, and a pair of smaller forelimbs tucked up against her chest. Those forelimbs stretched out as she stepped through the waterfall, letting the cool water wash away the lingering slime and fluids that had filled her cocoon during the transformation.

That was when she sensed something odd, and her attention was drawn down to the ground below the waterfall. She had sensed that the humans who had been observing her earlier had set up some sort of makeshift village or camp beneath the falls, but now that she was watching them more closely, she realized that their attitudes were entirely different than those of the humans who had tried to trap and attack her when she had first hatched. She could sense some fear from these humans, but it was overshadowed by feelings of awe and amazement, even reverence. Those emotions were the strongest in two humans who stood out in front of the rest, as if they were the leaders of this group. One, an older man with dark skin and crystal lenses over his eyes, stared at her with what she recognized as a wide, awestruck smile, and nothing but joy in his heart. The other…

The Queen's eyes widened. The other was a young woman, older than the girl Madison had been but younger than Madison's mother. Her long, dark hair was tied into a braid, and her eyes were wide and filled with emotion as she gazed up at her. But it wasn't the woman's physical appearance that she recognized: it was the flickering psychic aura radiating from her, slightly unfamiliar after all these years but unmistakable.

This woman was one of her Singers.

Amazement and joy surged within the Queen's heart. They were still alive! Her Singers, her priestesses, the humans who were closer to her than any other being save her King… they still lived! She had been worried that their line might have ended at some point since she had gone into hibernation, but now she knew that she had been wrong, and she could not have been more delighted. Even her concern over her King's well-being was lifted for a moment, as she gazed down at the young Singer with a soft and warm smile.

It's okay, little one, she projected telepathically. I'm here now. Everything's going to be okay. She saw the awestruck smile on the Singer's face grow wider, and knew that she understood.

As the Queen spoke, her wings unfolded slowly, flaring out to their full spread as a wave of blue light flowed out through them. Finally, a pair of glowing orange eyespots, identical to the eyes of her King, flared to life on her wingtips. Her forelimbs flared out, and she let out a piercing, ringing trill that echoed throughout the valley, a signal to all who heard it that she had returned.

The Queen had heard the Golden One's Alpha call, and it hadn't taken much effort for her to figure out what they intended to do. She briefly considered sending out an Alpha call of her own to try and counteract Ghidorah's, but even if she was able to free the others, she would be alerting Ghidorah to her exact location in the process… and on her own, she was no match for them. If she was going to free everyone, and keep them that way, she would need her King.

And luckily, when she reached into the back of her mind, she could still feel their connection: it was faint and flickering now, barely present, but it still existed. Which meant that whatever condition her King was in right now, he was still alive. But that didn't matter. If she could get to him, hopefully she could heal him, and together they could bring down the Golden One and free the other Kaiju from their control. Right now, she just needed to find him.

My child, she projected again, looking down at the Singer – Ling, she sensed, detecting the woman's name as their minds brushed against each other again – with a reassuring smile. I must go; I need to find my King, and help him. But I will return, I promise you.

Ling nodded slowly. I… I understand, she sent back, her mental voice a little tentative but growing more sure with each word, as she adjusted to their mental connection. You should seek out my sister, Ilene: she may be able to help. If anyone knows where the King is now, she and her comrades will. The Queen felt a second mental connection form as Ling reached out, leading off into the distance like a visible thread of blue light. She and I are connected. Follow that, and you should find her.

The Queen nodded understandingly. Of course. Thank you, little one. You will see me again when this crisis is over: I promise you that.

Fluttering her wings as she stepped out of the waterfall to shake off the water, the Queen crouched slightly and then leapt into the air, her wings flapping steadily as she rose into the night sky. Slowly gaining altitude, she circled the spot of her rebirth once, and then soared off into the night, following the faint trail that should lead her to Ling's sister.

Hang on, Goji, the Queen thought to herself as she sped towards her first destination. I'm on my way.

Chapter Text

Rodan flew low over the ocean, heading north along the eastern coastline of the continent. The curtains of rain stung as he flew through them, and he was trailing clouds of steam as the water dissipated on contact with his scales. The combination of the rain and the darkness of the storm clouds meant that he had to keep squinting, as his normally-sharp vision was blurred and indistinct.

It didn't help that he could constantly feel Ghidorah's presence, like a claw dragging slowly down his back. The Golden One was flying just above and behind him, making it impossible for him to make any deviations from their chosen flight path. If he veered to one side and tried to escape, they could be on him in an instant, and they could easily blast him out of the sky with their lightning if he tried to outrun them. He felt like he was trapped in a set of unbreakable shackles, the way the giant apes that dwelled in the Underworld had once bound their prisoners and servants.

The humiliation of being treated like this was infuriating, but Rodan was smart enough to know that there was nothing he could do about it. Defying the Golden One at this point would only result in his own demise, and he had no interest in dying. For the moment, he would have to keep his emotions in check and endure his situation, until he could find a chance to escape. The mental shield that the Queen had placed in his brain made him immune to Ghidorah's telepathic influence, which meant that they couldn't control him the way they were doing to the other Kaijus that they'd apparently forced out of hibernation. That should hopefully help him to endure until he could get away.

"Hey, can you speed it up a bit?!" the Golden One's right head called out to him, mocking amusement clearly present in his voice. "We thought you were a better flier than this!"

Rodan clamped his beak tightly shut, grinding his teeth as his eyes flashed with anger, until he could prevent himself from saying something that could incur their wrath. "I'd be able to fly faster if I knew where we were going," he snapped back over his shoulder. "What are we looking for?"

"A large enough city," the middle head replied casually, as Ghidorah increased their speed just enough that they were flying directly above Rodan instead of behind him, making it easier for them to talk without having to yell as loudly. "Most of the human cities that we've seen so far are fairly small: our storms should be enough to take care of them, for the most part. We're looking for any cities that are large enough that we'd need to attack them directly."

"Right…" Rodan nodded slowly, before something occurred to him: a question that he'd always been curious about on some level, ever since Ghidorah had first come to Earth. "By the way, I've actually always wondered. What do you have against the humans, anyway?"

All three heads' gazes immediately fixed on him, red eyes gleaming through the darkness of the storm, and for a moment Rodan was afraid that he'd said the wrong thing and that they were about to attack him. But then the middle head shrugged, a ripple running along the length of his neck, and laughed softly. "Why not?" he chuckled. "All right: we'll tell you. We certainly have enough time, after all."

The left and right heads went back to observing the coastline below, while the middle head shifted into a more relaxed pose. "How much do you really know about the humans, fire-wing?" he questioned, arching one eyebrow ridge.

"Ah…" Rodan blinked and frowned as he considered that. How much did he really know about the humans? "Well, they're some kind of tiny mammals, but although they're really small they're also supposed to be pretty smart, smart enough to build really big and complex nests. They worship some Kaiju – or at least they did back before I went into hibernation, but that was a few thousand years ago so I don't know if they still do." The humans had certainly worshipped the King, the Queen, and Anguirus back in the day, but although they'd also carved images of Rodan on their temples, they'd never really worshipped him that way… which did make sense when you considered that his tendency to set fire to plenty of things around him, and his ability to level large areas to the ground just by flying over them at high speed, didn't exactly endear him to such small and fragile creatures.

"And that's all?" the middle head inquired. "Nothing else beyond that?"

Rodan shrugged as best as he could while flying. "Yeah, basically. I've never really gotten too close to them." His frown deepened as he looked up at Ghidorah. "Why do you ask?"

The middle head smiled coldly. "Well, as you know, we're not from this planet. What you do not know is, we have visited many different worlds over the eons since our birth… and in the process, we have encountered quite a few other intelligent species like the humans, very small but supremely intelligent, capable of building their own complex civilizations." His smile faded. "But, based on what we have seen, those types of species typically have an inevitable – and highly destructive – impact on their planets." His eyes narrowed, and his brothers both growled under their breath. "If such a civilization becomes advanced enough, they can even become a legitimate threat to creatures as powerful as us. We've seen it happen several times before."

Rodan's eyes widened. "Seriously?" He shook his head. "No, that can't be right. I've seen what the humans can do, and they can build lots of interesting things, but their weapons are nothing compared to a Kaiju."

All three heads snickered. "Clearly you haven't seen the advancements that they've made in the last few millennia, then," the middle head replied with a smirk. "While we were buried in the ice, and you and your ilk were sleeping, the humans have evolved considerably, and they now possess highly-advanced weapons that can even bring down Kaiju." His eyes narrowed. "In fact… earlier today, it was thanks to a human weapon that your Lizard King met his end."

A choking sound escaped Rodan's beak, and he swerved violently in flight for a moment as his wings briefly seized up. "Wait, what?!" he spluttered, his eyes wide and shocked.

The right head snorted. "Yup," he snarked. "Seemed like the humans were trying to help him kill us using an explosive weapon filled with some kind of poison, but we got away in time and it killed him instead." A low, cruel snicker escaped his mouth.

Rodan was stunned. How could that be possible?! The humans' weapons back in the old days couldn't have caused the slightest bit of harm to a Kaiju, least of all the King. How in the world could a human weapon have killed him?

"So, as you can see, the humans have indeed become quite formidable while we've been asleep," the middle head continued. "If they were able to bring down the Lizard King, then they could potentially do the same to any of us. And there are precedents for it: this isn't the first time that we've encountered a civilization with the capability to do something like that." He and his brothers all looked angry and unsettled, as if they were recalling some particularly unpleasant memories. "Other races of tiny sentients behaved quite similarly on their own worlds, before we destroyed them. The Bilusaludo, the Nebulans, the Kilaaks, the Simeons… and the Exif." Low snarls echoed from the other two heads at that last name. "The humans are merely the latest in a long line of these dangerous little species, and we will deal with them accordingly, just as we did with all the others before them."

Rodan felt a chill run through him. He'd never thought of the humans as being much more than glorified pets for the Queen: sometimes entertaining, sometimes annoying, but ultimately harmless. But… if they were really that dangerous, then he could actually understand why Ghidorah would want to destroy them.

"It's ironic, actually," the middle head remarked dryly. "We would have finished our job and left this planet in peace long ago, if it weren't for your former friends being so hell-bent on protecting the humans from us." He shrugged. "In a way, it's almost their fault that we had to fight you all so many times. If the little Queen and her Lizard King had just gotten out of our way, we would never have needed to fight at all."

"Yup," the right head seconded, a cruel grin flickering across his face. "Just think: if it hadn't been for them being so desperate to protect those little sentients, you and your partner wouldn't have had to fight us… and he might still be alive."

Rodan's eyes flashed, a surge of anger welling up at the thought of Anguirus. "Don't talk about him!" he snapped, momentarily forgetting all about his fear as he flared his wings out and swerved out and away from Ghidorah.

The right head's lip curled and he scowled, his neck crackling with golden electricity as Ghidorah wheeled around to face Rodan heads-on. "I'll talk about whatever I want to talk about," he growled. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll –"

"Shut the hell up, Ni," the middle head ordered flatly, his eyes blazing scarlet as he glared at his brother. The right head snarled, baring his teeth for a moment as if he was considering a retort, but he ultimately thought better of it and lowered his head in submission.

"My apologies," the middle head addressed Rodan. "My dear brother has a tendency to let his anger get the best of him."

"It's… it's fine," Rodan muttered, now feeling thoroughly confused. Are they… actually being nice to me? This is way too freakin' weird.

"Hey, guys, I got one!" the left head called out, grinning as he stretched out to point to something off to their left: a large human city, on the shores of a river. "That one looks pretty big."

"And it's fairly well-situated, too," the middle head remarked, nodding and smiling at his brother. "Well done, San. Observational as ever."

Rodan nodded slowly, glancing over at the distant city as he altered his course to head towards it. "So… how are we doing this?"

"You'll go in first," the middle head instructed, Ghidorah falling back to trail behind Rodan. "Soften them up for us, and then we'll follow you. Destroy as much as you can, and then leave the rest to us." The right and left heads grinned eagerly, their eyes blazing through the gloom, tantalized by the prospect of carnage.

Rodan nodded in agreement, descending closer to the water and veering in the direction of the city with the Golden One close behind him. As they soared towards the city, however, he couldn't stop thinking about what they had said. If the humans were really that dangerous, and all Ghidorah actually wanted was to get rid of them…

He'd always been under the impression that the Golden One was a threat to the entire world, that their goal was to conquer the whole planet and wipe out all those who opposed them. But if they weren't, if their real goal had simply been to destroy the humans… then that would mean that all of those battles – and Anguirus's death – had all been just for the sake of protecting the Queen's favorite pets.

Rodan still wasn't entirely convinced that Ghidorah had been telling him the truth, of course. But as they approached the city and he saw the human constructs spreading out below them, a hot rush of anger welled up in his belly, and he screeched out a battle cry as he dove towards it.

Accelerating as he approached the nearest buildings, he heard the echoing thunderclaps caused by his high-speed flight, and a wall of displaced air surged below him, sweeping over the city like a tidal wave. This city might be large, but it didn't have too many tall buildings: most of them were fairly small, and were pulverized or ripped apart by the shockwave, leveled to the ground in seconds. Inflicting widespread destruction like this was one of a fire-wing's most powerful abilities, and Rodan made full use of it now.

Ghidorah was next, sweeping low over the city in the same fashion. They couldn't fly as fast as him, so the wind generated by their passing wasn't quite as powerful, but that was more than made up for by the torrent of lightning that poured from their mouths. Arcs of crackling golden power lanced down, spearing into the tallest human structures and raking across the ground, obliterating any buildings that Rodan's shockwave hadn't already destroyed.

Only the biggest and most durable structures in the city remained intact after that initial blitz, and the Golden One quickly set about destroying the rest. They fired at anything that moved and most things that didn't, annihilating everything in their path. Swooping down on the largest remaining building in the city, which was marked by a distinctive dome, they fired a trio of beams that carved through most of the structure. One beam slashed across the dome, leaving a burning scar in its wake, but the dome must have been extremely durable because it didn't collapse.

The attack didn't take very long. With no human military forces present to fight back against them – although Rodan had been quite surprised to learn that apparently, the strange metal flyers that he'd been fighting earlier were actually some sort of artificial creatures, built and controlled by humans – the two Kaiju leveled most of the city in less than half an hour. Once Ghidorah was satisfied, they touched down near the large, dome-topped building, flaring up their wings and heads as all three mouths shrieked in triumph.

The storm system that the Golden One had been generating had caught up while they'd been working, and the city was now being hammered by torrential rain. In addition, a storm surge generated by the tempest had swept up the river, and the low-lying city was already in the process of flooding. Not wanting to deal with the stinging sensation of water splashing against him any more than he had to, Rodan landed atop a half-demolished building to keep himself clear of the rising floodwaters.

Now that the city was destroyed, Rodan wasn't sure what to do next. "So… now what?" he questioned. "Are we heading someplace else?"

"No, this will do for the moment," Ghidorah's middle head replied, shaking his head. "Our other servants are handling things in other parts of the world, but we've got a more efficient solution to the problem. As you know, the humans are far less durable than we are, and among other things, we've found that tiny sentients are typically quite vulnerable to natural disasters." He smirked, his brothers mirroring him, as they began steadily flapping their wings, electricity sparking across their body. They didn't lift off into the air again, but merely used their flapping wings to continue churning up the clouds overhead. Already, the rain and wind were swirling into a vortex, centered on Ghidorah, and the storm was beginning to grow and spread outwards in all directions. Rodan shivered as the air and the rain grew colder, and he tasted an electric tang of ozone as lightning crackled through the clouds overhead.

"All you need to do right now is stay close, in case anyone tries to attack us while we're working," the middle head continued, glancing over to Rodan with a bit of amusement in his eyes. "Although if you'd care to help instead of just sitting there, flying in circles around us would probably help to speed up the process."

"So basically, if you wanna help, go ahead," the right head added with a snort. "If not, then just sit back, shut up, and let us do our work."

Rodan scowled, still not enjoying that head's constant needling, but he shook his head and did his best to ignore it. Eh, hell with it. Might as well do something to keep the blood flowing, and it's better than just sitting here and getting soaked. Unfolding his wings, he took off and rose into the air, flying in large, slow circles around Ghidorah to add his own wing-power to the generation of the growing vortex.

The knowledge that Anguirus had apparently died purely for the sake of the humans still made him feel sick, and his resentment towards the King and the Queen had grown even stronger because of it… but in a strange way, he almost felt better with the knowledge that he'd gained. Because if Ghidorah's claim was true, then it meant that as soon as the humans were gone, the Golden One would leave this planet.

And then he could have peace again.

Ichi turned his focus back to monitoring the growing storm, feeling the amusement running through his siblings' minds. Keep a lid on it, brothers, he cautioned them telepathically, as they both started giving off the mental equivalent of snickers. Manipulation works best if the one being manipulated doesn't know about it.

All right, all right, Ni muttered. You've gotta admit it's pretty fuckin' hilarious, though.

Right?! San giggled. He actually bought it! He really thinks that we're only interested in the humans. If we keep this up, he might actually start to believe that his partner's death was their fault.

Yes, I am aware, Ichi sighed. But as entertaining as that is, right now I need both of you to focus. We have a job to finish. You'll have plenty of time to entertain yourselves later.

As his brothers reluctantly assented and they went back to their task, however, Ichi couldn't entirely conceal his own self-satisfied smirk. It had been his idea to convince the fire-wing that their only goal on this planet was to eradicate the humans, and that they would leave in peace once the little sentients were gone. Apparently, their servant had bought it, and even with whatever mental shield was preventing them from probing into his mind, Ichi could tell that the anger radiating from Rodan was no longer entirely directed at them: some of it was now trained on the Lizard King, his Little Queen, and the humans.

Ichi nodded in satisfaction. That little speech that he'd given Rodan had been at least partly false, of course. While everything he'd said about the humans and the other sentients that they'd encountered during their travels had been true, the claim that Ghidorah would leave this world in peace once the humans were gone was a blatant lie. Any world that had generated a sentient civilization once could potentially do so again, and that would not be allowed.

By the time they were done, this planet would have suffered the same fate as all the other worlds that had been unlucky enough to harbor a civilization of tiny sentients: it would be reduced to a charred, sterile shell of a planet, barren and devoid of life. Even this world's Kaiju would all be eradicated in the end, once they had served their purpose. The brothers would annihilate everyone and everything on this planet, to make sure that its inhabitants could never pose a threat to them again.

Because that's what we do, Ichi thought to himself with a cruel smile, his siblings' grins widening in agreement as the storm swirled around them, growing stronger every minute.

We are Ghidorah. The Destroyer of Worlds. And the end of all things.

The Queen had flown as quickly as she could, heading west across the continents as she followed the faint trail that led from Ling's mind to that of her sister. She could sense the Golden One's distant presence, but she could tell that they were still a long way away, so she wasn't worried about running into them. She could sense the presences of a few Kaiju who'd been awakened by them somewhere nearby, so she flew higher to hopefully avoid detection: since Ghidorah seemed to be keeping in contact with their brainwashed servants, she didn't want to take any chances on running into them and alerting the Enemy to her awakening.

It took a few hours for her to reach the end of the trail, but she finally found it. By the time she got there, she'd been forced to climb much higher into the sky to avoid a mass of dark, churning clouds that were slowly spreading outwards in all directions. From her vantage point, many thousands of feet in the air – so high up that the air grew thin and icy-cold – she could see the extent of the growing storm, and it sent a shiver down her back. It was enormous, and still growing, already blanketing the entire eastern coast of the continent ahead of her and spreading steadily outwards. She could sense the Golden One's presence at the heart of the expanding hurricane, their power surging as they worked to spread their foul influence further.

"Not on my watch," the Queen muttered. Her eyes narrowed as she tilted forward, tucked her wings back, and dove towards the clouds below, making a beeline for the end of the telepathic trail. Her bioluminescence flared up as she speared downwards, the blue glow of her wings growing brighter to light her way as she plunged into the storm. The soft, downy fur on her body was quickly soaked by the driving rain, but the winds weren't strong enough to force her off-balance or off-course, so she kept going.

Finally, she leveled off, less than a thousand feet above the ocean. Reaching out with her mind, she sensed a sizable concentration of humans ahead of her at water-level, possibly on an island. But due to the clouds filling her field of view and blocking out almost all of the sunlight from above, she couldn't actually see her destination.

Luckily, she had ways of dealing with that.

The Queen slowed down, her glow intensifying as it shifted from blue to white. She charged up her energy throughout her body, preparing to unleash her most powerful ability, until she couldn't contain it any longer. Letting out an ear-piercing screech that cut through the thunder, she flung out her wings and unleashed all of that energy at once in a brilliant, crackling pulse that blasted outwards in all directions, lighting up the darkness of the storm and hurling back the clouds.

Now that she could see her surroundings, the Queen took stock of the situation. She was hovering a few hundred feet above the ocean's surface, and she could see a small island rising out of the water in front of her. Curiously, this island appeared to be made of metal, not stone; it took her a moment before she realized that it was actually an artificial structure, presumably built by the humans on top of an existing island or seamount. She'd seen human structures built entirely on water before, back in the old days, but never to this extent.

A large group of the humans' metal fish – she recognized them from her King's memories – were gathered around the island, and she could see numerous metal birds roosting on the island and on the backs of the metal fish. Some of the metal birds looked like the ones she'd seen while she'd been making her cocoon, while others were different. A few of them took to the air as she approached, circling warily around her but remaining at a safe distance.

Keeping a short distance away from the artificial island so she wouldn't run the risk of frightening the humans, the Queen focused her mind and scanned the island and the metal fish around it with her telepathy. While she could detect the presences of hundreds, if not thousands of humans, one of them stood out among all the others: the familiar glow of a Singer's psychic presence.

Finally! The Queen smiled brightly, relieved to have found what she was looking for. Focusing her psychic powers on the Singer's presence, she carefully touched the human's mind, reforging the ancient connection between them just as she had done with Ling. She felt the Singer flinch a little as she felt the touch of the Queen's mind, but just as with Ling, she felt a rush of amazement and joy as the girl realized what was happening.

Greetings, my child, the Queen murmured, keeping her mental voice quiet and gentle. Your name is Ilene, isn't it?

A surge of shock ran through the Singer's mind. I… y-yes, it is, she replied. How… how do you…?

Know who you are? The Queen chuckled softly. Your sister Ling told me, when I emerged from my cocoon. She speaks quite highly of you.

Ilene's amazement was blended with love and amusement. That sounds like her, she agreed, before her sense of awe and amazement returned. I… I'm honored, my Queen. Ling and I grew up hearing stories of you, but I was never sure that we would be the ones lucky enough to be alive when you returned.

Another rush of sympathy and guilt came over the Queen. I'm sorry, dear one, she replied sadly. I would not have left you if I had any other choice, but I needed to hibernate through the Cold Times, and it was impossible for your ancestors to sleep along with me.

Ilene gave a mental smile and a sensation of comforting warmth. It isn't your fault, my Queen. Our lifespans are so much shorter than yours, it makes perfect sense. None of us have ever resented you for any of it. I was taught as a child merely that we have been connected to you for countless generations, that you would one day return, and that we would need to be prepared for that day when it eventually came. She chuckled softly. Ling and I didn't expect to be the ones, but… well, let's just say neither of us are complaining.

The Queen echoed the Singer's soft laugh. Very well, she replied, smiling as her wings continued to glow brilliantly. Now: Ling told me that you might be able to help me find my King. Do you have any idea where he might be?

Ilene's emotions shifted, becoming much more subdued and somber. I… I don't know. He was hit by some sort of deadly explosive weapon, a very powerful one. As far as I know, he… he might be gone.

The Queen smiled. Don't worry, dear one. I know it may seem as if there is no hope, but I assure you, there is always hope. My King and I are connected, just as I am connected to you and your sister now. And if he was dead, I would know it. But I can still feel him… which means that he is not dead. I just need to find him.

Reaching out again with her telepathy, she felt along the faint trail of the telepathic bond that she shared with her King, searching for any traces of his presence, a soft humming chorus of song echoing from her as she hovered in midair with slow, graceful flaps of her wings. After a moment of searching, she finally sensed something: a faint trace of her King's energy, somewhere far beneath her. Beneath the deep ocean water, beneath the rock of the seafloor, she could feel his familiar presence, faint but unmistakable. It felt like he was in one of his underwater tunnels, but he wasn't moving.

It took her a moment to realize what that must mean, but then she nodded as her eyes brightened in realization. Of course! Her King must be in his underground temple, the sanctuary that he'd been using as a resting and feeding station for many thousands of years. She hadn't been to that temple for a very long time, but she remembered it well enough, and she was now certain that it was where he must be.

Nodding decisively, the Queen reached out to Ilene once more. One moment, my dear, she addressed the young Singer, before focusing more intently on the King's distant presence. With both her voice and her mind, she called out, the words echoing down through the water and permeating deep into the bedrock below.

"Goji? Goji, can you hear me?"

Far beneath the surface of the earth, in a massive underground cavern, the King lay sprawled upon an immense stone slab. More than large enough to accommodate his entire body, the slab was very similar to the one in the Queen's temple, where her egg had rested. This temple, however, was far bigger and much more expansive. That did make sense, as while the temple where the Queen had hatched had been a smaller outpost of the ancient humans, this one had been their capital, the center of their civilization.

Those ancient humans had built many temples, in various different locations all over the world. Some had been constructed on the continents, others had been established on islands… and some, like this one, had been constructed in the deep caverns of the Underworld. This particular cavern had been chosen for two reasons: first, because it contained an underground volcano, where the energy flowing up from beneath the Earth provided an abundant supply of radiation for the Kaiju to feed; and second, because it was connected to the underwater tunnels that the King used to circumnavigate the planet, making it an ideal place for him to rest and recover whenever he needed to do so. It had originally been connected to other Underworld caverns as well, these ones habitable and free of seawater, which had provided the humans with a way to travel to and from the surface.

This cavern consisted of two connected chambers: a larger one that had housed the humans' city, and a smaller one where they had built their temple. A set of enormous gates crafted from dense stone and metal, weighing many thousands of tons, had once been used to separate the temple-chamber from the rest of the city, but the gates had collapsed long ago and now lay broken on the submerged floor of the chamber, leaving the passage between the two chambers constantly open.

From his resting place, the King could see the submerged tunnel entrance that led to the rest of the city, and he let a heavy sigh escape his lungs as he remembered the disaster that had befallen this place. Ironically, it had not been an attack by an enemy that had caused this destruction: instead, the city had been the victim of a powerful earthquake, caused by the shifting of tectonic plates. Part of the larger cavern beyond this one had collapsed, and a flood of seawater had rushed in from the underwater tunnels, flooding the larger cavern and drowning the city. Some of the humans had survived and escaped to the dry tunnels, migrating up to the surface or to other parts of the Underworld, but many had died in the cataclysm.

Unlike the larger city-chamber, which had been entirely flooded, the second, smaller chamber had retained an air pocket, so most of the temple was still above the water. It was here that the King had dragged himself, hauling his wounded form up onto the great stone slab to rest and recover. The warm, humid air of the chamber was comforting as clouds of steam wafted around him, and the heat soaked deep into his bones, helping to soothe the pain of his wounds. Most important of all were the lava tubes that lined the back of the chamber, from which fountains of molten rock regularly sprayed, pouring heat and radiation into the chamber. This radiation was why the King returned here so often: it provided him with a natural feeding station, from which he could constantly replenish his reserves of energy whenever he needed.

This time, however, even this place's power supply wasn't enough. The humans' poisonous weapon had done a tremendous amount of damage to his body: thousands of deep wounds and lesions dotted his immense frame where his scales and flesh had melted away, and the reserves of radiation in his body were almost completely drained. He had never been this exhausted in his entire life: he felt as weak as a newborn hatchling. All he wanted to do right now was sleep.

He hadn't felt this helpless in a very long time. Not since…

As a memory surfaced, the King felt a gut-wrenching pang in his heart, and his gaze was drawn towards the submerged entrance again. He couldn't see out into the larger cavern from here, but he knew every inch of it: he'd been visiting the flooded city for thousands of years, and every part of it was burned into his brain. But one object in particular would always draw his attention every time he came here: an enormous skeleton, lying a short distance from the entrance to the smaller chamber, exactly where he had deposited it all those millennia ago. Every time he visited here, he would always take a moment to gently rest his hand on the head of the massive skeleton, paying his respects to the long-buried bones.

The bones of his best friend.

As he drifted once more into the darkness of sleep, a soft, slow groan rumbled in the King's throat, carrying with it thousands of years' worth of guilt and pain.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice quiet and sorrowful as the memory overtook him.

I'm sorry… Anguirus…

Thousands of years ago…

The sun was bright, shining above the large, tropical island. The island was almost entirely covered in a cloak of lush green rainforest, leading up from its swamp-lined shores to high, glacier-topped mountains. It was a beautiful and idyllic place, peaceful and with plentiful food… which made it an ideal vacation spot for a group of Kaiju.

The King sighed as he leaned against the side of a mountain, rubbing his neck back and forth across the stone as he tried to soothe an annoying itch on his gills. Smiling as a soft, downy wing draped over his shoulder from behind, he tilted his head back and allowed the Queen to gently scratch his neck with one of her forelimbs. Her claws were able to tackle the itch much more effectively, and he let out a deep, reverberating purr of satisfaction as it quickly faded away, before chuckling softly when she finished by placing a soft kiss directly on his gills. "Thank you, dear," he murmured, smiling as he turned his head so he could look back at her.

Perched on his back, with her front and back legs hooked onto his dorsal plates to balance herself so she wouldn't fall to the ground, the Queen laughed softly and nuzzled into him, playfully bumping her head against his nose. "Always happy to help, my love," she giggled.

An exaggerated gagging sound drew both of their attention over to a nearby area, and the King rolled his eyes as he saw Rodan snickering, wisps of smoke rising skyward from the other Kaiju's wings in tandem with his muffled laughter. "Sorry," the fire-wing called over to them with a grin from where he was perched on a nearby spike-topped hill. "You two are just way too cutesy sometimes."

The King snorted and ignored the fire-wing's comment, while the Queen grinned as her own eyes suddenly flickered a little brighter. "Oh, really?" she teased, her tone light and playful. "Well, I hardly think you're one to talk, Rodan, considering the things that you and your partner get up to."

As if on cue, the "hill" underneath Rodan suddenly rolled over, tossing the fire-wing to the ground with a loud, highly-undignified squawk. Rising to his feet from where he'd been napping with his eyes gleaming and a bright grin on his face, Anguirus playfully tackled his partner, grappling and wrestling with Rodan as they rolled over repeatedly, tearing up the earth around them.

"Okay, that's enough!" Rodan called out, laughing hysterically as Anguirus finally managed to pin him down with a front paw on each of his wings. "I give, I give! Get offa me, you brute!"

Anguirus barked out a laugh, grinning as he leaned down and playfully bumped his beak-tipped snout against Rodan's own beak. "If you say so," he chuckled, stepping back and allowing Rodan to roll over and clamber up to his feet, before turning his attention to the King and Queen. "So? You guys heading out soon?"

"Yes, I think we should," the Queen replied, nodding. "I wish you two would come with us, though! It's always a great deal of fun to see all the humans at my temple nests."

"Heh, yeah, you're not wrong," Anguirus agreed with a chuckle. "But I think I'll stay here this time. We could use some time to ourselves, just like you guys." He shrugged and grinned, nudging one shoulder lightly against Rodan's side. "Plus, this one always gets mopey when I go off and spend too much time with the humans, since he's not allowed to go too close to them."

"To be fair, after what happened the last time I flew too close to a human town, it's not really a surprise that they don't like having me around," Rodan pointed out sarcastically. The Queen winced at the memory of that unfortunate incident.

"Fair," Anguirus replied with an amused grin. "Don't worry, Fire-Boy: I still love you, even if the humans don't." Waving off Rodan's vaguely-flustered protests, he turned his attention back to the King and Queen. "So yeah, you two have a good time! Enjoy your trip, make sure everything's in order, and we'll be here when you get back."

The King nodded. "All right. But be careful, just in case any other Kaiju try to cause trouble while we're not around."

Anguirus and Rodan exchanged glances and chuckled softly. "Oh, don't worry, pal," Anguirus replied with a grin as his tail waved leisurely back and forth behind him, the deadly spiked club at its tip lightly ruffling the tops of the rainforest trees. "If anybody tries to cause trouble for us, we'll handle it." Rodan nodded in agreement, mirroring his partner's grin.

The King had no reason to be worried. After all, he and his Queen wouldn't be gone for very long, and their companions were more than capable of handling themselves if any other Kaiju started causing trouble. He had nothing to worry about.

But despite that, as he and the Queen left the island and he dove beneath the waves, he couldn't get rid of a strange, unpleasant feeling in his gut.

Leaving Rodan and Anguirus behind to enjoy their own vacation, the King and Queen headed out on their annual journey across the world. They usually made this journey at least once a year, to check on all of the Queen's nests and ensure that none of her eggs had died or been eaten by predators. If any of the eggs had been destroyed, the Queen would lay another one to replace it, and potentially make a new nest if the old nest had been dug up by a predator. It was also a good way for the couple to check in with other Kaijus, particularly the Queen's other friends who didn't usually travel with them, and it gave them a chance to visit all of their human worshippers in their various cities around the world.

Usually, these journeys were a peaceful and pleasant experience: the only problems were if they happened to encounter hostile Kaiju along the way, but most other Kaiju were no match for the King, and the Queen's presence alongside him was more than enough to ensure victory against any opponent that they might face.

But this time, unbeknownst to the King or the Queen, they were being observed from afar. After having suffered countless defeats at the hands of the Royal Couple and their allies, their deadliest enemy had decided that an alternative strategy was required. Having retreated to the void beyond the sky to rest and recover their strength, they waited patiently until the King and Queen had left on their patrol.

And then, when the quartet's strength was divided and their less-powerful fighters were isolated, the Enemy descended from the sky once again, targeting their more vulnerable opponents.

The King and the Queen were thousands of miles away from the island when they heard the distant sounds echoing across the world: roars, shrieks, and the unmistakable cackling three-tone cry of the Golden One. They knew immediately what must have happened, and they broke off their patrol without a second thought. For once, the Queen's limited swimming abilities didn't even enter her mind: she latched onto the King's dorsal plates with all six limbs and folded her wings tightly against her body while sucking in as deep of a breath as she possibly could, and they plunged beneath the sea and dove towards the nearest entrance of the King's underwater tunnels, racing back towards the island where they had left Anguirus and Rodan with the kind of speed that only absolute fear can bring.

As soon as they broke the surface, having emerged from a tunnel that wasn't far from the island, the Queen's whole body ignited with the blazing light of her bioluminescence, letting a brilliant pulse of energy burst outwards from her and using its heat to evaporate all of the water that had soaked into her fur. Not taking any time to rest, she leapt into the air and accelerated towards the island, with the King swimming right behind her.

The situation was obvious: even from this distance, they could clearly see the torrential thunderstorm that had now engulfed the island, and they could hear the demented cackling of the Golden One echoing through the clouds. Sure enough, as the King waded ashore and broke into a lumbering jog, he saw the distinctive outline of those huge, batlike wings illuminated by the lightning, as their enemy soared down out of the clouds and began descending leisurely towards the ground, aiming for a point not far away. The King followed their trajectory with his gaze… and then he froze, his heart lurching in his chest as a rush of horror turned his blood to ice.

Anguirus and Rodan both lay sprawled on the ground, crumpled and broken, each in their own scorched crater. Neither of them were moving, and he couldn't detect any signs of life coming from either of them.

The King and Queen wasted a single moment as they froze in place, numbed by their own shock and horror. Then those emotions changed in an instant, flipping from stunned horror into pure, all-consuming rage. The Queen blazed like a sun, her bioluminescence shifting from blue to red and then to white as she rocketed towards their enemy, while the King howled a battle-cry as his own spines lit up with their piercing blue-white glow. Even as the Golden One turned in their direction, they attacked simultaneously: another brilliant pulse of light from the Queen blinded all three heads, and the King unleashed a searing blast of atomic fire that hit the Enemy squarely in the chest and knocked them backwards through the air, burning into the golden hide.

For all their power, the Golden One knew better than to stand and fight in that moment. Even as all three heads shrieked in pain from the combined assault, their wings cracked the air and they rose swiftly back up towards the sky, disappearing into the dense storm clouds overhead. They didn't slow down or change course, but kept flying straight up, accelerating straight through the clouds and up into the night sky, heading back to the void from whence they'd come. Almost immediately, the rain began to lessen, and the unnatural thunderstorm began to subside and dissipate.

The King didn't spare another glance for his fleeing enemy: instead, he whirled around and rushed towards the crumpled bodies of his companions. The Queen soared past him, sweeping in low and circling quickly over the two fallen Kaiju. Her ability to detect injuries was far more acute than the King's, so she would be able to assess their conditions much more quickly and accurately than he could.

After a long moment, the Queen's eyes widened in alarm. "Goji, we have to hurry!" she exclaimed. "They need healing, now!"

The King swayed unsteadily as he felt a sick twisting sensation in his gut. "Which one first?!" he demanded, glancing back and forth from Anguirus to Rodan. "Which one's worse off?" Anguirus lay on his back, his body twisted awkwardly and his limbs splayed out, blood leaking from a set of nasty puncture wounds in his neck. Rodan was in the same position, but with jagged black burns laced across his chest, stomach and wings, clearly inflicted by blasts of the Golden One's lightning.

"They…" The Queen's eyes widened further, her alarm shifting to dismay as she stalled briefly in flight. "They're dying," she breathed as she landed on the ground, her gaze shifting slowly up to the King's face.

"Both of them."

The King stiffened, and a slow, creeping horror came over him as he realized what that meant. His Queen's healing powers could work miracles, and more than once she'd saved one of the other three when they were on the brink of death. But her powers had limits. And to bring her full healing powers to bear, if a Kaiju was so badly wounded that they were in danger of imminent death, she could only heal one Kaiju at a time.

Which meant that if both Anguirus  and  Rodan were dying… she would most likely only have enough time to save one of them.

"No," the King whispered, his voice wavering as he closed his eyes and fought the urge to fall to his knees. Anguirus and Rodan loved each other just as much as he loved Mosura: he knew that. Neither of them would ever want to lose the other, and each would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the other. But with both of them unconscious, how could he and Mosura possibly decide which one to save?

"G… Go…" a voice rasped. "Go…ji…"

The King's eyes widened, and his head whipped around towards the source of the voice.

Anguirus was awake. His eyes had drifted open, still glowing a soft green in the darkness, and he weakly craned his neck to look at the two of them. "Goji?" he muttered. "Mosura? Are… are you guys okay?"

"Anguirus!" the Queen exclaimed, her eyes wide as she took a quick, bounding hop over towards him. "Yes, we're all right. Are you…?"

"I…" Anguirus coughed, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth as he shook his head. "'M fine. How's Rodan? Is he okay?"

The Queen looked up at the King, her eyes wide and helpless. She clearly had no idea what to do: just the thought of losing one of her companions, let alone both, was paralyzing. The King felt the same way, but he forced his emotions down, doing everything he could to think about the situation logically as he turned back to Anguirus.

"No," he intoned, forcing his voice to remain as steady as possible. "He… he's badly wounded, Anguirus. He needs healing." He closed his eyes for a moment. "But… so do you. And we…" His voice almost cracked. "We don't have enough time to…"

"To heal both of us," Anguirus finished, his own voice quiet and subdued as the situation sank in. "Yeah. Makes sense."

This time the King did fall to one knee, with an impact that shook the ground underfoot. "Anguirus…" he whispered, his voice trembling as he leaned down close to the fallen spike-shell and rested one hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I should have been here –"

"We should have been here," the Queen whispered, tears leaking from her eyes as she crept slowly forward to Anguirus's other side. "I'm so sorry, Anguirus… we shouldn't have split up like that, I shouldn't have –"

"Hey," Anguirus cut her off, his voice surprisingly firm. "It's not… your fault, Mosura. There's no way we could've known. Don't… blame yourself." He winced and coughed again, blood bubbling in his throat. "Dammit… bastards really did a number on me…"

The King's eyes snapped open, inspiration sparking to life inside him and warring with the despair that was rising in his mind. "We can talk later," he decided, his gaze flicking over to the Queen. "Mosura! Get started on healing him, all right? If we switch back and forth between the two of them, then maybe we can keep them both stable long enough to –"

"Goji." Anguirus's voice cut through the King's racing thoughts, drawing his attention back to the spike-shell's face. There was fear and pain in his friend's eyes, but also determination… and the King knew in that moment that Anguirus had already made his decision.

"It's okay," Anguirus murmured softly, before he turned to face the Queen. "Mosura?" He weakly lifted one front paw to point over to where Rodan had fallen. "Heal him first."

The King could sense the dismay in the Queen's mind – not at the idea of saving Rodan, but at the simple prospect of having to lose one of her friends to save another – but she did her best to stay calm. "Anguirus…" she breathed. "Are… are you sure that's what you want?"

"Positive." Anguirus nodded firmly, clearly doing his best to stave off the pain. "He'd do the same thing if he were in my place… but he isn't. And I'm not letting him die." His eyes flashed brighter for a moment, burning with a fiery intensity even as another cough racked his broken body. "Do it! Save him!"

The Queen looked at him for a moment, her eyes wide and her expression clearly conflicted… but she nodded slowly, casting a sad and apologetic look up at the King. "I'm sorry," she whispered, addressing both of them, before she slowly turned and scrambled over next to Rodan. Stretching her wings out over the dying fire-wing, she hummed softly and started to release a gentle shower of glowing blue scales from her wings, the shining particles raining down onto Rodan's charred body and absorbing into his scales so their healing properties could kick in.

The King's body sagged, and he slumped onto his hands and knees beside Anguirus. His own spikes had gone dark, with barely a flicker of blue light present on them. "You stay with me, all right?" he demanded, his eyes fixed on Anguirus as the spike-shell's gaze shifted wearily back over to him. "She can help you too, you know that. You just have to hang on until she's done with him, and then…"

"Goji…" Anguirus coughed again, more blood leaking from his mouth. "I'm sorry, man, but… I'm done. We both know it." He winced as he tried to shift position a little. "Shit… they dropped me a really long way. I'm all busted up… can't really move my back legs or my tail… an' it's only the fact that my spikes're stuck in the ground that's holding my back together."

The King's eyes widened and his stomach lurched, horror mingling with rage at the knowledge of just how badly the Golden One had wounded his friend. If the three-headed Kaiju had still been there in that moment, he would have ripped them to pieces… but for Anguirus's sake, he forced himself to temper his anger.

"Hey," Anguirus rasped, drawing the King's attention back to him. "You guys… don't tell him that I did this, all right?" He nodded weakly over to where the Queen was still sprinkling her scales over Rodan; some of the fire-wing's injuries were already visibly starting to heal as her scales took effect. "Don't tell him that I forced you guys to heal him 'stead of me. Tell him… it was already too late for me, but not for him."

"What?" The Queen frowned despite her tears, her head tilting slightly in confusion. "Why?!"

"Because… if he finds out about this, he'll blame himself," Anguirus replied, gritting his teeth against the pain as he fought to stay lucid. "He's always… been doing stuff like that, blamin' himself whenever I got hurt, thinkin' he shoulda been faster, stronger, better… I don't want him to spend the rest of his life knowing that I told you guys to save him instead of me." His eyes were glassy with pain and exhaustion, but still alert as he glanced from the King to the Queen and back again. "All right? Promise… promise me you won't tell him."

After a moment, both the King and the Queen silently nodded, feeling the heavy weight on their hearts. "Okay," the Queen whispered, more tears leaking from her eyes. "We… we won't."

"Good. Thanks." Anguirus sighed heavily, a bubbling sound still echoing from his throat. He leaned back, resting his head on the ground, his eyes becoming glassier as his gaze shifted over to meet the King's. "I… I'm sorry, Goji. I… fought as hard as I could, man."

"It's not your fault," the King assured him, feeling a constricting sensation in his throat as tears welled up in his eyes too. "I'm sure you gave them hell."

"Damn right." Anguirus let out a wheezing chuckle. "Nearly tore one of those bastards clean off, before they got the drop on me." He snorted softly, his beaked mouth curving in a faint grin. "Heh. 'Drop.' Ironic, considering what happened next." He indicated his current position and the crater around him with an idle wave of one paw.

The King managed a soft chuckle of his own, even through the hot tears that were stinging his eyes. "It'll be all right, my friend," he murmured, reaching up with one hand and gently resting it on Anguirus's head, running his claws through the spikes on the back of his head. "I'll see you again someday. We all will."

"Yeah…" Anguirus's smile softened, his head tilting back as he gazed up at the sky. The storm had finally dissipated entirely, leaving only the dark night sky and a silver tapestry of stars. "Man… those stars are beautiful tonight." He sighed. "Mentioned that t' Rodan earlier, before…" He shivered slightly. "Getting cold out here… huh, Goji? Least we've got those stars, though…"

The King nodded, his vision blurred by tears. "Yeah," he managed, his voice cracking a bit. "They… they're beautiful."

"Stars," Anguirus repeated quietly, in a soft, almost wondering tone. His head sagged slowly back against the soft earth, and the green glow in his eyes slowly faded away.

And then he was gone.

The Queen let out a soft gasp, a rush of pain surging through their psychic connection as she sensed the life leaving their comrade's body, before she forced herself to continue healing Rodan even as her quiet sobs echoed around them. The King, for his part, was silent for several long minutes, tears flowing down from his closed eyes as he silently mourned his friend. Then his eyes flickered open as he slowly reached down with one hand and carefully closed Anguirus's eyes. "Goodbye," he murmured. "My friend."

Before long, the Queen finished carrying out the healing process, and Rodan woke up.

To say that he didn't take the news of Anguirus's death well would be an understatement.

The distant echoes of a sonic boom were still rumbling across the island, the unnatural thunderclap signaling Rodan's departure. The King and the Queen were both still frozen in place, staring silently after the rapidly-disappearing form of the fire-wing as he soared out over the ocean, vanishing into the night without a backward glance.

As soon as it sank in that they were alone, the Queen collapsed, her entire body shaking as she broke down in tears, crying and sobbing uncontrollably. The King instinctively dropped to all fours and scrambled over to her, rolling onto his side and pulling her gently into a comforting embrace. She instinctively wrapped her limbs and her wings around him, nestling into him and burying her face against his neck, and the two of them succumbed to their grief, crying into each other and taking as much comfort as they could from each other's presence as they mourned for all that they had lost. In the end, they both fell asleep there, nestled in each other's arms and totally drained by the horror of that night.

The next morning, they both woke up slowly. The sun was rising on the horizon, tinting their surroundings in a soft orange glow as the two of them sat up and did what they could to clean themselves up. Anguirus still lay where he had fallen, as the King hadn't wanted to try moving him the night before.

"What do we do now?" the Queen questioned softly as they sat watching the sunrise together. "Where… where should we take him?"

The King considered that for a moment, before the obvious solution came to him. "I'll take him down to the old temple, in that Underworld cavern," he decided. "He loved it there, and it's totally isolated now after the collapse, so there won't be any scavengers around to disturb him." He glanced down at her. "How does that sound?"

The Queen was clearly still grieving, but she nodded. "That sounds perfect," she agreed. "I think he'd be happy there."

And so the King, after carefully lifting Anguirus's body out of the crater where it had come to rest, carried it out to sea, and after a quick dive into his underwater tunnels, deposited the body in the underwater city. Sure enough, no other Kaiju or scavengers disturbed the spike-shell's remains, and he was left to spend eternity in peace.

And from then on, every time the King visited the underwater temple to rest or to replenish his energy supply, he always made a point to spend some time paying his respects to the remains of his long-lost friend. It became part of his routine whenever he visited there, and it helped him to come to terms with the new reality of a world that didn't have Anguirus in it anymore… a world without his best friend.

But despite all of the King's visits, it was never quite enough to remove the lingering shadow of guilt and sadness that would always be present in his heart. The longing wish that he and his Queen would have been able to save two lives, not just one, on that fateful night so long ago.

But, in the end, even gods have their limits. And eventually, all things must come to an end.

Now…

…Goji? Goji, can you hear me?

The King was pulled slowly back into consciousness, his eyes flickering open as a deep, pained groan echoed in his chest. He tilted his head slowly to one side, gazing up at the rocky ceiling of the cavern. For a moment, he wasn't sure what he'd heard… but then he recognized the voice, and a surge of joy began welling up in his heart.

"Mosura…?" he called out, speaking both verbally and telepathically. "Is that you?" He wasn't entirely sure if he'd still been dreaming when he'd heard that call, but it had sounded so much like her, and she had been due to finish her transformation soon…

Sure enough, his call was answered moments later, as the familiar voice echoed in his mind again, accompanied by a rush of warmth and love. Goji! I knew it; I'm so glad you're okay!

Mosura! The King smiled and his pain lessened, if only slightly, as he felt their telepathic link finally growing back to full strength, thoughts and memories flowing back and forth between them just as easily as they had before their long hibernation. This time he didn't bother replying verbally, and simply reached out through their connection instead. What's going on? Are you all right?

I'm fine, the Queen assured him. I sped up my transformation when I sensed that you'd been hurt. As soon as I emerged from my cocoon, I knew I needed to find you, and my Singers were able to help me locate you. She paused, and he could feel her trying to examine him as best she could through their connection. What happened? Are you all right?

I'm… alive, at least, the King muttered. It was the humans… I was fighting the Golden One, and they fired some kind of weapon at us. It was like one of their exploding fire-stingers, but this one was far more powerful, and it had poison in it. It turned the seawater to acid: my whole body felt like it was on fire, and my flesh started melting in a thousand places. I only survived because one of my tunnel entrances was close enough that I could use it to escape. He exhaled slowly and drew another long, ragged breath. I barely made it back to the temple. I'm healing and recharging now, but… He shifted position slightly and groaned softly. …it's going very slowly. It's going to take a while for me to recover fully. Maybe a long while.

The Queen was silent for a moment. Yes, I can tell, she murmured eventually, her tone making it clear that she was deeply concerned. Can you swim back up to the surface? If you were up here, I could heal you, or at least help to speed up the process.

The King shifted his position, but he couldn't push himself up off the floor: his damaged muscles screamed in protest, and he slumped back down with a groan of pain. No, he replied with a soft growl and a shake of his head. I would if I could, but I can barely move right now. It'll take a while before I can even crawl back out of this temple, let alone swim all the way back up to the surface. The humans' weapon had done far more damage than he'd realized, and he wasn't anywhere close to being recovered, even with the radiation from the volcano slowly refueling his reserves of energy. Leaving this place, for the moment, was out of the question. And while his Queen could swim quite well in her larval form, she was not a good swimmer in her adult form, as her soft, downy wings slowed her down and made her awkward and cumbersome in water. She could swim in that form, although she would need to dry her wings off afterwards, but she would never be able to dive all the way down to the seafloor on her own, let alone swim through the underwater tunnels to reach his temple.

I understand. The Queen's mental voice was still concerned, but it seemed to become a little more optimistic as she continued. Well, fortunately I'm not the only one capable of helping you. I've been able to reestablish contact with my Singers, and it seems that they now work with a group of humans who are still loyal to you. They call themselves "Monarch…" and I think they may be able to help you now.

Help me? The King snorted, tasting blood in his mouth and wincing again as it sent fresh jolts of pain through his body. That's a laugh. It was the humans who did this to me: what makes you think that they would want to help me now? He was fairly certain that the humans who'd fired that weapon had been trying to kill both him and the Golden One, not just him, but that didn't really make him feel any better.

Two reasons, the Queen replied, chuckling softly. First: as you well know, not all groups of humans are the same. You remember the First Great War, do you not? Humans fought on both sides of that conflict, not just yours.

The King nodded begrudgingly, thinking back to that conflict. In his lifetime, there had been three "Great Wars," as they were commonly known, among this world's Kaiju. The first of those Wars had been fought between two competing species of Alpha Kaiju: his own species on one side, and the mammalian Great Apes on the other. The Great Apes, which had evolved down in the Underworld, had become jealous of his kind's power and authority over the other Kaiju, and had attempted to depose them and to take their place as the rulers of the world. That war had been long and bloody, with great losses on both sides, but he and his kind had ultimately emerged victorious, while the surviving Great Apes had been driven into the most remote caverns of the Underworld.

But the part which related to his Queen's point was that it had not just been a war of Kaiju: the humans had taken sides as well, with one group – the humans who had eventually built the city in which this temple rested – following the King and his kind, and another group following the Great Apes. Perhaps this was a similar situation, where one group of humans supported him while another saw him as an enemy. It was certainly worth considering, at least.

And second, the Queen continued with the impression of a warm smile in her mental voice, my Singers are part of this group. And I trust them, completely. They have no secrets from me, just as you and I have no secrets from each other. If they trust these "Monarch" humans and believe that they can help you, then I think we should trust them as well. Her voice developed a hint of wry amusement. Also, to be fair… it's not as if we have many other options at the moment, is it?

The King let out another soft, amused snort. Fair enough. He sighed, letting his body relax back onto the warm stone slab beneath him. So they have some sort of plan to heal me?

As far as I can gather, yes, the Queen confirmed. They need me to locate the nearest entrance to your tunnels so they can make it down to the temple, but that shouldn't be a problem. From what my Singer is telling me, I believe they plan to bring some sort of device that produces large levels of radiation down to you, so you can feed on it and use that power to speed up your healing process. If they can give you enough energy, you might be able to heal much more quickly than you could otherwise.

The King nodded slowly, thinking that over. Yes… that makes sense. If the humans could supply him with a large amount of extra radiation, he would be able to recharge and heal much more quickly than he could if he was relying solely on the radiation from the lava tubes. Assuming that they could actually pull it off, he certainly wasn't going to complain.

Now take it easy, my love, the Queen told him, her voice soft and comforting. While they're preparing, you should go back to sleep, get some more rest, and let your body continue to heal. Once you're healed and back to full strength, we can deal with the Golden One together and put an end to this once and for all.

The King grinned wearily. You always know just what to say to help me feel better, he quipped.

I do my best, the Queen replied cheerfully, sending the telepathic equivalent of a warm hug as she projected the mental image of her wings wrapping around him in a gentle embrace. Now go back to sleep, my King, and rest. They will be on their way soon, and I'll be waiting up here for you once you're healed.

All right, the King murmured, feeling the weariness overtaking him again as he lowered his head back onto the warm stone. I love you, Mosura.

I love you too, Goji, the Queen replied with a soft chuckle. Sleep well, my King. I'll see you soon.

The King's eyes drifted closed, a deep rumble echoing in his chest, and he allowed his exhaustion to overtake him again. This time, no memories plagued him, and he sank into a deep and dreamless sleep.

High above, the Queen sighed in relief, her wings flapping slowly to keep her aloft as she gazed down into the depths of the ocean. Her King was wounded and weak, but he was still alive, and the humans had a plan in place that might be able to heal him. That was all that mattered.

As she circled slowly around the humans' metal island, she reached out through the psychic connection between her and her King, tapping into his memories as she tried to locate the closest entrance to his underwater tunnels. She knew there was at least one in this area, so all she had to do was find it, and then she could lead the humans to it.

Sure enough, it only took a couple of hours for her to locate the tunnel entrance. While she couldn't dive down to it, she could sense the faint radiation emanating from it, carrying a trace of the distinctive energy that flowed throughout the Underworld. Nodding in satisfaction, she took up a position directly above the tunnel opening, hovering in place as she reached out to Ilene telepathically. Here, my child, she projected. You and your friends must come here. This is where you will find the King.

Eventually, one of the humans' metal diving-fish came into view, cruising across the surface towards her. She reached out with her mind, and was satisfied to sense Ilene's presence within it.

Everything will be all right, my Queen, Ilene's voice echoed through their connection. Our plan should succeed: we can give the King more than enough radiation for his injuries to heal. In the meantime, our comrades will do what they can to distract the False King, and hopefully that will buy us enough time to complete our work. She paused, a bit of worry coming into her mental speech, as the Queen saw a series of images: flocks of metal birds soaring over a large school of metal fish, all the power that the humans could muster, heading straight for the center of the Golden One's storm.

The Queen's eyes widened in alarm. No amount of humans, no matter how brave or skilled, could hope to prevail against the Destroyer's fury without help from other Kaiju. But she could tell from Ilene's memories that the humans involved already knew this, and that they hoped merely to keep the Golden One occupied and distracted long enough for Ilene and her companions to heal the King. These humans, at least, knew that she and her King were on their side, and were prepared to risk their own lives to help them.

You honor us with your trust and your bravery, young one, she projected, her mental voice quieter and softer than before. Thank you. Her wings pulsed a little brighter and she looked down at the metal fish as it slowly approached the tunnel entrance. Now, I must go; there are preparations that I need to make before the time comes for my King and I to face the Enemy. You and your companions can handle things from here.

As you say, my Queen. Ilene's voice softened. And… thank you. I had never dared to dream that I would actually be able to commune with you like this, but… it's everything I could ever have hoped for.

That simple, earnest confession wrenched at the Queen's heart, and she felt a rush of sympathy. I'm sorry that I had to leave you alone for so long, my child, she murmured. But I'm back now, and I will not leave you this time. I promise you that. Her eyes and wings shone brightly as she watched the metal fish slip beneath the surface and disappear from view, diving down towards the tunnel that would lead them to the King. Now go, and know that my blessing goes with you.

The Queen waited for another long moment, making sure that the metal fish was on course to find the tunnel entrance. Then she flapped her wings and rose up and away, accelerating back up into the cloud-filled sky and soaring off towards the horizon. Hopefully she would know before long whether Ilene and the Singers' allies had accomplished their mission, but in the meantime she had another job to do.

When she had gone into hibernation during the Cold Times, the Queen had left a dozen eggs behind, hidden in concealed nests all over the world. Normally she didn't have nearly that many eggs, perhaps half a dozen at most, but she hadn't wanted to take any chances, as this time she'd known that she wouldn't have an active adult body around to patrol the nest sites. The egg that she'd hatched from in the abandoned human temple had been one of those, but she had no idea how many of the other nests were still intact, or if any of the eggs in those nests were still alive. But before the time came for her to face the Golden One in battle again, she needed to find out. Just in case.

After all, the Queen reflected as she headed towards the nearest location of one of her hidden nests, she hadn't survived this long by taking chances.

Chapter Text

Rodan dove through a layer of dense clouds, his wings swatting several metal birds out of the sky as he spun in the air. As he burst out of the clouds and circled, looking for any fresh enemies, he still couldn't help but feel stunned by the sheer power that Ghidorah had unleashed in just a few hours. The heart of the immense hurricane that the Golden One had crafted was no longer a mere storm, but a terrifying vision of hell unleashed.

The humans' riverside city had been almost completely obliterated by the flood that had swept through the area, generated by a combination of the torrential rain and the massive storm surge that had rushed up the river. Most of their nests had been fully submerged or washed away, with only the tallest buildings still rising above the churning water. The raging winds had coalesced into dozens of tornados that were swirling through the area, some of them turning into waterspouts as they sucked up water from below. The sky above was a mix of dark gray clouds and sickly yellow light, and a constant rumble of thunder mingled with the sounds of explosions as they rang out from below.

To the humans' credit, it hadn't taken long for them to respond. After only a few hours of Rodan's sitting around, slowly getting bored and starting to hope for something interesting to happen while Ghidorah continued building up their storm, the two Kaiju had sensed a large group of approaching creatures, which had turned out to be a school of strange metal fish and a flock of the odd metal birds that Rodan had fought earlier, led by the same sleek black flyer that he'd chased away from his island before running into Ghidorah. He'd been very surprised when the Golden One had explained that these strange metal creatures were actually artificial creatures, created by the humans to fight enemies that were too large and powerful for the little mammals to combat on their own.

Despite a valiant effort, however, the humans and their metal pets were failing. Many of the metal birds were gone or tumbling out of the sky, trailing flame and smoke as they plummeted into the roiling waters below, while most of the metal fish were also broken and burning, many of them having already vanished below the surface.

A blur of movement off to one side drew Rodan's attention, as he saw one of the largest remaining metal fish launching a volley of its strange, glowing stingers up into the clouds. The stingers exploded, lighting up the immense form of Ghidorah as they burst out of the clouds and plunged down towards the metal fish, slamming feet-first into it with incredible force. The metal fish lurched forwards in the water, already beginning to tilt and buckle: a flight of metal birds swooped in, launching more stingers at the Golden One without much effect.

Rodan's eyes narrowed when he saw the large, dark flyer accelerating towards Ghidorah, and he dove to intercept it with a challenging shriek. The dark flyer rolled to one side and dropped away to avoid him; Rodan tilted his head back, clapped his wings together with a crack of thunder, and rocketed back up towards the clouds.

In the same motion, Ghidorah also leapt into the air, swatting two metal birds like insects with a sweep of their massive wings. The metal fish that they'd struck snapped in half, midway along its length; the two halves settled back onto the water for a moment, but the Golden One wasn't done yet. Crackling beams of lightning poured from all three mouths, striking the broken metal fish like a trio of hammer-blows: explosions flared up along its length, and then the entire "fish" blew apart in a massive fireball, sending burning debris flying in every direction. Ghidorah soared back into the swirling vortex of clouds that had formed at the heart of the storm, a chorus of cruel laughter ringing out and mingling with the thunder as they disappeared from view.

Rodan felt a brief pang shoot through him as he rose higher into the air and saw just how many of the humans' metal creatures were sinking, broken and shattered, beneath the waves. After everything that Ghidorah had told him, and especially if the humans really had killed the King, he was willing to believe that they could pose a legitimate threat. And if getting rid of them would satisfy the Golden One and get them to leave this world forever, then he was willing to help eliminate the humans if that was what it took. But deep in his mind, he was still conflicted. All three of his former companions had cared for the humans, and they had fought to protect the little mammals time and time again… and now here he was, fighting alongside their ancient Enemy against the creatures that they had been trying to protect. And some part of him was instinctively recoiling at what he was doing.

You're failing them, that part of his mind whispered, an intrusive thought that chipped away at his concentration.

No, Rodan thought, shaking his head and scowling as he focused back on the matter at hand, flying in circles around the vortex and shrugging off a few volleys of small fire-stingers from the humans' remaining metal birds. I need to do this. Once the humans are gone, the Golden One will leave. If I have to get rid of the humans to protect everyone else, then I will. Their lives aren't worth everyone else's.

But how do you think your friends would react to what you're doing? that part of him pressed. How do you think he would react?

That stung, and Rodan felt a twisting sensation in his stomach as his vision blurred for a moment, before he shook his head more forcefully. No! he growled. I know how he'd feel about this, but it doesn't matter. I don't have a choice. If I don't do this, they'll kill me… but if I do, I can help save everyone else.

Oh, please, his other internal voice mocked. You know that's not why you're really helping them. You can tell yourself that all you want, but it's a lie. You just don't want to die, and you're willing to sell out everything you've ever cared about, turn your back on everything that you all fought for, if it means you get to live. That voice fell silent for a moment, and then continued: What would they think of you – what would he think of you – if they could see you now?

Rodan squeezed his eyes shut for a second, trying to suppress his pain and guilt. They'd hate me, he admitted. Gojira and Mosura definitely would, at least. Anguirus… he might not, but… there's a good chance he would too. His eyes snapped open again, burning yellow. But I don't have a choice. I don't like this, but I have to see it through. Gojira and Anguirus are dead, and I don't know whether Mosura is still alive or not, but even if she is she's no match for them by herself. He glanced over his shoulder to where the Golden One's outline was still visible through the clouds, haloed by crackling arcs of lightning. This is the only way. Once the humans are gone, Ghidorah will be too, and then all of this will finally be over. The rest of the world will be safe, and I'll finally have peace again. Now shut up already!

Doing his best to squash the nagging voice in the back of his mind, Rodan focused his attention back on the business at hand, snapping at a couple of metal birds as they flew past him. He had to finish this. Getting rid of the humans was the only way to get rid of Ghidorah now, and that meant he had to see it through no matter what.

Regardless of the guilt and anger that were seething inside him, and the painful memories that were haunting him with every move he made.

At the center of the vortex, Ichi smirked as he surveyed their surroundings. As he'd expected, the humans had launched a counterattack, but luckily they didn't seem to have advanced quite as much as he'd feared. The weapons that this armada of watercraft and aircraft had unleashed were rather potent, but not enough to seriously harm them. Nothing that these humans had thrown at them so far was anywhere close to the level of the explosive weapon that had brought down the Lizard King. Meanwhile, the brothers' storm was continuing to grow and spread, already blanketing a significant portion of this world's surface. If they could maintain it long enough, ecosystems across the planet would begin to collapse, robbed of the sun's energy and drowned by torrential floods of water. Soon enough, there would be no place on this world where the humans could find sanctuary.

While Ichi was calmly satisfied with their progress and with their victory over the humans' military forces, his brothers were each reacting in their own way to their current situation. Ni was cackling gleefully, thoroughly enjoying the thrill of the battle: he took out one of the humans' aircraft with another quick-charging bolt of lightning, grinning widely as his eyes burned in the semidarkness. "That's what I'm talking about!" he crowed, laughing as he began seeking out another target. "C'mon, give it your best shot!"

San, however, seemed less enthusiastic about the situation. Instead, he was currently watching the fire-wing who was circling around them, with an oddly-wistful expression on his face that was rather unusual for him. He was usually quite cheerful and happy most of the time, so this sober expression was strange.

Ichi frowned when he saw his brother's expression and leaned over, bumping his snout lightly against San's horns with an unusual level of care. San? he inquired, reaching out through the brothers' mental link. Are you all right?

"Huh?" San turned to face him, blinking. Oh, yeah, I'm okay. Sorry. I was just… thinking about something. He frowned, looking back up to where the fire-wing was circling outside of their vortex.

Ichi raised an eyebrow ridge. About what? he questioned, nodding up towards Rodan. Him? What about him?

Oh, it's nothing, really. It's not really about him. It's just… San looked down for a second, then shrugged his neck in a rippling motion. Working with other Kaiju like this again… it reminds me of the old days. Of them.

Ni swung around when he heard that thought, his eyes widening in realization. A rush of memories flashed back and forth through the brothers' minds, many of them carrying images of two other Kaiju: one, a patchwork creature with black armor plating, a single red eye, and a pair of long, curved talons in place of hands; and the other, a bipedal insectoid monster with a star-shaped horn and two spinning drills for arms. In all the years of Ghidorah's long life, those two creatures had been the closest thing that the Golden One had ever had to friends, although they had parted ways from them a long time ago.

Don't go gettin' sentimental on us, San, Ni muttered after a moment. Sure, it's nice not having to do all the work ourselves for a change, but that asshole up there is nothing like them. He'd never understand us the way they did, and we damn well can't trust him the way we could with them.

Regrettably, Ni is correct, Ichi agreed. It is helpful to have servants for a change, but that fire-wing and the other Kaijus that we have bound are not like those two were. Those were truly our allies, while these are nothing more than pawns that would never side with us if they had any choice in the matter. His lip curled disdainfully as he looked up to where Rodan was still circling the perimeter of the vortex, chasing several human aircraft. Even that one only aids us out of cowardice, and his desperation to preserve his own life.

I know, I know. San sighed, nodding. Sorry, I just… got a little nostalgic, I guess.

I understand. Ichi chuckled softly, actually feeling a little sympathetic towards his brother for once. San had always been thoughtful and curious, much more so than Ni: that went along with his enhanced observation skills, but it sometimes meant that he overthought things. Don't worry, little brother. Once we're done with this planet, we'll be able to take a nice long rest while we seek out another one... hopefully one that doesn't have any tiny sentients on it. In all honesty, he would enjoy that very much. They'd been trying to complete their purge of this planet for so many years that it would be a tremendous relief when it was finally done and they could move on.

Luckily, their purge was now well underway. The brothers could sense their brainwashed Kaiju thralls at work, rampaging across several continents and decimating one human city after another, while their storm was getting bigger and more powerful with each passing hour. Before long, their job would be done, and the tiny sentients would finally be eradicated and purged from the face of this planet. And then –

"Stop."

What the –?! Ichi recoiled as if he'd been struck, snarling. His brothers did the same, their eyes flashing and their necks contorting as they looked around for the source of that call. Above, Rodan let out a loud squawk as he heard the same noise, and veered sharply in the air before catching himself.

"Stay where you are," the voice intoned. "Do not move." It resonated with both Ghidorah and Rodan on some level other than mere sound, reverberating through the air around them. Through the brothers' mental connection with the other Kaiju that they had awakened, they could feel that their unwilling servants had all been much more deeply affected by the voice: it was overriding their telepathic commands, freezing the lesser Kaiju in place.

A moment later, the call repeated, echoing through the storm again. "Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."

"What the hell is that?!" Ni snarled, baring his teeth as he glared off towards the horizon.

"An Alpha call," Ichi realized, his eyes narrowing as he realized what the force behind the strange voice was. It wasn't the Lizard King, but it sounded a lot like him. Who…? After a moment of contemplation, his eyes widened in recognition. Of course!

Ni and San exchanged wide-eyed glances as they also recognized it: the voice making this call was the same voice that had awakened them from their slumber beneath the ice. It was much louder and more forceful now than it had been before, but the tones were unmistakably the same, and the brothers snarled as the call echoed across the world again.

"Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."

The humans' remaining aircraft and watercraft were retreating now, abandoning the flooded city and fleeing out towards the open sea. Normally Ghidorah would have pursued them, but they were too focused on this bizarre turn of events to do so, and craned their necks as they gazed north, in the direction where the voice seemed to originate. Rodan swooped in and landed on a half-demolished building nearby, staring in the same direction.

As confused as Ghidorah was by this strange voice, their response to it was automatic. Another Alpha call, especially one that was actively interfering with their plans, amounted to a direct challenge, and it didn't take long for them to make a decision. "Change of plans," Ichi called out to Rodan, glancing in the fire-wing's direction. "Clearly, whoever that is, they aren't on board with our mission. So we'll have to deal with them before we can get back to work."

Rodan nodded. Unlike all of the other Kaiju under Ghidorah's control, he hadn't been frozen by the Alpha call, mainly because they weren't controlling him telepathically so the call wasn't disrupting any kind of psychic connection. "Makes sense," he murmured, frowning as he gazed off to the north. "Who is that? I've never heard them before today, but now I've heard them twice."

Ichi's head snapped around at that, his eyes narrowing. "Twice?" he questioned, Ni and San both perking up as well.

Rodan flinched back a little as all three heads swung around to regard him, but he nodded slowly. "Uh… yeah," he replied. "I heard a voice that sounded a lot like that one earlier; they pulled me out of hibernation, telling me to wake up. I don't know who it is, though."

"Interesting…" Ichi frowned, considering that. "That's quite the coincidence."

"Yeah," San agreed. "That voice woke us up too, right? It was quieter then, but I'm pretty sure it's the same as this one." He nodded to the north, just as another call swept across the landscape, carrying the same repeating order.

"Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."

"We will do no such thing, you insolent pretender," Ichi muttered in response to the distant voice. His eyes flashed, and he flared out their wings as his gaze locked back onto Rodan. "Follow us," he ordered. "Stay close, but keep out of our way when we get there. Whoever is sending out that Alpha call, we will crush them ourselves, and then we can get back to work. Do not interfere unless we tell you to do so."

Rodan nodded, inclining his head in acknowledgment.

All three of Ghidorah's heads called out simultaneously, a trio of cackling roars and a rush of wind echoing around them as they leapt into the air. They circled over the flooded city once before heading north, disappearing into the clouds with the fire-wing close behind them.

Deep beneath the Earth, in his underwater temple, the King was dreaming again.

In the dream, he sped through the complex web of his underwater tunnels, the walls of shimmering stone rushing past him on all sides as the racing current pulled him along, until he finally emerged into the much larger cavern that housed the humans' city. No wounds plagued him, and his body sliced through the water with ease, but he was tired and felt the urge to return to his temple, to rest and recover his strength.

The city was the way it had been in days of old: most of the immense cavern was above the water, while a portion of it housed an immense saltwater lake, hundreds of feet deep, that was connected to the tunnel entrance. He surfaced into that lake, blinking and snorting as the light of the cavern reached his eyes. This far underground, no sunlight could ever reach this place, but the Underworld had its own light: dense layers of bioluminescent mosses, lichens, and other plants carpeted the ceiling and walls of the great cavern, glowing in a multicolored tapestry of blues, greens, oranges, and purples. That natural light, combined with the orange-yellow glow of the countless torches and fires that were used to help illuminate the humans' city, made it bright enough for the King to easily see the entirety of the cavern.

Curiously, however, while the city was fully intact, its occupants were nowhere to be seen. The King gazed around the cavern, letting out a low roar to draw the attention of anyone who might still be here, but there was no response. The human population of the ancient city was still gone, as if they had all just vanished into thin air.

The city was split in two by a broad, deep channel filled with seawater, a natural feature of the cave that allowed the King to swim leisurely up through the cavern without disturbing the city. A soft orange glow also radiated up through the water from the river of molten lava that flowed slowly along the bottom of the canal, originating from the lava tubes in the secondary cavern beyond this one.

As he approached the end of the canal and the entrance of the smaller temple cavern – which was also whole once more, the immense gates intact and undamaged – the King sensed something that sent a chill down his spine. He surfaced, lifting his head above the water and craning his neck as he looked in that direction.

Lying beside the canal, near the ancient gates, was the one thing that didn't line up with the way the city had been back in the old times: the skeleton of Anguirus, still lying where he had left it all those years ago. It looked extremely out of place now, lying on dry ground and surrounded by an undamaged city, but the presence of the skeleton added to the eerie atmosphere that had been created by the total absence of any humans.

Swimming to the side of the canal, the King clambered out onto dry land and leaned forward, examining the skeleton. It remained motionless, silent as ever, its eyes just dark, empty holes in the hollow skull.

But then a flash of green light filled the empty sockets, and the King jerked back in shock, so fast that he almost fell back into the canal.

And then... the skeleton began to move. As it rose up, ghostly flesh and scales materialized over the bones, and the green eyes blazed in the multicolored twilight of the cavern. Finally, the figure settled into physical form, its massive club-tipped tail waving slowly back and forth behind it.

The King's eyes were wide and stunned, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. He took a step back, his tail splashing into the canal again, as he stared in disbelief at the Kaiju who now stood before him.

"…Anguirus?" he breathed.

The ghostly image of the spike-shell smiled and nodded in response, sitting back on his haunches. "Hey, Goji," he greeted the King with a casual wave of his front paw. "Good to see you."

The King finally snapped out of his shock, as a slow smile spread across his face. "It… it's good to see you too," he murmured, before his smile flickered and he glanced around at their surroundings as an ominous thought occurred to him. "Wait. Does this mean…"

"That you're dead?" Anguirus finished, chuckling softly and shaking his head. "Nah. Don't worry, you're not. I don't think so, anyway."

"Well, that's good." The King snorted, glancing around at the empty cavern. "So why am I here?"

Anguirus shrugged, the bony club on the end of his tail scraping against the stone as his tail dragged back and forth behind him. "Your guess is as good as mine, pal. This is your dream: I'm just livin' in it. Figuratively speaking." He snickered a little at that, and the King echoed the quiet chuckle despite himself.

Tilting his head back and stretching out his front legs, Anguirus leaned forward and looked up at the King again, frowning curiously. "So… c'mon, Goji, what's going on? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here if you didn't need to get something off your chest."

"I…" The King sighed heavily, looking down. Under the current circumstances, there was really only one topic of conversation that came to mind. "I don't know if I can trust the humans anymore," he confessed. "Mosura reminded me that they've always been complicated creatures and that not all of them have always been on my side, and I understand that, but… ever since I came out of hibernation, it's like they've completely forgotten everything we've done for them. They would've been wiped out thousands of years ago if it wasn't for us, by the Golden One or by other hostile Kaiju; we saved them from extinction, time and time again. Hell, you died fighting that golden bastard because we were so dedicated to protecting them!" He scowled. "I don't blame the humans for that, of course, but ever since I woke up sixty-five years ago, they've attacked me almost every time I've shown myself, as if they don't know me at all and just see me as another threat. Even if not all of them are like that, it sure as hell feels like it."

Anguirus nodded soberly. "Yeah, I get it, man," he agreed. "But you gotta remember, the humans have much shorter lifespans and memories than we do. It's been a long time since you guys all went to sleep, so it makes sense that they might not remember you." He smiled a little. "And Mosura told you, didn't she? Even if not all of them remember, some of them do. Her Singers don't keep any secrets from her, so they must've been telling the truth when they told her about some humans who still support you guys."

Another sigh escaped the King's mouth as he nodded. "I know," he admitted. "But… I'm just having trouble convincing myself, because it sounds too good to be true. After everything I've seen since I woke up, the idea that the humans actually do still remember the old ways… it just doesn't seem likely to me." He shrugged, his tail flicking up into the air behind him and slapping heavily against the ground. "I just don't know. I trust Mosura, and she trusts her Singers, but nothing I've seen in the last sixty-five years has convinced me that they're right."

At that, Anguirus chuckled softly. "Really?" he spoke up, drawing the King's attention back to him; he frowned when he saw the amused grin on the spike-shell's face, but Anguirus's smile never faded. "You really think you haven't seen anything that shows the good in humans since you woke up?" he continued. "Because I wouldn't be so sure about that."

The King arched one eyebrow-ridge and snorted. "Oh, really?" he questioned. "And why's that?"

Anguirus's grin widened. "Forgetting something? We're in your head right now, buddy. I'm not actually here, but I know everything you've seen and done since you woke up. And I know for a fact that you're wrong about them." His eyes shone brighter, and the cavern around them began to darken, the multicolored glow of the moss and flames fading away and leaving them in shadows. "Here. In case you've forgotten, I'll show you."

The dream shifted again, and suddenly the King found himself in another familiar setting.

It was five years earlier, and he was in the middle of his battle against the pair of Jinshin-Mushi. Despite being stronger than either of the parasites individually, he had been on the verge of defeat, worn down and exhausted by their relentless tandem attacks, until a sudden, massive fireball – most likely the humans' work – had erupted from the underground nest that they'd constructed, leaving both parasites stunned and horrified. They had both abandoned the fight and raced off to try and save their eggs, which had given the King the time that he'd needed to get back on his feet.

Lumbering up the hill behind the female, he began charging up a blast of his fire-breath, and unleashed it as soon as she spun back around to face him. Blown back by the beam's impact, she had stumbled and fallen against one of the humans' buildings before crashing to the ground.  The King smirked and loomed over her, inhaling deeply and beginning to charge another blast even as she struggled to get back up. Before he could finish preparing his next blast, however, the male swooped down and hit him from behind, knocking him off-balance and quickly diverting his attention. Roaring angrily, he lumbered after the retreating parasite, striking out and missing several times, before the male dove back towards him, spun in the air and slammed down on the King's back, clawing at his neck and head.

The King stumbled, snarling in pain as the parasite bit down on the side of his neck, but he swung his body to one side, off-balancing his enemy long enough for him to clamp his jaws onto one of the male's wings. The male screeched in pain, but the King bit down hard, chitin crunching between his teeth as he swung his opponent in a full circle, smashing the male's body through several of the humans' taller nests. Finally, he let go, flinging the parasite away and sending him tumbling through the air before he managed to balance himself out, favoring the injured wing.

As the parasite circled around for another attack, an idea came to the King's mind, and he grinned. Taking a couple of steps to one side so he was standing right next to one of the largest human nests in the city – one so large that it rose well above his head – he spread his arms wide and laughed. "Come on, then!" he challenged. "Give me your best shot!"

"Gladly!" the male spat. He took the bait, diving back towards the King with his claws flared out, letting out a challenging shriek…

And then, just before the male could reach him, the King spun on his heel and slammed his massive tail into the diving parasite, smashing him into the tall human nest with bone-shattering force. A sickening crunch echoed through the air as the male was crushed by the sheer force of the impact, several limbs snapping as a jagged shard of metal punched straight through his neck. He let out one last choking rasp, and then went limp as the red glow of his eyes went dark, his broken body embedded in the side of the humans' nest.

The King nodded in satisfaction. "One down," he panted, taking a few deep gulps of air as he tried to recover some of his energy. He turned away, looking around as he tried to locate the injured female parasite, but he was brought up short by a grinding, rumbling sound of stone on stone. He turned back towards the tall human nest, just in time to see that it was now shuddering and swaying visibly. The impact of his tail and of the parasite's body had destabilized it, and it was now about to collapse.

The only problem was, the King was standing directly in the direction that it was collapsing. He had just enough time to exclaim, "Oh, shit…!" before the massive human nest toppled like a falling tree, its main structure crashing down right on top of him. The impact knocked him flat on his face, smashing him to the ground and burying him beneath a massive pile of rubble.

For a long moment, the King could barely move. Eventually he found the strength to push himself up onto his hands and knees, shoving away some of the rubble and freeing his head and arms, but he was still utterly exhausted. He hadn't had a fight like this since before he'd gone into hibernation; his whole body ached from the damage done by the parasites, and his energy was significantly drained. He slapped one clawed hand down on the ground and closed his eyes for a moment, breathing heavily as he tried to resist the urge to collapse and pass out.

Then, however, something prompted him to open his eyes and look up. At first he didn't know what it was, but as he blinked and shook his head, his blurry vision came into focus, and he saw a lone human standing before him, a few yards away on a patch of open ground. Normally he didn't see humans up close, but he could tell that this one was just as battered and weary as he felt: it was swaying unsteadily on its feet, as if it might collapse at any moment. But somehow, it was still on its feet, still walking. And while his telepathy wasn't as skilled as his Queen's, when he focused more intently on this human, he could sense some of its emotions. There was weariness there, and pain… but there was also strength and determination, a will to continue fighting that was truly impressive for such a small and fragile creature. And as the human looked up at him, he sensed an impression of quiet awe, even respect.

The King tilted his head slightly as he gazed down at the human. Fascinating, he thought to himself. Even after all this time, even though the humans all seemed to have forgotten him and the alliance that they had once shared, they still possessed the qualities that had convinced him to respect them so long ago. This small, determined fighter was proof of that.

After a long moment, other sounds broke the silence: the hoarse, clattering cry of the female Jinshin-Mushi, accompanied by the soft popping noises made by the humans' fire-stingers. The human that had been gazing up at the King turned away, looking in the direction of the sounds… and then, to his surprise, it started running towards the noise of battle, hurrying away from him and disappearing into the clouds of dust that surrounded them.

A soft chuckle echoed deep in the King's throat. "Truly impressive," he murmured. His eyes narrowed, his faint smile fading as his expression hardened into resolve. If a human could get up and keep fighting no matter how injured they might be, then he could do the same. No amount of weariness or pain would stop him: he had a job to finish, and he would see it through to the end.

"You can sleep when this is over, Goji," he growled to himself, his eyes flashing as his claws dug into the ground. "But… not… yet!" He snarled and heaved his body upwards, shaking off the rubble as he hauled himself painfully back to his feet. As his head rose up out of the billowing clouds of dust, his gaze swept across the darkened human city and quickly locked onto the female parasite, who was now on the move and heading for the bay.

Trying to escape, are we? the King thought to himself, his teeth grinding together in a fierce grin. We'll see about that. He started towards the water, his eyes shining in the darkness as he summoned up all the energy he had left. That human had inspired him to get back up and keep fighting… and he wasn't going to stop until the battle was over.

"See?" Anguirus's voice echoed in the King's mind as the dreamscape faded away, his surroundings melting back into the darkened Underworld cavern as the ghostly image of the spike-shell appeared before him. "There are still good humans out there, Goji. They're not all on your side, of course: they were never that simple. There's good and bad in every species. But there are humans who still care, who are still willing to help. You just have to be willing to take that step, to trust them, and they'll do the same."

The King chuckled quietly, his voice echoing through the darkness around him, before his smile faded and he slowly shook his head as he looked back up at his friend. "How do you know that?" he questioned. "How can I really be sure, after everything they've done, that there are still humans out there who really deserve my trust?"

Anguirus just smiled. "Two reasons," he replied, as flickers of light began to leak through the shadows around them. "First: like I said, I'm not really here. We're in your head right now. Which means that I'm only saying this stuff because, on some level, you already believe it." He shrugged, his image becoming blurred and indistinct as the light overcame the darkness, although his smile never wavered. "And for the second one, well… just wake up and see for yourself."

As the darkness melted away, the King never took his eyes off of Anguirus. "Thank you, my friend," he murmured. "You know I miss you, right?"

Anguirus chuckled. "Yup. But don't worry, pal." His smile widened, even as his image dissolved and melted away into the light. "Whenever you need me... I'll always be here."

As the King slowly drifted back to consciousness and his eyes flickered open, he couldn't see anything for a moment: his sight was still too blurry to make out any details. But as he blinked a couple of times to clear his vision, he saw something that made him briefly question whether he was still dreaming, because it didn't make any sense.

He was back in his temple, still sprawled out on the huge stone slab, his body still aching in a thousand places from the amount of slowly-healing wounds that the humans' poison had inflicted. But something had changed. Something was climbing up the long stone staircase that led up to the altar: a single human, carrying something in its arms.

What…? The King blinked again, half-expecting the bizarre image to disappear, but it didn't. It was definitely a human, its head covered by a strange helmet, with some sort of small object cradled against its chest. It was moving slowly, clambering up the stairs with a great deal of effort, but still it came.

How was this possible? The King was baffled for a long moment, trying to figure out how a human could possibly have gotten all the way down here, until he remembered the Queen's message earlier. She'd told him that the humans who were allied with her Singers – "Monarchs," they called themselves – had been planning to bring some sort of sustenance down to him, to help speed up his healing process. He'd had no idea how they planned to do that, but maybe the object that this human was carrying was connected?

Frowning, he inhaled as deeply as he could, reaching out with his senses as he tried to figure out what the human was holding. As the human finished climbing the stairs and reached the altar, his senses picked up unmistakable traces of radiation… and then his eyes widened in surprise and alarm, as he realized what it was.

That object wasn't a fire-stinger: it was one of the humans' radiation-filled stones, the ones that could explode with a power far greater than anything that their normal weapons could produce and douse their surroundings with vast amounts of radiation. He had seen those before, not long after he'd woken from his hibernation, when the humans had left a few of these stones on remote islands for him. At the time, he'd been unsure of whether they constituted an attack or a highly-unorthodox type of offering; the massive explosions that they generated had been annoying and rather painful, but the radiation that they contained had been more than enough to replenish his energy reserves after his long sleep. Eventually they'd stopped leaving those stones out for him, but he'd fed enough by then so he hadn't minded.

But if the amount of energy that he could sense was any indication, this exploding-stone was far more powerful than the ones that he had fed on back then. He was concerned by that at first, until he felt a sudden rush of relief as that realization sank in: that meant that this stone's power should be more than enough to heal and refuel him completely, even in his current state. These humans really were trying to help him, just as his Queen had claimed.

But… The King frowned as his eyes drifted back down to the human that stood before him, who was now setting up the exploding-stone at the far end of the altar. While the blast from that stone wouldn't be lethal to him – or at least he was reasonably sure that it wouldn't be – no human could survive being anywhere near an explosion of that magnitude. If the human didn't leave and move to a safe distance from the cavern before the stone exploded, it would certainly be killed.

But when he looked more closely at the small figure, he realized that there was no point in trying to warn them. The human's limbs were trembling, its breath coming in ragged gasps, and after a moment he understood why. Back in the old days, the humans who had inhabited the ancient city had been much more resistant to radiation, enough that they'd been able to live down here without any trouble, but they had only been able to withstand the heightened radiation in the temple cavern for short periods of time. That was why they had built the immense gates of metal and stone which had once sealed off the entrance to this cavern, opening only when he needed to access the temple. He had contributed some of his own fire to the forging of those gates, and he remembered their purpose all too well: to shield their city from the brunt of the energy that radiated from the lava tubes.

And in any case, while the Underworld humans had adapted to survive these levels of radiation, the humans of the surface never had. This human was unable to withstand the deadly energies that were pouring from the lava tubes: the King could practically see the damage spreading as the energy tore through the human's body, burning away at every cell and muscle.

This human was already doomed, too badly damaged by the radiation to survive for long. Even if it was able to retreat to a safe distance before the stone exploded, it would still die, and its death then would be much more painful. That would explain why, despite the danger, it was making no attempt to leave, focusing completely on the stone. And when he reached out with his mind to sense its emotions, while he could sense fear, it was being kept firmly under control.

The King's eyes widened as he fully understood what this meant. Humans were intelligent enough for this one to know that coming into this chamber would be a death sentence… but it had come all the same, willing to sacrifice its life for its cause. For him.

"Why?" the King breathed, his voice so weak and soft that it was barely audible even to him, his eyes wide as he looked down at the human. "Why would you do this?"

But, as the King focused more intently on the human's emotions, he could understand why. While this human was afraid (which made perfect sense, under the circumstances), that fear was being held back by other emotions that were even stronger: a fierce drive to protect its loved ones, a deep sense of profound awe, and a bedrock of strong, unwavering faith. Faith in its cause, faith in its allies… but most of all, faith that appeared to be centered around the King himself. His eyes widened even further when he realized what that meant.

This human was one of his worshippers.

That clinched it. His Queen had been right: there were still humans in this time who believed in them, who remembered the kinship that had existed between humans and Kaijus back before the Cold Times… and who believed in him enough to lay down their own lives on his behalf.

A deep, soft groan rumbled in the King's chest, and he looked down to see that the human had finished tinkering with the radiation-stone and was slowly approaching him. As it walked across the altar, the human reached up and removed its helmet, revealing its face: it was an older male, his features creased with age. He was swaying unsteadily on his feet, a sign of the radiation that continued to ravage his body, but his eyes were still bright, filled with a childlike wonder as he gazed up at the King.

For a moment, this human actually seemed to be oddly familiar. The King frowned as he tried to remember where he had seen this man before, until his eyes suddenly widened as it came to him. Five years earlier, after killing the two parasites and spending the next day or two sleeping to recover some of his strength, he had awakened to find himself surrounded by onlooking humans. Most of them had only given off feelings of fear, simple amazement, or some combination of those… but two humans, who had stood apart on a large hill of rubble near his head, had been different. He had sensed this same feeling from them: genuine awe and reverence, the attitude of the worshippers who had served him back in the old times. And while he was alone this time, the male who stood before him now had unmistakably been one of those two.

The King watched in silence as the human approached him, his eyes locked on the man's face. "Thank you," he whispered. He felt a profound sense of sorrow at the thought of this human dying, mixed with a surge of heartfelt respect and sympathy. While he would not hesitate to lay down his own life for those he loved if it were ever necessary, he couldn't imagine how it must really feel for this human to be giving his life in this fashion, and he wished that he could do something to comfort the man.

The human finally reached him, standing just in front of the King's snout. He slowly raised one arm, and the King felt a feather-light touch on his nose, the sensation of the human's hand resting against his scales. Despite the enormous size difference between them, their eyes met; the connection between them was strengthened by the physical contact, and he could feel as the human's churning emotions slowly subsided to peace.

At that moment, the human spoke. The King usually couldn't understand human speech: normally it was too quiet for him to hear them properly, and he couldn't really understand their languages when they were spoken verbally. As a result, the only humans that he could typically communicate with were those who, like his Queen's Singers, had the gift of telepathy. But because this human was so close to him, and because they had a faint connection between their minds in that moment, he understood this human's thoughts… and he knew exactly what he was saying.

"Goodbye… old friend."

The King's vision blurred, his eyes locked on the man's face as he felt a rush of warmth in his heart. Thank you, he replied telepathically, seeing the human's eyes widening in amazement as he heard the King's voice rippling through his mind. And… farewell.

And then the world turned white.

The explosion swept the King backwards off of the altar, sending his body tumbling into the water below. Even as he fell, the temple chamber was torn apart around him, the walls and ceiling disintegrating as the enormous blast wave burst out into the larger cavern. In that moment, through the burning light, he caught a brief glimpse of Anguirus's skeleton as the wave of energy engulfed it, sweeping the ancient bones away and scattering them like leaves in a hurricane, before the shockwave thundered on, leveling the ancient buildings and razing the city down to its foundations.

The King's tumbling body crashed into the wall of the cavern, and he roared in pain, but that pain was quickly overwhelmed and washed away by something else: a searing, burning heat, welling up in every muscle and organ. He could feel the radiation that had erupted from the stone pouring into him, a flood coursing through every inch of his body, like a river quenching a drought. Every wound, every bruise and lesion that had dotted his massive frame, was melting away even as he looked down at himself, flesh and muscle knitting back together as his injuries closed up and disappeared, his regeneration working far faster than it ever had before. His eyes and back-plates blazed with azure light as he felt the power surging up within him, filling him to the brim with energy. Even once he was fully healed and back to full power, it felt like he was still getting stronger, his limbs contorting and his teeth grinding together as he tried to hold in a howl of pain.

And then, just as suddenly, it was over. The explosion had passed, the pain was gone... and he was reborn.

The King flexed his limbs and looked around, his surroundings now illuminated only by the orange light of the lava tubes and the blue light of his own glowing plates. The explosion had been incredibly powerful: the smaller temple-cavern had collapsed entirely, except for the natural back wall of the cave where the lava tubes emerged, and the larger city-cavern beyond it had been devastated. The city was gone, reduced to rubble by the shockwaves, and the skeleton of Anguirus was nowhere to be seen.

The water was churning violently in the aftermath of the explosion, but the King could still make out the openings to his underwater tunnels on the other side of the flooded cavern. Growling deeply, he pushed off the wall and propelled himself forward through the swirling currents, heading for the tunnel entrances. Fighting his way through the vortex of water and debris, he finally reached the outer grotto that housed the tunnel openings. Since he was presented with several options, he inhaled deeply, letting water flow over his gills, until he picked up the by-now-familiar scent of metal, oil, and radiation that was characteristic of the humans' strange diving-fish. Tracing that scent to one particular tunnel, he accelerated towards it with a sweep of his tail, plunging into the opening and letting the high-speed current propel him into motion. The rock walls barreled past him on all sides, shimmering with iridescent light, and his mouth curved in a fierce grin as he swam faster.

In no time at all, he reached the surface, bursting out of the hole in the sea floor with a triumphant snarl and relishing the rush of cold water that washed over him as he emerged into the ocean. He circled around the rift once, his senses focusing as he looked for any signs of human activity, until he finally spotted the distinctive form of a large diving-fish wallowing on the surface high above him. Nodding, he swam up towards the surface, going more slowly now as he took stock of himself. His full power had returned, gloriously and triumphantly, and he felt stronger now than he had ever been before.

His plates hummed and crackled with burning blue light, the King slowly broke the surface and rose majestically out of the water, directly in front of the humans' diving-fish. Waterfalls cascaded off of his body as he rose up, floating waist-deep in the ocean. As he looked up at the dark clouds that filled the sky, his eyes narrowed in anger and he let a pulse of energy ripple up his plates. A moment later, he threw back his head and let out a thunderous roar, as a brilliant jet of blue-white fire erupted from his mouth. The beam speared into the dark clouds overhead, cutting through the darkness of the storm as his roar drowned out the thunder. It was a primal signal to all who heard it, a challenge to the usurper who had dared to steal his throne, and a declaration that he was alive and well.

As the echoes of his roar faded away, the King looked down at the metal diving-fish, and his eyes narrowed contemplatively as he saw a group of humans huddled on its back. Despite the fact that his doubt in the humans had been countered by the sacrifice that his worshipper had made, he still knew full well that not all humans could be trusted these days, and he wanted to make sure that these were the right ones. He also couldn't help but feel annoyed by the fact that while they had helped him, they had also destroyed his temple in the process.

Leaning down slowly, he gazed intently at the small group of humans, watching them carefully to make sure that none of them were going to try anything hostile. His gaze settled momentarily on an adult male who stood at the front of the group, sensing an unusual mix of emotions within him: the same awe and amazement, but mingled in this case with fading traces of anger and sorrow. Before he could get any more of an understanding than that, however, the King's attention was drawn past the leading male human, to a young female who stood close behind him. The reason for that was obvious enough, as he could sense the distinctive psychic energy radiating from her. This female was one of his Queen's Singers, which meant that these were indeed the "Monarch" humans that she had told him about.

Relaxing a little once he felt assured that these humans did not pose a threat, the King focused on the young Singer. Greetings, young one, he projected telepathically, using his mind rather than his voice because he knew she would be able to understand that. When he saw her jerk back in surprise, he nodded and smiled faintly. It's all right. I know that you serve my Queen, and I promise that I will not harm you.

The Singer nodded slowly, her eyes wide and startled as she gazed up at him. I… I thank you, my King, she murmured back, using her own telepathy. My name is Ilene. It's… it's truly an honor to meet you.

The honor is mine, I assure you, the King quipped, a soft rumble echoing in his chest that most humans would not be able to recognize as a chuckle. You and your allies have saved my life this day, and I do not take that lightly. I am in your debt. His smile faded and he lowered his head slightly as he thought back to the human who had saved him. But there is something I must know. The human who gave his life for me… who was he? What was his name?

The Singer – Ilene – closed her eyes tightly for a moment as he felt a surge of grief rise up within her, before she shook her head and fought it off. His name was… Serizawa, she replied quietly. Ishiro Serizawa. He was my teacher, and he was like a father to us all.

The King's eyes drifted half-closed as he felt a rush of sympathy for her. He knew what it was like to lose someone who was that important to you, and for a human such losses might hit even harder since their lives were already so short and fleeting. I understand, he replied, nodding solemnly. I am sorry for your loss, young one. But know this: while he may be gone from this world, he will live on forever in my memory. And I will always be thankful to him – and to all of you – for what you have done on my behalf.

Despite Ilene's tiny size in comparison to the King, he could tell in that moment that she was smiling, joy mingling with her grief. Thank you, she replied quietly.

The King nodded, smiling faintly. I must go now, he continued. The Golden One seeks to destroy this world, and they must be stopped once and for all. His eyes narrowed and he snorted as he lifted his head and gazed off into the distance, towards where he could sense his enemy's distant presence. Thank you, young one. Perhaps we will meet again, after this is over.

With that, the King turned towards the distant presence of his enemy and dove back beneath the waves as he began swimming towards them. As he did, however, he reached out with his mind as well, homing in on another presence… one that was far more welcome.

As soon as she found what she'd been looking for, the Queen had turned and accelerated back towards the point where the humans had headed down into the underwater tunnels. She'd been forced to fly almost halfway around the world during her search, but even from thousands of miles away, she could feel the sudden surge of energy that poured through their telepathic connection, the flood of power coursing through her King's body as his wounds healed and he roared out in triumph. She felt a rush of joy welling up in her heart and answered his call with a trilling cry of her own, forcing more strength into each wingbeat to give herself more speed as she raced across the sky towards him. Their connection drew her on like a magnet, back to full strength and guiding her towards him as clearly as any map.

As she'd done when she was searching for Ilene, the Queen had been flying high above the clouds generated by the Golden One's storm, enabling her to fly faster and hopefully helping her to avoid detection. Once she was close enough, she folded her wings back and plunged down into the storm, dropping swiftly towards the earth until she finally broke through the clouds and flared out her wings to slow herself down, hovering above the ocean.

Beneath her, the surface of the water was suddenly lit up from below by a flare of deep blue light, before it burst asunder as the King surfaced. His rows of dorsal spikes surfaced first, followed by his head; his eyes widened as he saw her, and a smile spread across his face. "Mosura," he breathed, his voice echoing through their connection as well as the air.

The Queen didn't hesitate: she dove towards him, her wings glowing brighter, and practically slammed into him as she wrapped her forelimbs around his neck and wrapped her wings around him in a tender embrace. The King hugged her back more carefully, a deep purr echoing in his chest as he rubbed his cheek against hers. Their bioluminescence was shining, his plates and her wings humming and flashing in rhythm, as they gently rested their foreheads together and sent a surge of energy flowing back and forth through their connection.

"I missed you so much," the King breathed, his voice a little unsteady as he closed his eyes and let himself relax into her embrace. "It's been so long… I almost can't believe you're really back."

The Queen smiled, tears welling up in her own eyes as she hugged him back. "It's real, Goji," she murmured soothingly. "I'm here. I'm so sorry that it took so long, but I'm really here."

For a long moment, neither of them spoke: they just held each other, eyes closed, emotions and memories flowing smoothly through their connection as they shared everything that they'd each experienced since the last time they had seen each other in person. While the Queen winced in horror and hugged the King a little tighter upon witnessing the horrific damage that the humans' poison-weapon had inflicted on him, his most recent memories helped to alleviate that concern. She pulled back a little and looked up at him, her mandibles parting in her equivalent of a soft smile. "Really?" she inquired.

The King nodded, his own smile becoming a little more melancholy. "Yes," he confirmed. "You were right. It's not just your Singers: there are other humans who still remember the old ways, who are still willing to place their trust and faith in us." He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment as the image of that human – Serizawa – flickered behind his eyes again. "Even… willing to die for us."

"I know, Goji." The Queen brushed one forelimb lightly against the side of his face, gazing into his eyes as he opened them again. She could see all of his memories now, so she knew exactly what had happened and how deeply it had affected him. "I understand, my love. I'm sorry. But he did what he had to, and he made the decision freely. I can see my Singers' memories too, and there was no other way: one of those humans had to give their life to save yours, and that man would never have let anyone else die in his place." She smiled sadly. "From what I can see of him in my Singers' memories, he reminds me of you."

The King chuckled softly, before his gaze was drawn up to focus on the horizon as a strange sound reached his ears. "Do you hear that?" he questioned.

The Queen frowned, also turning her head in that direction, as the noise repeated. It was a voice, calling out from a great distance away but clearly audible to them. After a moment, she recognized it. "I know that voice," she murmured thoughtfully. Now that she focused more intently on it, she could tell what it was saying.

"Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."

"I've heard it before too," the King agreed, his eyes narrowing. "I've heard it a couple of times recently: once when you awoke, and then again when the Golden One escaped from the ice." He looked down at her curiously. "Do you know who it is? It almost sounds like one of my kind, but it's too different for that."

The Queen nodded. "Yes, I do," she replied. "It's not actually a Kaiju at all: it's some kind of noisemaker that the humans have invented, blending your voice with the voice of a young human girl. I met her when I hatched, and she seemed harmless enough... although others were not as friendly." She quickly shared with him the memory of her awakening in the temple, and her interaction with the human girl Madison before the girl and her mother had been abducted by the strange black-clad humans.

"Interesting." The King tilted his head thoughtfully. "So you think it's those hostile humans, the ones who attacked the girl?" He snorted. "Their timing isn't ideal, in that case. If they're trying to challenge me, they'll have to wait until we're done with the Golden One."

"I'm not sure." The Queen shook her head. "But based on what they're saying… I don't think that call is meant for us." Her eyes brightened as the realization came to her. "Of course! Whichever human is making that call right now, I think they're actually trying to stop the other Kaiju that the Golden One is controlling. That should be helpful for us: even together, we wouldn't stand a chance against Ghidorah if they've got a dozen other Kaiju backing them up. But if the humans can neutralize the others by sending out their own fake Alpha call…" She trailed off meaningfully.

"Then all we have to do is take out the Golden One, and the others won't be a problem anymore," the King finished. His teeth gleamed in a fierce grin. "Very clever."

"In that case, we should hurry," the Queen decided. "There's no telling how long the humans will be able to keep that call up for, so we'll need to find the Enemy quickly." A moment later, her eyes widened and she looked off into the distance. The King did the same as he heard another distant call: the cackling howl of the Golden One, roaring out in defiance.

"That's not good," he muttered. "They've heard that call too, and they're going after it." He scowled. "Not on my watch."

"Agreed." The Queen smiled and leaned in to give him a soft kiss on the forehead, before her wings flicked out and she pushed off of his chest and arms to leap back into the air. "Let's get moving, then! There's no time to waste."

Nodding in agreement, the King dove back beneath the waves and started swimming towards the source of the humans' fake Alpha call. The Queen shot back up into the clouds and disappeared from view, but they maintained the link between their minds, keeping up a steady stream of plans and strategies as they prepared for the battle to come.

By the end of this day, they silently vowed as the King powered through the water and the Queen soared through the darkened sky, this war will finally be over.

One way… or another.

Chapter Text

Ghidorah and Rodan were flying north along the coast, heading towards the source of the mysterious Alpha call, when both Kaiju suddenly wavered in their flight paths as another call rang out across the ocean, coming from the southeast. This one, however, was far more recognizable: it was the unmistakable voice of the Lizard King, bellowing out a challenge.

All three of Ghidorah's heads were legitimately shocked for a moment, before their lips curled in irritated scowls. "Of course," Ni growled. "Of course he's still alive."

"To be fair, we didn't actually see his body or anything," San pointed out with a sigh and a rippling shrug of his neck. "So we kinda just assumed he was –"

"Oh, shut it, San," Ni cut him off with a snarl. "Really not in the mood for your shit right now."

"Quiet, both of you," Ichi ordered curtly. His eyes narrowed as he gazed off in the direction of the distant call, and he switched from verbal speech to the brothers' telepathic link as he continued. This is an additional complication, but it should not pose a major problem for us at this point. All we'll need to do is to call in the rest of our new servants, and then we'll be able to finish off the little King without any trouble.

Rodan, meanwhile, looked more alarmed than anything else, his own thoughts churning as he realized the ramifications of this. "You said he was dead!" he accused, flinching back a moment later as Ni's head snapped around and glared at him. "I – I mean, didn't you say the humans killed him?"

"We thought they had," Ichi replied coolly. "Clearly we were wrong about that: he definitely sustained serious injuries from the weapon that the humans used against us, but it seems that he managed to survive." He shook his head, his glowing red gaze focusing on Rodan and boring into the fire-wing's yellow eyes. "But it matters not. The humans are still a threat, and they will still be eliminated. And if the little King stands in our way again, he will fall, just as he did before." A faint, darkly-amused smile flickered across his face. "You can even help us dispose of him when the time comes, if you like. A fitting punishment for the role he played in your partner's death."

Rodan's eyes widened, his mind whirling. If the King was still alive, that could change everything… but maybe not. To suppress his nagging guilt, he had convinced himself that he was only helping Ghidorah because getting rid of the humans was the only way to get rid of the Golden One, but there was no way Gojira would believe that. He would see Rodan as a traitor, and he wouldn't care about whatever reasons or explanations he might offer. Even if he did turn on Ghidorah and helped Gojira to fight against them, and they did somehow manage to win, Gojira might still decide to kill him afterwards for his initial betrayal.

Which meant that, if Rodan wanted to live through this… his chances of survival might actually be better if he sided with Ghidorah. The sooner Gojira was out of the way, the sooner they could finish getting rid of the humans, and the sooner Ghidorah would leave this planet. And as far as he was concerned, his survival came before everything else, even a former friendship.

"…All right," he finally replied, nodding slowly. "So how should we do this?"

Ichi smirked, pleased that their self-serving minion seemed to be on board with their plan. "Simple enough. First, let's deal with whoever is making that other Alpha call. We'll handle them: you stay in the clouds, under cover, and only join in if we tell you to do so. The Lizard King will probably seek us out sooner rather than later, so the same plan will apply to him: we'll take him on first, and we'll call you in if we require any assistance. Once they're both dead, we can get back to work on finishing off the humans." He raised one eyebrow ridge, looking over at Rodan. "Understand?"

Rodan still didn't seem to be entirely on board, but he nodded again. "Yeah, okay," he agreed. "Sounds good."

"Excellent." Ichi's eyes gleamed like embers in the darkness of the storm, while his brothers' faces lit up with eager grins. "Let's get moving, then. We don't have much time, so we need to act quickly." With that, he took command of Ghidorah's wings and guided them back into motion, heading north once again. Rodan followed in their wake, glancing warily over his shoulder as he tried to calm his nerves.

Several hundred miles to the southeast, the King propelled himself through the water as he swam just below the surface, also heading towards the source of the distant call. Thousands of feet above him, the Queen soared over the top of the dense clouds, keeping pace with him while remaining in the calmer air above the storm. Despite the distance between them, their minds were hard at work, contemplating a number of different combat strategies that they might be able to use in the battle to come.

All right, here's how we'll do this, the King decided as he dove under a series of large waves. I'll go in first and take them head-on. You hang back and stay out of sight at first.

Hey! the Queen protested. You'll need my help, you know that! I'm not letting you face them by yourself!

Just listen, will you? The King let out an amused snort, his gills rippling as he took in oxygen from the water. The Golden One knows that I'm awake and alive, so they'll be expecting me to come after them. He grinned. But they don't know that you're awake yet… which gives us an advantage. Because if you stay hidden at first, we'll have the element of surprise when you eventually join the fight.

The Queen's eyes widened as she realized what he had in mind. Oh! Yes, you're right: that does make sense!

Exactly. The King's grin widened as he laid out the rest of his plan. So, I'll give them what they're expecting and attack them head-on, keeping them distracted. Meanwhile, you can watch through my eyes and wait for the right moment to strike. As soon as they're totally focused on me and I'm able to knock them off-balance enough to create an opening, that will be your cue and you can jump in with a surprise attack. Then, between the two of us, we should be able to take them down once and for all.

The Queen mirrored his smile, nodding in agreement as she glided above the clouds. Excellent! Sounds like a plan to me. Another thought occurred to her, and she tilted her head thoughtfully. Oh, by the way, I noticed something odd earlier. Is it just my imagination, or… have you gotten taller since we went into hibernation?

The King frowned. Taller? Since his kind were reptiles, they never really stopped growing (although their growth rate did slow down considerably once they reached adulthood), but he didn't remember undergoing any growth spurts since back before he'd gone into hibernation. I don't think so. Why do you ask?

Well, I just noticed it when we were talking earlier, the Queen explained. Here, let me show you. She sent a quick flash of her memories through their connection, showing the moment when he'd hugged her a few minutes earlier, and compared it to a quick snapshot of another memory from back before the Cold Times when he'd held her in a similar embrace. See what I mean?

The King's puzzled frown deepened. Huh. Just as the Queen had thought, when the two memories of her nestling into his arms and looking up at him were replayed side-by-side, there was a noticeable size difference between himself in the past and himself now. At a rough estimate, he seemed to be about forty feet taller than he had been before, and he felt stronger too, as if his muscles had also grown a bit. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, but it was a little disconcerting, because he had no idea how that could have happened.

It is strange, the Queen agreed. Unless… Her eyes suddenly lit up and she smiled as realization came to her. Oh, of course! It must have been that massive explosion of radiation that you absorbed, the one that my Singers' "Monarch" humans used to heal your wounds earlier. There was so much power in that blast that in addition to healing you, it must have triggered a growth spurt as your body absorbed all that extra energy.

Interesting. The King considered that idea for a moment, before he nodded as it started to make sense. That kind of thing could happen occasionally for his kind, when absorbing a large enough amount of radiation all at once could trigger a growth spurt to keep their bodies' energy from overloading. It happened in juveniles sometimes, but rarely in mature adults like him, so he hadn't even considered it as a possibility up until now.

Shrugging, he focused back on the task at hand. Well, if this extra power helps to take down the Golden One, I really don't care where it came from. All that matters right now is putting an end to this.

Agreed. The Queen nodded firmly, her eyes flashing as she readied herself for the coming battle. We can do this, Goji. I know we can.

Ghidorah sped along the coast, closing in on the scene of the competing Alpha call. A mass of churning clouds boiled around them, the storm racing northwards along with them. Each beat of their wings was a thunderclap, their eyes blazed with crimson light, and their necks and mouths were already crackling with the first arcs of golden lightning.

As they drew closer, Ichi curved his neck and glanced back over their body, his eyes seeking out Rodan where the fire-wing was trailing in their wake. "Break off here and circle the area," he ordered. "Remain within the clouds, and stay out of sight until we order you to join in."

Rodan nodded. "Right." With another crack of thunder, he veered to the right and clapped his wings, propelling himself off into the denser clouds and disappearing from view.

Left alone, the Golden One descended towards the ground, homing in on the source of the signal. It appeared to be coming from another human city, although this one was curiously undamaged: any city that was being occupied by an Alpha Kaiju should have at least some damage to the human buildings.

Something's not right about this, guys, San observed, frowning warily as they cruised in over the city. If another Kaiju is sending out this call, where are they?

I hate to admit it, but he's not wrong, Ni concurred grimly. Somethin' about this is very weird.

Indeed. Ichi's eyes narrowed and he peered down at the ground, trying to pinpoint the source of the signal. Perhaps they're hiding underground? Some of the Kaiju on this planet can burrow, so that would not be out of the question.

San shook his head. I don't think so. It sounds like it's coming from… He closed his eyes for a moment, listening intently, before his neck stiffened as he pointed his snout towards one of the biggest human structures below them: a large, ring-shaped building that, for some reason, had an expansive area of grass in the central open space. There.

Ichi and Ni exchanged a glance before focusing more intently on the building in question. Sure enough, San's acute senses hadn't lied; the ring-shaped building did appear to be the source of the echoing Alpha call. As they came closer, the call in question rang out again, louder than ever since they were so close to its source now.

"Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."

After circling over the building once for confirmation, the Golden One flared out their wings and flapped several times to kill their forward momentum, before tucking their wings in and dropping into the open space at the center of the ring-shaped structure. They slammed to earth with a thunderous impact, cracking the ground underfoot, their necks coiling and twisting as they looked around for any signs of their new enemy. Both of their tails flicked up, the curved spikes that covered them rattling in a threat display.

"All right, we're here!" Ni yelled, throwing his head back and letting out a challenging shriek. "Where are you?! Come out and face us!"

There was no responding roar: instead, the same call as before pulsed outwards again, mingling with the thunder overhead. "Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."

All three brothers were confused for a moment; the sound seemed to be coming from all around them, echoing throughout this strange building. Their heads craned back and forth, searching for some indication of where this challenger was hiding, but they were unsuccessful… until Ni's eyes fell upon something strange. "What…?" he murmured, leaning over to inspect something strange: a strange metal object that appeared to be some kind of artificial device, mounted atop one wall of the building. Bizarrely, it seemed like that last Alpha call had actually originated from this object.

"All right," Ni growled. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing with us, but I'm done playing along!" One quick snap of his jaws crushed the strange device, and he spat out the mangled remains with a disgusted snort.

A moment later, though, the call rang out yet again, although it was a little quieter this time. A quick glance around them revealed that there were a number of these strange devices, scattered around the perimeter of the building.

Some kind of… machines? San's frown deepened as he looked up at his brothers, unpleasant thoughts beginning to run through their minds. Making a fake Alpha call?

Ni scowled, and Ichi did the same after a couple of seconds as the logical answer came to him. The humans did this, he realized, his lip curling in a snarl. They've actually learned how to project false voices… to such a degree that they were able to block our control over our new servants. His expression darkened, as a rush of memories that had been buried for thousands of years came welling up. It's almost like…

…the Exif, San finished, his confusion replaced by a creeping, primal horror. Oh, shit.

Simultaneously, all three brothers burst into motion, their heads swinging back and forth as they began locating and smashing all of the other devices, one by one.

Not exactly like the Exif, though, Ni pointed out as he ripped another device from its mounting and flung it away. They could control any Kaiju, not just the lesser ones.

True, but that is hardly comforting, Ichi replied grimly. The humans are developing along the same path, and that is what matters. Given time, they could potentially learn how to control all Kaijus, even the strongest ones like us. The last device met its end between his crushing teeth, and his eyes flashed in rage as he looked up at the darkened sky. We cannot let that happen. We need to finish this purge, as quickly as possible.

Well, now that we've wrecked their fake Alpha call, the minions can get back to working on that, Ni pointed out. We'll just need to be ready in case they try that shit again.

Uh… guys? San spoke up, tilting his head. I'm pretty sure we've gotten all of them, but… the call hasn't gone away yet.

Ichi and Ni frowned, glancing around to make sure that they'd gotten all of the noisemaking devices. All of them had been destroyed, but the false Alpha call was still audible, although it was now much quieter than it had been before.

"Stop. Stay where you are. Do not move."

In addition, the false call now seemed to be coming from one place in particular: a specific area in one part of the large building. All three brothers leaned in close, squinting as they tried to pinpoint its source, until their gazes locked onto what looked like some kind of small observation room at the top of the building, with a transparent wall that allowed them to see inside.

The walls of the small room were lined with mechanical equipment, but the brothers' eyes were drawn to the distinctive figure of a single human standing inside, holding some kind of small metal box. As they watched, the same false Alpha call pulsed forth again, now clearly originating from the device in the human's arms.

The brothers had seen something like this before, a very long time ago, and just the sight of it sparked a killing fury in their heart. Their teeth ground together, their normal emotions – Ichi's cool calculations, Ni's confident arrogance, even San's thoughtful curiosity – swept away by a tidal wave of overwhelming, all-consuming hatred, at the sight of this human and the knowledge of what they must be, sparked by long-ago memories of other beings who had used similar devices.

A Controller.

"No," all three voices hissed in unison, before their faces twisted and they shrieked out in rage. "NO!" All three heads reared back and snapped forward simultaneously, torrents of golden electricity erupting from their mouths even as the human raced out of the observation room. The lightning blasted into the building, tearing through its internal structure and disintegrating everything in its path.

It was possible that the human had been killed by that first blast, but the false Alpha call was still ringing out and the brothers refused to let up. Ichi kept blasting the same section while Ni and San fanned out to either side, arcs of lightning lancing out and bringing down other nearby buildings as they turned the ring-shaped structure into a cauldron of fire. They struck out physically as well, tails slashing and jaws snapping as they tore the building to pieces in a paroxysm of rage.

Finally, the false call reached their ears again, this time no longer muffled by the building, and all three heads immediately swiveled to lock onto its new position. The human, the would-be Controller, had emerged from the base of the structure and was staring up at them in obvious terror, still cradling its small device. As they leaned closer, the human tossed the device towards one of their feet: it bounced off a pile of rubble and then tumbled to the ground, its previous call now swelling into a piercing, wailing cry that sent a jolt of pain into their ears.

"I don't think so," Ichi hissed, his usual calm forgotten as his head snaked down towards the human. He took a deliberate step forward and brought one of their taloned feet slamming down, aiming to crush the little device. It was so small that he wasn't sure if he'd actually managed to crush it or not, but the strange voice did cut off abruptly, so he was fairly certain that he'd gotten it. With the device disposed of, the brothers' attention returned to the little human who had been carrying it, who was now attempting to back away, perhaps hoping that they would spare its life now that it had given up the device.

"Sorry," San muttered, even his usual cheer absent as his eyes narrowed in anger. "But we can't let you live."

"Indeed," Ichi replied coldly with a nod as he reared back again, electricity crackling as another blast of lightning began welling up in his throat. Ni and San did the same, their necks lighting up from within as they prepared blasts of their own, aiming to utterly annihilate the human.

As all three brothers prepared to fire, a single thought flashed through all of their minds: the same vow that they had taken so long ago, after they had finally been able to free themselves from the dominion of their former masters.

No more Controllers. Never again.

And then a bolt of blue-white fire hit Ghidorah squarely in the chest and knocked them clear off their feet, launching them backwards until they went crashing to the ground.

After several seconds of pain and confusion, the brothers picked themselves back up, shaking their heads as they clambered back to their feet. They'd been caught completely off-guard, but as a thunderous roar echoed across the city, it became obvious what had happened.

Oh, great, Ni muttered sourly. That's all we needed.

Ichi sighed heavily, shaking his head and resisting the urge to roll his eyes as his gaze fell upon the unmistakable form of the Lizard King. Is it even possible for anything to go according to plan on this stars-forsaken planet?

The King grinned as he waded ashore, his tail lashing behind him as a luminous intimidation display rippled up and down his dorsal plates. He could sense his Queen, circling high overhead above the storm: she was out of typical sensing range, but he could feel her through their connection.

In any case, she wasn't his only ally on the battlefield this time. For the first time since he'd emerged from hibernation, the humans were clearly fighting on his side in battle: dozens of their metal birds soared above him as he entered the city, led by an exceptionally-large one with wide black wings, and a group of their floating metal surface-fish had taken up positions just offshore to contribute their own fire-stingers to the attack. He wasn't sure how much they would actually be able to help, as most of their weapons still couldn't do too much damage to a Kaiju, but he appreciated the help regardless.

"GHIDORAH!" he bellowed, his voice booming out across the city as he strode towards the Golden One. "Stand and face me!"

All three of the False King's heads were scowling as they turned to face him. "Didn't we kill you already?!" the right head snapped.

"Didn't take," the King retorted, his grin widening as he deliberately echoed the taunt that they had directed at him back on the frozen continent. "Now let's finish this."

"Gladly," the middle head bit out, his eyes glittering with malice as they flared out their wings. "Come and get us, little King."

"With pleasure." The King sped up, crashing through smaller human buildings as he lumbered across the empty city. The humans' metal birds swooped past him, filling the air with a swarm of fire-stingers that detonated all over the Golden One's body, stinging and harrying them with a multitude of explosions. They screeched in anger, lashing out at the metal birds before focusing back on him with a trio of snarls.

The King roared again, accelerating into a trot as he barreled towards his enemy. Ghidorah accepted the challenge, scrambling over buildings on their feet and wing-claws as the gap between them shrank to nothing. They collided at the heart of the storm, slamming together with enough force to send out a massive shockwave in all directions.

In the past, the Golden One usually had the upper hand in their one-on-one fights, but this time the King's newly-increased strength gave him the power he needed to match them blow for blow, and they stayed deadlocked. Back and forth, attack and defense, they ripped and tore at each other with a renewed ferocity as the city around them erupted in flames.

While the King might be doing the brunt of the fighting, this time he wasn't fighting alone. The humans might not be doing much damage to Ghidorah, but their attacks were helping to keep the Golden One off-balance and unprepared, sometimes giving him the openings that he needed to land blows of his own. And in the back of his mind, he could feel his Queen's voice murmuring to him, watching through his eyes and giving advice whenever she noticed something that he hadn't yet.

In fact, it was the Queen who noticed something that could potentially be significant. Goji! she called into his mind as he deflected a swipe of Ghidorah's wing. We need to hurry. I'm sensing the Golden One's telepathy, and with the humans' fake Alpha call gone, they've been able to reassert their control over the other Kaiju. I can't tell exactly what orders they're giving, but as far as I can tell, it sounds like they're ordering at least some of the mind-controlled Kaiju to come here.

Great, the King thought irritably as he ducked under a lunging strike from the Golden One's right head, backhanding him away and spinning to deliver a solid blow from his tail that knocked them backwards. So we need to deal with them quickly, before reinforcements arrive.

Exactly. Luckily, I can sense the brainwashed Kaiju by following Ghidorah's telepathic links with them, and none of them are in the immediate vicinity, so we have a little time. But a few of their thralls could be here in less than an hour, so we'll need to hurry. The Queen tensed up, ready to dive into the clouds. Should I join in now?

Not yet. Wait a little longer, until I can give you an opening to exploit. With that, the King lunged back towards his enemy. Another volley of the humans' fire-stingers hit Ghidorah, causing them to flinch back as they were charging up another salvo of lightning, and the King slammed into them just as they let their blasts fly. With the Golden One's aim thrown off by the impact, the blast was erratic and unfocused, arcs of crackling electricity spraying out in all directions. They tried to counterattack, swinging their spiked tails like whips, but the King twisted sideways at the last moment so that instead of lashing across his flank, the tails slammed down on his dorsal plates, impaling themselves on the sharp points and edges of the plates. All three heads shrieked in pain, and Ghidorah yanked their tails back off, ripping open deep cuts in the process.

"Is that all you've got?!" the King taunted as his enemy stumbled back. "Come on!" He was taking some damage too, of course, but nothing serious. The energy boost that the humans' weapon had given him was miraculous: he was stronger than he'd ever been before, and so far he felt no signs of fatigue. The glowing blue bioluminescence from his plates seemed to be lighting up his scaly skin as well, and his eyes were constantly flickering from orange to blue and back again. He let out a wild laugh and bellowed a primal war-cry as he charged back into the fray.

High above, the Queen frowned as she kept remotely observing the battle through their connection. Her King was certainly more powerful now than he had been before, but something felt… off about this new power boost. His energy, the radioactive aura emitting from him, felt somehow… unfocused, unstable. As if he were one of the radiation-filled exploding-stones that he had told her about, with so much power building up within him that it was starting to overflow.

So far, it didn't seem to be a serious problem. But she decided to keep an eye on it, just in case.

To his surprise, the King was actually enjoying himself for a change. Normally, he always had trouble dealing with the Golden One, and he usually couldn't beat them by himself, but this time he was doing far better than he had in any previous fight with them.

There was always a price to pay, however, for underestimating one's opponent, or for overestimating oneself. And in this case, the King's growing overconfidence caused him to get sloppy. He slowed down a bit as he drove the False King back, raising his right arm high for a vicious blow from his claws, but by doing so he left himself open, and they took advantage. All three heads reared back and struck, one after the next – middle, right, left – the first two latching onto his neck and the third grabbing his upraised arm. They shoved him backwards, his feet sliding backwards as he dug in his heels, before a powerful beat of their wings lifted him into the air and they lunged forward, slamming him down on his back and dragging him painfully across the rubble.

Focus! the King irritably reminded himself. Stop showboating and just put them down already! His eyes flashed brighter as a pulse of energy rippled up his plates: he seized the back of the middle head's neck with his free hand, digging his claws in, and wrenched the middle head away, yanking the clenching jaws free of his neck. "My turn," he spat, before unleashing a full-force burst of his fire-breath that hit them square in the torso.

The force of the blast sent the Golden One skidding away from him, forcing the other two heads to let go as well. All three heads screeched in anger and pain as the blast burned into the scales of their chest and stomach, clawing at the ground as they tried to fight back against the beam.

This was the moment that the King had been waiting for. The Golden One was off-balance, struggling to hold off his blast, and totally focused on him. Now was the time to strike. Mosura! he called through their connection. It's time! Hit them now!

A moment later, the clouds above and behind the False King lit up with a new glow, a second aura of blue light piercing down from above. Broad, oval wings swept back, the orange eyespots at their tips shining like spotlights, as the Queen bulleted down out of the clouds with a ringing screech and the echoing crack of a sonic boom.

Just as she was almost upon the Golden One, the King abruptly cut off his beam, leaving the three-headed Kaiju staggering as they tried to reorient themselves. Just as they started to swing around to face their new attacker, the Queen's mandibles flared wide and a jet of silk sprayed from her mouth, enveloping all three heads and adding enough physical force to slam the heads and necks into the side of a large human building, sticking them to it.

"This battle will be the last, you monster!" the Queen called out loudly as she circled the area, her glowing aura shifting from blue to a fierce red as she flared out her wings. "Your reign of terror ends today!"

The left and middle heads were firmly stuck in place, squirming helplessly as they fought against the glue, but the right head had only been partially immobilized and was able to tear himself free of the webbing. He snarled and glared up at the Queen, before turning quickly to help his brothers. Just as he started ripping at the silk, however, he caught a glimpse of a reflection in the shiny surface of the human building, and he whipped around to see the King charging them from behind.

The right head let out a defiant screech, flaring out their wings in an intimidation display (which would have been much more impressive if the Golden One's body hadn't been facing the wrong way), but the King ignored it completely. Roaring, he lowered his head and rammed all his weight into the False King, smashing them into and through the human building. They took the full force of the colossal impact, and as he stepped back and they fell to the ground, the resulting avalanche of debris crashed down on top of them, partially burying them in a large pile of rubble.

"It's over," the King spat contemptuously as he stalked forward towards the fallen form of the Golden One, another blast of fire-breath starting to build up in his chest. The Queen circled overhead, ready to back him up, and he grinned as his eyes flicked briefly up towards her. "You can't even beat me when I'm fighting alone anymore, which means you've got no chance against the two of us." His eyes narrowed. "I suggest you give up and accept your fate, so you can at least die with some dignity."

In their minds, the King and Queen saw a split-second flash of how the rest of this fight would play out, their battle plan streaking through their minds.

The Queen would swoop back in and blind their enemy with one of her light-pulses, helping the King to pin them down long enough for her to deliver a full dose of her venom into the base of Ghidorah's central neck. With the middle head incapacitated, the King would tear off all three heads one by one, starting with the right head and working his way to the middle, while the Queen would use more doses of venom to disable the Golden One's wings and prevent any chance of them escaping. With all three heads removed, the False King would be completely helpless until their heads could regrow, which would give the King and Queen more than enough time to dismember their body and burn every piece of them to ash, preventing them from regenerating. Hopefully that would remove the Golden One's control over the other Kaiju, and this whole nightmare would be over.

But as the King stepped forward and the Queen circled in to join him, they both frowned as the King saw the look on the Golden One's faces. While their enemy was angry and pained, they didn't look defeated; far from it, in fact. They almost looked… amused. As if they were thinking of a secret joke, that the King and Queen didn't know about.

"Is that so?" the middle head replied, chuckling darkly as malice and amusement danced in his crimson eyes. "And who said that we were going to be fighting both of you?" With that, he tilted his head back and let out a long, rattling cry. "Fire-wing! Kill the bug!"

The King blinked, momentarily nonplussed. Fire-wing? What were they talking about? But then he sensed it: the radioactive aura of another Kaiju, rushing down through the clouds towards them. His eyes widened in horror and he whipped around, roaring out a warning – "Mosura, look out!" – but he was too late.

Just as the Queen was sweeping in to launch her next attack, the clouds next to her suddenly lit up from within, glowing a bright, burning orange. Her eyes widened in alarm and she spun in the air, just as Rodan burst out of the storm and dove straight for her, his wings flared back and his talons raking forward. She had just enough time to complete her spin and raise her clawed forelimbs in defense before he slammed into her, propelling her back through the air with enough force to slam her into a nearby human building.

Lashing out wildly, the Queen managed to knock Rodan away, forcing him to release his grip and giving her some breathing space. They twirled around each other, wings flapping and churning up the air, spiraling over the city.

"Rodan?!" The Queen's eyes were wide and astonished. "What are you doing here?! How did they… wait…" She couldn't understand what was happening. How could the Golden One have gained control over Rodan? She could sense their telepathic links with their other brainwashed followers, but she couldn't sense anything like that between them and Rodan… and besides, she'd planted a mental "shield" in Rodan's mind herself thousands of years ago, to protect him from any psychic attacks that Ghidorah might try to use against him.

So how could this be possible? Unless…

The Queen's eyes widened even further, her glowing bioluminescence flickering and darkening in shock. "You…" she breathed. "You're working with them willingly?!"

Rodan's only response was a shrug, his yellow eyes gleaming coldly. "Sorry, Mosura," he replied, his voice oddly flat. "Nothing personal. I'm just following orders." With that, his flames flared up and he dove towards her again, talons slashing as he let out a challenging screech.

"No!" The King's eyes widened in fury as he saw the Queen being driven back by Rodan's continued attacks. He couldn't fly, and a blast of his fire-breath could hit the Queen just as easily as the fire-wing, so unless they came down to ground level there was nothing he could do to help her.

Besides, he had his own problem to deal with. With Mosura occupied by Rodan, the Golden One had been able to pick themselves back up: they rose back to their feet, snarling and shaking off the rubble as their wings flared out again. They were still the worse for wear, but they certainly weren't done yet.

"Come on, little King," the middle head hissed. "As you said… let us finish this."

The King scowled, feeling conflicted but knowing that he had no choice. He had to focus on the fight in front of him, and trust that his Queen could handle Rodan. She'd been in plenty of fights without him in the past, and she could take care of herself. Right now, he had a more important fight to win.

"Gladly," he shot back. He roared, Ghidorah did the same, and they both charged simultaneously as their battle resumed.

"Rodan, stop this!" the Queen yelled, twisting and spinning as she deflected Rodan's incoming strikes one after the next. "I can help you! Just stop attacking me and, however they're controlling you, I can –"

"Shut up already!" Rodan screeched, whipping one wing across and sending an arc of fire in its wake, scorching the Queen's fur. "I'm so sick of hearing all your moralistic preaching, Mosura! You're such a hypocrite, always babbling on and on about how you 'never want anybody to die,' but when somebody 'needs' to die so the people you care about can live, you're just as willing to kill as anyone else! But heavens forbid that anyone else does that, or they're just a monster, right?!"

That hit harder than the Queen had expected, as she suddenly realized what he was talking about. "You… you're using Anguirus as an excuse for why you're working with Ghidorah?!" she demanded, her confusion slowly shifting into anger as the blue glow of her wings started to flicker into red again. "How could you dishonor his memory like that?!"

"Oh, don't you even start talking about his memory!" Rodan snapped. "You don't get to talk about him like that! Because in case you forgot, you're the one who let him die!" He lunged again, eyes blazing and wings trailing flame, but the Queen dodged around his next swing and countered with a vicious blow that snapped his head to one side.

"You really are doing this willingly," she breathed, her bioluminescence melting fully into a searing red as her eyes flashed with rage. "How dare you?!" She screeched in rage and hurled herself at him, landing several hits as they clashed with full force.

At first, the King hadn't been sure that he could really win this fight without his Queen's help. But as it turned out, he didn't have as much to worry about as he'd thought. With the added support of the humans, he'd been able to maintain the upper hand even without Mosura's assistance. It certainly wasn't as easy as it would have been with her help, but he was managing to keep the Golden One on the defensive: steadily driving them back, inflicting more damage than he was taking, and wounding them faster than they could heal.

Spinning on his heel, the King slammed his tail into the Golden One again, knocking them off-balance and sending them crashing into another building. They seemed much less confident now: they scrambled back to their feet and tried to take to the sky, wings unfurling and flapping furiously as they leapt into the air, either trying to gain the higher ground or just trying to retreat.

"Not this time!" the King snarled. He launched himself up after Ghidorah as they took off, jumping as high as he could – which, admittedly, wasn't too high, but high enough – and clamping his jaws down onto one of the hydra's wings. As he dropped back to the ground, he grabbed the wing with both hands as well and swung the Golden One down to earth with all of his strength, smashing them into the ground with a devastating impact that sent another rippling shockwave blasting outwards through the burning city.

"Is that it?!" the King roared. "Is that all you've got, usurper? Come on! Fight me!" Rearing back, he blasted Ghidorah with another burst of fire-breath, knocking them back and provoking another shriek of agony, before he charged after them.

The Queen had taken the offensive now, hammering into Rodan with a surprising intensity as they twisted and spun through the city. Wherever he went, however fast he flew, she matched him move for move. They'd fought alongside each other for many years, so they each knew what the other was capable of in aerial combat, but while Rodan was the stronger of the two, the Queen had far more experience due to her countless past lives, and was often able to deviate from what he would've expected just enough to give herself an advantage.

"How could you do this?!" the Queen screamed as she drove Rodan back, knocking aside a blow from his wing and landing a solid hit with one of her longer forelimbs. "Betrayer, oath-breaker, murderer!" She dive-tackled him with a sudden burst of speed on that last word, driving him down out of the air and smashing him back-first into a large patch of open ground, sending him skidding across the earth as she landed several close-ranged blows in quick succession.

"I'm doing what I have to!" Rodan retorted with a screech of his own, an explosion of flames erupting from his wings and body. The Queen had to release him and leap back just in time to avoid taking serious damage, smoke rising from her charred fur, as he scrambled back to his feet. "You think I wanted this?! I'm only doing this because all they want is to get rid of those worthless humans, and as soon as that's done, they'll leave this planet for good! If you hadn't been so hell-bent on defending your little pets for all these years, they would've left thousands of years ago! And Anguirus would still be alive!" He launched himself back off the ground, claws lashing out and locking with hers as they tumbled away through the air.

"Are you really that gullible?!" the Queen demanded, frantically struggling to free herself. "You should know you can't trust the Golden One! Any promise that comes out of their mouths is a lie!"

"Oh, so I should trust you instead?" Rodan barked out a harsh, cawing laugh. "That's rich, Mosura. Why should I ever trust you again, after you let my partner die?!"

"I didn't have any choice!" the Queen shot back, fighting tears and forcing the memory of that horrible night down as she tried to focus on the fight. Arguing wasn't important right now: winning this battle so she could help her King against Ghidorah was all that mattered.

Finally, an opportunity caught her eye, and she threw her weight to one side with enough force to send them both crashing into a large human bridge. It crumpled from the force of the impact, but it was enough to dislodge Rodan's grip on her forelimbs, and she was free. She ducked nimbly under his next strike, swung around underneath the bridge, and sprang back up behind him, slashing her clawed forelimbs into his back and opening a pair of deep gashes in his armored hide. He screeched in pain and hurled himself off of the bridge, slamming his wings down and launching them both into a nearby human building, sandwiching her between his body and the building with a thunderous impact.

The massive collision caused the Queen to lose her grip, and Rodan twisted free, backhanding her with a sweep of one wing and knocking her off-balance as he spun around. Before she could react, he kicked her squarely in the chest, smashing her through the building behind her and knocking the wind out of her. She flared out her wings just in time to avoid falling to the ground, flipping herself back upright and landing hard on top of another building.

"I'm not dying for you or for anyone else," Rodan spat, his eyes reflecting the hellish glow of his flames as he glared furiously at her. "I'm going to put an end to this and get Ghidorah off this planet, no matter what it takes. And if that means wiping out the humans – and even if it means going through you to do it – then that's what I'll do."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" The Queen's eyes and wings flashed brighter, and she launched herself back into the air with a piercing cry of defiance as Rodan swooped down to meet her.

The King kept up his relentless attack, tearing into the Golden One without giving them even a single moment to catch their breath. He'd learned his lesson and had no intention of letting his confidence get the best of him again: this time, he wasn't going to let up until the fight was over.

On the bright side, his renewed intensity was paying off. Ghidorah was taking much more damage than they were giving out, their golden glow dimming to a sickly, flickering yellow while the King's own blue light was pulsing brighter and brighter with each passing second. Something about that didn't seem right to him – he could feel a burning heat welling up within him, as if his own power was overloading like a volcano about to erupt – but he ignored it. All that mattered was finishing this battle once and for all.

Seizing the left and middle heads by their throats, the King swung his arms and brutally smashed both heads into the sides of the closest human buildings, driving the heads into the buildings and dragging them through as many hard surfaces as he could, adding to the damage. His grip tightened, choking off their airways as he tried to strangle them or to crush the bones in their necks. They thrashed and flailed, trying to break free, but he refused to let go.

"Y'know," the right head suddenly spoke up, "these humans can definitely be a major pain in the ass. But sometimes, they can actually be useful." Curiously, he wasn't trying to help his brothers free themselves or striking out at the King: instead, he was looking down at a nearby human building that looked at first glance like it was on the verge of exploding. Arcs of crackling electricity danced between large protruding metal spikes, crackling and twisting like a nest of snakes.

"Case in point," the right head continued, grinning cruelly as he looked up at the King. "Apparently, they've learned how to harness the same power as us. And that means… I can do this!" With no further hesitation, he lunged down, his jaws clamping onto the strange building as he bit down with all his strength.

The King was thoroughly confused for a second… until the odd, glowing lights that adorned all the buildings around them suddenly began to flicker and fail, repeatedly shifting off and on again. As he looked back down, he saw a sudden surge of golden energy pouring down the length of the right neck, surging into the body.

And then he got it. Somehow, the humans had learned how to use contained lightning as an energy source. But the Golden One could feed on that power just as easily as they could on radiation. Which meant…

The King's eyes widened. Oh, shit.

And then there was a deafening thunderclap, and the world turned hot and gold. The False King blazed back to full power in an instant, golden lightning blasting from all three heads and from their wings as well, a barrage of crackling bolts lancing through the sky and bringing down dozens of the humans' metal birds. The King himself took the brunt of the explosion, which was enough to send him staggering uncontrollably backwards, scorching his hide and sending jolts of pain searing through his muscles until he finally managed to catch himself on a pair of human buildings.

"…Ow." Grunting and shaking his head, the King straightened up again. His eyes narrowed as he saw the Golden One rising back to their full height as well, their wings fanning out: all of the injuries that he had inflicted so far were healing even as he watched, knitting together and vanishing without a trace as their sudden power boost accelerated their regeneration.

Damn it… The King cursed inwardly. In a matter of seconds, all the work that he'd done so far had been completely undone. The Golden One was back to full strength, while he was still battered and bruised from the damage that they had managed to inflict so far. And his new energy felt like it was still raw and unfocused, becoming more unstable with each passing second.

"Well, now," the middle head purred, his eyes shining with cruel delight. "Shall we continue, little King? Or are you starting to get tired?"

"Shut your mouths," the King growled as he clenched his fists, readying himself for another round. "I'm not done with you yet!"

"I'm glad to hear that!" The middle head's smirk just grew wider. "Neither are we."

Rodan and the Queen barreled through the city, smashing through one building after another, leaving fire and destruction in their wake. Both were injured, and both were starting to tire, but as the battle raged on, the Queen was finding herself more and more at a disadvantage. She couldn't use any psychic attacks against Rodan, as she would have to remove the telepathic shield that she had placed in his mind first and she would need time and concentration to do something like that, and physically he was faster and larger than she was, which gave him the upper hand in a battle like this. Worse still, he was well-acquainted with her most powerful move, her blinding energy pulses, which meant that they would be useless against him since he would be able to anticipate them and shield his eyes.

Both Kaiju had taken significant damage: Rodan was bleeding freely from several deep gashes inflicted by the Queen's barbed claws, while the Queen's body was heavily burned where her fur had been set ablaze by her former ally's flames. Her breathing was coming in ragged pants, fighting the pain and fatigue as she battled on, but she was losing ground.

The turning point came when, as she narrowly dodged under a raking blow of Rodan's wing-claws, the Queen was too slow to dodge the next strike, a full-force blow from one of his feet as he clenched his talons together into a powerful fist with the full weight of his body behind it. The vicious impact knocked the wind out of her and she was hurled backwards across the city, catching a brief glimpse of her King from the corner of her eye before she crashed into another large building, this one sturdy enough that it stayed standing and she was flattened against it.

The Queen latched onto the building to keep herself from falling to the ground, but before she could take flight, Rodan was there again. He slammed into her, his talons gripping the building as his fiery wings clamped down around her, and he deliberately let a surge of fire erupt from his wings and sweep up over hers, setting them ablaze and burning away the delicate fur and scales that covered them. She shrieked in pain, thrashing and trying to free herself, but he held her fast.

"It's over, Mosura!" Rodan shouted, his eyes blazing in anger. "Give it up already! If you surrender, maybe you'll get to live, but you can't win. We both know you can't beat me."

"Get… OFF ME!" the Queen screamed. Her larger, stronger pair of forelimbs lashed out with blinding speed, smashing Rodan solidly across the face. The impact snapped his head to the side so violently that something cracked in his jaw, and he was knocked sideways off the building. Free of his grasp, the Queen pulled herself up onto the top of the structure, but she couldn't get the necessary leverage to get her legs back underneath her without turning her back to him.

Flapping several times, Rodan gained some altitude and glared down at her, a fiery shadow against the storm-filled sky. "All right, then," he muttered. "I'll end this right now." He dove back towards the Queen and slammed down right on top of her, his claws digging into her wings and holding her firmly in place as he lunged for her head, his beak gaping open.

The Queen's eyes widened and she frantically jerked to one side, barely avoiding the snapping beak. Rodan scowled and lunged again, but again she narrowly managed to dodge. He tightened his grip on her wings to hold her more firmly in place, reared back once more and lunged in a third time, ready to clamp down and crush her head…

Crunch.

And then Rodan froze, his beak hanging open right in front of the Queen's face, as a bolt of ice-cold agony punched him right in the chest, so strong that he couldn't even speak beyond a strangled groan. His eyes bulged in shock, his muscles twitching uncontrollably, as he looked down… to where the Queen's stinger was buried in his chest, so deep that the tip had punched all the way out through his back. If she hadn't twitched and shifted her aim at the last second, the venomous spike would have pierced clean through his heart and struck a fatal blow. As it was, the sting had still delivered a sizable payload of paralyzing venom, and Rodan's entire body was already locking up as the toxin coursed through his bloodstream.

"Traitor," the Queen hissed, pity warring with disgust in her voice as she yanked the stinger free of Rodan's chest, planted her forelimbs on his chest, and shoved him off the building. As if that had triggered a delayed reaction, Rodan finally let out an agonized screech as he toppled backwards and crashed to the ground below, twitching and spasming weakly as the venom continued to take effect.

The Queen was panting and gasping for air as she finally rolled over, tucking in her charred and tattered wings. Her whole body was shaking from a combination of pain and exhaustion, but she forced herself to remain conscious and alert. She could rest later, after this was over.

As she turned and looked over towards her King, however, her eyes flashed brighter in alarm. "No…" she whispered, panic starting to well up in her chest. Goji…!

The King was in trouble. For most of this fight, he'd had a clear advantage over the False King: he'd been taking damage and burning through energy too, but they'd been tiring much more quickly. But ever since they had managed to heal and recharge themselves, the Golden One had regained the upper hand. He still had plenty of power, but it felt increasingly unstable and uncontrolled, and now he was tiring more quickly than they were.

I'm losing ground… dammit! The King lunged back towards Ghidorah, but was driven away again by another triple blast of lightning that knocked him off-balance. As he stumbled away and tried to regain his footing, they leapt into the air and swept towards him with great flaps of their wings. He flung up his arms to shield himself, but they were faster: one taloned foot clamped down on his head, pinning his jaws shut, while the other foot latched onto one of his arms and their twin tails looped around his torso.

"Get off of me!" the King growled, struggling to free himself, but the grip on his head and arm was like iron and he couldn't break free. As he thrashed in their grip, the Golden One's wings began flapping again, putting more and more power into each wingbeat… until, incredibly, they actually began to lift him, and his feet rose off the ground. Their heads and necks struck down as well, the middle neck looping around his throat and clamping down like a constricting python while the right head bit down on his free arm.

Slowly at first, but then more quickly, they rose into the sky… hundreds of feet up at first, then thousands, ascending steadily through the dense gray clouds. The King never stopped struggling, clawing and snapping his jaws, but the middle head's vice-grip on his neck kept squeezing tighter and tighter until he was left gasping and choking, desperately trying to suck in some air. His vision blurred, and the strength left his limbs as he sagged in his enemy's grip. "Damn… you…" he wheezed, unable to lash out or fight back.

Finally, they rose clear of the storm itself, and into the cold, thin air that he knew only from his Queen's memories, at the edge of the void beyond the sky. The grip around his neck slackened and released him as the other heads also let go, leaving him suspended only by their clawed feet and their tails.

"Before we do this," the middle head called with a cruel, cold smile, "I felt it was only fair to tell you something that you might not have known, since you weren't there at the time." His smile widened, and he indicated their current position with a jerk of his head. "Your dear friend, the spike-shell? This was how we killed him."

And then the Golden One opened their claws, and the King fell. As he tumbled through the clouds, a fiery corona ignited around him, and he roared in a mixture of rage and fear as he plummeted to the ground far below.

The Queen looked on in horror as the Golden One dragged her King high into the air, disappearing into the clouds. She immediately knew what they were planning, and she desperately tried to take to the air in the hopes that she could do something to stop it, but her wings were too badly damaged now to take flight for more than a short distance. All she could do was watch, terrified and helpless, as her beloved came back into view as a fireball plummeting through the clouds, plunging back to earth like a falling star.

The impact when the King's falling body hit the ground was colossal: an enormous crater was blasted into the burning city, buildings leveled and shattered by the shockwave as the earth itself buckled and split apart. The building where the Queen was perched shook and swayed unsteadily, but it must have been quite sturdily built because it didn't fall.

As soon as the blast wave died down, the Queen sprang off the building and raced towards the crater as fast as she could. Her damaged wings couldn't muster much more than a glide, but she managed to reach the edge of the crater and scrambled over the rubble, dragging herself down to where her King lay crumpled at the bottom.

"Goji!" she gasped as she finally reached him, crawling up next to him and looking up anxiously at his face. "Are you okay?! Are you all right?"

"Mosura…" The King groaned, feeling a bolt of agony lance through his midsection as he tried to move. The upper half of his body was working properly, but his legs and tail refused to follow his will, just flopping uselessly. "Shit… I think my back's broken…" He coughed, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth. "Can… can you heal me?"

"I…" The Queen's heart sank as she looked down at her damaged wings. "I… I can't," she whispered. "Rodan… he burned off most of my scales. I don't have enough left to heal that much damage."

"…Fuck." The King groaned, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as he dug his claws into the ground underneath him. "Damn it… this can't be happening! We were so close…!"

The sound of distant wingbeats reached the Queen's ears, and she looked up at the sky in time to see the Golden One soaring back down out of the clouds. They were flying slowly now, clearly savoring their impending victory. And as much as she hated to admit it, there was nothing else that could be done. She was no match for Ghidorah by herself, especially in her current condition, and without her scales she couldn't heal her King's wounds in time for him to continue the fight.

Unless…

An idea occurred to her. It wasn't a good one. In fact, she absolutely hated it. But it might be their only chance.

As the Golden One touched down nearby, a trio of cackles echoing through the air, the Queen pulled herself up onto the King's back, ignoring the pain and exhaustion that were eating away at her with every move she made. They didn't matter anymore. Flaring up her bioluminescence, she spread her wings out over the King's fallen body as their enemy approached. "Leave him alone!" she yelled, her body trembling but her voice steady and clear.

"Well, well, well," the False King's middle head chuckled as they stalked towards the fallen forms of the couple. "How lovely to see you again, little Queen. We weren't expecting you to show up here, but all things considered, I can't really complain. Now we'll be able to finish both of you off at the same time."

"No." The Queen's eyes narrowed, her wings shining brighter as she crouched down protectively. "You won't touch him again while I'm breathing."

Mosura…? The King groaned weakly, his voice filtering through their connection. What… what are you doing?

"Oh, really? Is that so?" The middle head smiled as his brothers chuckled. "As you wish, then. We'll take you down first." All three of their necks began to glow, their mouths crackling with electricity as they started charging a combined blast of lightning.

Mosura! the King's voice echoed in her head again. What are you doing?! Get out of here!

The Queen didn't flinch. Instead, she replied through their connection, her voice firm but filled with a mix of love and sorrow. I love you, Goji. I love you so much. And… I'm sorry.

The King's eyes widened in horror as he realized what she was about to do. Wait… no! Mosura, please, don't do this! I just got you back! Please!

I love you… The Queen's glowing blue aura flared even brighter and she let out a defiant screech as she flicked out her wings and leapt into the air, launching herself straight at the Golden One. All three heads just grinned, watching her come as their charging blasts grew more intense.

Mosura, don't do this! Please, don't!

I'm sorry, Goji…

Mosura–!

I love you–!

And then three blasts of lightning converged, and the Queen's world dissolved into a searing, pure-white void.

The King saw it happen, as if it was in slow motion. All three of the False King's heads fired at the same moment, three beams of blazing golden lightning lancing out and striking the Queen simultaneously. She was blown backwards with an agonized scream, her body wracked and twisted by the destructive energy, her wings burning away… and then, when she was directly above him, her body exploded from within, completely disintegrated by the blast of searing electric power until all that remained was a cloud of glowing blue particles.

"Mosura!" A broken, agonized cry echoed from the King's mouth as he stared up into the glittering, ethereal cloud that was all that remained of his Queen, before his arms gave out and he collapsed onto the ground, pain and despair overwhelming him. He barely even noticed as the cloud of glowing particles rained down upon him… and he didn't notice that, on contact, each of those particles was absorbed into his body, sinking in and melting into the gaps between his scales.

All he could think about, in that moment, was that he had failed. His Queen was gone. He had lost. And now he, and everyone else, was going to die.

All three of Ghidorah's heads hissed in delight as they slithered forward to stand over the fallen body of the Lizard King. The Little Queen was gone, obliterated with surprising ease, and the human forces were either destroyed or retreating from the area. They couldn't tell whether the fire-wing had survived his battle with the Queen, but it didn't really matter.

"You've been getting in our way for far too long, little King," Ichi drawled as his brothers coiled their necks around the Lizard King's torso. "But now it's over. No more games or flashy light-shows. We're just going to drain every last drop of energy out of you, until there's nothing left but a lifeless husk." His lips curled in a smirk. "On the bright side – for us, at least – this is probably going to be very painful for you."

With that, all three brothers clamped down onto the Lizard King, sinking their teeth into his tough hide, and began to feed. They each bit repeatedly into their enemy's body, siphoning a steady stream of radiation out of him as he spasmed and howled in agony. The energy coursed along Ghidorah's necks and into their body, enhancing their regeneration and healing any remaining damage that they had sustained in this battle.

All three brothers were becoming intoxicated by the power that was now surging through them, more energy than they had ever consumed before. But while Ichi and Ni were fully occupied by their moment of triumph, San couldn't help but feel like something about this situation was… off. It took a couple of minutes for him to figure it out, but then he frowned as it clicked.

Two things about this situation were strange. First, the Lizard King's bioluminescence had changed colors, vaguely similar to the way that the Little Queen could change colors when she wanted to. His glow had always been blue before, but now it was changing, slowly melting into a deep reddish-orange color, as if lava was welling up under his skin.

The second thing that was confusing to San had to do with the other times when the brothers had used this method of killing in the past. They had brought down other Kaiju by draining their energy like this plenty of times before, and it usually worked the same way every time: the energy supply would gradually decrease as they fed, until it eventually ran out completely. But in this case, although they had been draining energy from the Lizard King for several minutes now, it didn't feel like his energy reserves were decreasing or running low.

In fact… it almost felt like his energy levels were increasing.

Letting go of the Lizard King's neck, San tilted his head quizzically as he looked down at the limp body of their enemy. "Uh, guys?" he spoke up, frowning. "Is it just me, or…"

"Hey! Over here!"

The sudden piercing cry was like a knife to the brain: all three heads recoiled, screeching first in pain and then in mounting fury as they recognized the sound. It was that same hated voice, the humans' false Alpha call from before, calling out again.

The voice of a would-be Controller.

San's misgivings about the Lizard King were instantly forgotten. The Golden One rose back to their feet, allowing the half-conscious body of their nemesis to slump to the ground, and turned to scan the surrounding area, searching for the source of the hated call.

"Hey! Over here!"

After a few seconds of searching, all three brothers' gazes locked onto what they had been searching for: one of the humans' small aircraft, which had touched down on the ground some distance away. Their eyes narrowed and their teeth ground together, as those ancient memories boiled up within them once more.

Without a backward glance, the Golden One shifted into motion, heading towards the source of the call. The Lizard King was beaten and half-dead: he could wait until they had dealt with this. As far as they were concerned, a Controller was a greater threat than the Lizard King and all three of his little friends put together, worse than any Kaiju that they had ever faced. It had to be eliminated, no matter the cost.

No more Controllers, the brothers thought grimly in unison as they started towards the landing human aircraft. Never again.

The King was drifting. His surroundings were an endless red-and-black void of pain and misery, overshadowing everything else. On a physical level, he was dimly aware of the Golden One's jaws biting into his flesh, and he could even faintly hear himself screaming in pain, but that didn't matter to him in this moment. He couldn't bring himself to care about that, or about anything else.

But then… something changed. A light, shining through the darkness that surrounded him. As he turned towards it, his pain faded away and the light completely overwhelmed the darkness, washing it away and leaving him floating in a brilliant expanse of soft, colorless light.

"Goji…" The soft voice came from behind him, and he turned to face it. He was momentarily dazzled by an intense flare of blue light, before it faded to reveal the Queen floating in front of him.

"Mosura," the King breathed. His eyes widened and he took a slow step forward, tentatively reaching out with one hand until his clawed fingers brushed against the soft, downy fur on her wings. "Am… am I…"

"Dead?" The Queen let out a soft chuckle and shook her head. "No. You're still alive, my love. We're just in your mind right now." Her smile faded and she bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Goji. I didn't want to do that, but we didn't have any other options. This was the only way I could save you."

The King frowned. "What do you mean? How did that 'save me'?"

"Well, normally I could have healed you," the Queen explained with a sigh. "But when Rodan set my wings on fire during our fight, he burned off most of the scales on them… and without those, I couldn't heal you the normal way." She smiled faintly. "But… I could heal you in another way. Namely, if I was given a chance to convert my entire body into healing particles, instead of just my scales."

"What?" The King's eyes widened. "So… that's why you did that? You wanted them to kill you, so you could convert your body into healing particles to restore me?"

"Exactly." The Queen nodded. "And there is another benefit of doing that. In addition to healing you, I was able to channel all of my remaining energy into your body as well, stabilizing your power – which had been more than a little unstable up until now, as I'm sure you noticed – and adding my own energy to it as well. As a result, you've just gotten another significant energy boost, on top of the boost that you already got from the humans' weapon. This one will only be temporary, but it should last long enough for you to finish this." Her smile grew a little bigger. "Because if you were strong enough to overpower them prior to this power boost… just imagine what you'll be able to do now."

"You really think I can beat them?" The King sighed, lowering his head for a moment. "I don't know, Mosura. I…" He closed his eyes and felt a jolt of pain lancing through his heart again. "I don't know if I can do this without you."

"Fortunately, you won't have to," the Queen replied, smiling as she wrapped her forelimbs around his neck and held him close. "I'll be with you the entire time, my love. And this is only temporary, I promise." She leaned in a little closer, resting her forehead against his and letting a pulse of mental energy ripple back and forth between them. In this case, she wasn't just showing him a random memory: she was sending something specific, a particular series of images that she needed him to see.

When they pulled back, the King's eyes were wide and a faint, soft smile started to flicker on his lips. "You're sure?" he questioned.

"Positive." The Queen's smile widened, and she kissed him lightly on the forehead. "Now let's show them what we can really do when we fight as one."

The King nodded firmly, his eyes now bright with resolve once more. "I will," he vowed, his eyes narrowing as his hands clenched into fists. "And I'll find you once this is over. I promise."

"I know you will." The Queen smiled as the soft light swirled in around them again, swallowing them both once more. "Now get up, and put an end to this. Once and for all."

As the Golden One rushed away, chasing after the humans' false Alpha call, the King opened his eyes. But they were no longer their typical orange, or even the bright blue that they became whenever he was using an intimidation display or charging up his fire-breath. Instead, they were a brilliant, burning crimson: not a deep blood-red, like the eyes of the False King, but a bright, searing red, like a pair of open flames.

And then he smiled.

"Hey! Over here!"

All three of Ghidorah's heads were snarling in anger as they barreled through the city, human buildings crumbling in their wake as they rushed towards the source of the would-be Controller's call. As they drew closer, the human aircraft began rising off the ground, clearly trying to escape. It didn't matter: they could easily catch it, no matter how quick it was. On the ground or in the air, the end result would be the same. They had been interrupted before by the Lizard King's arrival, but there would be no escape this time.

As they closed in, however, San frowned and shook his head, directing their attention away from the rising aircraft. Look! he spoke up, nodding over to where another human vehicle, this one ground-based, was accelerating in the opposite direction from the fleeing aircraft. The call's coming from that craft, not the flying one.

Following his brother's gaze and focusing more intently on the ground vehicle, Ichi nodded in agreement as another call echoed from it. "A clever little ploy," he chuckled, "but not clever enough."

Altering their course, Ghidorah made a sharp turn and charged after the fleeing ground transport, ignoring the departing aircraft. The would-be Controller was all that mattered right now: everything else was secondary.

The King felt a searing, burning heat welling up within him. Digging his claws into the earth as he adjusted himself, he gave his body a violent twist, and pain lanced up his spine as he snapped his broken back into its proper alignment. His regeneration kicked in immediately, the damaged spine repairing itself, and sensations flooded through his legs and tail as his other injuries knitted shut and melted away. Within seconds, he was fully healed, but the energy just kept building up, the burning heat radiating more and more with each passing second. Fires broke out all around him, the nearby human buildings bursting into flames and collapsing as their internal supports began to melt.

Hauling himself to his feet, the King turned and scanned the burning city, looking for his nemesis. His eyes found them moments later, charging across the city as if they were chasing something. Dimly, he heard the echoing sound of the humans' strange Alpha-mimic call, and realized that they must have used it to try and lure the Golden One away from him.

"Enough," the King growled, his voice low and harsh, as he started after his enemy. "This… ends… now."

The human vehicle was fast and maneuverable, but it never had a chance against Ghidorah. The Golden One took to the air in short, gliding hops, drawing nearer with each passing second, knocking buildings aside effortlessly as they closed in on their prey. Ichi and Ni each fired a bolt of lightning, churning up the rubble on either side of their target to keep it fleeing in a straight line, and then all three brothers fired simultaneously.

This time, there was no escape: the human vehicle was catapulted into the air as the lightning struck, bouncing and tumbling across the ground as it crashed back down. The body of a single human was tossed clear of the broken transport as it finally rolled to a halt, just as broken and battered as the vehicle had been. The false Alpha call finally trailed off into silence, and all that was left was the sound of the rain.

The Golden One touched down again with an echoing impact, all three heads letting out a chorus of low hisses and snarls as they leaned down to examine the fallen body. Surprisingly, on closer inspection they realized that this wasn't the same human as the one that they had tried to kill earlier: this one was also female, but she appeared to be older than the first would-be Controller had been.

More than one of them? San questioned, frowning in annoyance. I've gotta say, these humans are really starting to get on my nerves.

Eh, it doesn't matter now, Ni replied with a dismissive snort. This one's dying, and the other one probably got crushed when we were fighting the Lizard King earlier. And since their little trick can't control us, if they try it again we'll be able to deal with it.

I concur. Ichi nodded. In any case, with all of our enemies defeated now, the rest of the purge shouldn't take much longer…

Ichi trailed off abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he sensed something else. Ni and San twitched as well, glancing around warily.

A deep rumble echoed across the burning city, and a series of slow, thunderous impacts pulsed through the ground beneath their feet. A rhythmic thrumming sound joined the strange chorus, and the brothers felt a strange sensation of heat coming from behind them, like the feeling of the sun on their back.

Uh… guys? San gulped audibly. Does… anyone else suddenly have a really bad feeling about this?

Yup, Ni replied, his voice oddly quiet.

And then a deafening roar split the air, and the brothers' eyes widened in shock and disbelief as they whirled around to confront the unthinkable sight before them.

No, Ichi thought numbly, his calculating mind briefly refusing to comprehend what he was seeing. That's impossible…

The King's strides had been unsteady at first, but with each step he took, he felt stronger and more focused than before. His entire body was glowing red now, pulsing with a burning crimson light that shone through his scales and blazed in his eyes. The human buildings around him now weren't just bursting into flames: they were melting, stone and metal liquifying just from being too close to him, collapsing in waterfalls of molten fire as the burning aura of heat around him continued to intensify with each passing second.

As he stalked towards his nemesis, the King rocked back on his heels for a split second, and then swung his head and shoulders forward as he roared as loudly as he possibly could. There were no words in this cry; it wasn't a challenge, a taunt, or a threat. It was a wordless, primal scream, filled to the brim with a bottomless, all-consuming rage.

The Golden One whipped around to face him, all six of their eyes wide in shock and horror. Clearly, they had been firmly convinced that time that he was dead. "What… but… how?!" the middle head spluttered. "What the hell is this?!"

The King ignored the question entirely. "You killed my best friend," he growled, his voice deeper and harsher than it had ever been before. "You've slaughtered countless innocents. And then… you killed my Queen."

"S-Stay back!" The middle head screeched out a challenge, echoed by his brothers, as Ghidorah flared out their wings in an intimidation display.

"She was good," the King continued, his hands clenching tightly into fists. "She was kind. She was the best creature in the world… and you killed her." His eyes blazed scarlet as arcs of blue energy crackled up and down his back-plates, mixing in with the burning red glow. "You already deserved to die, for everything you've done. But for that?" The thrumming sounds grew louder, rising to a crescendo. "For that… you BURN!"

With an earth-shaking thunderclap, a blazing pulse of energy erupted outward from the King's body, similar to the blinding energy waves that the Queen could release from her wings but far more potent. The outline of the Queen's wings was visible within the wave of crimson fire, and an echo of her distinctive cry rang out along with the explosion.

The Golden One instinctively flung up their wings in front of them to act as a defensive shield, but the blast wave ripped through them without even slowing down. Their wing membranes were vaporized in seconds, burned to ash and leaving only the skeletal, bony framework behind. All three heads screeched in pain as they fell heavily backwards to the ground, unable to catch themselves with their crippled wings.

"No!" the middle head snarled, his eyes flashing in defiance. "You won't win! You will never best us again!" He reared back and then lunged forward, blasting the King with lightning: his brothers followed suit a moment later, two more crackling beams joining his.

The King didn't even flinch. All three beams hit him directly in the chest, but the energy was just absorbed on contact, pouring into his body as he drank it in, actually using it to help him charge up a second blast. "Is that all you've got?" he rumbled, baring his teeth in a predatory grin as he saw the wide-eyed panic on all three of the False King's faces. "My turn." With a roar, he flung out his arms and unleashed a second blazing pulse, this one even stronger and also accompanied by another echo of the Queen's piercing trill.

This time, the pulse tore through two of the Golden One's heads, incinerating flesh and bone with ease. The right head howled in rage and agony as he was ripped apart by the blast wave, while the left head's mouth hung open silently in an almost childlike expression of dismay as he too disintegrated.

"No!" the middle head screamed in disbelief, gazing up at the King in horror as he desperately tried to scramble backwards away from their tormentor. The King didn't give him any time to crawl away, however: instead, he took a single step forward and slammed a clawed foot down on the Golden One's chest, putting all of his weight and all of his newfound power behind the stomp. Bone shattered, flesh and muscle tore, and his foot sank down into the False King's chest cavity as their ribs caved in beneath his weight. Golden lightning and black blood fountained from the terrible wound, and Ghidorah's remaining head let out a choking shriek of agony as he thrashed helplessly in one final attempt to escape.

And then the King roared one more time, as a third and final pulse erupted forth from within him – the largest and most powerful one yet – and everything around them vanished into the epicenter of a colossal fireball.

Slowly, gradually, Ichi drifted back to consciousness. His eyes finally flickered open, but only a dim flicker of light penetrated down through the piles of dirt and rubble that had buried him, leaving him mostly in darkness.

He was legitimately taken aback: he'd thought for sure in that moment that he was about to die, but somehow he had survived. He couldn't hear the mental voices of Ni or San – which made sense, given that their heads had both been vaporized – but he could feel their minds, still linked with his own but rendered temporarily "unconscious" until their brains could regrow.

From the memories of those disastrous last moments, the sensation of the Lizard King's burning energy pulses tearing through Ghidorah's wings and body, Ichi knew that they had been badly hurt. It wasn't until he tried to move, though, that he realized just how badly. He might not be in much pain at the moment… but that was because, below the base of his neck, he couldn't feel anything at all. And as he twitched and shifted back and forth, he realized that this was because there was nothing left below that point.

Normally, the brain of a severed Ghidorah head would shut down and eventually die after losing contact with their body, but this time it hadn't. And the only way that was possible would be if the rest of the body had been completely destroyed, with nothing left to regenerate from, leaving the severed head as the only surviving piece.

Ichi felt a cold surge of fear rushing through his mind as he understood just how near they had been to total annihilation. In all the thousands of years that the Golden One had lived, in all the battles they had fought, they had never come this close to death. He was all that remained: his brothers' heads, their shared body, their wings, legs, and tails… all of it was gone, turned to ash by those waves of burning power.

On the bright side, however, there was a positive note to this: as Ichi squirmed around, sniffing for any trace of a scent and listening intently for any sounds besides the gentle sounds of rubble shifting around him, he could detect no trace of the Lizard King. No sight, no sound, no smell. Slowly, his lips curled into a grin, as the knowledge of what must have happened came to him. The idiot had probably put too much energy into that final blast and blown himself up in the process of destroying their body, not caring if he died as long as he took them out along with him.

Nice try, little King, Ichi thought to himself with a cold smirk, as the fear of his near-death experience began to fade. Honestly, this wasn't the worst outcome that could have happened by any means. If that blast had been much stronger, it could have vaporized his head as well, but he was intact; meanwhile, the Lizard King had apparently killed himself in a desperate last-ditch attempt to finish them off, and his little Queen was gone as well. Ichi had no idea if Rodan was still alive, but he couldn't have cared less. If the fire-wing was dead, good riddance; they would have disposed of him eventually anyway, so his dying at the claws of the little Queen would tie off that loose end nicely.

Squirming and twisting like a snake, Ichi began pushing his way up through the rubble, wanting to get a better view of his surroundings so he could assess the situation. Thankfully, the extraordinary biology of his species meant that, even after being reduced to a single living head and neck, he and his brothers could still regenerate. It would take time, but this area was now saturated with an abundance of radiation that he could absorb to speed up the process. Gradually, their body would regrow, along with their limbs, tails, and the heads of Ni and San. Before long, they would be fully restored and ready to resume their purge of this planet, and this time there would be no one left to get in their way.

Ichi chuckled softly as his snout broke the surface, shaking his head as his eyes gleamed in triumph. "And so it ends, little King," he murmured, his cruel smile widening. "At long last, our war is over. And you lose."

At that exact moment, a second, much larger tremor rumbled through the piles of rubble around him, and Ichi's eyes widened in alarm as he sensed a sudden surge of movement below the surface. "No…" he gasped, a moment before a horrified shriek escaped from his mouth as a set of sharp-toothed jaws clamped down on the stump at the lower end of his neck. "No!"

The King burst upwards out of the rubble, fully intact, a snarl echoing in his chest as he swung his head in an arc, slamming Ichi's head into the ground as if he were cracking a whip. A second swing followed as he rose to his feet and bit down more firmly, savoring the feeling of his teeth sinking into the Golden One's flesh. "Funny," he growled, his voice muffled but still audible. "I was going to say the same thing to you." The burning crimson power that had been surging through him before was gone now, that extra energy spent, but the plates on his back were already lighting up again, pulsing with their normal blue light as glowing blue steam began leaking out of his mouth around the stump of Ghidorah's neck. "Any last words?"

"W-Wait… no, you can't!" Ichi screeched, his normally calm, calculating nature abandoned as panic overwhelmed him. "Please, don't do this! I… we'll leave! I'll take my brothers and we'll leave this planet for good, you'll never see us again, I swear it! Just let me go!"

The King snorted, his teeth digging in deeper as the familiar humming sound quickly built up within him again, his plates shining brighter. "I don't think so," he rumbled, his energy rising to its peak, its blue glow lighting up Ichi's head and neck from within as the destructive energy began washing over the Golden One's last head. "If you see Anguirus on the other side, or any of the countless others that you've killed…" His eyes flashed from orange to blue as the humming reached a crescendo. "Tell them I sent you."

"No! No! NO–" Ichi's horrified scream was abruptly cut off as the King unleashed his charged-up blast, and Ghidorah's final head disintegrated in the blazing torrent of blue-white fire. A final flicker of yellow electricity crackled between the King's teeth for a moment, and then dissipated into nothing.

And, just like that, it was over.

Ghidorah – the Destroyer of Worlds, the False King, the Golden One – was dead at last.

The King allowed the last surge of fire-breath to escape from his mouth, closing his jaws and allowing his shoulders to sag as the strain of the battle sank in again. His physical injuries had all healed when he'd gotten the energy boost that had given him that burning power, but he was still sore and exhausted, and despite the reassurance of Mosura's final words to him, he couldn't suppress the deep, heart-wrenching pain of losing her so soon after they'd finally been reunited. Her sacrifice had saved his life, as well as that of every other creature in the world, and he knew it had been the right thing to do… but in that moment, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to feel all of the pain and sorrow that came with it.

Gradually, though, he was able to overcome that pain, as he reminded himself that despite everything, this day had ended in victory. The price of that victory had been a heavy one, but they had succeeded… and thanks to the final piece of information that his Queen had shared with him during their last telepathic conversation, he knew exactly what to do next. He smiled faintly as he looked up at the sky, watching as the storm clouds began to dissipate, allowing sunlight to shine down once more.

After a long moment of silence, however, something snapped the King out of his reverie: the distant, echoing sounds of large, heavy footsteps, moving towards him. His eyes narrowed and he turned, his tail sweeping across the ground as he looked for the source of the noise. It didn't take long: through the slowly-dissipating clouds of smoke and dust that were rising from the ruined human city, he could see several large figures approaching, at least three or four of them. He couldn't make out their individual features yet, but their size meant that they could only be other Kaiju.

The King was puzzled for a moment, until it clicked in his head. These must be some of the Golden One's former servants, the ones that Mosura had sensed responding to the telepathic summons that Ghidorah had sent out during the battle. Those reinforcements might not have arrived quickly enough to save the Golden One from their demise, but he wasn't sure whether their death would have freed these Kaiju from their control.

As a precaution, the King remained tense and ready to fight as the first of the new arrivals emerged from the clouds of smoke, coming close enough to be clearly visible. It was a large mammalian tusk-sloth, his long and curved tusks marking him as a male. As he drew close enough for their eyes to meet, the tusk-sloth beamed, his face lighting up with a cheerful grin. "Oh, hey, you're alive!" he greeted the King, his eyes wide and bright as he let out a deep, echoing rumble. "Been a while, man; it's good to see you!"

The King resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he recognized the tusk-sloth. This one's name was Behemoth, if he remembered correctly, and he was a decent fellow, although he was rather lazy and loved to prattle on about whatever currently held his interest. Still, his attitude was a relief because it suggested that Ghidorah's control over these Kaiju had indeed been broken by the Golden One's death, and that they were back to their normal selves. "You as well," he replied after a moment with a quiet snort of amusement, returning the tusk-sloth's nod.

The second Kaiju that came into view was also one that he'd met before, and this one's presence was much more welcome. He recognized the female squid-spider immediately, as her six long, segmented legs carried her over the ruins: it was Scylla, one of his Queen's closest friends.

"Dear King, it's so good to see you!" Scylla's eyes glittered brightly, her feeding tentacles twisting around each other as she walked up to him. "We thought you were dead; I'm so glad you're all right!"

"Rumors of my death were… greatly exaggerated," the King replied as he allowed a faint grin to flicker across his face. That smile promptly vanished, however, when he looked to Scylla's right and realized that the next arrival was a female Jinshin-Mushi. This one was a fully-grown adult, likely much older and more experienced than the young female that he had killed five years earlier, as evidenced by her larger size and the rows of prominent spikes on her back.

When the parasite recognized him, her glowing red eyes darkened for a second and she let out a snort. "Oh, great," she muttered sardonically. "You're back. Lovely."

The King's eyes narrowed and he tensed up a little more, ready in case she decided to attack him, but she didn't give any indication of lashing out so he moved on. His expression softened again and his faint smile returned as he turned to face the fourth and final arrival: an elderly male mountain-shell, one that he also knew fairly well. "Methuselah," he greeted the older Kaiju with a nod. He'd fought alongside the mountain-shell in the past, and knew him to be a strong and honorable creature.

"King Gojira!" Methuselah smiled and inclined his head respectfully. "A pleasure to see you again, my liege. You have my thanks for freeing us from that monster's control."

The King returned the nod and glanced around, looking to see if any other Kaiju were approaching. At that moment, a sudden blur of motion drew his attention, and he swung back around just as Rodan landed heavily in front of him. The fire-wing had recovered from the Queen's paralyzing venom and was back on his feet, although he had a visible puncture wound through his left shoulder as a result of her sting and he was still a little unsteady on his feet. He flared out his wings, letting out a loud, echoing cry of greeting, before lowering them as he took a step forward. "Goji!" he panted, breathing heavily. "Listen, I need to tell you… I didn't want any of this to happen. The Golden One, I had to help them… they would've killed me if I hadn't, and I–"

"Shut up," the King snapped, his eyes flashing as any positive emotions that he'd been feeling vanished in an instant, washed away by a surging tide of anger. Rodan immediately flinched back, his eyes wide and fearful.

"I'm only going to say this once," the King bit out, his orange eyes locked with Rodan's yellow ones. His voice deepened noticeably, the rumbling tones of an Alpha command accompanying his next word. "Kneel."

Rodan was visibly trembling, but he nodded shakily. "Of… of course," he murmured, lowering himself into a bow and fanning out his wings in a gesture of submission as he looked down at his feet. "My King."

The King nodded, turning slowly to regard the other four Kaiju in the small circle that had formed around him. His eyes smoldered, and a louder snort escaped from his nose as his gaze swept over each of them in turn. The meaning was obvious: That goes for all of you. This wasn't just a show of force: it was also a deliberate test, to make sure that the Golden One's control over these Kaiju had ended with their death.

Methuselah was the next one to bow, sinking into a kneeling position and lowering his head to the ground. The Jinshin-Mushi was clearly reluctant to follow suit, but after a couple of seconds she nodded slowly and acquiesced, crouching low and bowing her head. Scylla quickly did the same, followed moments later by Behemoth.

That clinched it. The False King's spell had been broken, and the other Kaiju had been freed from their control. They would never have bowed to another Alpha Kaiju if they were still being controlled, so this meant that they were free. Now all that remained was to pass that message along to the other Kaiju that had been awakened by the Golden One, in their respective locations around the world. Luckily, that was the easy part.

The King inhaled deeply, his chest swelling as he filled his cavernous lungs with air. He stepped up onto a larger pile of rubble, gaining a bit of elevation as his claws dug into the mound of rocks and earth. His head tilted back, his jaws gaped wide, and he roared at the top of his lungs, sending out an Alpha call of his own. The sound echoed out to the horizon and beyond, sweeping across the entire planet, reaching the ears of every Kaiju that had been awakened by Ghidorah.

This Alpha call was not like the one that Ghidorah had sent out, a call to arms or an order to destroy. This one was much simpler: it was a declaration, an assertion of dominance, and a brief explanation of the new order.

"The Golden One, the False King, has fallen. They are dead, burned to ash and scattered to the wind. Their reign is over, and you are free of their control.

"Now, you will do as I command. You may explore the world as you see fit, but stay away from the humans and do not provoke them. The world is different now, and there is much for you all to learn, but now you may do so in peace.

"I am Gojira, your King. The Usurper is gone. And this world is safe once more."

Chapter Text

Thousands of years ago…

The King cruised slowly through the icy water, pushing a group of drifting icebergs aside as he swam away from the frozen continent and headed north towards the open ocean. Normally he didn't particularly enjoy the frigid temperatures of the polar oceans, but right now they were actually a little soothing, helping to dull the pain of the slowly-healing injuries that he'd sustained during that night's savage battle.

The Queen was perched on his back, holding his dorsal plates for purchase and periodically dipping her wings into the ocean on either side of his body so the cold water could soothe the burns left behind by the Golden One's lightning. She would be able to speed up the healing process for them both as soon as she'd gotten a chance to rest, but she'd used up most of her energy in the battle and they weren't in any rush, so she didn't want to drain her remaining reserves yet.

For his part, the King was quiet, lost in thought. They had been fighting against the Golden One for so long, risking their lives in battle after battle, that it was hard to believe it could really be over. He kept half-expecting to hear the familiar trio of cackling roars as his nemesis broke free of their new icy prison, or to feel the stinging pain of lightning bolts striking him and searing through his muscles again.

"Goji?" The Queen's soft voice drew his attention, as she lifted her wings out of the water and shook them, sending a brief pulse of energy rippling through them to evaporate the water that was soaking into her fur. She frowned and tilted her head as she looked down at him, shifting forward a bit and leaning to one side so she could see his face. "Are you all right?"

The King lifted his head out of the water, his breath forming a cloud of steam in the cold night air, before he looked back over his shoulder at her and nodded. "Yes, I'm okay," he reassured her. "I just…" He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, knowing full well that there was no point in trying to hide his misgivings from his Queen. One crucial element of having a mental bond like theirs was that it was impossible for either of them to keep secrets from the other, or for one of them not to understand what the other was feeling: however, as a result, it was also impossible for him to keep something like this to himself. "Part of me can't believe that we actually won," he admitted quietly. "It doesn't feel real. I keep looking over my shoulder and expecting them to show up again."

The Queen nodded, her eyes dimming slightly as the King felt a rush of sympathy flowing through their connection. "I understand," she murmured softly, leaning down and nudging her head against his. "Believe me, I do. Back before we met, in the old days when I usually just had to look after myself without always having a partner around to help me, I spent a very long time constantly looking over my shoulder for anyone who might try to harm me and knowing that an attack could come from anywhere, at any time. But I've had plenty of time to get used to that feeling, so it doesn't bother me too much." She chuckled softly, her voice becoming a little more amused as she lightly stroked his head with one forelimb. "In your case, though, since you're a big scary predator, you haven't had to worry about that as much since you were younger. So it makes perfect sense that you hate feeling that way."

Snorting in amusement, the King rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You know, with all that teasing, you're lucky you're so cute," he remarked dryly, before he twisted in the water and shifted deliberately to one side. Interpreting the unspoken signal, the Queen flared her wings out and jumped into the air as he rolled over onto his back, before dropping back down and landing lightly on his chest and stomach.

The Queen giggled, her bioluminescence briefly flickering from blue to pink in her equivalent of a blush, before her smile softened. "In all seriousness," she continued as she gently stroked his cheek with one of her forelimbs, "I do understand, my love. We've been fighting the Golden One for so long that the thought of them being gone doesn't seem possible. But it's true." She folded her legs underneath her body so she could lie down and rested her head lightly on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "We won, Goji. Finally, after all this time, they're really gone. If they do ever get out of there, we'll be ready to stop them again… but for now, the war's over. We did it, and now we can rest."

The King's tension finally started to bleed away. He smiled, lowering his head so the Queen could rest her cheek against his, and closed his eyes as he felt the reassuring warmth and love of their connection. "You're right," he breathed. "Thank you, my love."

"I'm always happy to cheer you up, you know that," the Queen replied with a soft chuckle. She folded her wings across her back and nestled down against his chest and stomach, rolling onto her side so she could look up at the sky. A moment later, she inhaled sharply, and he felt a surge of amazement from her mind. "Goji! Look!"

The King's eyes snapped open, and he too looked up at the clear night sky. The clouds left behind by the Golden One's storm had finally dissipated completely, and with the unnatural darkness finally gone, he could easily see what had captured his mate's attention. The sky looked like it was alive, lit up by a brilliant, swirling display of multicolored light like the bioluminescence that flowed through his Queen's wings. He'd seen such displays in the sky before, of course – they were a common sight whenever he ventured to the polar regions at each end of the planet – but it seemed especially beautiful tonight, as if the Earth itself was celebrating their victory over the monstrous demon that had plagued it for so long.

For quite a few minutes, the couple drifted slowly along the surface in silence, enjoying each other's presence and taking in the spectacular view overhead. Finally, the Queen shifted slightly against the King's chest, drawing his gaze down to meet hers. "So," she murmured quietly. "What should we do now?"

The King frowned thoughtfully as he considered that. "Well, there are a few things that we do need to take care of fairly quickly," he replied, turning things over in his mind. "We'll have to start spreading the word that the Golden One is gone, letting everyone know that they've been dealt with and warning other Kaiju to stay away from this area. And then we're eventually going to need to figure out what to do about the Jinshin-Mushi swarms, considering how much trouble they've been causing lately." His frown faded a moment later, and he smiled down at her. "But for right now… let's just find a nice quiet island, someplace without any other Kaiju around, where we can rest up and heal for a couple of days. After that fight, I think we've earned a little vacation." His grin became a bit more playful at that, and the Queen's bioluminescence briefly flashed pink again as she smiled too.

"That sounds perfect," she agreed, smiling brightly as she stood back up. "Shall we, then?" Unfolding her wings, she hopped back into the air, allowing the King to roll back over, and landed on his back again. Refolding her wings, she nestled down between his plates, holding onto them to help keep herself in place.

Smiling to himself, his earlier misgivings now forgotten, the King propelled himself back into motion with powerful sweeps of his tail, cruising off into the night with his Queen by his side as the skies overhead continued to swirl and dance with light.

Now…

As the echoes of his Alpha call slowly faded away, the King nodded in satisfaction. He could dimly hear the return calls of a dozen or so other Kaiju echoing across the world, and while he couldn't tell who exactly was awake or what they were all saying, he could tell that his attempt to purge any remaining traces of the Golden One's control from them had worked. All of those Kaiju were now completely free from the False King's spell, and the last traces of the three-headed devil's brutal campaign against the inhabitants of this planet had been swept away.

With the previous silence restored, the King returned his attention to the five Kaiju who were still kneeling in a loose circle around him. He wasn't concerned about Scylla, Behemoth, or Methuselah: all three of them were firmly loyal to him, and he shouldn't need to worry about any of them causing trouble. The Jinshin-Mushi was an entirely different matter, as there was no way he could trust one of her kind after everything they had put him through, but the fact that she didn't have a mate and that she had willingly bowed to him meant that he didn't automatically need to kill her… at least, not unless she gave him a reason to do so.

But as for the last Kaiju in this group…

The King's eyes narrowed fractionally, their orange glow darkening as his gaze drifted over towards Rodan's crouching form. He had seen the entirety of the fire-wing's fight with the Queen, and his link with Mosura meant that he had heard everything she and Rodan had said during that confrontation. While he'd been distracted with his own battle, he'd been forced to put that aside and focus on the fight in front of him. But now that the battle was over, those memories were playing through his mind again… and his anger was quickly starting to build, on the verge of boiling over. His clawed hands clenched slowly into fists, and a deep growl began welling up in his chest as he lowered his head and glared down at the ground.

The rest of the Kaiju in the circle, meanwhile, had slowly gotten back up once his roar had faded away, clearly taking the conclusion of his brief speech as a cue that they no longer needed to stay kneeling. The Jinshin-Mushi looked more annoyed than anything else, but the others – particularly Rodan – were starting to look a little nervous, glancing at each other and taking a couple of slow steps back as they picked up on the signs of the King's growing anger.

"Uh… you okay, man?" Behemoth finally spoke up, even his usually laid-back attitude giving way to a bit of apprehension. "Is, ah… is everything –"

In that instant, the King burst into motion. He spun on his heel and his tail cracked like an enormous whip, striking Rodan squarely in the chest before the fire-wing had any time to get out of the way. The impact knocked the smaller Kaiju flat on his back, winding him and producing a strangled squawk of pain along with a burst of flames and smoke. Coughing and spluttering, he tried to scramble back to his feet, but the King was on him before he could get his feet back under him. One clawed hand wrapped around his neck in a vice-grip, hauling him back to his feet and slamming him back against one of the few large human buildings that were still standing in the area. The impact shook the whole building, but surprisingly it didn't collapse.

"You spineless, self-serving traitor!" the King spat, blocking a desperate swipe of Rodan's wing-claws with his free arm and maintaining his hold on the fire-wing's throat. "How dare you side with that monster against us?! You turned your back on everything that we ever stood for, and you deliberately attacked the Queen. We both nearly died because you kept her from helping me, and she had to sacrifice herself because you burned off her scales! I should snap your worthless neck right now for that!"

All four of the other Kaiju had stumbled back in shock when the King had lashed out at Rodan, but now they slowly stepped forward, forming an irregular semicircle around the pair. The Jinshin-Mushi hung back, keeping her distance, although a faint grin was forming on her fanged beak as if she found the situation mildly amusing. The other three, however, had all been shocked into horrified silence. Scylla's eyes were wide in anger and grief, likely due to the King's explanation of what had happened to the Queen, while Behemoth and Methuselah both looked alarmed but also a little conflicted.

"Your Grace, wait!" Methuselah called out, taking a slow step forward. He flinched noticeably as the King's head snapped around to fix a glare on him, but stood firm and continued after a moment, his deep, gravelly voice laced with sympathy. "I... I promise you, my liege, I understand how you must feel. If something like that had happened to my dear life-mate, I would feel the same way. But… surely the Queen would not wish for Rodan to be executed like this? Especially when what happened was the Usurper's fault, not his?"

"He's right, man," Behemoth agreed, nodding despite the nervous look in his eyes. "The Golden One was controlling all of us, right? I didn't wanna follow any of the orders they gave me, but I couldn't stop myself." He glanced around him at the others. "I'm guessin' it was the same for you guys, right?"

"Indeed." Methuselah nodded soberly. "I did not wish to cause any of that destruction, but with the Enemy's claws in my mind I could not overcome their will." He nodded to Rodan, who was choking and gasping for air as he struggled desperately against the King's grip. "Surely it was the same for him, no? Whatever he did, it could only have been because the Golden One was controlling him, just as they did to the rest of us. No sane creature would ever follow that monster of their own free will."

The King had fallen silent as they were speaking, but when Methuselah said that, his eyes narrowed and his scowl returned. "I wish that were the case," he replied curtly, before his glare shifted back onto Rodan. "But, unfortunately, it isn't. The only one responsible for what Rodan did today is himself. Because unlike the rest of you, I'm quite certain that the Golden One wasn't forcing him to do anything."

Rodan's eyes widened in terror, and his struggling intensified as he tried to get free. The King saw the flash of panic in the fire-wing's eyes, and his scowl deepened as his suspicions were confirmed.

"You see," the King continued grimly, "a long time ago, back before the Queen and I trapped the Golden One in the ice of the southern continent, she gave Rodan a gift to help him in battle against them. She used her psychic powers to put a 'shield' in his mind, designed to protect him against the Golden One's mental attacks so there was no way they could ever gain control over him. She was the only one who could get rid of that shield, and she never did. So, in this case, there's no way the Golden One could have controlled or brainwashed Rodan the way they did with the rest of you." His eyes narrowed. "Which means the only way he could have joined them… is if he did so willingly."

Rodan let out another strangled, choking sound, and the King swung back around to meet his panicked gaze. He deliberately relaxed his grip on Rodan's neck, holding him tightly enough that he still couldn't get free but loosening his hold enough that the smaller Kaiju could catch his breath. "Go ahead," he growled, his eyes blazing with anger. "Tell me I'm wrong. But don't even think of trying to lie to me."

Rodan was silent for a long moment, except for his coughing and wheezing as he tried to get his breath back. He met the King's gaze for a few seconds, his eyes wide and filled with a mix of swirling emotions – fear, pain, and an overwhelming guilt – before his eyes narrowed to slits and he shook his head, unable to keep looking the King in the eyes. "I… I can't," he whispered shakily, his voice cracking as he bowed his head. "You're right."

The onlookers all took another step back, their eyes wide and their faces showing a wide range of emotions. Scylla was visibly furious, her tentacles practically tying themselves into knots as she glared daggers at Rodan. Behemoth and Methuselah both looked horrified, staring at the fire-wing with varying degrees of shock and alarm. The Jinshin-Mushi just let out a contemptuous snort, regarding the scene with a mixture of amusement and disgust.

The King's expression hardened, and he nodded. "That's what I thought." A moment later, he let go of Rodan's neck, rocked back on his heels, and threw a full-force punch at the fire-wing's face with his other hand.

Rodan's eyes popped wide open in horror and he frantically hurled himself to one side, just before the King's fist pulverized the human building that he had been pinned against. Before he could take to the air, another swing of the King's tail swept his feet out from under him and he crashed down on his back again. As he desperately tried to scramble away, one of the King's feet slammed down on his chest, cracking his armored scales and pinning him to the ground as he let out a screech of pain.

"Did you really think you would get away with it?" the King demanded, his plates lighting up as an intimidation display rippled up and down his back. "How could you side with them?!"

"You think they gave me a choice?!" Rodan shot back, anger warring with panic in his eyes. "I thought you were dead, which meant there was nobody left who could beat them; if I'd tried to fight them on my own, they would've torn me to pieces! And they told me they would leave this planet forever if I helped them to wipe out the humans, so I thought that was the only way to get rid of them!"

"And you actually believed that?" The King snorted in disgust. "You should know that nothing that monster said could ever be trusted! They weren't just trying to get rid of the humans: they wanted to wipe out every living thing in the entire world. Including all of us! All that you were really doing by working with them was sacrificing countless innocent lives just so you could keep your own miserable hide safe for a little longer." His eyes narrowed, burning with fury and contempt. "You know, I always had my issues with you back in the old days… but until now, at least, I never thought of you as a coward."

Rodan's eyes flashed with anger and he tried to squirm upwards, but the King just pushed down harder, drawing a pained gasp as his lungs were compressed by the larger Kaiju's weight. "I… I'm not a coward!" he wheezed, glaring up at the King. "I just… there was nothing else I could do! I didn't have a choice!"

"There is always a choice," the King bit out, his eyes burning into Rodan's. "You know that as well as I do."

"But… what else was I supposed to do?!" Rodan gasped as the King's clawed foot crushed down harder on his chest, barely able to breathe. "Do you seriously think… I should've just let them kill me?!"

"Yes!" the King snarled, leaning down closer and resisting the urge to unleash a blast of his fire-breath directly into Rodan's face. The fire-wing recoiled as much as he could, pressing himself flat against the ground as the King scowled down at him. "That is exactly what you should have done. And do you know why?" His eyes blazed like twin burning orange coals, and his next words came out as a hiss that was barely audible to the onlookers. "Because that is what he would have done."

Rodan froze. All of the anger and desperation in his eyes slowly drained away, leaving only a glazed, empty look of overwhelming pain and guilt. His struggling stopped, and he slumped back against the ground. Even his flames subsided, flickering and dwindling to almost nothing, like a forest fire burning itself out. He couldn't find any words to answer the King's statement… because they both knew that in this regard, he was right.

The King stared coldly down at him, feeling some satisfaction as he saw the stricken look on the fire-wing's face. "What do you think he would have done if he'd been in your position?" he questioned, his voice hard and unyielding. "If, on that night all those years ago, he hadn't forced Mosura to save you instead of him?"

When he heard that, Rodan's eyes widened in shock, and he sucked in a strangled intake of breath. "W-What?!" he managed to gasp out.

The King's eyes narrowed, and he nodded. "That's right," he confirmed coldly. "When Mosura and I found you two that night, he wasn't the only one who was dying. Both of you were dying, and Mosura only had enough time and energy to save one of you. She and I couldn't choose between you… but he was awake and you weren't, so he forced Mosura to heal you first, and as a result he died before she could do the same for him." Although his voice was cold and harsh, he couldn't entirely suppress an internal pang of guilt at the knowledge that he had just broken his long-ago promise to Anguirus. But he crushed that guilt down and refused to let it weaken his resolve: as far as he was concerned, Rodan's betrayal today had removed any reason for him to continue showing compassion to the fire-wing.

"So, what do you think he would have done if the situation had been reversed?" the King continued, glaring down at Rodan. "If you had died that day and he had lived, and then one day he had to face the Golden One by himself… what would he have chosen?" His lip curled in a furious, twisted sneer. "You don't need to bother answering, because I think we both already know the answer to that question. He would never have sided with them. He would have fought back, no matter the odds, until the bitter end. And he would have died fighting, a thousand times over, before he ever bent the knee to his partner's murderer." Those last words came out as a furious growl, and his eyes flashed from orange to blue as he pressed down even harder. Something crunched in Rodan's chest, and his next screech of pain was mixed with a sickly gurgling sound as a trickle of frothy orange blood started leaking from the corners of his beak.

"So, Rodan… what do you think is the proper punishment for this level of betrayal?" the King snarled, glaring down at Rodan as his plates glowed brighter again, a deep humming sound echoing from them. At such close range, and with Rodan pinned and unable to dodge, one full-power blast of his fire-breath would be more than enough to kill the fire-wing. "Usually, that sentence would be death. So… give me one reason not to end your worthless life right now."

Rodan, for his part, looked like he had completely given up on trying to escape. He was limp and unmoving; the scales on his chest were cracking under the pressure of the King's weight, and hot orange blood was still bubbling in his mouth. He was still clutching weakly at the King's leg to try and relieve the crushing force that was bearing down on him, but his eyes were vacant and glassy, as if he was seeing something far away. At the King's demand, though, he blinked and his gaze focused back on the larger Kaiju's face. He coughed and gagged, spitting blood, before he was finally able to get out an answer. "It… it doesn't matter," he gasped, panting desperately for air as tears leaked from the corners of his eyes and evaporated into wisps of steam. "You're… you're right. Anguirus… he'd hate me… if he knew what I've done." He closed his eyes, the flames on his wings fading away. "At this point… I've got nothing left to live for anyway. So… if you're gonna kill me… just do it already."

The King's eyes narrowed as he stared down at his former friend, his plates humming and crackling with blue light. Scylla, Behemoth, Methuselah, and the Jinshin-Mushi were all watching with varying degrees of alarm and concern (or none at all, in the parasite's case), but none of them made a move to interfere.

In that moment, the King was sorely tempted to unleash his wrath and end Rodan's life. One full-power blast would finish the job, and the fire-wing would pay the full price for his betrayal. But as he glared down at the other Kaiju's limp body, seeing the pain, guilt and grief mingled together on his face… for a moment, all he could see was Anguirus. All he could remember was that night, as his best friend's voice echoed in his head.

"He'd do the same thing in my place… and I'm not letting him die."

The King squeezed his eyes tightly closed, gritting his teeth and clenching his hands so hard that his claws dug into his palms. The humming in his plates grew louder and louder, approaching a crescendo. Finally, he could bear it no longer: he threw his head back and let out a deafening, furious roar, before swinging his head forward again as he unleashed a blazing torrent of blue fire.

But the blue-white beam didn't hit Rodan. Instead, it speared into the ground right next to his head, and then tore across the earth as the King swung his head back up, carving through the ruined city as he vented his rage in a blaze of azure light. By the time he finally let up and the beam dissipated, a smoking, mile-long trench was left behind in its wake, stretching off towards the horizon.

The other four Kaiju had all flinched back and shielded their eyes when the King had unleashed his beam, but once the thunderous echoes of the blast had faded away into silence, they all looked back up at him in surprise. In Rodan's case, he had just scrunched his eyes tightly shut and braced himself for the end; his facial expression when he realized that he was still alive was one of complete and total shock, his eyes wide and his beak hanging open, that would actually have looked rather hilarious under different circumstances.

Lowering his head as his burning blue eyes faded back to their normal orange, the King lifted his foot off of Rodan's chest and took a step back. "Get up," he snapped. "Don't make me tell you twice."

Coughing and spitting blood as he tried to get his breath back, Rodan rolled over and clambered to his feet, propping himself up by resting his wing-claws on the ground as well. "I… I don't understand," he panted, frowning as he looked up at the King with a faint flicker of hope in his eyes. "You're not going to kill me?"

The King was silent for a second, before he shook his head slightly. "No," he replied curtly. "I'm not. But before you get any ideas, I'm not doing it for you." He closed his eyes briefly. "The only reason you're not already dead… is because Anguirus wouldn't want this. He wouldn't want you to die, whatever you'd done. Which is why, at least for now, I'm not going to kill you." His eyes opened and focused back on Rodan, his expression hardening. "But make no mistake, Rodan: I do not give second chances. This is the one and only time that I'm going to show you mercy from now on. So if you want to live… stay out of my way, don't bother the humans, and don't cause me any more trouble. And if anything like what you've done over the past couple of days is ever repeated… or if you ever try to harm my Queen again… then I will hunt you down, wherever you try to hide, and I will paint every coastline in the world with your blood." The words were delivered in a voice as cold and flat as an executioner's blade. "Is that understood?" His eyes flickered blue again for a split second, and his voice deepened in the characteristic style of an Alpha command as he growled the last few words.

Rodan shivered, the fear in his eyes showing that he understood the warning perfectly clearly. "Y-yes," he replied, nodding and sinking into a low bow again. "I understand, my King."

"Good." The King snorted and jerked his head towards the horizon. "Now, before I change my mind… get out of my sight."

Nodding again, Rodan quickly turned away and started hurrying off towards the ocean. After a few shaky hops, he finally kicked off the ground and leapt into the air, his wings swiftly carrying him aloft. He didn't look back even once, putting all of his energy into flying faster, as he soared out over the ocean and rapidly accelerated up and away. Finally, he disappeared entirely, leaving only the distant echo of a sonic boom trailing in his wake.

The King was quiet for a minute after that, glaring after the vanished fire-wing and inwardly wondering whether he'd made the right decision. Eventually, however, he decided that he had. Rodan wasn't a serious threat on his own, and considering how broken the other Kaiju had looked just now, the chances of him deciding to cause any further trouble were fairly low.

In any case, now that Rodan had been dealt with, he had other things to worry about. He turned back to face the remaining four Kaiju, his gaze sweeping over Scylla, Behemoth, and Methuselah, before it finally came to rest on the Jinshin-Mushi. She was standing a little further back than the others, clearly showing some caution in case he decided to turn his wrath on her next.

"You," the King intoned, taking a slow step towards the parasite. "What's your name?" When she tilted her head and her eyes flickered a little brighter in a sign of surprise, he smirked. "Yes, I know your kind have names. I've dealt with far too many of you not to know that. So what's yours?"

The parasite remained silent for a moment, and then shrugged. "Barb," she replied evenly. "So, are you going to try and kill me? If you are, at least have the decency to tell me first." Her tone was surprisingly calm, given the circumstances, although the last part was delivered with more than a hint of sarcasm.

The King snorted in mild amusement despite himself, before shaking his head and focusing back on the matter at hand. "That depends on you, actually. I have a couple of questions for you, and whether you get to leave here alive depends on how you answer them. And you'd better answer them honestly; don't even bother trying to lie, because if you do, I'll know." He took another deliberate step towards her, a pulse of blue light flickering in his plates as a silent warning. "So. First question: Are you carrying any eggs right now?"

The parasite – Barb – had taken a wary step back when he moved a little closer, but at that question her tensed-up posture relaxed a bit. "No, I'm not," she replied matter-of-factly, straightening up a bit. "I laid my most recent clutch of eggs back before I went into hibernation, and I certainly wasn't pregnant when I went to sleep, so I'm not pregnant now." She chuckled and indicated herself with a wave of one forelimb. "Plus, if you know anything about my kind, you should know that it's usually pretty easy to tell when we're expecting. Do I look pregnant to you?"

The King's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. "Very well. Second question: If I let you live, are you going to cause any problems for me?"

Barb laughed at that and shook her head. "Hell no! I'm smart enough to have a sense of self-preservation: I know how to keep myself safe, and pissing you off would be the opposite of that. So if you let me go, I'll stay out of your way and I won't cause you any trouble. You have my word."

"Good." The King didn't trust her, of course – no other Kaiju was foolish enough to trust a Jinshin-Mushi – but he could tell that in this case, she probably wasn't lying. For the moment, at least, her desire to keep herself safe was stronger than whatever resentment she undoubtedly bore towards him for what he'd done to her species over the years. "All right, then. In that case, you're free to go." His eyes flickered from orange to blue for a heartbeat, as another wave of azure light rippled through his plates. "But I'm warning you now… if you give me a reason to put you down, I will do it without hesitation. So do yourself a favor and don't give me that reason." A thought occurred to him, and he added, "And one more thing: stay away from the humans, and don't attack them unless they attack you first. I've had my fill of conflicts with them since I came out of hibernation a few decades ago, and I don't want you stirring up any more trouble with them."

"Of course. Whatever you say, oh mighty King." Thinly-veiled sarcasm practically dripped from those words, but Barb still reluctantly inclined her head in obedience again, before she promptly turned and started walking away, ambling off in a westward direction as she headed further inland.

Despite the parasite's lack of any threatening behavior, the King still watched her carefully until she disappeared from view. The real reason behind his decision to leave her alive was that, out of all the other Kaiju that had been awakened by the Golden One's Alpha call, he hadn't heard a sound from any other Jinshin-Mushi. As a result, unless another male parasite showed up at some point, this one didn't have any way to reproduce, and a single Jinshin-Mushi wasn't a serious threat to him. With that in mind, leaving her alive for now wasn't too much of a risk… but he'd had more than enough experience with her kind to ever trust one of them, so he was definitely going to keep an eye on this one just in case. And if a male parasite did show up eventually, he would have no qualms about putting them both down on the spot.

Now that both of the "problem" Kaiju that he'd been worried about were gone, the King visibly relaxed as he turned his attention to Scylla, Behemoth and Methuselah. "That last warning goes for you all too," he addressed them. "For the most part, the humans don't seem to remember us very well anymore, since we've all been asleep for so long, and most of them simply see us as potential threats now. They've attacked me a few times since I came out of hibernation, and while most of their new weapons still aren't powerful enough to seriously harm us… some of them are fully capable of doing some real damage." He winced as he remembered the exploding radiation-stone that had given him his unexpected growth spurt and destroyed his temple, the other radiation-stones that had blown up in his face on multiple occasions shortly after he'd emerged from hibernation, and most of all, the deadly explosion of green energy that had turned an entire patch of ocean into a stagnant sea of poison.

"As you wish, my liege," Methuselah rumbled, bowing his head in acknowledgment. He yawned and straightened up, arching his back as much as he could, his joints crackling and popping as he stretched them out. "Ahhh, it feels good to be free of the Enemy's control. Now I just need something to eat, and ideally a nice nap to help get rid of this damned headache."

"Awww, c'mon, man!" Behemoth laughed, playfully nudging his shoulder against the mountain-shell's. "We've been asleep for way too long already! All you really need is some fresh air and sunshine: that'll help loosen you up." He smiled cheerfully. "Luckily, I know just the place. It'll take a little while for us to get there, but it's totally worth it." Ignoring Methuselah's irritated groan, he glanced over to the King. "Unless, uh… do you need us for anything else, man?"

The King rolled his eyes and wasn't entirely able to suppress a snorting chuckle. "No, I think we're done here," he replied with a shake of his head. "You can be on your way. Just do your best to stay out of trouble."

"You got it, boss." Behemoth grinned and nodded, before shifting his focus back to Methuselah. "C'mon, man, it'll be great! There's lots of tasty plants to eat, and plenty of space. You'll love it, I promise."

Methuselah sighed heavily, rolling his own glowing white eyes. "Very well," he finally grunted as he dipped his head to the King once more, before nodding to Behemoth. "Lead the way."

"All right!" Behemoth's carefree grin widened, and he started ambling away along the coast to the south, with Methuselah lumbering along beside him. "This is gonna be great, man."

The King shook his head as he watched the pair departing, before turning back to Scylla. "Now that it's just us," he spoke up, "there's something you should know. I thought…" His eyes drifted half-closed, and he lowered his head. "I thought I should tell you what happened to Mosura. I didn't feel the need to tell the others the whole story, but she's your friend, so you deserve to know."

Scylla's eyes dimmed as she looked down, a shadow of grief passing over her face. "Of course," she murmured. "Please, tell me."

Somewhat hesitantly, the King gave her a brief summary of everything that had happened since the Queen had first contacted him to inform him that her egg was hatching, culminating in her sacrificing herself to save his life and giving him the power that he'd needed to finally kill the Golden One. When he'd finished, they both stood in silence for several minutes, united in grief and sorrow.

After a few minutes, Scylla finally spoke up. "It wasn't your fault, dear King," she addressed him quietly. "From what you've told me, there was no other option. It was you or her, and of the two of you, you were the only one who had a chance of winning that battle." Her beak clicked several times, and her tentacles arranged themselves into her species' equivalent of a sad smile. "That's Mosura for you: she does whatever it takes to protect those she loves, no matter the cost."

"She always has," the King agreed, nodding solemnly. As his thoughts returned to the Queen, however, a ray of hope pierced through the cloud of grief, as he remembered their last conversation. "But that's not all that I wanted to tell you," he continued. "When Mosura transferred her power to me, she was also able to talk to me through our connection, and she told me that she would be able to come back much sooner this time. While I was recovering in my temple, she went to try and find some of the other eggs that she'd left behind when we went into hibernation… and from what she told me, she found one." He smiled. "And when she contacted me in that moment, she showed me where that egg is."

Scylla's eyes lit up with a rush of happiness. "Really? That's wonderful!" Her tentacles flicked eagerly back and forth. "So, are you going to go and find it now?"

"I am," the King confirmed. "Mosura said that when she found the egg, she set it to start hatching within a few days in case anything happened to her, so I should be able to locate it before then. And since you haven't gotten a chance to see her yet, I thought I should invite you to come along."

"I would love that." Scylla bowed her head to him, her tentacles twining gently with each other. "Thank you, dear King."

With Scylla following behind him, the King turned and strode through the ruins of the human city, making his way back to the ocean. Wading out into the water until it was deep enough for him to swim, he dove beneath the surface and started gliding swiftly out to sea. Scylla trailed in his wake, propelling herself through the water with all six of her legs while also forcing concentrated jets of water through a flexible siphon that was tucked into the curved shell on her back, a legacy of her cephalopod ancestors that helped her to swim more quickly underwater.

They steadily moved out away from shore, diving deeper as the seabed fell away beneath them, the water deepening from hundreds of feet to thousands. The King stayed in the lead, using his mental map of the ocean floor so he could guide them along the proper course, until eventually he sensed that they were approaching the right place. Finally, he saw it: a rounded hole in the ocean floor, one of the entrances to his underwater tunnels.

"Stay close," he instructed Scylla, calling over his shoulder as his voice echoed through the water around them. "These tunnels can be confusing sometimes, so you'll need to stay right behind me to make sure we both end up at the same place."

"Of course." Scylla nodded in agreement, positioning herself directly behind him so she could follow him closely as they were pulled along by the tremendous acceleration of the tunnels.

I'm coming, Mosura, the King thought with a small, determined smile. He braced himself for a moment, sucking in a deep inhale of water through his gills, and then plunged headfirst into the dark abyss.

She was alone.

She was alone and in the dark, and she couldn't move or see. The last thing she could remember was a swirl of light and heat and fire, everything coming apart as the world came crashing down around her.

In the back of her mind, she wondered if she might be dead. Was this what it felt like? She tried to move, to get up, but her limbs wouldn't respond, as if they weren't even there. Panic started welling up inside her again.

But then… there was a light. A soft blue glow, with no individual source but seeming to come from everywhere at once, slowly filled the empty void around her, ultimately washing the darkness away entirely.

And then her eyes opened, and she looked around in confusion.

She was back in China, in the containment facility within the ancient pyramid. The difference was, this time it was utterly silent. No one else was there: not her mother, not the doctors, not that monster Jonah and his mercenaries… no one but her.

And, of course…

A soft chittering sound echoed from above and behind her, and the soft blue light grew brighter as she turned around. Her eyes widened in amazement, and her hands lifted involuntarily to cover her mouth. A faint whisper escaped her lips, barely audible in the silence of the room.

"Mothra…"

The insectoid Titan loomed over her, radiating a brilliant blue aura. She wasn't in her larval form this time: now she was transformed, in the winged adult form that she had only caught brief glimpses of during the battle. She was far larger than she had been before, so big that she shouldn't have really been able to fit inside the temple chamber, but in this moment that didn't matter.

Hello, my child, Mothra whispered, leaning down closer to her. The soft, warm voice didn't echo through the air, but inside her head. Don't be afraid. Everything's going to be all right.

Her earlier panic was gone, but her eyes heated up, and she felt her vision becoming blurred with tears as all of her memories returned. "How can you say that?" she questioned, her voice cracking. "After everything that's happened, all those horrible things… after what happened to you… how can you be sure that everything's going to be okay?"

Mothra tilted her head slightly to one side, her mandibles flaring out slightly. Despite her alien facial features, that posture somehow gave the distinct impression of a kind, motherly smile. I don't know, little one, she replied with a trace of sadness in her mental voice. But I have faith. I've lived for a very long time, and I've been through many dark times over the eons. And I've never faced any challenge that didn't eventually pass. The Titan leaned down closer, resting her chin gently on the platform in front of her. You will survive this. I know you will. And I promise you, we will meet again… sooner than you think.

Slowly, she took a step forward and rested her hand on Mothra's forehead, just like she had last time. On impulse, she leaned further forward and rested her own forehead against the Titan's soft, downy fur, feeling a rush of warmth flowing through her. "Thank you," she breathed. "I… I believe you."

Good. Mothra "smiled" again and exhaled, a gust of warm air billowing around her and ruffling her hair. Now… it's time to wake up, dear child. There is much work to be done.

"I understand," she replied, nodding reluctantly and taking a step back. As she did, however, she looked into Mothra's glittering blue eyes… and she noticed something odd.

First, the eyes of her reflection were glowing faintly, lit up with the same blue light as Mothra's. And second, while she had been certain that she and Mothra were alone in the room… reflected in the endless blue depths of the enormous compound eye, standing on either side of her, were two other figures. She couldn't make out the finer details of their appearances, but they were both taller than her, with dark hair – one with short hair, the other with a long braid – and their eyes were both glowing with the same blue light.

"Who…?" she started to ask. But before she could get any other words out, the glow of Mothra's eyes suddenly brightened, and her surroundings melted away in a wave of soft blue light.

"Maddie?"

Madison Russell blinked and shook her head, jarred back into consciousness. For a moment, she had no idea where she was, until she blinked several times and her surroundings settled into clarity. She was still on the Osprey that had rescued her from Boston, although now it was flying out over the ocean. On the other side of the cabin, Dr. Ilene Chen was leaning back against the wall with her eyes closed, also seemingly asleep, while Dr. Rick Stanton and the three Monarch soldiers who had been picked up with them were also reclining in their seats, taking the opportunity to get some rest after the insanity of that day.

Frowning and rubbing her eyes, Madison tried to piece things together. The last thing she clearly remembered was hearing Godzilla's final triumphant roar as the other Titans bowed down to him, before she'd been forced to move away from the boarding ramp and find a seat. Utterly exhausted after all the stress and terror of the last few days, she must have fallen asleep after that.

"Madison?" The voice that had awakened her spoke up again, and she turned to see her father Mark sitting next to her. "Sorry to wake you up, sweetheart, but we're almost to the Argo." He nodded up towards the front of the Osprey, where she could hear some muffled chatter from the pilots. "Figured we should be ready to hop off when we get there. Don't worry, they've got plenty of beds on board." He leaned back in his seat, resting his head against the wall. Thanks to his exhaustion and the stress of the last few days, it looked like he'd aged half a decade since the last time she'd seen him at the Monarch outpost in Antarctica. That wasn't really a surprise, though, as she felt the same way.

"Sounds good," Madison replied, surprised to find that her voice was oddly calm. She'd been on the verge of a complete breakdown as they'd been pulling away from Boston, after her mom had sacrificed herself to save them; that had also played a role in causing her to pass out once she'd sat down, but apparently that strange dream of Mothra had really helped to calm her nerves.

Where had that dream come from? She'd had a similar vision during the chaos in Boston, when she'd tried to hide inside her family's old house and it had come crashing down on top of her. In that strange dream, she had seen Mothra – first in her larval form, then in her adult winged form – and reached out to touch her, as she had when she had met the insectoid Titan in her temple. But in that vision, Mothra hadn't spoken to her, as she had in this dream… and as she had in the temple in China.

That incident in particular, hearing the Titan's voice in her mind as Jonah and his mercenaries broke into the facility, was something that Madison hadn't mentioned to anyone, not even her mom, because it just hadn't seemed possible. After that, when she'd been thoroughly distracted by everything that had been going on elsewhere, she had almost convinced herself that she must've just imagined it. After all, the existence of giant monsters was common knowledge by this point, but a giant monster that could talk? And one who'd chosen to talk to her, specifically? Everybody at Monarch would probably think that she'd lost her mind if she tried to explain it.

But something about the dream that she'd just had made her feel like there might be more to it. In that dream, Mothra's voice had sounded exactly the same as it had back in China. It hadn't been dulled or muffled, as voices often were in a dream; it had been just as clear and piercing as it had been back then. And who were those two people who had been standing behind her, the two shadowy women with glowing blue eyes?

The Osprey rocked noticeably, and Dr. Chen's eyes drifted open as she finally woke up too. Her gaze flicked slowly back and forth across the cabin, before it came to rest on Madison and she smiled warmly. "Hi, Maddie," she greeted the younger girl. "How are you feeling?"

There was really no good way to answer that after the nightmare that today had been, so Madison settled for a shrug. "I'm… okay," she replied as honestly as she could. "I guess."

Dr. Chen nodded understandingly. "I know what you mean," she replied. "And I understand if you'd rather not talk about anything right now. But if you do need to talk, about anything – anything at all – then just let me know, okay?"

Despite herself, Madison felt a faint smile come to her lips. A moment later, her suppressed emotions started welling up within her again, as she felt an uncomfortable warmth in her eyes and her vision blurred slightly. "Thanks," she managed to get out, before shifting her focus to taking a few deep breaths and trying to calm herself down again. She would have plenty of time later to let herself feel all the pain and grief that were stewing deep down in her gut, but she couldn't afford another breakdown right now. For all her faults, Emma Russell had done a good job of teaching Maddie how to handle difficult or stressful situations, and that training was definitely helping her to keep her emotions in check right now.

"Coming up on the Argo now, folks!" one of the pilots called back to them, his voice echoing through the cabin. "Make sure you're all strapped in until we land, just to be safe."

As Madison double-checked her seatbelt to make sure that it was secure, she noticed a strange feeling in the back of her mind. It almost felt similar to the odd tingling sensation that had spread through her body when she'd felt Mothra's telepathic "voice" in the ancient temple, although this sensation wasn't nearly as strong. As she looked around the cabin again, her eyes were inexplicably drawn back to Dr. Chen, who was leaning back in her seat and gazing out of a window. The older woman glanced back over to her, and a faint smile flickered across her lips; this smile, however, was almost playful, as if she knew something that Maddie didn't.

And then, for a split second… Ilene Chen's eyes flashed from their usual dark color to a bright, shining blue.

Madison inhaled sharply, her own eyes widening as she sat up straighter in her seat. But before she could say anything, the momentary flash of blue light was gone, and Dr. Chen's eyes were normal again as she turned away again and looked back out the window.

Madison had never been on the Argo before, but she'd certainly heard of it. The huge, highly-advanced aircraft had apparently spearheaded both the human forces in Boston and an earlier attack on Monster Zero in Washington DC, and it certainly showed: its sleek black wings were now battle-scarred, with smoldering burn marks covering several portions of the hull. But it was still flying and it didn't seem to be too badly damaged, which was all that really mattered.

The Osprey landed in one of the hangar bays, and Madison joined the rest of the group as they made their way up to the bridge. Too many Monarch personnel that she had known before were missing: she'd gotten some updates on everything that had happened since Antarctica, and she couldn't believe that both Dr. Ishiro Serizawa and Dr. Vivienne Graham were gone. Vivienne, in particular, had been like the aunt that she'd never had, and the knowledge that she was dead added a fresh stab of pain to the twisting knot in Madison's stomach.

Once they got to the bridge, the scientists took up their usual stations, while Maddie found an empty chair near one of the large floor-to-ceiling windows that gave her a perfect view of the scenery below. They were over the ocean, some distance out to sea from Boston, and were now starting to head back towards Monarch's Castle Bravo facility to regroup with all the forces who had survived the battle.

"So, uh… what's the situation with the Titans now?" Dr. Sam Coleman spoke up.

"Well, Rodan booked it like a bat out of hell as soon as Godzilla was done kicking his ass," Dr. Stanton quipped with a snicker. Judging by his tone, he'd had a few too many sips from the flask that he always carried, probably to help defuse the post-battle stress. "Satellites say he's somewhere over the mid-Atlantic right now, heading south, but he flies so fast that it's harder to track him than it is for most of the others." He shrugged, tapping a few keys. "The new MUTO's heading west towards the Canadian border, Behemoth and Methuselah are heading south along the coast, and Godzilla…" After a moment of checking the computer screens, he frowned. "Huh. Looks like once he was done cleaning house, he and Scylla headed straight out into the ocean, dove pretty deep, and then… they dropped off our radar a few hundred miles offshore. No idea where they are now: he must've found another one of those freaky Hollow-Earth tunnels or something like that."

"The good news is," Colonel Foster put in, "based on our satellites and reports from around the world, Dr. Russell's plan to target Ghidorah worked like a charm." She nodded over to Mark, who had chosen a seat near Maddie's chair. "Almost as soon as Godzilla won that fight, all the other Titans broke off their attacks completely, and now they're all moving away from populated areas."

"Yup," Dr. Stanton agreed, popping his lips on the end of that word. "Seems like the Big Guy must've sent out a cease-and-desist order or something."

Madison frowned, a thought occurring to her. "So… wait, how many Titans are awake now?" she inquired, her cheeks flushing faintly as all eyes turned to her. "I, um… sorry, I was just curious."

Dr. Chen smiled warmly. "Don't worry, it's okay," she assured her, bringing up several satellite maps on her computer and projecting them onto the bridge's main monitor screen. "Well, there were eighteen to start with: seventeen in containment, plus Godzilla."

"Right, I remember you guys telling me that," Mark agreed. "So, now that Ghidorah and Mothra are both gone, that leaves sixteen, right?" He rested a sympathetic hand on Madison's shoulder when she winced at the mention of the latter name, both of them remembering the horrible mental image of Mothra's death.

"Well, sixteen plus that new MUTO who popped up in Jersey," Dr. Stanton replied, taking another sip from his flask as he nodded to the projected world map on the main screen, which now showed a series of glowing dots that represented the current locations of most of the active Titans. "So we've got seventeen in total right now."

"We've also had a few other reports of additional Titans surfacing elsewhere, in areas where we didn't have any containment facilities," Foster added. "Except for the new MUTO, though, we haven't been able to confirm any of those others yet." She shrugged. "For right now, we're just heading back to Castle Bravo to regroup. Then we can start figuring out what to do next."

As exhausted as she felt in that moment, Madison couldn't help the urge to take a look for herself. Despite the soreness that was running through her muscles and the weariness that was still weighing on her shoulders, she clambered back to her feet and walked over to Dr. Chen's station, leaning on the edge of the console and looking up at the main display screen. It showed a slowly-rotating globe image of the planet, created in real time thanks to a network of satellites, and highlighted either the current or last-known locations of all the living Titans that were currently in Monarch's database.

On one side of the screen was a tally list of all the Titans that were currently active. Prior to Mothra's hatching in China, the only names on the "Active" list had been Godzilla, Kong, and the other two Titans on Skull Island. Now, however, the map was cluttered with data and tracking icons, and the list of active names stretched halfway up the screen.

"Wow," Madison breathed, her eyes wide and amazed as she took in that sight. She hadn't realized just how devastating her mother's grand plan of awakening the Titans would be for humanity as a whole – at least not until it was far too late to stop it from happening – but now that she was seeing this, a large number of Titans who were now apparently leaving humanity in peace, she couldn't help but hope that her mom had been at least partially right. Maybe now, with Monster Zero gone and its devastating rampage brought to an end, the remaining Titans could actually do what she and her mom had believed they would: they could help to heal the planet, start to repair the damage that had been done, and begin creating a better world for everyone.

At the very least, she thought to herself with a faint smile as her eyes drifted over the map and she looked up to see dawn breaking through the Argo's bridge windows, now they might have a chance.

Monarch Satellite Monitoring System: List of Active Titans

Titanus Gojira
Titanus Rodan
Titanus Scylla
Titanus Methuselah
Titanus Behemoth
Titanus Jinshin-Mushi (aka "MUTO-3")
Titanus Kong
Titanus Maguma
Titanus Shisa
Titanus Baphomet
Titanus Sargon
Titanus Na Kika
Titanus Mokele-Mbembe
Titanus Sekhmet
Titanus Leviathan
Titanus Typhon
Titanus Bunyip

After several hours of high-speed travel through his underwater tunnels, the King finally found his way back to the surface. He burst up into the ocean, grinning as a rush of warm tropical water swirled around him and swimming rapidly towards the surface. Scylla rocketed out of the tunnel right behind him, taking a moment to get her bearings before rushing upwards in his wake.

When they broke the surface, the King stretched up out of the water as far as he could, glancing back and forth to get his bearings. It was night here, as they'd surfaced on the other side of the planet, but the sky was still bright enough for him to make out their surroundings. Sure enough, he'd chosen the right tunnel: in the distance, he could see the dark green outline of a large and familiar island, the same one where Anguirus had died on that fateful night all those years ago. In this case, however, seeing it inspired a feeling of bittersweet happiness, because in addition to that tragic event, this island was also where his Queen had built one of her hidden nests. And from what she had told him in that last telepathic conversation, this was the nest where she had sensed a surviving egg, and had triggered it to begin developing.

"This way," he instructed Scylla, before slipping back beneath the surface and propelling himself towards the island.

Reassuringly, this island hadn't changed all that much since the last time he'd been there, back before he'd gone into hibernation. There were more signs of human habitation than there had been back then, but there were still none of the larger cities that he'd seen in other parts of the world. He stayed away from the human villages as much as he could while making his way slowly inland. Scylla followed close behind him: it was actually easier for her to navigate the rainforest than it was for him, as her long, narrow legs carried her easily over the trees without having to flatten a bunch of trees with each step, the way his feet did.

As they made their way through the forest, the King's eyes suddenly widened slightly and he stopped for a moment, as he detected the faint trace of a familiar presence. His mouth curved in a delighted smile, and he picked up the pace a bit, not running but walking as quickly as he could.

After a good hour of walking, they finally arrived at the right place: a tall mountain, one of many that ran along the center of this island. Although it had been thousands of years since the King's last visit here, he still recognized the mountain as easily as if he'd been there yesterday.

"This is it," he informed Scylla as he came to a stop, pacing around the mountain and examining the rocky slopes more closely for a couple of minutes, before nodding in satisfaction as he found what he was looking for: a huge, vertical cliff-face, hundreds of feet high. Although most onlookers wouldn't have noticed anything unusual, he knew exactly what to look for, and he could tell that in one place, part of the mountainside had been dug out, replaced by a protective layer of silk covered in rocks and soil. "Stand back." Raising his arms, he dug his claws into the mountainside and ripped down, tearing through the silk barrier and sending a minor avalanche cascading down into the trees below. After a minute of digging, he was able to fully remove the barrier to reveal a large, circular tunnel that led deep into the mountain, ending in a large cave that had been mostly sealed off to protect its contents from anyone who might disturb it. A soft blue glow shone out from inside, mingling with the silver moonlight that shone down overhead.

"You were right," Scylla murmured quietly, her voice brimming with happiness and relief as she saw the blue light. "She's okay."

Sure enough, resting inside the cave was one of the Queen's eggs. Its normally-faint bioluminescence was significantly brighter now, and the occasional ripple of movement was visible beneath its surface. That was the telltale sign that this egg had been "awakened," and that the larva inside was developing and getting ready to hatch.

Scylla pulled herself carefully up the mountain so she could peer into the hole at a closer range. Her tentacles stretched down the tunnel and into the cave, their tips brushing lightly against the egg's soft membrane in a gentle caress, before she pulled back. "I don't think she's ready to come out yet," she commented.

"No, she said she wouldn't be ready for a few days," the King agreed. "But that's fine. We're here now, so we can keep this egg safe until she's ready to hatch. And I don't know about you, but after the last couple of days, I could definitely use a rest." He sank slowly to the ground, leaning against the mountainside so his head was resting just below the opening to the nest chamber, and allowed himself to relax for the first time in what felt like an eternity. "So we'll wait here until she's ready."

Nodding in agreement, Scylla also sank to the ground, tucking her legs in under herself so she could lie down more easily. They both slipped into a peaceful silence, making themselves as comfortable as possible, and settled in to wait.

Two days later, in the hour before dawn, the egg began to hatch.

The King was roused from his sleep by a soft crunching noise, coming from somewhere above his head. His eyes flickered open, just in time to see Scylla sitting up as well. Their eyes met for a moment, before both of their gazes immediately shifted up to the cave entrance. The blue light coming from it had gotten much brighter, and the soft crunching, cracking noises continued to spill out.

Pushing himself up to his feet, the King brought his head up to the entrance, to see that the egg was twitching and jolting back and forth. It was also significantly bigger than it had been when he'd first arrived, showing that the larva inside had continued growing in the time that they had been there. Scylla scrambled up next to him, also trying to get a better view.

As they both watched eagerly, a tear appeared in the silken casing of the egg, as a small, hooked claw pierced through it from the inside. The claw went slack for a moment, but then it dug in and started pulling downwards, tearing a gash into the egg's membrane and allowing the fluid inside to spill out. Finally, the whole egg split wide open and fell away, as the shape inside shook off the collapsing membrane and rose up to her full height, letting out a soft, ringing chirp.

The King felt a rush of warmth welling up inside him, and his expression softened as his eyes glittered with emotion. "Mosura?" he whispered.

As she shook off the remaining liquid from her egg, the Queen looked up and her shining eyes met his. "Goji!" She scrambled forward, rushing out through the exit tunnel, and practically threw herself onto his head, gently rubbing her claws over his scales as her body trembled with sobs, joy and sorrow warring in her voice. "I knew you could do it! I'm so sorry I had to do that, but… I'm so glad you're all right!" Her voice was a little softer and a little higher-pitched than it was in her adult form, but other than that it was unmistakably the same.

The King closed his eyes and nuzzled into her embrace, carefully reaching up with one hand to run his claws gently down her back. "It's okay, Mosura," he murmured, his voice uncharacteristically soft and soothing. "We did it. We finally won. Everything's going to be all right, I promise." He rested his forehead lightly against hers, and felt another surge of warmth and love flowing through him as they reaffirmed their mental link once more.

After a long minute of just holding each other close, sharing their thoughts and emotions, they finally pulled back. The King smiled, a little more playfully this time. "There's someone else here who wanted to say hello, by the way," he informed her, nodding over to where Scylla was watching. She had backed up a little to let them have a bit of privacy, but her eyes were practically sparkling with happiness at the sight of the Queen.

"Scylla!" the Queen exclaimed, her eyes and her bioluminescence flashing even brighter at the sight of her friend. "It's so good to see you!"

Scylla reached up and let some of her tentacles briefly wrap around the Queen's small form in a friendly hug. "It's good to see you too, Mosura," she replied with her equivalent of a bright smile. "I'm glad you're okay: you had me worried for a while there." She chuckled softly at that, giving the smaller Kaiju a reassuring pat on the back with the tips of several tentacles.

"We should probably take this somewhere else," the King spoke up, drawing both of their attention. "Mosura, we should go someplace where you can rest and eat without being disturbed until you're ready to cocoon. Any preference?"

"Hmmm…" The Queen frowned, tilting her head to one side as she thought it over, before an idea came to her. "Oh! One of my old temples isn't far from here, so we might be able to go there. You remember, the one on an island to the northwest of here? I don't know if there are any humans living there now, but if there aren't then that would be a perfect place for me to cocoon."

The King nodded in agreement. "All right, then. Climb on and let's get going, shall we?" He lowered his head so it was just below the cave entrance, making it easy for her to climb onto his back. Unable to entirely suppress a giggle, the Queen scrambled out of the cave and over the top of his head, scuttling down his neck before finding a good spot on his back, tucked in safely between two rows of his dorsal plates with her head resting on his shoulder. Her claws hooked onto his plates, holding her securely in place.

With the Queen perched on his back and Scylla following beside them, the King strode back down out of the foothills and retraced his earlier path as they made their way down to the ocean. Just as they reached the shoreline, the sun began to rise on the eastern horizon, casting rays of brilliant light across the sky and creating a dazzling display on the water.

"Part of me still can't believe it," the Queen murmured as she gazed out at the beautiful sunrise. "It's finally over."

The King, however, shook his head, a faint smile coming to his face. "I wouldn't say that," he replied. "It's not over: it's just a new beginning."

As he waded into the sea, the King contemplated what the future might look like from here. The Golden One was gone for good, but the events of the last few days had still changed this world irrevocably. A new age was now beginning: many other Kaiju had now emerged from hibernation, and they were all going to have to learn how to coexist with each other again, while also adjusting to the challenge of sharing the world with these new, often-hostile humans.

But in his heart, the King felt unusually optimistic. His nemesis was dead at last; he had strong allies that he could call upon if necessary to help him keep the peace; and he had been reunited with his beloved Queen, this time for good. And, as she had told him so many times… when they worked together, there was nothing they couldn't do.

Standing in the shallow water, the King stopped for a moment. He exchanged a smile with his Queen, and then tilted his head back and roared up at the sky. The Queen called out along with him, a piercing, trilling cry that rang out far louder than her size would suggest. Their voices rose in harmony, treble and bass, echoing across the world with enough power to shake the heavens themselves.

It was a new day. A new world. And despite all the challenges that it might bring, for the King and the Queen, the future had never looked brighter.