Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nausea. Confusion. Uncertainty. That was what he felt when his senses slowly but surely returned to him. He could feel the wind against his face, a small comfort, and he could hear a strange whirling sound that was annoyingly loud in his ears. He felt the feeling of numbness leave his six clawed fingers first and he moved to flex them, feeling the blood flowing through his body. The numbing feeling then left his arms, and even though he could now feel them, the exhaustion he felt didn’t allow him to move them.

‘How annoying,’ he grumbled internally.

Soon he felt feeling return to his body, he felt the pumping of his heart, the movement of his organs, and the undeniable hunger gnawing at his stomach. Once his senses fully returned to him, he tried to feel the surroundings around him, so you can imagine his surprise when his senses told him that he was flying above the ocean.

Strange. How could he be flying if he could barely even move his own body under the effects of this extreme exhaustion. His mind then went back to the annoying whirling sound that was still present and he tried to figure out what they were. They sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place where. He growled in irritation before slowly opening his eyes. His vision was blurry, but a few more blinks cleared that problem. He swirled his pupils around and examined his surroundings, sure enough, he was above the ocean, but not in the way he would expect. Above him were multiple of the humans’ creations that they called “helicopters” if he remembered correctly. All the helicopters were attached by a single line to a giant net that he was curled up in. And flying alongside the helicopters were small metallic birds, if he didn’t know any better, he would’ve mistaken them for a form of Skarmory, but no, they weren’t Skarmory. Looking closer at them, he realized that the metallic birds were a form of human aircraft he wasn’t familiar with. A realization then dawned on him; they were taking him somewhere unknown.

He did not like that.

He’s heard his fair share of nasty encounters with human organizations from his fellow Legends. They all told him about how the human organizations all desired to control them for their own selfish and destructive agendas, even the Guardians of Time and Space almost fell for the humans’ ploys. Fortunately, though, the Chosen One was always there to right the wrongs, to bring balance back to the world. But right now, the Chosen One isn’t here, and he’d be damned if he was the first to fall under the humans’ control.

With a mighty roar, he brought his claws up and began trying to swipe at the helicopters above him in an attempt to destroy them. Predictably, the helicopters swayed away from him in a panicked formation, one even tried to fly away despite the fact that it was still connected to the net by its line. Bringing his other clawed hand up, he swiped at the helicopters again, managing to hit two of them and sending them crashing into the others. Small explosions rang in the air around him and the subsequent loss of many of the helicopters managed to release him from the net and send him falling down to the ocean below.

He narrowed his eyes and quickly flexed his many, red-tipped wings causing his descent to slow to a crawl before he came to a stop just above the water and began floating. Giving his wings a couple test flaps, he growled in satisfaction when they responded with no adverse effects. Looking back up, he noticed that the helicopters and their metallic bird escorts were fleeing. Good for them, at least they have a sense of self-preservation.

Without anything else to stand in his way, he flapped his wings once more and took to the skies above, climbing higher and higher until he was in the familiar layer of the Earth’s atmosphere that the humans call the ozone layer. It was there where he began feeding on the many water molecules present in the atmosphere to replenish his energy and strength. Once, he’d gathered enough strength, he pushed his otherworldly senses to the limits in an attempt to get a grasp on where in the world he was. He sighed; he sure hoped Kyogre and Groudon weren’t doing anything stupid.

To his shock, his senses picked up nothing, or rather there was no aura to sense. He tried to find any patch of aura on the planet, but there was nothing, it was all empty, null. Without aura he couldn’t pick up on the things going on around the world, he couldn’t sense the geological tremors caused by Groudon, nor the fast moving currents caused by Kyogre. He couldn’t sense the unruly but necessary storms caused by Tornadus and Thundurus, and he couldn’t sense Zygarde’s mighty presence in the world’s mass ecosystem. But the thing that bothered him the most was the loss of the Chosen One's presence.

‘What kind of treachery is this?’ he thought with a snarl.

His thought was cut off by the sound of a loud roaring engine approaching. Thinking quickly, he hid himself inside of a large cloud and watched as a large aircraft, larger than any he had seen before flew past him, presumably not noticing him. The aircraft passed close enough that he could sense the large amount of humans present inside of it. He hummed in thought, perhaps if he followed this aircraft at a distance then it would lead him to land. Nodding to himself, he decided to do just that.

Whatever bad things were happening, he would most certainly put a stop to it, for he is the sky itself, and his name is Rayquaza.

---

Today was a shitty day for those working under the allegiance of Monarch, because, after all, it isn’t everyday where you lose track a whole fucking Titan. The newest discovered Titan designated as Monster One is a mystery to say the least. Nobody knows where it came from, it just popped up in the middle of Himalayas one day and no one knows why or how it got there. And to make matters worse, you can see it pretty clearly from the summit of Mt. Everest, so you can imagine the scare that gave the civilians scaling up the mountain. Following the discovery, Monarch worked alongside the Nepalese government to evacuate and isolate Mt. Everest and the surrounding region to create a temporary outpost for the Titan. With the constant threat of avalanches and unrelenting blizzards, Monarch needed to find a way to move the Titan to a dedicated outpost. They also had to pray vehemently that the Titan didn’t wake up in the middle of it all.

Unfortunately, their prayers weren’t answered and it led to the worst possible scenario the organization can ask for.

“The damn thing can fly!?” Rick abruptly asked as he stared wide-eyed at the footage in front of him.

“It would seem so, but I’m not sure anyone in here can figure out how,” Sam replied, equally as baffled.

An old Japanese scientist then cleared his throat, causing everyone to divert his attention to him, “I’m sure all of us would like to dissect the footage and figure out Monster One’s biology, but right now we must figure out where Monster One is headed and warn any governments in its path,” Serizawa said.

“Uh, you guys might want to look at this,” Rick said as he looked at something on his computer. The scientists slowly gathered around Rick’s computer, and let out surprised gasps at what they saw.

---

Fox News @FoxNews

BREAKING: New unidentified Titan spotted resting atop of Mount Sobo in Kyūshū, Japan!

*Image of Rayquaza curled around the mountain with his head resting at the summit. He is staring directly at a news chopper hovering at a safe distance away.*

04:23 PM – 04/22/19 – Twitter Web App

102k Retweets – 47K Quote Tweets – 1.2M Likes

---

“Well, there goes our plan,” Sam said with a frown.

And it was back to the drawing board for the scientists at Monarch.

Chapter Text

Rayquaza stared curiously at the news helicopter hovering a good distance away from him. It wasn’t doing much else other than staring at him, perhaps it was simply observing him? He could slightly sense the fear the humans inside held. Rayquaza turned away from the chopper with an amused rumble, as long as they didn’t invade his personal space they would be fine. His mind then drifted off to the situation he found himself in. Rayquaza has long since accepted the fact that this world was not his own, that much he can believe. There were many signs pointing to that direction. The change in land and ocean that most definitely was not made by either Groudon or Kyogre was a prominent piece of evidence, those two can barely agree on where to raise a small island. There was also the complete lack of any sort of connection with Arceus, his creator, and the Chosen One. Rayquaza has tried calling to Arceus many times, but They never responded, and the Chosen One was completely absent from this world, so it was no use trying to seek him out.

He wasn’t unfamiliar with the concept of alternate universes, after all, Lord’s Palkia and Dialga can create new realities and timelines if they so wished. Not only that, but the Alola region itself was prone to having random bouts of strange portals appearing which led to other worlds.

The one thing Rayquaza can’t figure out, however, is how he got here? His memory had proved fruitless as he couldn’t remember the events that led to him being transported here. All he remembers is flying through the skies before being blinded by a bright flash of light followed by darkness. Rayquaza assumes he may have been over Alola at the time, but he isn’t sure.

Another thing he noticed was the change in his biology. He was noticeably larger than he remembers himself being. His long, serpentine body which was previously connected together by four segments was now connected together by sixteen, increasing his length to a great 362 feet. A monstrous change from his previous 82 feet. Rayquaza assumed that the drastic change was this world’s way of accommodating his presence.

Rayquaza looked up at the sky and frowned. One thing that didn’t sit well with him was that there was an unhealthy amount of pollution in this world's air. It would seem the humans of this world got a little carried away in their endeavor for progress, and as a result, they were hurting the planet. No matter, Rayquaza thought, he would help slow the damage, even if he wouldn’t be as effective as Ms. Shaymin. He wasn’t foolish nor arrogant enough to think that he alone would be able to save the planet, no, no, that decision belongs to the humans. Rayquaza can show them the way and guide them down the golden path, but it was up to them if they wanted to follow. Slowly uncurling himself from around the mountain so as to not damage it, Rayquaza ascending back up into the clouds to begin his mission.

---

Emma Russell replayed the recent news footage of Monster One once again, a mixture of fascination and frustration etched on to her face. The urge to spend the rest of her day examining this footage and the transport footage was almost too good to pass up. But no, that would be reserved for a later date, as of right now, she needs to finish her work on the Orca and implement Monster One’s new bioacoustics.

“I trust you will still be able to finish on time?” her colleague for her future operation asked through her phone.

“Yes,” Emma said with a nod, “It’s an… unexpected development, but I can finish this on time.”

“Good. We’ll be waiting.”

The person on the other end hung up, and Emma put her phone in her pocket. There was still work to do.

---

Godzilla bellowed lowly as he sensed a new presence making its way across the planet at great speeds. He narrowed his eyes, had Rodan woken up? No, Godzilla would’ve known, Rodan isn’t exactly the type to awaken quietly. Then who could it be? It couldn’t be Mothra, she hasn’t hatched from her egg yet, and all the other Titans are still asleep. Then could it be-

Godzilla’s heart bumped in his chest as his mind drifted off to him. The Golden One. Godzilla shook his head, no, that bastard is still encased in his icy prison. But, if that was the case, then who was this stranger? Had they come here to cause destruction like him? Godzilla growled and began leaving his underwater home, whatever their goals may be on this planet, Godzilla would show them who’s King, and if they don’t bow, then Godzilla will be their executioner.

Chapter Text

Some days have passed since the King began his goose chase with the Stranger. Unfortunately for Godzilla, he can only go so fast when limited to land and the sea. It didn’t help that whenever the Stranger would slow down and take a rest, they would leave right as Godzilla was close by. It was as if they were taunting him, it was infuriating. He was sure the Stranger knew they were being tailed at this point, perhaps they knew the moment he left his home. He growled lowly, startling some of the humans following him on their floating contraptions, Godzilla bet that the Stranger was taking some form of pleasure out of leading him around as if he were a pup. And with that thought, Godzilla decided to take his next course of action.  

Diving down into the deep sea below, he focused his efforts on first losing the humans that were on his tail. As annoying as they were, Godzilla didn’t enjoy any unnecessary loss of life, and if he was going to confront this Stranger, then it was best to do it in a remote location. Godzilla dove deeper and deeper into the ocean and began searching for the underwater tunnels he frequently used to travel the planet. Once he found one, he entered and let its strong currents take him to his destination.  

Arriving at his destination barely took any time, and Godzilla quickly exited the underwater tunnel and began his trek back to the surface. His dorsal spikes pierced the surface of the water first followed by his head. Looking around, Godzilla spots an island, and he swims towards it. Any animals near the beach begin to flee once they spot Godzilla approaching the island. Once Godzilla is close to the island he rises to his feet, displacing the water around him and causing some of it to go flying into the air. He snorts some air out of his nostrils and begins surveying the island. Thankfully, there were no sounds of human activity, just the blissful sounds of fauna all around the island.  

‘Well, let’s get this over with,’ Godzilla thought before taking a deep breath and rearing his head back roaring out his Alpha Call.  

“HEAR ME, STRANGER! I DEMAND THAT YOU SHOW YOURSELF TO ME AND STATE YOUR PURPOSE ON THIS WORLD, OR ELSE I WILL CHASE YOU UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD!”  

Godzilla’s call echoed around the globe, shaking the very molecules in the air. One thing was clear, Godzilla wasn’t taking “no” for an answer. It took some time before Godzilla felt the Stranger’s presence become stronger, and clearer. They were not of this world, Godzilla realized, though he had already assumed that. They were unnatural, an invasive creature in the planet’s ecosystem, just like him . Yet, surprisingly, they had not caused any destruction in their wake. Godzilla would’ve found it interesting if it wasn’t for the fact that they still posed a potential threat to the planet.  

Godzilla felt it before he saw it, a change in the wind, a small whisper in his ear telling him not to fear. The very clouds in the sky seemed to shift almost eagerly as if they were waiting to surprise him with an offering or gift. And then the Stranger appeared.  

With unparalleled grace, a serpent-like creature bolstering an emerald hue and two arms descended from the clouds above. Their body slithered effortlessly through the sky, their red-tipped rudders flapping ever so slightly to allow them to fly so easily. Their piercing yellow eyes landed on the King, and they regarded him with intrigue and curiosity. Lowering themselves so they could be at eye-level with Godzilla, they then proceeded to relax and curl their body around empty air and assume an idle position. Godzilla eyed the position with interest. So, they were not looking for a fight? That would make this much easier, maybe he could even convince them to scram before they got comfortable.  

“To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?” they asked politely.  

Godzilla slightly stilled at the sound of their voice. It was a heavy, but gentle sound, it was wise, old, strong, and spoke of hundreds of battles. It was like his... father. Godzilla killed and buried that thought before it could even take proper form. No, this could all just be an illusion, a facade for hiding a greater evil.  

“My name is Godzilla, and I am the ruler of this world. Who are you and what is your reason for being here?” he growled lowly, his tail swishing irritably.  

The Stranger regarded him with a skeptical look, no doubt not entirely believing Godzilla's words. Godzilla growled, daring him to voice his thoughts out loud. The Stranger, to his credit, remained unintimidated by Godzilla’s display, but they did lose the look.  

“My name is Rayquaza, I am a Legendary Pokémon, as for my reason for being here? I have none, I was unwillingly transported here from my home. How? I do not know. I apologize if my presence here brings any inconvenience.”  

Well, this first meeting was already turning out way better than the first meeting with him . They were even acting politely.  

“If you believe your presence caused any inconvenience then you should have no problem going back to where you came from.”  

Politeness was never Godzilla’s strong suit anyway.  

Rayquaza’s eyes narrowed at the words, and he was about to retort with some words of his own before he remembered that this was not his home. This was Godzilla’s home and territory, and he had every right to be upset with Rayquaza’s sudden appearance. Thinking about it now, Rayquaza’s kind of surprised Godzilla hasn’t initiated a fight yet. After all, he didn’t think twice about fighting that orange and blue creature that entered his territory at home.  

“As much as I would like to do that, I am unable. Both our worlds are separated by a barrier I cannot traverse or go around.”  

Rayquaza didn’t think explaining the concept of alternate universes would bore any good results. From the looks of it this pokémon (is he a pokémon?) didn’t seem to have the patience for such a lengthy explanation, nor was he in the mood for one.  

“Hmph, I doubt that. If you came from the stars, then you should have no trouble going back.”  

From a perspective, Godzilla’s words are true. But at the end of the day, Rayquaza is still a mortal creature, and like all mortal creatures he requires sustenance to live.  

“My home is too far away for me to simply ‘go back.’ I would die before I even came close,” Rayquaza said, going along with the lie of his origin.  

Godzilla frowned in confusion. He found it hard to believe Rayquaza’s words since both he and Rayquaza came from the stars. If he can traverse the world beyond, then why couldn’t Rayquaza?  

“This debate is getting us nowhere,” Godzilla snarled, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t turn you to ash right now.”  

Rayquaza’s eyes narrowed at the threat, and he quickly stopped himself before a growl could escape his lips, “I have assigned myself a mission on this world. I noticed that this planet seems to have a problem with its inhabitants polluting the atmosphere. The mission I assigned myself is to help clean the air and rid it of the inhabitant's poison.”  

“A noble cause, one that could hide a destructive evil behind it.”  

Rayquaza reared his head back at the accusation, this “King” is extremely paranoid.  

“You are not making this easy for the both of us.”  

“Why should I? Your one reason to get me to trust you could easily be a lie.”  

“Then what should I do to gain your trust? Actions speak louder than words after all.”  

Godzilla puffed air out through his nose, “Bow.”  

“What?”  

“Bow. If you want me to begin trusting you, then for as long as you are on this world, you will bow to me.”  

The insolence of this creature!  

Rayquaza growled lowly and regarded Godzilla with a predatory look, “I will play by your rules, I will listen to whatever request you have, I will be there when you call for aid, but I will. Not. Bow. I only bow to my Father and Creator.”  

Godzilla’s dorsal spikes began pulsing blue at the challenge, but Rayquaza didn’t react, if they were going to fight, he would not be the instigator. They both continued to stare each other down with bated breaths, the world went silent as they continued, as if waiting for the inevitable conflict that would ensue.  

Godzilla broke the silence by blowing air out of his nose, “At least you got some backbone under that polite and goody exterior,” he bellowed out before turning and walking towards the water, “Don’t step out of line, or you’ll regret it,” Godzilla warned one final time before disappearing under the water.  

Godzilla would keep an eye on Rayquaza. If he’s speaking the truth, then he’ll start seeing the effects in the coming months. If he’s lying, then he’ll have a bad time here on Earth.  

Chapter Text

Some months have passed since the terrifying encounter between Rayquaza and Godzilla, and Monarch has been keeping an eye on the two ever since. Well, they’ve been trying to keep an eye on Rayquaza, it’s pretty hard to keep track of something that can move insanely fast in the sky and doesn’t seem to rest that much.

In their efforts to observe and study Rayquaza, scientists at Monarch have been seeing some pretty interesting things happen. Anytime Rayquaza would pass over a field of wind turbines the wind in the area begins to pick up speed and doesn’t let up until long after Rayquaza has left. Another similar reoccurring event also happens in fields containing a large amount of solar panels. Anytime Rayquaza passes over a field, the clouds in the area disperse, allowing the solar panels to collect energy with an unobstructed view of the sun.

Everyone brushed it off at first, but the pattern just kept continuing to the point that it couldn’t be considered a coincidence anymore. Combine that with Rayquaza’s ever growing hatred of smokestacks, and a clear picture begins forming in some people’s heads.

“What if it’s trying to get us to start converting to renewable energy?” Rick asked, “It’s in the sky, like, 98% of the time so it’s not hard to believe that the atmosphere is its domain. And smokestacks exhaust so much pollutants into the air that it could explain why Monster One hates them so much.”

“You know what, Rick? You’re actually starting to make sense for once,” Ilene said. As long as this conversation could keep Rick from ranting about his hollow earth underwater tunnels, she thought.

“Not only that, but what do you think would explain its interference with the fields of wind turbines and solar panels? For it to do that it would imply that it holds enough intelligence to know how the systems function,” another scientist asked.

Rick’s eyes furrowed in thought for a moment, before they slowly raised in realization, “What if Monster One is from an alternate universe?”

Everyone, even some of the soldiers listening in to the conversation, let out a long sigh.

“Wait, think about it! Monster One wasn’t here originally, it just popped up, no warning, no signs of it happening. Realistically, it wouldn’t know how the systems function, unless it already knew what they were and was already familiar with them.”

“Then how would you explain the jumping universes part?” Ilene asked.

“I don’t know, physics and reality isn’t my strong suit. If it’s not from another universe then it must be from a different planet at least.”

If only they knew how right you were Rick. If only they knew.

“Oop, and there goes another one,” Rick muttered as he watched Rayquaza knock over another smokestack in China.

---

‘Good riddance,’ Rayquaza thought as he stared at the remains of the smokestack.

Once the humans saw him coming they didn’t hesitate in fleeing due to his now infamous status among workers working in powerplants. The fleeing humans made it easier for him to simply knock the buildings down without having to worry about hurting anyone. As much as he disliked destruction he had to get his intentions out to the humans somehow.

Rising back up into the clouds, Rayquaza began to lazily fly around the region while releasing special particles from his body that attack pollutants in the air. They work similarly to white blood cells in the immune system attacking an infection or bacteria. The process was a long one, and it always left him feeling slightly tired once he finished. Rayquaza rumbles to himself and begins reaching out to his surroundings with his advanced senses. Rayquaza’s been passively adapting to the world, the lack of aura made the process painfully slow, but he's confident that his senses will be back to full strength by the end of the year. Letting his senses guide him, Rayquaza eventually came across a tall mountain that was devoid of any human infrastructure. Rumbling in satisfaction, Rayquaza began to carefully curl his body around it before resting his head at the peak and closing his eyes.

His moment of reprieve was short-lived, however, and he was awoken by the sound of blades whirring in the air. Opening his eyes with a grumble, Rayquaza saw another one of the humans’ helicopters approaching him. Though, this one seemed to be a variant of the ones he’s seen. Instead of having one propeller on top of it and another at the tail, this helicopter had both of its propellers spinning above it. There also seemed to be some sort of insignia painted on the sides of the helicopter, it was two white triangles connected together by the tips forming a sort of infinity sign.

Rayquaza was about to brush it off and head back to sleep when he noticed that the helicopter was getting closer, closer than any other aircraft had ever dared to go. He growled in warning at the machine and it stopped in its tracks, and after a moment of hesitation from the humans inside, the helicopter began lowering itself to the ground near the peak. Rayquaza narrowed his eyes in suspicion, the humans have never been this bold before, at most their fast flying aircraft congregate around him and “escort” him around their cities, but never had they tried to interact with him. The helicopter turned so that its back was facing him before it landed, a second after, its engines turned off and the back began to open. Once the door opened, multiple humans stepped out, some were humans dressed in white coats and a sort of uniform, while the rest donned heavy armor and small arms. There was even a child present in the group, not that he knew why.

Rayquaza could sense the overwhelming fear seeping from their bodies as they slowly approached him. He stared them down with narrowed eyes as he racked his brain with possible reasons for this strange change in behavior. Then suddenly, the group stopped and one of the humans dressed in the white coats and the child stepped forward and stopped a couple of feet away from him. Rayquaza squinted his eyes to get a closer look at them and noticed that they were both female, they also gave off similar scents. Perhaps the older one is the child’s mother?

The two then knelt down to the floor and placed a small rectangular object in front of them. Rayquaza tilted his head, is this supposed to be some sort of offering? He hasn’t received one of those in a long time. Unexpectedly, the object opened up and the older female began fiddling with it.

‘Just what are they doing?’ Rayquaza wondered.

The older female hesitated after a moment and seemed as if she couldn’t bring herself to continue what she was doing. But the child gave her a hand gentle squeeze and said something that he couldn’t hear. That seemed to be just what the older female needed because she steeled her resolved and pressed down on the machine.

The effect was instant, and not even a second later Rayquaza began to hear a small voice, “Be calm. Be calm. Be calm,” the voice repeated in a soothing tone.

Rayquaza was undoubtedly confused, the voice sounded like Godzilla, but Godzilla wasn’t here. If Godzilla wasn’t here then who was saying those words? Rayquaza’s four horns twitched as he tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from, and his eyes eventually fell on the small contraption at the humans feet. Was the sound coming from there?

“Be calm. Be calm. Be calm,” it repeated like a mantra.

Rayquaza’s eyes widened in disbelief as he listened to the voice coming from the humans machine. Were they trying to communicate with him? He leaned his head in slowly and inspected the machine with a sniff, smelling the many materials used to create it. His eyes then drifted towards the two humans standing in front of him, they were looking up at him with wonder and awe, as if he had all the answers in the universe. It was by no means the first time he was looked upon like that. Even back at his home Rayquaza was rare sight to behold, and the humans looked up at him all the same with their eyes wide and their jaws on the floor.

Rayquaza’s thoughts drifted away when he saw the child take a hesitant step forward. Her body quivered with terror and fear, but her eyes betrayed her true thoughts. In her eyes, Rayquaza could see the full child-like wonder and fearlessness held within, she was a brave child, much braver for others her age. Once the child was close enough, she reached her hand out to try and touch Rayquaza’s head. But at that same moment her fear fully took hold of her body, leaving her frozen and terrified. Rayquaza could sense her inner turmoil, he could sense how she was beating herself up for approaching him so carelessly and how she wished to run back to the older woman her mother and hug her tight and never let go.

So Rayquaza did the one thing that would calm her down. He leaned in and let his head touch her hand. The girl let out a gasp of surprise and almost retracted her hand out of instinct, but Rayquaza let out a purr, and the child’s surprise and shock at the sudden sound overpowered her fear. The child smiled brightly before beginning to rub her hand against his head with a giggle, a sensation that Rayquaza enjoyed.

“Awesome,” he heard the child mutter.

In that moment, Rayquaza’s decision was made. If they were making an attempt to communicate with him, then he would reciprocate the action. Pushing his power to its current limit, Rayquaza began to gently pry into her mind and establish a telepathic bond. It was a bit difficult with the absence of aura, but her being a child made it slightly easier due to her brain not being fully developed yet. He could see the child frown in discomfort and scratch her head to relieve an itch that she couldn’t reach, Rayquaza disliked the discomfort he was bringing her, but it was necessary. Once Rayquaza finished and the bond was complete, he spoke his first words to her.

“Hello, little one.”

---

Madison froze once she heard a voice that was definitely not hers speak in her head. It sounded old, and maybe a bit tired. Was she imagining things? If she wasn’t then what was that? She heard Monster One let out a few rumbles which startled her out of her thoughts. Was it laughing at her?

“I assure you, child, that was not your imagination,” it said.

Madison gasped and took fearful steps away from Monster One and the soldiers quickly responded by aiming their weapons at him, but did not fire.

“Madison? Are you okay? What happened?” Madison heard her mother ask. Emma gently grabbed Madison by her hand and began inspecting her carefully, “Maddie, are you okay?” she asked once more.

Madison didn’t turn to look at her mom, instead she kept her focus on Monster One. It was talking in her head, did that mean it was reading her mind? Can it do that? Was it going to probe her? Use her as a puppet or something? Oh my gosh, why did she have to-

“Calm yourself, child,” the voice said in a soothing tone causing Madison to freeze up and her thoughts to cease. Monster One let out a sigh and gave her an empathetic look, “My apologies, I did not mean to frighten you. I simply wanted to establish a form of communication,” it said.

“Madison, talk to me! What’s happening?” her mom shouted in her ear, worried out of her mind.

Madison slowly turned her head to her mom before glancing back at Monster One, “Mom, it’s- it’s talking to me. It’s talking to me in my head,” she said breathlessly.

Her mom looked at her with disbelief, trying to rationalize her daughters words, “Madison, are you sure you’re okay? Your head isn’t hurt or anything?” she asked again.

“Mom, I’m serious!” Madison turned back to Monster One, “Can’t you give her a sign or something? Because I can’t be crazy!”

Monster One looked at her before moving his head to look at her mom who was trying to calm her daughter down. Puffing out some air from his nose, Monster One pried into Emma’s mind and gave it a nudge. Emma reacted instantly and took her hands off of Madison to clutch her head as a sudden headache began to overwhelm her. Once to headache was over, Emma turned to look at Monster One with wide eyes.

“Are you okay, Dr?” one of the scientists asked, concern etched in their voice.

Emma raised a hand up, asking for silence before she opened her mouth to speak, “If you can understand me, then give me another headache.”

The response was quicker than she expected, and Emma clutched her head again as she was overwhelmed with pain. Thankfully, it was quick to subside and Emma was left chuckling in disbelief.

“Amazing,” she muttered before turning to look at Madison, “And you said it’s talking to you?”

Madison grinned and gave her mother a nod, “Yeah.”

Behind them, the scientists began blabbering up a storm of theories and hypotheses and questions to ask. Even the soldiers were baffled by revelation, baffled enough to lower their weapons and stare up in shock.

One of the scientists raised their hand grabbing the attention of Rayquaza, “May I ask a question?” they asked.

Rayquaza nodded.

“What are you? Do you have a name we can call you? And where did you come from?”

“Those are three questions, but I’ll answer them all.”

Madison giggled at his response eliciting some curious glances from the scientists.

“I am a Legendary Pokémon, my name is Rayquaza, and I do not know how I arrived, only that it was involuntarily.”

Madison repeated the information to the scientists and they all grew interested in the term “Legendary Pokémon.” More interestingly, Rayquaza confirmed their theories that he wasn’t from Earth.

“What is a ‘Legendary Pokémon’?”

“How can you fly?”

“Can you control the weather?”

“Are you from a different planet?”

Emma frowned nervously at her over excited colleagues. Yes, it was okay to be excited about things like these, but she could see the growing irritation on the Titan’s face. He clearly did not appreciate being pestered with questions from people acting like children.

With a loud clap of her hands she gathered everyone’s attention and gave them a stern look, “Alright, everyone, I know this is a very exciting moment for everyone, but let’s remember the fact that we are adults. So let’s do ourselves a favor and act like it,” she chided.

Everyone nodded slowly with embarrassed looks on their faces, some even cowering under the look Rayquaza was giving them. One scientist felt their phone buzzing in their pants and they took it out to see what was happening. Their eyes widened when they saw what the alert was about.

“Dr. Russell!” they exclaimed.

“Yes?”

“She’s hatching.”

Chapter Text

Sleep. That’s all she’s ever known since the Cold Times, since her King ordered all Titans into hibernation. She followed through with his order dutifully, not one to question or doubt the orders of her King. Most of the time at least. She remembered sharing the news with the humans who had built their homes in and around her territory, she remembered how saddened and fearful they were knowing they would no longer live under the care and protection of their goddess. In all honesty, it saddened her too. She had grown accustomed to interacting with the humans almost daily, whether it be through offerings or one of the rituals they performed for her. It was a great feeling knowing how much they appreciated her. But, unfortunately, everything must come to an end eventually. Bidding farewell to the humans, she quickly searched for a safe space to lay her egg before flying to her final resting place. There she closed her eyes and allowed her body to die. A more peaceful death compared to her others.

But now, it was time to reawaken. Slowly opening her eyes, Mothra took stock of how much her body has developed, and to her excitement, she was complete. With a new sense of glee, Mothra began using all of her strength to push through her soft egg. The egg stretched and whined under the force she was putting it through, but she paid it no mind. With a quiet snap and pop, the top of the egg broke apart allowing her to free herself and embrace the cool, open air. Her senses, ever so sharp, notified her of the presence of many humans behind her. Her excitement increased tenfold, the humans had survived through the Cold Times! She knew they would, they are a very tenacious bunch!

Turning around, Mothra was met with a very strange and confusing sight. There were multiple humans surrounding her with strange looking things in their hands. All of the humans present were covered head to toe in some sort of clothing, the likes of which she’s never seen before. Hmm, perhaps this is simply how they present themselves now? It has been quite a long time after all, and humans were prone to change.

Suddenly, a loud and strange voice pierced the air, “Activating containment grid.”

No later than the voice spoke multiple bright beams of light surrounded Mothra on all sides, startling her quite a bit.

“What is this!?” she shrieked loudly.

Mothra stared suspiciously at the beams of light, her senses told her that these beams were extremely hot, and simply touching one would bring her immense pain. Just what were these humans trying to do? Mothra looked past the humans standing in front of her and saw more humans standing inside of a large room at the end of the cave. All of the humans inside the room were looking at her with expressions of shock and awe. She didn’t understand, if they were so excited about her presence then why were they trying to keep her contained?

The doors behind the humans abruptly opened and in rushed two new arrivals, one older female and a child. The older female approached one of the humans wearing a white coat and they started discussing something while the child slowly drifted closer to Mothra. Mothra’s eyes fell on the child who was looking up to her giddily with her jaw open, she was amused by the child’s high spirits, a familiar sight in this unfamiliar atmosphere. But there was something else too, there was something off about the child, but she couldn’t quite figure out what yet.

Suddenly, a loud blaring noise played throughout the room and the lights around her flashed red for a moment, and the hot beams of light surrounding her disappeared. The humans surrounding her grew fearful at the disappearance of the beams and began to point the things in their hands, which were now crackling with electricity, at her.

‘Is this some type of threat?’ Mothra thought.

Mothra let out a threatening chitter as she narrowed her eyes at the humans. She began to prepare some silk just in case she needed to defend herself. Mothra wouldn’t kill the humans, but it wasn’t going to tickle either. A loud hissing sound then filled the air and Mothra spared a glance to where the sound came from, and she saw the female and child both approaching her. The older female barked something at the humans holding their electrical sticks and they were quick to turn them off. Mothra let out a curious chirp, ooh perhaps this woman is the matriarch of this tribe, yes the would explain it! The child must be hers as well, they both give off similar scents.

The matriarch must’ve told them off as well, because the humans holding the sticks began to walk back to the room all the way at the back of the cave. Only once they all leave did the matriarch and child continue to get closer to her. Eventually, once they deemed themselves close enough, they both stopped and the matriarch placed something down on the floor. It was miniscule in size and didn’t look much like an offering. The object then began to open by itself and Mothra grew curious. The matriarch then began to quickly fiddle with the object and once she was done she gently pressed down on it.

“Be calm. Be calm. Be calm.”

A modified version of her King’s voice sounded out from the object on the floor, which surprised her greatly. How had the humans done this? It was incredible! Just how much progress have the humans made in the Titan’s absence? Mothra’s eyes landed on the child in front of her, who was attempting to reach out and touch her. Mothra let out a low coo and leaned in slightly, her senses then picked up something strange. This child was bonded to another Titan, but this Titan was unfamiliar to her. The bond was still in its first stages, so it must’ve been formed not even an hour ago, two hours max. But, who was the Titan that formed this bond? As far as she knew, her King was the only one awake at this time, and this wasn’t a result of his.

A loud explosion interrupted Mothra’s train of thought, and she looked up to see multiple humans entering the room and- were they killing everyone!? Rearing herself up to make herself look more intimidating, Mothra narrowed her eyes at the intruders right as they killed the last human who was surrendering, the cruelty! She could hear the fearful whimpering of the child as she was held by her mother, it broke her heart to hear such sounds. One of the intruders stepped through the invisible barrier that had broken from the force of one of their weapons and looked up to her with a sinister grin. Mothra did not like him.

The human then said something to the matriarch and her child and beckoned them over. She prepared to shoot some of her silk at the human, but to her surprise, the matriarch complied and she closed her communicative machine and had her child follow. The child was surprised and shocked by the sudden change of events, but she followed her mother, albeit with reluctance. And now, Mothra was left alone with a lot of dead humans. As much as it saddened her to leave their bodies alone, she could not tend to them right now. Right now, she had to burrow her way out and prepare her cocoon. Her King is waiting for her and she wasn’t going to make him wait any longer than needed.

---

Mark couldn’t believe what he was watching. It was like a nightmare, except the nightmare was actually real, it was happening right before his very eyes. His ex-wife, but more importantly his daughter, being escorted out of a Monarch outpost at gun point. He can feel the unrelenting pit of guilt and helplessness begin forming in his chest, making his throat tighten and for his fists to clench painfully at his sides.

“I should’ve been there for her,” he managed to croak out, “Who are they?” he asked while gesturing to the armed men in the footage.

“We don’t know yet,” Vivienne replied, “But we believe they were after this.”

Vivienne changed the screen on the tablet to a still image of Emma and Maddie on their knees sitting in front of-

Whipping his head up fast enough to almost give himself whiplash, Mark glanced at Serizawa who was still giving him that sympathetic look, and then back to Vivienne with a disbelieving look on his face.

“You didn’t,” he said in a low, angry tone.

“It’s the Orca,” Sam cut in, “It’s why we think they need Emma-“

Mark ignored Sam’s unnecessary exposition of the device, he already knew what it was damn it. Why was there another? Emma and him had destroyed the prototype, and yet here another was. Mark felt a seething anger flowing through his veins, just what was Emma planning to do with it before they were kidnapped at gun point.

“Why? Why did she rebuild it?” he demanded.

“After San Francisco, Emma went back to Boston and spent years rebuilding and redeveloping it. She thought it could-“

“What? Play God? Did she think that she could control these, these things? Have them under the whims of her fingers?”

“No! She rebuilt it because she thought it could prevent another catastrophe!”

“Yeah, but did she ever stop and think that it could cause another catastrophe? Take now for example! What do you think those people are gonna make Emma do, huh? Take a wild fucking guess.”

“That is why we need to get it back, Mark,” Serizawa’s calm and collected voice said, “Emma always said no one knew the Orca better than you. If you can help us track it, then we can stop them.”

“It shouldn’t even exist.”

“Well, Mark, it does, and now it’s probably the only thing keeping Emma and Madison alive right now,” Sam said.

Mark stepped away from the island that he was leaning on and took a look outside his kitchen window. They’re right, and he hates it. The Orca is functional and all it took was one frequency to commit mass genocide. And as much as he despises it, sitting around and not doing anything wasn’t going to get his daughter back.

“I’ll help, but once we’re over and done with this, I want the Orca destroyed and never rebuilt again.”

And what other choice did they have but to agree.

Chapter Text

The ride to Castle Bravo was mostly quiet as Mark was still trying to wrap his head around the revelation of his daughter’s kidnapping just hours earlier. He’s been pinching himself from time to time, trying to convince himself that he’s dreaming but no he wasn’t. Would this have happened if he didn’t drink? If he didn’t distance himself from Maddie and eventually have her leave with Emma? If he simply tried harder to be better than who he is now, would all this still have happened?

“When was the last time you spoke to Emma?” Vivienne asked softly.

Mark swallowed a lump in his throat, “About three years ago,” he answered quietly, “We tried to put the pieces back together, but it never worked out. The hole just kept getting bigger. Eventually, I started drinking, Emma didn’t think it was a good idea to keep Maddie around anymore and she took her,” Mark blinked back tears and took a deep breath, “I can’t tell you how much I hate myself for putting her through that. I was supposed to help and keep her happy and I couldn’t even do that.”

Mark felt Vivienne put a hand on his shoulder and gently squeeze it while giving him a consoling look. He gave her a small nod of appreciation, and went back to staring at the other side of the Osprey, he felt slightly better, like a portion of the weight on his shoulders lifted a little bit.

“Mind if we cut in?” Sam asked as he and Serizawa sat across from Mark and Vivienne, “It’s just, you’re gonna want to see this,” Sam said as he handed Mark a tablet.

Mark warily grabbed it and looked at its contents. The first slide was a detailed breakdown of the Orca, he skipped the slide, there was no point in analyzing something that was gonna be destroyed by the end of this operation. The next slide displayed the bioacoustics of “Titanus Mosura,” Mark swiped to the next slide, and it had the bioacoustics of “Titanus Rodan.” He kept swiping through each slide while listening to Sam’s explanation of how the Orca functioned. It wasn’t until he landed on a slide that displayed “Titanus Gojira’s” bioacoustics did Mark just pause and stare. He felt the anger and hate begin coursing through his veins, but Mark quickly stamped it out and moved to the next slide. There were more important things to do than get angry.

“The problem is, we don’t know which Titan she combined. But, if you can identify those frequencies we’ll be able to track the Orca,” Vivienne said as Mark landed on a slide displaying “Titanus Rayquaza’s” bioacoustics.

“Jesus,” Mark muttered in disbelief, “How many of these things are there?”

“18 and counting, after Gojira,” Serizawa said.

“18??”

“Most of them were discovered in deep hibernation,” Vivienne was quick to reassure, “While others were contained at top secret sights around the globe. The only ones loose and active around the planet are Godzilla and Rayquaza, who was only recently discovered.”

“Why don’t you kill them?” Mark asked with gritted teeth.

“The government wants to,” Serizawa replied, “But Emma and I believe some are benevolent, and now we may even have evidence to support it.”

“Oh, I would sure like to see this ‘evidence’,” Mark replied sarcastically.

He caught a glance of Sam and Serizawa giving each other a quick look before Serizawa glanced at Vivienne. Mark looked at all three of them, trying to figure out what silent conversation they were having. Then it hit him.

“Bullshit,” Mark said, not wanting to believe whatever they were going to say.

“It may seem so, Mark. But it is your choice if you would like to remain ignorant,” Serizawa said.

Mark tried so hard not to let that bother him, but the longer he waited in unknowing silence the more curious he got. And it didn’t help that Serizawa kept shooting him occasional glances as if saying that the offer still stood. In a last ditch effort to keep himself from caving, Mark remembered the saying “curiosity killed the cat.”

‘But satisfaction brought it back,’ Mark heard Maddie’s voice say in his head. He shook the memory out of his head and let out a sigh.

“Fine, show me what you got.”

Serizawa nodded and gestured to Sam, Mark gave Sam the tablet and Sam switched out the slideshow for video feed recorded hours beforehand. Sam gave back the tablet to Mark, and Mark pressed play on the video.

The video started with a bird’s eye view from an Osprey showing the subject of video. Titanus Rayquaza. Mark allowed himself to be colored surprised and intrigued for a moment, the thing was long, like really fucking long. He wouldn’t doubt it if you told him it was long enough for its end to meet the base of the mountain it was curled around. As the Osprey got closer, it’s eyes opened and it’s head raised to focus on the Osprey. Not good. The Osprey continued to get closer and as Mark was questioning the sanity of whoever was behind the stick, the thing let out a low, warning growl.

Now if that isn’t an indication to not get closer, Mark didn’t know what was.

Thankfully, the Osprey stopped in its tracks. Unfortunately, the Osprey was now descending and the video feed cut just before it landed. The cut footage was immediately replaced with a camera being held by a Monarch scientist standing alongside a group of other scientists and some armed soldiers. The camera was pointed upwards, staring directly at Rayquaza, and Mark winced in sympathy. People always underestimated just how large these things are when you’re up that close. The camera then panned downward to show Emma and- was that… Was that Maddie!?

“What the hell is Maddie doing there!?” he shouted, rage clear on his face and in his voice.

“We do not know, Mark,” Serizawa calm voice replied, “Emma must’ve brought her along.”

Mark went back to staring at the footage while the same question of “why was she there?” kept repeating in his mind. Was Emma stupid? Did she finally go insane? What course of events led to her allowing this!?

The footage continued and Mark noticed Emma place something that looked like a suitcase down on the floor. Mark’s eyes widened, no, she didn’t. But sure enough, it was the Orca, and Emma was going to use it on this giant, green snake. Mark had to forcefully calm down and remind himself that Maddie was alive and with Emma, but even then she wasn’t safe. Mark’s gaze returned to the screen once the pulsing sound of the Orca played through the tablet’s speakers. Mark didn’t know what he was expecting, a hiss? A roar of rage or confusion? Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t what happened next.

The green snake’s face frowned in human-like confusion as it looked around with its fins (horns?) twitching (did it use those to pinpoint vibrations?). It’s gaze inevitably landed on the Orca and it leaned in and sniffed it curiously before glancing up at Emma and Maddie. And just as things couldn’t get any worse, Maddie began approaching the thing with her hand outstretched. Mark had stopped breathing, this is it, this is how he watches his daughter potentially die. Maddie got closer and closer, until eventually she froze in terror. He wanted to yell and shout at her to run, but what was the point? She was already dead.

Mark shut his eyes, not wanting to watch any further. He heard a gasp from Maddie and some loud rumbling, that’s it she was eat-

“Awesome,” Mark heard Maddie mutter just loud enough for the camera to hear.

Mark slowly opened his eyes and they widened in shock at what he saw. His daughter, Madison Russell, was petting the thing, with a giant grin on her face. And was it purring??? Like a cat??? Did it like what Maddie was doing???

Confusion couldn’t even begin to explain what he was feeling. Shit, he wasn’t even sure words in general could explain it.

“Would you like to watch the rest later, Mark? You look like you’re about to pass out,” Vivienne said worriedly.

Mark nodded slowly, “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

---

Madison jolted from her sleep when the Osprey she was in went through some turbulence. She looked around noting all the unfamiliar faces and was about to freak out before she remembered what had happened half a day earlier. The terror of the situation resettled itself in her body and she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

She felt a small tickle in her head followed by a soothing, but concerned sensation spreading itself around her head. Oh right, Rayquaza was bonded to her. Unfortunately, they were too far away to converse with words at the moment, so Madison had to rely on expressing what she was feeling to converse with Rayquaza. Ugh, that’s too much of a mouthful, can she just call him Ray?

A sense of amusement flooded Madison’s body and she stifled a giggle, so that’s a yes? The amusement was replaced with a gentle warmth, it was a yes.

Madison was ripped out of her playful thoughts when the Osprey landed and Jonah stood up, “Alright, let’s go,” he said and his men all stood up with guns ready.

She watched him and his men leave the Osprey and waited for the slaughter that was about to happen. There was shouting as the soldiers at the outpost began to realize that Jonah’s men weren’t their friends, and then the shooting started. Madison heart pumped in her chest and she jumped in her seat at the sounds of guns popping and bullets whizzing.

Concern once again welled up in her head as Ray wordlessly asked if she was okay. Madison assured him that she was okay, why wouldn’t she be okay? The sensation suddenly grew hot and serious with Ray once again asked if she was okay.

Madison took a deep breath and nodded to herself, yes, she was okay, there was nothing to worry about. She just almost fell off some stairs while carrying something for her mom.

The sensation softened and began to recede, but in its trail it left a feeling of doubt and uncertainty. Ray didn’t believe her fully, but he wasn’t going to push it. Eventually, the sensation disappeared entirely, leaving Madison truly alone inside the Osprey with her mom. Madison heard two pairs of footsteps approaching and she looked out to see Jonah and one of his men approaching. Jonah stepped inside the Osprey and regarded the mother-daughter duo.

“Area’s clear, let’s go,” he said casually, as if he didn’t just murder a bunch of people.

Emma nodded and she and Madison stood up while holding hands. Following Jonah out of the Osprey, Madison's breath shook as she took in the carnage that happened outside. Dead bodies were strewn everywhere along the path inside the facility, all of them bleeding out of the holes the bullets made in their bodies. Madison forced her eyes forward and tried her best not to look while feeling tears well in her eyes. Blinking the tears away, Madison joined her mom and the others inside an elevator, Jonah pressed one of the sub-basement levels, and they all waited as the elevator took them down.

Madison glanced at Jonah for a moment, Jonah noticed and decided to try and cheer her up, or something. Using a hand he waved it in front of his face and the frown he was wearing shifted to a smile once his hand passed over his face. Madison was not impressed, and she responded back by rubbing her face with her middle finger, earning a scoff from Jonah. Yeah, take that you bastard.

The elevator stopped and the door opened to reveal something that would haunt her dreams. Resting under the outpost was a humongous piece of ice that dwarfed everyone present, and frozen inside was Monster Zero. It’s body was frozen in an uncomfortable fashion, as if it was a sudden thing that happened, and all three of its mouths were open with teeth flared and it looked as if they were in the middle of roaring in rage before being frozen.

A pit of dread opened up inside Madison’s stomach that threatened to swallow her whole, and the longer she stared at Monster Zero, the bigger it got. Thankfully, her mom tugged at her gently and Madison turned and followed without question. Eventually, the group came to a stop near the ice and Madison saw her mom reach a hand out and touch the freezing ice which encapsulated Monster Zero. Madison swore she saw a look of pity on her mom’s face before she moved to one of the computers and started plugging in the Orca.

Madison felt her heartbeat quicken under the presence of Monster Zero, every cell in her body trembled and screamed at her to leave, run, hide, be anywhere but here. She felt Ray’s presence make itself known with a worried nudge of her brain, she tried to respond but she was being overpowered by her fear.

“So, Madison,” she heard Jonah call.

Madison slowly turned to Jonah and looked up to him and immediately regretted it. He stared down at her with cold eyes and a small smirk, she felt as if she was a lab rat to him.

“Y-Yes?” Madison finally croaked out.

“You see, when you were sleeping inside the Osprey, you’re mother told me something quite intriguing.”

Madison’s eyes widened, her body quivering. Ray tried to get her attention but it was no use.

“You’re mother said you had formed a telepathic bond with Monster One, yes? She told me you could communicate with it. Is that true?”

Madison’s breathing hitched, her brain began hurting from Ray’s overbearing feelings of worry, “Y-Yes.”

“Jonah, leave her out of this,” her mom warned.

“Hmm, but why should we waste such a great opportunity? If she could bond with Monster One, then who’s to say she couldn’t with Monster Zero?”

That was it, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Madison let out a terrified gasp as she quickly backed away from Jonah while screaming in her head for Ray to come and help and save her and her mom. Madison’s hands and legs began to tremble and sweat was pouring down her body in droves as she begged for Ray’s help. Ray was stunned by the abrupt outbreak in emotions for a moment before giving Madison a reassuring nudge, telling her he was on his way.

“All I’m saying is that this would go much more smoothly if we had an interpreter with us. Wouldn’t you agree, Dr. Russell?”

Madison turned to her mom, and she felt her heart sink at her mom’s face. She was actually thinking about it! Madison shook her head, tears freely flowing down her cheeks at this point. No, there was no way she’d bond to that, that abomination!

Her mom turned her head to her and once her eyes landed on her daughter’s crying and trembling form. In that moment her decision was made.

“No.”

Oh my god, Madison would be kissing the floor and thanking every religious deity there was if she wasn’t shaking and crying. Instead, she ran up to her mom and gave her the tightest hug she could while muttering thank you over and over again. Madison glanced at Jonah and he didn’t seem pleased at the choice, but he only sighed and looked away.

Madison glared at him before looking back at her mom, “Mom, you have to stop. I- I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Her mom looked at her with confusion, “But Maddie, this is everything I’ve been working up to, everything we’ve done is all for this moment.”

Madison shook her head, “No, mom, you don’t understand. We can’t free him, any other one but him,” Madison said while pointing to Monster Zero.

Her mom placed a hand on Madison’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, “Madison, everything will be alright, as long as we have the Orca then it should all be fine.”

Madison wanted to scream and tell her about how wrong she was and how this was a big mistake, but she knew her mom, her conviction was too strong to simply stop because of a bad feeling. Not only that, but Jonah and his men would force her to do it anyway. Madison could only stand and watch helplessly as the machines all around the facility began to drill holes into the ice before having bombs be fitted inside. She could only hope Ray arrived fast enough to stop this before it was too late.

Chapter Text

The sleeping people of Berlin, Germany were rudely awakened by the sound of a loud sonic boom, followed by a roar, reverberating through the air. Many were quick to assume that a Titan had appeared and was attacking the city leading to many casualties as everyone tried to flee to safety. Fortunately, no Titan had decided to attack the city, instead, some people noticed a distinct trail of emerald light slowly fading out in the night sky above them. The phenomenon then appeared above Switzerland, then Italy, and it continued down south of the Mediterranean Sea.

Rick stared at his computer as new reports and sightings from Africa were starting to trickle in, not only that, but Godzilla had also disappeared off scans near Venezuela, meaning he was untraceable until he popped back up. Rick sighed before getting up from his seat and heading over to where everyone was discussing about Monster Zero.

“Sorry to crash your discussion, but I got some news you might want to hear. We lost Godzilla, and Rayquaza is barreling down south at mach speeds. He’s in Africa and he’s hauling ass over here”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the revelation and Mark was the first to speak, “What do you mean Godzilla disappeared?”

“And why has Rayquaza suddenly decided to travel south? He rarely enters the southern hemisphere,” Vivienne asked.

“I may not be able to answer the first question, but I may be able to answer your second,” Ilene said, “The reports from the scientists who participated in Emma’s testing of the Orca on Rayquaza say that Madison gained a telepathic bond with the Titan, allowing them to communicate their thoughts to one another. I think Madison may have called Rayquaza over, or it senses her distress.”

“You actually believe that?” Mark asked with furrowed brows.

“The scientists wouldn’t have recorded it if they didn’t believe it fully,” Ilene replied.

“Either way, Rayquaza and Gojira will be arriving at Antarctica soon. Speed is of the essence if we wish to make it out in one peace,” Serizawa said.

“Everyone start getting ready!” Foster interrupted, “We’re approaching the base.”

Everyone nodded and started putting on some winter gear before heading to the Argo’s hanger bay.

---

Meanwhile, inside the outpost, Madison anxiously sat in a chair as she watched Jonah’s men finish fitting the last of the bombs inside the holes they drilled in the ice. She took in a deep breath before letting it out, she could feel Ray getting closer, and he would be here soon, the feeling was a small comfort in her terrifying situation.

Madison was pulled from her thoughts when one of Jonah’s men told him that some of Monarch’s forces were here. Madison silently cheered at the news and began formulating a plan to get away from Jonah and his men, there was no way she was going to stay with them any longer. Madison overheard that they were going to plan an ambush, okay, maybe once the ambush began she can slip away while the soldiers are all focused on each other? Yeah, that could work.

A high pitched tone sounded out and Madison saw that the bombs were now a solid red color and were no longer blinking. They were armed, she realized.

“Come on, Maddie,” she heard her mom say before feeling a hand grasp hers and drag her away.

She debated simply breaking out of her mom’s grasp and running away, but that wouldn’t be a smart decision. At best she’ll probably be shot and incapacitated, at the absolute worst she’d be killed as a liability. Either way, it was a no-win situation. Letting out a shaky sigh, she followed along until Jonah’s men began to slow down and take positions in the tunnels around them.

Madison squeezed her mom’s hand, at any second, bullets would start flying and she was going to have to run faster than she’s ever run in her life. The silence continued for an unnerving amount of time, and she could feel her heartbeat quicken in anticipation. Then, like a thunderclap, the base exploded with the sounds of bullets flying from their chambers and people screaming in fright. Madison grit her teeth and pulled as hard as she could and successfully broke away from her mom’s grip, and proceeded to sprint down the tunnel behind them as fast as she could.

“Madison!” she heard her mom cry out, but Madison ignored her and kept running.

She heard some shouting behind her from Jonah which was followed by heavy footsteps chasing after her. Madison gave a quick glance behind her and saw one of Jonah’s men running after her with his rifle in hand, he hasn’t pointed it at her, but she doesn’t doubt the fact that he’ll use it if he’s forced too. Madison thinks quickly, and begins to take as many turns as possible to lose her tail while vehemently praying she doesn’t run into a dead end.

And by some miracle, Madison hears a voice she never expected to hear, “Emma! Maddie! Where are you!?” she heard her dad shout.

“Dad!” Madison screams as she begins running towards the voice, the footsteps behind her suddenly picking up speed and getting closer to her.

“Maddie! Follow my voice!”

Madison takes a right at an intersection in the tunnels and runs up a set of stairs. The stairs lead to a long catwalk and Madison spots her father on the other side desperately looking around the different areas of the facility to see if he could spot his daughter.

“Dad!” Maddie exclaims as she runs over to him.

Her dad’s face whips over to her, and his eyes widened with pure relief, but that relief was swiftly replaced with horror as her dad began raising and pointing a pistol at her. Madison’s heart dropped, and before she could even question why he was pointing a gun at her, blinding pain erupted from her left thigh. Madison screamed in agony as she fell to the floor face first. She heard shouting followed by three bullets firing, and a loud thump behind her. Madison pushed through her pain, and turned her head to see one of Jonah’s men sprawled out on the floor of the catwalk with blood leaking out of wounds she couldn’t see. She moaned in pain before looking forward and seeing her dad discard the pistol in his hand and rushing to her.

Her dad knelt beside her and gently turned her over on her back, “Madison? Madison are you okay, sweetheart? Where does it hurt?” he asked through bated breaths and shaking hands.

Madison moaned in pain and let out a choked sob, “leg… left,” she responded weakly.

Mark diverted his eyes to his daughters left leg, and sure enough, there was a small bullet hole in her upper thigh. Mark cursed before quickly taking off his thick jacket and shirt. Pushing through the unyielding cold, Mark tied a knot around Madison’s leg with his shirt to slow the blood flow. His daughter cried and begged him to stop, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t, lest his daughter die from blood loss.

Quickly putting his thick jacket back on, he scooped up his daughter, placing one hand under her legs and one under her back, “Maddie, I’m gonna need you to stay awake, okay? No matter how tired you get, you have to stay awake!”

Madison responded with a weak nod and a shiver, and Mark ran as fast as he could back to the elevator. Suddenly, the explosives inside the ice containing Monster Zero exploded, causing Mark to almost lose his footing and fall over the railing. Several chunks of ice flew out from the force of the explosions, and Mark cried out as many of the chunks were close to hitting the catwalk he and his daughter were on. Mark grunted before pushing himself forward step by step until he reached the elevator. To his horror, the elevator had gone without him. Mark pressed the button to call the elevator several times and prayed that it would return to the floor he was on before they were crushed under dense layers of ice.

Another tremor erupted inside the facility and Madison cried out in fear as a large chunk of ice nearly hit the elevator they waiting for, “Dad! I’m scared!” she cried.

“Just hang in there Maddie! I’m gonna get you out!” he reassured to the best of his ability.

The elevator finally arrived to Mark’s floor and he gasped in fear once the doors opened to reveal several rifles being pointed at him and his daughter.

“Friendlies! Hold your fire!” Mark heard Foster yell before a soldier grabbed him and dragged him inside the elevator.

“Up, Martinez, up!” Foster ordered and Martinez punched the up button of the elevator.

The elevator doors closed and proceeded to bring them back up to surface level.

“Foster! Do we have any medkits on board the Osprey!?” Mark shouted over the sound of collapsing ice.

“Yes! Are you injured!?”

“No! It’s my daughter! She got shot!”

Foster nodded and leaned her radio into her mouth and told everyone aboard the Osprey to prepare a medkit to treat Madison, and after what felt like an eternity of waiting, the elevator opened up at surface level.

“Alright, let’s go, let’s go!” Foster shouted.

The soldiers and Mark poured out of the elevator and pushed their legs as fast as they could go to outrun the collapsing ice below them. Mark’s throat burned as he breathed in the cold air around him, his legs pumping furiously, his body on fire from how much blood his thumping heart was circulating through his system. He heard the sound of cracking ice behind him, and he acted on instinct and dove forward while turning his body so that Madison landed on top of him. The ice behind him broke apart and collapsed into the ever growing hole where the outpost once stood. Mark didn’t allow it to keep his attention any longer and he quickly stood back up with Madison in his arms. Right as he was about to continue his run to the Osprey, Mark heard an all too familiar sound.

Through the speaker of an Osprey already hovering in the air, Mark heard the pulsing sound of the Orca. The effect was instant, and the low hanging mist at his feet began to recede into the newly created hole. Low growls and chitters began emanating from the hole followed by the flashing of yellow lightning and the clapping of the thunder that followed it. Mark gasped as a large, spiked tail rose from the hole, the spikes on its tail flexed before shaking, giving off the sound of rattling akin to that of a rattlesnake. The tail was then followed by a head with draconic proportions, horns, and amber eyes that blinked slowly, taking in its surroundings.

“Dad, run,” Mark heard Madison whisper, as if she was afraid the monster would hear her.

Mark didn’t need to be told twice. Turning on his heels, Mark bolted for the Osprey, some of the soldiers who noticed him were quick to break out of their stunned gazes and start running as well. There was a short bark from the Titan and all hell broke loose as it begun the process of freeing itself from its icy prison. With great force, the Titan raised its trapped wings, breaking through the ice they were stuck under with laughable ease. The Titan then rested its wings on some unbroken ice and began to lift itself up from the hole it was in with a triumphant roar. One of the soldiers who had been stuck in their stunned stupor until now ordered the nearby soldiers around them to open fire. The soldiers turned and aimed their rifles at the Titan and fired. Predictably, the bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the Titan’s golden scales and did nothing but gain it’s attention.

The Titan turned its now three golden heads towards the soldiers and let out many short rumbles akin to that of laughter, and it raised its heads and began charging an attack which was visible to the soldiers as a glow in the dragon's three necks. The soldiers let out cries of agony that were quickly silenced as golden beams of electricity shot out from each of the three heads and reduced them to nothing but atoms.

Mark huffed and puffed air in and out of his lungs as he finally stumbled into the Osprey with his barely conscious daughter in his arms, “Help..! Help Maddie!” he said in between breaths. Before anyone could move, the Osprey suddenly shook as the Titan began to approach it. The windows of the Osprey were suddenly covered with golden scales as it was pushed around by the snout’s of the Titan. It continued to push around the aircraft with curiosity while occasionally peering an eye inside. It was as if it was looking for something.

The Titan then abruptly stopped much to everyone’s relief. And everyone listened closely as it began to back away from the Osprey while letting out confused huffs and growls. The blizzard winds around the Osprey suddenly grew still and the clouds above began to part and reveal the glowing night sky above.

Everyone was confused and wondered why this was happening until Madison spoke, “He’s here,” she said, barely above a whisper.

Mark diverted his eyes up, and searched the sky through the Osprey’s front window for whatever it was Madison was talking about. As if descending from the heavens, Rayquaza showed himself in all his glory. His glowing green body parted from the clouds above and he slithered around the sky with expert ease before spotting what he was looking for. Coming to a slow stop in front of the Osprey, Rayquaza leaned in close and turned his head so that his eye was peering inside the Osprey. There he saw Madison, who was smiling up at him, being held tightly by who he assumed to be her father. Rayquaza let out a light chuff in greeting and Madison responded with a small wave.

The greeted was interrupted by Monster Zero letting out a roar, demanding Rayquaza’s attention. Rayquaza looked up at the unfamiliar Titan and narrowed his eyes at it before hovering up into a more comfortable position.

---

Ichi growled in irritation as he watched the unfamiliar glowing green serpent descend from the skies above, the skies which only they were supposed to control. He could feel Ni’s anger and San’s confusion at the sudden change, the storm in which they were starting to build up had been snuffed out by the mere presence of this Titan. The Titan then lowered itself near the machine in which the humans were in and peered inside before letting out a greeting. Ichi’s eyes widened slightly in realization, was this the Titan who was bonded to the child inside? Very interesting.

Ni, seemingly tired of the Titan ignoring them, let out a roar, “Hey! Who the hell are you!?”

The Titan raised its head and hovered upward, away from the humans’ machine, San was running endless questions through his mind, trying to figure out the Titan’s capabilities. It can fly, somehow, is it faster than them? Does it have abilities like that damned lizard? Why is its body glowing?

“I could be asking you the same question,” it responded.

Ni scoffed at the serpent and Ichi responded for him, “We are King Ghidorah. We have recently awakened and are here too... Reclaim our world and territory,” Ichi said, maybe if they could convince this Titan that they had good intentions then it would join them and they would finally be rid of the Little King.

Unexpectedly, the Titan hissed in disgust at their offer, “You take me for a fool? I can see right through your words. You’re very body and essence desires nothing but the total annihilation of this world and its inhabitants," it then lowered its voice and let out a growl, "It would be wise of you to leave and never come back.”

All three of Ghidorah’s heads growled at the Titan, so it was one of those “protectors” of this planet. It irritated them to no end, and as a show of force, Ghidorah began raising themselves up with their wings spread out, doubling their size to appear intimidating.

“If you want us gone, then you’re going to have to kill us to do it!” Ni said with a cackle.

Ichi and San joined in on the cackling, and all three of them began charging up their gravity beams. The Titan didn’t move to stop or dodge the attack, hmph, its hubris will be its end. Ghidorah fired their gravity beams and they watched with glee as their attack flew towards the Titan. Suddenly, the Titan was encapsulated in some sort of protective shield, their gravity beams collided with the shield, and Ghidorah continued the beam for a few seconds longer thinking they could break through the barrier. Once satisfied, they cut off their attack. To their shock, the shield didn’t have so much as a scratch on it.

“Fool,” was all it said before the shield around them faded and they charged up an attack, faster than they could anticipate, and fired it off at them.

The beam of pure energy collided with their torso, and all three of Ghidorah’s heads let out surprised cries of pain as they dug their feet in and stood their ground against the attack. Once the attack stopped, the burning pain didn’t immediately leave their body, and their connected minds exploded with activity. San was running questions and strategies through his mind faster than anyone could comprehend, Ni was letting out confused and angry noises at their failure to hurt Rayquaza, and Ichi was cautiously assessing the situation.

Before Ghidorah could try to fire off another attack, Rayquaza followed the Hyper Beam up with a Dragon Rush. A blue draconic aura surrounded itself around Rayquaza and he charged at Ghidorah with a ear piercing roar. Ghidorah raised its wings and hid behind them in an effort to protect themselves, but it did to stop Rayquaza. Focusing his attention on Ni, Rayquaza opened his jaws and clamped down around Ni's neck, and with the speed he was traveling at, succeeded in tearing the head off completely. Blood spurted out at the now decapitated neck as it fell limp, and Ichi and San cried out in pain and surprise.

“You- You bastard! You’ll pay for that!” San roared out in uncharacteristic rage.

Rayquaza responded by using Dragon Breath and burning the decapitated head in his mouth go cinders. While Rayquaza did that, Ichi ordered San to come up with a plan, any plan as long as it could get them out of their current position. San nodded and did that while Ichi fired gravity beams at Rayquaza to keep him off them for a moment. It was a rather pointless endeavor trying to hit Rayquaza, he had centuries of experience dodging deadly attacks from both Groudon and Kyogre, so dodging the attacks of one was nothing but child’s play. Once the head in his mouth was nothing but ash, Rayquaza began charging in again with another Dragon Rush. Ghidorah began raising his wings again to protect himself and Rayquaza grinned, they didn’t learn did they? Unexpectedly, Rayquaza felt a sharp pain in the side of his face as he was hit by one of Ghidorah’s spiked tails. The attack knocked him off course and sent him tumbling into some nearby buildings, crushing them under his weight. Ghidorah jumped at the opportunity, and the two remaining heads fired off their gravity beams at the vulnerable Rayquaza. The gravity beams met their target, and Rayquaza roared in pain as the electrical beams burned and seared at his flesh and wings. The attack finished and Rayquaza quickly took back to the air, though with noticable difficulty, and faced Ghidorah.

The two dragons stared each other down for a long moment, and right as they were about to continue, a loud boom echoed throughout the area as large chunks of ice suddenly spurted from the ground behind Ghidorah, and the familiar sight of glowing blue dorsal spikes accompanied by a hum began rising up from the ground. Godzilla had arrived.

As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, the sound of jet engines roaring filled the air, and the Argo broke through the clouds followed by her escort of fighter jets. They all let loose their payload of missiles at Ghidorah, and Ghidorah roared in frustration as they covered themselves in their wings again for protection. They couldn’t believe it, they were losing, and badly at that. Leave it to the Little King to find such troublesome allies.

Once the missiles were spent, Ghidorah didn’t bother sparing another glance at Godzilla or Rayquaza, and they spread their wings and took to the sky. Godzilla roared in rage and fired off his atomic breath at the fleeing dragon, but unfortunately, he missed.

Rayquaza tried to follow but he could almost barely lift himself higher into the air. Confused, Rayquaza craned his neck behind him and saw one of his wings was burned, almost to the bone. Rayquaza huffed before using Recover to begin healing, a gentle green glow once again surrounded Rayquaza as his burned flesh began repairing itself at a slow rate. Muscles, blood vessels, and nerves began reconnecting as his body worked at repairing whatever damage he received.

The sound of an Osprey approaching got Rayquaza’s attention, and he turned to see another Osprey landing next to the one he saw Madison in. Rayquaza noticed the distinct lack of a Godzilla that was here not even 15 seconds ago. Rayquaza hummed, he probably went to go chase after Ghidorah, he didn’t even say “hello” to Rayquaza. Rayquaza saw the humans begin exiting both aircrafts and he approached slowly once he spotted Madison being carried out by her father.

All of the humans froze once they noticed him approaching, their fear was palpable, and Rayquaza let out a low croon in an attempt to calm them down. Though, it just seemed to frighten them more. Once he was close enough, Rayquaza leaned in close to Madison and examined her. He sniffed the air, and the faint scent of Madison’s blood concerned him, was she injured? Oh, that just wouldn’t do. Slowly as to not frighten them, Rayquaza reached a clawed hand out to Madison. Understandably, Madison’s father recoiled and held her tight while backing away. Rayquaza tried to reach out again, but he was met with the same result.

One of the older humans then approached him and began to, hopefully, try to convince him to let him help. Madison’s father stared at him incredulously before looking back up at Rayquaza. Rayquaza felt him stare right into his eyes and Rayquaza stared back, Rayquaza let his eyes soften as he stared, trying his best to convey his intentions to Madison’s father. Rayquaza noticed the man’s eyes soften and he glanced down at Madison’s unconscious body in his arms before looking up at Rayquaza with a hardened look. The man took a step forward and Rayquaza took that as his queue.

Reaching out once more, Rayquaza extended a clawed finger out to Madison. Rayquaza's clawed finger lowered and touched Madison’s head for a brief moment, and in that moment, Rayquaza allowed some of the healing energy from Recover to transfer over to Madison. Rayquaza heard Madison’s father gasp in shock as Madison’s body began to glow green for a couple of seconds before fading.

Once the glow faded, Madison began to shift in her father’s arms and she slowly opened her eyes and met her father’s eyes, “Dad?”

---

Mark would cry tears of joy if his eyes weren’t so fucking dry right now. He gave his daughter the tightest hug he possibly could. Just as he was beginning to fear his daughter would succumb to blood loss, this Titan comes and… and heals her. God, he had so much to think about later.

“Maddie, a-are you okay? Do you feel any pain?” he asked Madison.

Madison shook her head, “No, my leg feels fine, perfect actually. How did-“ a rumble caused Madison to stop mid-sentence and look up. Her eyes widened with joy at the sight of Rayquaza peering down at her, “Ray!” she shouted before hopping out of Mark’s arms and running towards the dragon.

Well, if Madison’s words didn’t convince him that his daughter was fine, that sure did.

“Ray! Are you okay? You got some, uh, burns, and you’re glowing,” Mark couldn’t believe how casually she said that.

Rayquaza leaned his head down and Mark briefly thought the dragon was about to gobble her up, but instead, Rayquaza nuzzled his lower jaw up against Madison’s body causing her go laugh and rub the side of his head.

“Oh, really? That’s why you’re glowing?”

Rayquaza nodded.

“Cool!”

Mark could only stare as he tried to interpret the one-way conversation the two were having. It feels like everything he’s ever known about them has been crushed in this one moment, the Titan’s are intelligent, they don’t solely rely on instinct to push them forward. It was… was…

“Incredible,” Mark heard Serizawa mutter in awe next to him.

Yeah, it was incredible.

“Serizawa,” Mark said grabbing the Japanese man’s attention.

“Yes?”

“I think I know how to find the Orca.”

Chapter Text

Ichi couldn’t believe what they were doing right now, he and San were flying away, like cowards! Ichi snarled in frustration, they were so badly beaten that they had to run like terrified children. San assured him it wasn’t cowardice, but rather a tactical retreat. It didn’t make Ichi feel any better, because now he could sense the Little King chasing them under the water, and it was only a matter of time before that Emerald Beast showed up again. They had severely underestimated their adversaries capabilities, and they paid the price for it.

Ichi glanced over to Ni’s limp neck and saw that it had begun the regeneration process, and unless they found a source of radiation to absorb and speed up the process, it was going to take some time before Ni was back in action. San gave him a mental nudge and Ichi turned his head to him.

“What?”

“I have an idea that you might like,” San said with a smirk.

“I’m listening.”

“It’s a simple plan, but it may prove effective against that lizard and serpent. I say we try to awaken whatever Titan’s we come across in our retreat. If the lizard and serpent have any care for this world, then they will focus on the rampaging Titan’s first before coming to us. That leaves us with ample time to prepare and maybe come across some potential allies.”

Ichi smirked at San, “Yes, that could work,” Ichi then glanced down beyond the clouds and noticed some human infrastructure. Using his senses, Ichi noticed that the humans had contained a Titan inside. Ichi grinned, “In fact, why don’t we start right now?”

Diving down with a shriek, Ghidorah flared his wings out to slow his fall and landed on top of the human outpost. The two heads grinned gleefully at the sounds of panicking humans going silent by being crushed under their weight. There were some stragglers trying to flee, but Ghidorah wouldn’t let them. Charging up their gravity beams, Ghidorah unleashed their wrath upon the helpless humans and the outpost, reducing it to nothing but rubble. Once Ichi was satisfied with their masterpiece, he closed his mouth which cut off his gravity beam. He turned his head to San who was still unleashing his beam upon the burned rubble, seemingly lost in his own ecstasy.

Ichi growled and bit down on San’s horns, causing the youngest head to yelp in surprise and let out a small whimper.

“Focus, we will have time to continue our destruction once we’re rid of the Little King and the serpent” Ichi said.

San nodded, “Right.”

“Good. Now help me wake this one up.”

Clearing their throats, Ichi and San directed their heads to the large cavern the human buildings were surrounding. The two heads grinned, opened their mouths, and used their Alpha Call on the slumbering Titan.

“AWAKEN AT ONCE OR DIE IN YOUR SLUMBER!” both of their voices shrieked.

Ghidorah waited for a moment and the silence was soon broken by the sound of heavy footsteps. Emerging from the large cavern entrance was a set of two curved tusks covered in thick vines followed by a creature reminiscent of that of the now extinct woolly mammoth. Its entire body was covered in dense brown fur that hung low to the ground, and even dragged along the ground in some areas.

It then stopped right as it was exiting the cavern and its eyes met Ghidorah’s. It took an uncertain step back in its cavern and rumbled.

“You,” the Titan said fearfully, “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be-“

Ichi cut him off with a snarl, and the Titan, Behemoth, took another step back into the cavern.

“What I’m doing here does not matter. What you need to do is listen very closely-“ Ichi started.

“Or else you won’t like what happens next,” San finished before displaying some yellow electricity sparking in his jaws.

Behemoth suddenly steeled his resolve and let out a roar in challenge, “I only listen to my King,” he growled while pawing at the ground.

Ichi smirked, “Well, then it’s a good thing you’re looking at him.”

Before Behemoth could utter another word, Ghidorah used his telepathic abilities to worm his way into Behemoth’s mind and begin forcing his will on the Titan. Behemoth wailed and banged his head against the cavern walls in pain as the feeling of his head getting torn apart and reshaped continued. Soon, Behemoth’s cries dwindled until he was completely silent while blankly staring forward.

“Who do you serve?” Ichi questioned, testing to see if he was successful in controlling the Titan.

“You, my King,” Behemoth replied in a monotone voice.

“And what is your purpose?”

“To destroy.”

Ichi nodded, satisfied at his work, “Yes, that it your only purpose. I sense a large human settlement nearby. Start with that, and if anyone tries to intervene, kill them.”

Behemoth nodded before bowing, “Yes, my King,” he said before exiting the cavern and heading to the city of Rio de Janeiro.

---

Godzilla bellowed lowly as he felt the balance in nature suddenly being shifted once more to the side of chaos. Godzilla grumbled as he allowed himself to divert from his chase against the Golden One to address the new problem. The green flying snake, Rayqoza, or whatever he called himself, would continue to chase the Golden One.

Rising up from the ocean, Godzilla walked over to where he sensed the problem emerging from. What he saw was slightly surprising to say the least. There was another Titan that was awake. Godzilla vaguely recognized the Titan, Behemoth, his memory reminded him, but more importantly, he was destroying everything in his sight, it didn’t matter if it was natural or human-made. Nothing could escape the indiscriminate destruction of his two large tusks. Rage welled-up in Godzilla’s veins, not only had this Titan disobeyed his orders to stay in hibernation, but he was actively destroying the Earth. Now that just won’t do.

Taking in a large breath, Godzilla let out a loud challenging roar before charging at the Titan. Behemoth turned to see who dared to intervene in his goal, but he was met with a powerful shoulder charge that sent him skidding back. Before Behemoth could regain his bearings, Godzilla was on him again. Raising his arms up, Godzilla began clawing on Behemoth’s face, making Behemoth roar and shove Godzilla back with his large tusks. Godzilla stumbled back, brought his arms out and caught himself on some crumbling buildings. Godzilla heard a roar and saw Behemoth charging him, intend to ram Godzilla with his large trunks.

Godzilla dug his feet into the ground and charged up his atomic breath before releasing it at the rogue Titan. Behemoth let out a cry and stopped and turned his head away to shield his face from the beam of radiation. Godzilla stepped closer while shooting his atomic breath, keeping the Titan pressured and unable to fight back. Once Godzilla was close enough to the Titan, he stopped his atomic breath, and with a frightening show of speed and strength, got down and clamped his powerful jaws around Behemoth’s front left foot and turned him over on his side, leaving the Titan powerless against Godzilla.

Behemoth attempted to get up, but he was stopped when Godzilla placed a foot on his side, keeping him pinned down.

“Destroy… I need to destroy…” the Titan blankly said whilst still trying to get up.

Godzilla roared in fury, “Silence! You will stop this senseless destruction and you will return to your slumber!”

“No… My King told me too destroy…”

“I AM YOUR KING! AND YOU WILL LISTEN ONLY TO ME!” Godzilla leaned in close, “Or else,” he growled lowly.

Using his Alpha Call seemed to have done the trick because Behemoth shook his head in confusion before gazing up to a very angry Godzilla standing over him.

“M-My King?” Behemoth whimpered fearfully, “Wh-What happened? I only remember being awoken by-“

“SILENCE!”

Behemoth smartly did so.

“I will only tell you this once, so listen closely,” Behemoth nodded, “You will return to your place of rest and continue your sleep. If I find you out against my orders I will not hesitate to kill you.”

Godzilla turned and began sauntering off, back into the ocean bit stopped when he heard Behemoth’s voice.

“But, my King! Would you not like my assistance in your battle against the Golden One?”

Godzilla stopped and thought about it for a moment, strength in numbers is a great idea, but the green snake has shown himself to be able to hold his own against the Golden One. And with the assistance of his Queen, who he senses will emerge from her cocoon soon, Godzilla believes they could take the Golden One on.

“No,” Godzilla simply said before disappearing into the ocean.

---

Ghidorah was close, and Rayquaza could sense that. He had departed from the squadron of jets a long while ago to catch up to the three-headed dragon. And now that he’s fully healed, he was ready and raring to go for round two. Breaking through the clouds, Rayquaza noticed a large supercell that had developed a couple hundred miles in front of him. It was thundering with yellow flashes of lightning, and there were dozens of waterspouts being formed as well. Rayquaza growled at the unnatural occurrence, no doubt it was the work of Ghidorah.

Rayquaza’s thoughts were interrupted by his senses screaming at him followed by a loud screech. Rayquaza acted quickly and tried to dodge, but his opponent used his extremely long length against him, and Rayquaza felt many sharp talons dig into his flesh, making him roar in pain. His opponent didn’t waste any time opening their jaws and biting down on Rayquaza and taking out a chunk out of one of his rudders before slashing at him with its long claws. Rayquaza roared before twisting the front of his body around so that he was facing his back and blasting his opponent with a Hyper Beam.

Rayquaza heard another screech as the Titan which had ambushed him released their hold on him and were blasted back by the force of the Hyper Beam. Rayquaza quickly turned his entire body around and faced the newcomer with a low, guttural growl. The newcomer quickly spread their wings and started flying back up to the level Rayquaza was in and stared him down with a squawk.

There, Rayquaza got a good look at the Titan. It was some sort of avian creature with large wings, red skin, and a long tail. Red disheveled feathers adorned the creature's wings and crest, with some being present along its tail. It’s mouth was long and disfigured, and it was covered in blood that dripped down its sides similarly to its claws and talons. Overall, it vaguely reminded Rayquaza of the long extinct Archeops.

“Kill… Must kill for my King!” it shrieked before flying higher into the air and diving down to Rayquaza.

Rayquaza narrowed his eyes at the Titan before expertly dodging the straight forward attack. ‘King? That doesn’t make any sense. Godzilla wouldn’t do this. But, if not Godzilla then who?’ Rayquaza’s eyes widened as he quickly pieced together that this was Ghidorah’s doing.

Dodging another attack, Rayquaza retaliated with a Dragon Tail followed by an Extreme Speed. Rayquaza’s tail glowed a cyan color and he whipped it at the flying Titan, sending it flying through the air uncontrollably. Rayquaza’s body glowed a bright white, and faster than the eye could see, headbutt the Titan’s body with a sickening crack being heard on impact. The Titan shrieked in pain and discomfort as its new injury hindered its ability to fly effectively.

Rayquaza jumped at the opening and swiftly bound the injured Titan around his coils. It struggled as it tried to free itself, but a firm squeeze kept it from making anymore attempts. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop it from babbling on about how it had to kill Rayquaza. Rayquaza ignored the creature’s crazed speaking and focused on freeing its mind from Ghidorah’s control. Using his telepathic abilities, Rayquaza began to slow process of untangling the Titan’s mind from Ghidorah’s corrupted grasp. It took some time as Ghidorah had an iron grip on the Titan’s mind, but as he got closer to freeing the avian Titan, it began calming down until is was completely limp in Rayquaza’s coils.

Once Rayquaza had completely freed the Titan from Ghidorah’s grasp he waited to see if anything would happen. Sure enough, the avian Titan began rousing from its unconscious state.

“Wha? W-Where am I?” the Titan’s gaze met Rayquaza’s and only now did it see the situation it was in. Both Rayquaza and the Titan remained silent as they stared at each other, both waiting for the other to speak first, “Y-You’re not gonna, uh, kill me, are you?” the avian Titan managed to choke out fearfully.

“…No.”

Rayquaza could practically see the relief seeping out of his body as the Titan relaxed in his coils, “Okay, c-can you let go of me then?”

Rayquaza nodded, “Yes, just give me a moment. You have sustained some internal injuries in our fight,” he said as he began using Recover on both himself and the Titan.

“Fight?” the Titan questioned, “I don’t remember that.”

“Hmm. Do you remember encountering a three-headed dragon named Ghidorah?” Rayquaza said before releasing the Titan from his coils.

The Titan squawked in surprise before flapping its wings and rising back up to Rayquaza’s level, “No, I just remember waking up to a voice, and suddenly I’m here. The name’s Quetzalcoatl by the way.”

Rayquaza nodded back in greeting, “And my name is Rayquaza. It is a pleasure to meet you even though it wasn’t under the best circumstances.”

“Yeah…” Quetzalcoatl said nervously, “What are you going to do now? I kind of got nothing to do since I don’t think I’m supposed to be awake right now.”

“Well, I suppose you wouldn’t mind assisting me in fighting and defeating the one who forcefully took control of your mind?”

Quetzalcoatl grinned, “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind knocking the Titan down a wing or two.”

“Good, then follow me,” Rayquaza said before leading Quetzalcoatl to the ever growing tropical storm in the distance.

Chapter Text

Emma and Jonah stared at the computer with levels of intrigue and amazement. It seems as if Monster Zero is doing their job for them! What a stellar advancement in their plans! Though, the tropical storm turned hurricane may be of some concern, and it only seemed to continue to grow.

“Very interesting, but one thing confuses me, Dr,” Jonah said before pointing at another monitor displaying the end of Godzilla's tussle with Behemoth, “If our goal is to save the planet by releasing these Titans, then why is our little friend here attempting to stop them?”

Now that was the one thing that left Emma Russell stumped. No matter how hard she thought about it, it didn’t make much sense. If he saw it as an attack on his territory, then why has he been so tolerate of Rayquaza’s presence? Rayquaza is an anomaly, an unknown, if anything, Rayquaza’s presence should’ve triggered Godzilla, yet it didn’t. Emma sighed as she tried to think of other possibilities, but nothing she thought of made much sense either.

“I don’t know, Jonah,” Emma said, “The most plausible explanation I have is that Godzilla doesn’t particularly enjoy Monster Zero’s influence over the Titans, but that still wouldn’t explain why he ordered them back into hibernation instead of keeping them awake.”

Jonah huffed before turning to a large map marked with many Monarch outposts containing every discovered Titan on the planet.

“Well, if we’re going to be waking all the Titan’s up, then it would be in our best interest to assist our three-headed friend, right?” Jonah said before grabbing a marker and circling a hidden outpost located in New Jersey. The Titan being contained there labeled as “Queen MUTO.”

---

“AWAKEN AT ONCE OR DIE!”

Rodan flinched at the loud order reaching him through the magma of the volcano he slept in. A part of him wanted to ignore the order and continue his blissful sleep, but the other part of him knew full well what would happen if he kept his King waiting. He did not feel like being forcefully dragged through cold sea water.

Opening his eyes, Rodan began to climb up the volcano he rested in, but unexpectedly, right when he reached the top he was stopped by some sort of hard covering or lid wedged inside the entrance of the volcano. Rodan gave it a test push and realized that it was already weakened quite a bit. With a grin, the Fire Demon smashed through the lid with all the force he could muster, causing a loud explosion to occur, and for the lid to go flying off elsewhere. Rodan began climbing out of the volcano with groggy movements, sleep still lingering in his system.

Once his head popped out of the volcano, he looked up at where the voice came from, “Alright, Godzilla. What the hell do you… want… now..?” Rodan’s voice trailed off as he stared at the Titan that was most definitely not Godzilla.

Standing over him with menacing looks on their faces was Ghidorah. Rodan felt his heartbeat quicken in his chest, and he felt his muscles tense. This had to be a dream, there’s no way Ghidorah should be standing over him right now. But no matter how hard Rodan squinted his eyes or willed himself to awaken from this “dream.” Ghidorah’s towering form never ceased to exist.

San snickered at Rodan’s fearful and shocked expression, while Ichi grinned sinisterly, “What’s the matter pretty bird~? Not happy to see us?” Ichi said in a sing song way.

Rodan squawked nervously, “Y-You. You’re supposed to be-“

“Trapped? Imprisoned in that icy wasteland that you and your little gang of friends put us in?” Ichi interrupted, “Yes, yes, we remember everything, pretty bird.”

Rodan glanced at his hated adversary heads and noticed that one was missing. He cheered internally, if he has a missing head then that must mean Godzilla must not be too far behind. He was sure his King wouldn’t mind some assist-

Rodan’s thoughts were cut off with a hard whack of one of Ghidorah’s spiked tails, “Don’t even try it,” Ichi said.

Rodan let out a groan of pain before refocusing his attention back to Ghidorah, “I would rather die than help the likes of you!” he said with a glare.

Ichi and San laughed, “Oh, pretty bird, with what we’re going to do, you’re going to be begging us to kill you,” Ichi said as he and San began charging up their gravity beams.

---

Mothra awoke to a great pain in her mind, as if she had been directly attacked telepathically. She squirmed uncomfortably in her cocoon as her mind raced to catch up with what had just occurred. Taking a deep breath, Mothra reached out with her senses to get a grasp on her surroundings. The distinct lack of light indicated that it was in the middle of the light, and her senses detected multiple humans lingering near the waterfall in which she had cocooned herself in. None of them displayed any malice or ill intent, actually, it didn’t even seem like they noticed how much she squirmed in her cocoon.

Her thoughts were interrupted by another mind numbing migraine suddenly making itself known, except this one was much more long lasting, it felt as if her head was being forcefully unraveled and dissected. A familiar screech of pain echoed in her head, and her vision shifted to see through the eyes of another Titan, more specifically, Rodan.

Many thoughts raced through her mind. Why was Rodan awake? Why was he in so much pain? Is he currently in a fight? If he was, just who was he fighting? Was he calling for help? All of her thoughts were answered when Rodan tilted his head up and glanced up at his oppressor. There, in all of his terrifying glory, stood Ghidorah with sinister grins on two of his heads. The third, much to Mothra’s delight, was missing. Mothra allowed herself to feel a small sense of comfort, her King had already engaged the trespasser in battle, and Ghidorah hadn’t come out of it unscathed.

Suddenly, Mothra’s mental link with Rodan was shattered into a million pieces, causing her migraine to explode into an unbearable pain which made her screech in pain from within her cocoon. Many of the humans present around her jumped in fright and pointed their weapons at her, but she paid them no mind. Reaching out with her mind, she tried to reach out to Rodan with their mental link, but it was no use, whatever that Gold Demon had done to Rodan had cut Mothra off from him. This also meant that Rodan was now vulnerable to falling under Ghidorah’s control.

Pushing through her pain, Mothra assessed herself and how much her body has developed. Starting with her legs, Mothra moved them around bit to get a grasp on how much they’ve formed. She counted six legs, all fully developed and holding strong. Moving on to her wings, Mothra felt how each nerve connected together to give her a full sense of how much progress she’s made in them. Shifted them and folded then around her body, Mothra was satisfied to see them ready for flight. The last thing she needed to check was her body. Mothra closed her eyes for a moment and examined herself, feeling all the blood vessels in her body, along with all her organs. Her heart was beating strong and at a calm pace, and every single cell was working in tandem with one another to get her ready to break out of her cocoon. Mothra opened her eyes with a nod, she was ready.

Lifting up one of her right legs, Mothra began pushing through her cocoon until she felt her leg pierce through the soft material. Using her legs sharpness to her advantage, Mothra started to drag her leg down until a tear large enough for her to fit through formed. With a trill, Mothra began pushing herself out of her cocoon and into the cool nightly air around her. The humans in front of her did nothing but stare in amazement and awe at her, completely enraptured by her presence.

With her body now fully out of her cocoon, Mothra began to spread her magnificent wings. With a final screech, Mothra beat her wings as hard she could, launching herself up into the air and beginning her flight across the sky.

As she flew through the sky, Mothra began reaching out to her King through the mental link she formed with him, “Are you there, my King?”

“Mothra? Hmph, finally decided to show up, huh?”

“Yes, I have,” Mothra replied, unbothered by her King’s attitude, “I hope you do not mind telling me what has been going on in the world, my mental link with Rodan was destroyed by… him.”

Godzilla’s emotions were overcome with frustration, “Yeah, he’s back. I don’t know how, but he is. There’s also someone else, but their on our side as far as I can tell,” her King said with… was that… Was that respect???

Mothra immediately grew interested by who this Titan was, but decided not to ask, the fact that her King shows any semblance of respect to this Titan means that he will surely deny it if she mentions it. She’ll just have to wait until she meets the Titan herself.

“Well, my King, I am on my way to lend you my assistance.”

---

Rayquaza flew through the developing hurricane with remarkable ease, but for some strange reason, the storm wouldn’t cease under his divine presence. Not even Groudon and Kyogre’s combined destructive control over the environment could defy him like this storm is. But it seems like the storm had stopped its development and was now stagnant.

“Are you sure you can control the weather? Doesn’t seem like it to me,” Quetzalcoatl commented.

“Yes, but this storm is a strange one. If I had to guess, it may have been cultivated by that Ghidorah. Thankfully, I have managed to halt its progress, so it should not get any worse.”

Quetzalcoatl nodded in understanding, “That’s a good thing then. If it rained any harder it would be a lot harder to fly for me.”

The two continued to fly to the eye of the storm, where Rayquaza sensed Ghidorah’s and another Titan’s presence. The closer to the center they flew, however, the more intense the storm became. Rain beat down hard on the two Titans and water spouts were becoming a common sight as they neared the center. Additionally, the extraordinarily powerful and erratic wings were making it difficult for Quetzalcoatl to fly effectively.

“I probably should’ve just kept my mouth shut, huh?” Quetzalcoatl squawked as he began flapping his wings harder to adjust to the storms unruly winds.

Rayquaza chuckled, “Yeah, you probably should ha-“

Rayquaza was abruptly interrupted by an unholy screech followed by Quetzalcoatl’s panicked squawking. Whipping his head around, Rayquaza faintly caught the sight of red embers clinging to Quetzalcoatl’s back before he too was caught in his adversaries ambush. Rayquaza’s back was overcome by an unbearable burning sensation as beams of yellow electricity trailed down his body. Roaring out in pain, Rayquaza quickly twisted his body and fired a retaliatory Hyper Beam in the general direction the gravity beams were coming from. The beam must’ve missed as he didn’t hear anything that would indicate a hit.

Reaching out with his senses, Rayquaza tried to pinpoint where Ghidorah’s position was. But, to his confusion, Ghidorah’s presence was bouncing around the storm and never stood in one spot, it was something akin to a ships radar being jammed. Rayquaza huffed in agitation, this storm must’ve been a part of some sort of trap for Rayquaza, and he just waltz right into it. Groudon and Kyogre would be laughing their heads off if they were here.

The sound of electricity sparking alerted Rayquaza of Ghidorah’s attack, and he quickly dove down to avoid the oncoming gravity beams. Once safely out of the gravity beams range, Rayquaza twisted his body back upwards and used Dragon Rush. The sudden increase in speed sent Rayquaza flying upwards like a missile, and Rayquaza grit his teeth in anticipation for the coming impact with Ghidorah. But, it never came. Ghidorah had already moved to avoid Rayquaza.

Slowing down, Rayquaza groaned in frustration. As long as this storm stays active, he was at a severe disadvantage. His natural ability Airlock proved ineffective at clearing the storm, so that means he’ll just have to do it himself. Rayquaza began releasing a numerous amount of the special particles from his body to combat the storm. Whilst doing so, Rayquaza flew around the storm to see if he could find Quetzalcoatl, but the silence was pretty telling. If he wasn’t still battling his opponent, Quetzalcoatl was either dead or unconscious and floating around in the sea somewhere.

A particularly loud screech of pain and suffering echoed out throughout the storm, and Rayquaza realized that it belonged to Quetzalcoatl.

“Quetzalcoatl, where are you!” Rayquaza called out in worry.

His response was another screech of pain the was cut off by a sickening crack. Rayquaza looked around to try and pinpoint where the sound had come from, but the storm proved it to be impossible. The darkness inside the storm enveloped him completely, making it somewhat difficult to see, and the sounds kept bouncing off in different directions, leaving Rayquaza guessing at where Quetzalcoatl could be. If he’s even alive anymore. Rayquaza was in a dangerous position, and as much as he hated to admit it, retreating seemed like the only good option.

Rayquaza heard another loud screech, but this time it was followed by sharp talons grabbing a hold of his lower body and piercing his flesh. Rayquaza hissed in pain as his assailant began biting down on his rudders, and ripped them off one by one. Before he could move to retaliate, another pair of talons grabbed a hold onto his middle section, followed by two powerful jaws biting down on his wings and ripping them clean off. Feeling the flight quite literally being ripped from him, Rayquaza could do nothing but helplessly flail about as his opponents painfully ripped into him using their powerful jaws. Rayquaza tried turning his head to fire off a Hyper Beam or Dragon Pulse, but his head was kept in place by a familiar head biting down on him if dared move.

“Remember me, bitch! Yeah, how does it feel to have your head being ripped off, huh!?” Ni said before beginning to forcefully pull Rayquaza’s head.

Rayquaza hissed and grunted in pain as he felt Ni begin to slowly and forcefully rip his head from the rest of his body while absorbing Rayquaza’s energy. Ichi and San noticed his actions and were quick to follow, while Rodan just kept on ripping off Rayquaza’s rudders rendering him even more flightless than he already was. Gritting his teeth in unimaginable pain, Rayquaza decided to use a last ditch effort move. Hyper Voice.

Opening his mouth, Rayquaza began to suck in as much air as possible, before letting it out in one horribly loud and echoing roar. Ghidorah and Rodan yelped in surprise and pain as their ears were assaulted and their insides vibrated from being in such close proximity to Rayquaza. The sudden surprise and pain caused the two Titans to unintentionally release Rayquaza from their grips and send him falling to the ocean floor with a loud splash.

Ghidorah and Rodan shook off their disorientation and the ringing in their ears before they peered down in the water below to see if they could spot any sign of Rayquaza. Rodan even dived down close to the water to get a closer look, but he spotted nothing.

Flying back up into the air, Rodan bowed to Ghidorah, “I see no sign of him, my King. It seems we have won.”

Ghidorah didn’t respond for a moment, continuing to stare into the raging ocean waves below, some part of them expecting Rayquaza to miraculously launch himself out of the ocean and hit them point blank with one of his Hyper Beams.

Ghidorah huffed after waiting a bit longer, “It would seem so… But be on guard, we still have Godzilla and his little pet insect to deal with.”

Rodan bowed once more, “Understood, my King.”

All three heads of Ghidorah smiled, “Now then, shall we indulge ourselves in some destruction?” Ghidorah said before flying off with Rodan.

As the two Titan flew off, Ghidorah felt a strange tingling feeling inside their body. They brushed it off, dismissing it as nothing but the lightning around them buzzing against their scales. But if that same electricity seemed to be more reactive to Ghidorah’s presence, nobody noticed.

Chapter Text

Rayquaza awoke to the feeling of exhaustion, extreme exhaustion. His body ached, his wounds stung from the dense salt of the ocean, and his mind was clouded and swirling. He could barely register Madison’s concern for his well-being, and the fact that she was attempting to speak to him directly. Huh, was the bond that strong already?

Shaking his head to try and clear the fog inside his head, Rayquaza did his best to reassure Madison that he was alive, not well, but alive nonetheless. Rayquaza began slowly opening his eyes, the ocean water around him blurring his vision, rendering him even more blind as the darkness of the water consumed him. The only thing that helped him slightly was the glow of the gold rings all along his body.

Rayquaza shut his eyes once more and attempted to use Recover to begin his healing process. His body began to glow green and Rayquaza felt some small wounds beginning to mend themselves back together, before suddenly, the green glow surrounding Rayquaza flickered out and the healing energy from Recover ceased with it. Confused, Rayquaza attempted to use Recover again, but the green healing energy flickered out after a second of use. Rayquaza only grew even more perplexed, why wasn’t Recover working? Rayquaza’s mind drifted back to the battle he had earlier, and towards the end, when Ghidorah was biting down on him, he felt tremendous amounts of his energy and aura being sucked out of his body. That must be it, Rayquaza realized, Ghidorah must’ve absorbed enough energy from Rayquaza to render his Moves ineffective. Rayquaza tested this theory by attempting to let loose a Dragon Breath, but the only thing that came out from his mouth were small flickers of draconic flame before the move died out. Rayquaza rumbled quietly, looks like he was going to have to go about this the long way.

Without anything else to do, Rayquaza began to slowly swim to the surface, his injuries slowing him down tremendously. Rayquaza was silently grateful for the biology his Father had granted him, the lack of a requirement for oxygen to live had saved him, otherwise he would’ve drowned by now. As he swam, Rayquaza thought back to the fight he had with Ghidorah. The humans of his world would’ve called it a double battle, it anything but that. He and his ally had been ambushed and separated, and they were kept separated for the duration of the fight. The only indication of Quetzalcoatl’s status was his screaming followed by a resoundingly loud crack. It hurt Rayquaza’s heart to think about, but he was sure the Titan was dead and sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

Once he felt his head break the ocean’s surface, Rayquaza re-opened his eyes and took in the sight above him. Ghidorah’s storm clouds still lingered over his precious skies despite the three-headed dragon’s absence. The part of the Earth that Rayquaza called his domain, his home, was now tainted and ravaged by that senseless creature. It hurt him more than he thought it would. He had grown accustomed—perhaps too accustomed—to being considered one of the most powerful. Rayquaza had simply thought that he could fly in and win against his adversary as if they were something akin to Groudon or Kyogre, he got overconfident, and he paid the price for it.

Rayquaza sighed, he hasn’t lost this badly since… since his first battle with Groudon and Kyogre all those hundreds of millions of years ago…

---

Rayquaza slithered through the planet’s blue sky with serene grace and wonder. The still relatively young Legendary Pokémon had a great appreciation for the gift his Father bestowed upon him. The gift of flight! It slightly confused him though, how could he fly if he didn’t have any big wings like Lugia or Ho-Oh? He thought about it a little longer before coming to the conclusion that his ability to fly was somewhat similar to that of the little Latios and Latias. He would always see flocks of them flying about despite them not having any wings to flap.

With a grin, Rayquaza ventured off in a different direction than where he usually goes, there were still some places on the planet he has still yet to explore, but he was always mindful of the other Legendary Pokémon, and always asked for permission before breaching their territory. He had learned the hard way what would happen if he didn’t; the one-sided battle against the mean black and white dragon that called themselves Kyurem still haunts his dreams.

As he approached a new piece of land, a continent he remembered Groudon telling him, he reached out with his telepathic abilities and contacted the nearest Legendary. It took some time for the Legendary to show themselves, but soon, Rayquaza saw the Legendary approaching in the distance.

It was large, and dwarfed any flora and fauna that was present around it. The Legendary was covered in black and green marking and had a serpentine body like Rayquaza, though, this Legendary’s body was much wider. It had three short tendrils on either side of its chest, one side black and the other green, and at the back of its head was five black protrusions, each of them containing two green shapes near the tips. Its body was half black and half green, the black end starting at its belly and trailing all the way up to its head, while the green end trailed the opposite direction, to its tail. It is a rather interesting creature that Father had created.

“Who are you?” the creature asked curiously.

“My name’s Rayquaza, and you?” Rayquaza replied.

“Zygarde. What is your purpose here?” Zygarde asked with a tilt of his head.

“Oh, I just wanted to explore! But I wanted to ask you first, so I don’t go into your territory without your permission.”

Zygarde hummed, “I thank you for your courteousness. You are welcome to travel through my territory freely without permission. Just don’t cause any mischief please,” Zygarde said before slithering off.

With a cheery grin, Rayquaza began flying through Zygarde’s territory, relishing in the new sights and new Pokémon that he hasn’t seen before. Before long, Rayquaza had explored the entirety of Zygarde’s territory. Lying down on a large and flat piece of land, Rayquaza rested for a moment. As he was resting, the gentle rays of Solgaleo’s sun suddenly grew oppressively hot against his scales. With a tilt of his head, Rayquaza glanced at the sky for a quick moment, had someone upset Solgaleo? The oppressive heat of the sun was just as abruptly replaced by the formation of storm clouds that were definitely not natural. The storm clouds were then followed by the hardest downpour of rain Rayquaza has ever felt, and Rayquaza was left confused by the erratic change in weather.

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice in his ear, whispering to him in a calm tone, ‘Rayquaza, you must act quickly. Your siblings Groudon and Kyogre are engaging in a destructive fight. Stop then before it grows out of control,’ the voice of his Father said.

Rayquaza’s eyes perked up in concern. Groudon and Kyogre were fighting? Why were they fighting? For as long as he’d known them they always seemed to get along relatively well. Sure they had some disagreements, but they always resolved them with or without his help. Raising himself up from the floor, Rayquaza ascended back into the atmosphere and began flying towards Groudon and Kyogre as fast as he could.

Once he was close enough to sense their presences, Rayquaza descended from the clouds above, his ability, Airlock, effortlessly dispersing the erratic weather and returning the world to its natural order. The sight he saw worried him greatly, Groudon and Kyogre were roaring angrily at each other, both recklessly sending their strongest attacks at one another, seemingly not caring about their well-being.

Groudon roared before using his Precipice Blades. Sharp mountains of rock suddenly jutted out of the water around Kyogre and closed in on her with enough speed to crush her and leave her fatally injured. Kyogre reacted quickly and lunged out of the water, and while in the air, use Origin Pulse. Multiple blue beams of energy suddenly manifested themselves around her round body and shot out towards Groudon scoring a direct hit on the lumbering red Legendary.

“Guys! Stop! What are you doing!?” Rayquaza shouted worriedly as he watched Groudon get back up from the relatively small island mass he stood on and retaliate with Ancient Power.

Rayquaza watched in disbelieving shock as the two just kept fighting each other, roaring out in unintelligible anger about something that Rayquaza didn’t know about. Rayquaza pleaded and begged for them for them to stop as the fight continued, but both Legendary’s ignored his pleas. Rayquaza felt a great anger fill him as the two continued ignoring him, and Rayquaza raised his head to the sky and fired off a Draco Meteor.

“I SAID ENOUGH!” he roared as the attack broke off into multiple fragments and hit the two tussling Legendary’s.

Groudon and Kyogre roared in pain as meteorites, almost the size of their own bodies, began falling down on top of them. Once the attack was over, both Legendary’s directed their angry eyes up at Rayquaza, who was shocked at losing himself to anger.

Rayquaza stammered, unable to get out a sentence at first, “I-I’m sorry! I j-just wanted you guys to stop and-“

“Shut up!” Kyogre shouted before attacking the emerald dragon with her Origin Pulse.

Rayquaza was too slow to react and he took the full brunt of the attack to his head. Roaring in pain, Rayquaza wasn’t given much reprieve, because now Groudon had joined in. Rayquaza felt the full force of a Solarbeam hit him in his side, and send him falling out of the sky with a cry.

The following fight was… pathetic to put it lightly. Rayquaza kept getting tossed around by the two any time he tried to intervene, and any attacks he managed to get out either missed or didn’t affect the raging Legendary’s at all. Upon peppering them with his weak attacks, Groudon and Kyogre would briefly flick their attention to Rayquaza and shoot him out of the sky before resuming their fight against each other. Eventually, Groudon and Kyogre got tired of Rayquaza’s constant peppering and intervention, and decided to take him out of the fight. Permanently.

“Will you just go away already! You damn dragon, you’re so annoying!” Groudon shouted before pummeling a weakened Rayquaza with Ancient Power, sending the dragon back down to the ocean with the Super Effective move.

“DIE!” was all Kyogre screamed before she fired off an Extremely Effective Ice Beam from her mouth at Rayquaza.

Kyogre’s Ice Beam hit Rayquaza’s wings as he attempted to ascend back into the sky, and Rayquaza felt his stomach drop and his heart stop as he felt the unforgiving effects of gravity for the first time in his existence. He shrieked fearfully as he was pulled down forcefully by some invisible force, his body twisting and flailing in the air as he tried to right himself. He hit the ocean with a splash, a large chunk of water flying into the air from the impact.

Now left completely vulnerable, and with no way of escape, Groudon and Kyogre tore into the poor dragon. Once their relentless beating of Rayquaza ceased, and Rayquaza’s body still, they refocused their efforts on trying to kill each other again. Rayquaza’s unconscious and battered body soon sunk to the bottom of the ocean, and by the time he re-awoke he was welcomed to an unrecognizable home and a devastated environment…

---

Even to this day, Rayquaza still doesn’t know what caused them to fight like that. He’s asked, but they never answered, they just kept blaming the other for starting it. Eventually, Rayquaza stopped asking, and his relationship with his two siblings from then on was nothing more than doing what his Father has created him to do. Keeping the two of them in check.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of helicopter blades whirring above him. Ah, just how long had he been reminiscing? Rayquaza turned his eyes up and saw an Osprey hovering above him slowly begin descending down to his eye level. The back compartment opened and he was greeted to the sight of Madison.

---

Madison had felt everything. Seeing the second battle between Ray and Monster Zero with whatever drones had managed to follow Ray into the storm had her wanting to throw up. Seeing it through a screen was one thing, but feeling every instance of pain, every emotion from the battle burning through her head had her shaking fearfully. Madison damn nearly screamed when she saw the now regenerated head of Monster Zero bite down on Ray’s head and begin to slowly tear it away from the rest of Ray’s body. Thankfully, Ray had managed to pull off a last second move which caused him to be unexpectedly released from Monster Zero’s and Rodan’s talons; unfortunately, it also came at the expense of the remaining drones present in the storm. And Rick’s ears.

“Fucking hell,” Rick grumbled, “You couldn’t warn a guy!?” he shouted at the screen as he began rubbing his ears.

“Are you okay, Rick?” Vivienne asked with concern.

Rick saw her mouth move, but the ringing in his ears prevented him from hearing the words. God, he hopes his ears aren’t fucked, “I can’t hear you! My ears are ringing!” he informed.

Vivienne nodded before grabbing a paper and pen and writing, “Are you okay?”

“I guess? My ears just hurt a lot.”

Mark then snatched the piece of paper from Vivienne much to Vivienne's shock, and frantically wrote, “Can you get Rayquaza’s vitals?”

Having momentarily forgotten about the dragon due to his loss of hearing, Rick quickly turned back to his computer and began typing in the confirmation to pull up Rayquaza’s bioacoustics.

“I got something,” he said as he observed Rayquaza’s vitals. His ears weren’t properly functioning at the moment, so he had to rely on the data onscreen, “His vitals are low, but they don’t seem to be getting any lower. His movement is slow and lethargic, and his body doesn’t seem to be regenerating at an accelerated rate. In other words, he’s alive, but not in great shape.”

It brought some relief to the crew aboard the Argo to know that Rayquaza was still alive, but whether or not he will be fit for battle in time to assist Godzilla is a different story. At that thought, Madison had a sudden, bright idea.

“What if we nuked him?” she blurted out.

Everyone slowly turned to look at her with a mix of disbelief, shock, and confusion, all of them wondering if they heard what they just heard. The only one left out of it was Rick who just stared at everyone, oblivious to the question Madison just asked.

“…What?” Madison asked in confusion.

“What do you mean what?” Mark said dumbfounded, “How is nuking the Titan a great idea?”

Madison shrugged, “Godzilla can absorb the radiation from a nuke. Maybe Rayquaza can do the same.”

“A valid reason,” Serizawa said, “But we do not know if Rayquaza is capable of the same abilities as Gojira, Madison. After all, Rayquaza is not from our world.”

Madison nodded, understanding where he’s coming from, but they’re forgetting one thing, “I could always just, you know, ask him if he’s capable of doing it.”

Serizawa’s eyes furrowed in thought, “Yes, that could work. But I assume you have to be in close proximity of the Titan?”

Madison nodded, “Mostly, yeah. I think the bond is getting stronger. After Ray’s fight with Monster Zero, I tried to talk to him in my head. I got some words across, but it was like trying to talk through a weak channel on a radio, and it left me feeling lightheaded.”

Serizawa nodded in understanding before turning to Foster, “Colonel, when do you think you could get an Osprey put of the hanger?”

“About ten minutes,” she replied confidently.

“Get one ready.”

Foster nodded before turning to some soldiers present in the room with them, “You heard the man, let’s get a move on!”

Rick’s eyes furrowed in even more confusion as everyone began moving quickly and with purpose, “So is anybody gonna explain what’s happening, or am I just gonna be left in the dark?” Thankfully, Vivienne noticed his confusion and filled him in on the situation.

Madison turned to her dad,, expecting him to be fully against this plan considering his track record of being against Titans. Mark turned to look at his daughter and Madison opened her mouth to try to convince her dad to let her go through with locating Ray. But she stopped when her dad suddenly enveloped her in a warm hug.

“I’m not going to stop you,” Mark whispered, “I know I can’t, but so help me God, if you come back with even a paper cut on you, you are so grounded,” he said in a fond tone at the end.

Madison chuckled before hugging her dad tighter, “Thanks, dad. But, Ray wouldn’t hurt me.”

Now it was Mark’s turn to chuckle, “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said as he remembered the Titan healing his daughter in Antarctica.

An hour later, Madison was aboard an Osprey with Serizawa and Vivienne, searching for any sign of Rayquaza. The pilots were currently relying on Madison due to the fact that she can sense how close Rayquaza is and where he generally was. It took some time, but they eventually came across something.

The co-pilot turned his head to the back where Madison was and called out to her, “Hey, dragon whisperer, come check this out.”

Madison unbuckled her seats belt and walked to the front of the Osprey and looked out the window. She smiled, there he was, with nothing but his head sticking out of the water and looking up at the rain clouds above him. Madison quirked her brow, the dragon seemed to be contemplating something, perhaps it had to do with the battle he lost? The loud whirring of the Osprey’s rotating blades must’ve alerted Rayquaza, because he turned his head to look at them.

“I’m gonna start opening the bay doors,” the pilot said before pressing a button out of the dozens that were present in front of him.

The door to the Osprey’s bay began to open and the light blinded Madison for a moment before her eyes quickly adjusted. She held on to one of the Osprey’s handles near the open door, fearing she’d fall and plummet to the ocean. Her eyes landed on Rayquaza, and she realized that they were staring at each other at eye level.

Smiling, Madison greeted the dragon, ‘Hey, Ray!’

Rayquaza’s eyes softened and his posture relaxed, ‘I see you finally have the ability to speak in the mind, Madison.’

Madison nodded, ‘Yeah, it’s pretty cool!’

‘Yes. But I must ask, why are you here, child? I would prefer it if you were in a safe place, away from that parasite.’

‘Oh, actually, I’m here to ask you a question,’ Madison said as she sat down.

‘And what would your inquiry be?’

‘Well, as much as you probably won’t like it, me and some others managed to get some glimpses of your fight against Monster Zero. It… didn’t go so well, huh?’ Madison thought while sending some comforting feelings to Rayquaza.

Rayquaza sighed in defeat, ‘No, it did not. And as you can see, I am not exactly the most riveting,’ Rayquaza chuckled dryly in their shared minds, ‘The one you call Monster Zero, he has ripped me of my flight, injured me greatly, and has sapped a large amount of energy from me. It will take a great long while before I am back to full strength. But I fear that it may be too late by the time I am ready to battle again,’ Rayquaza said dreadfully.

‘What if you didn’t have to wait?’

Rayquaza tilted his head, ‘What do you mean?’

‘I don’t know how much the people of your world advanced, but we have this weapon called a nuke. It’s basically a giant bomb that expels a huge amount of energy we call radiation. Godzilla can absorb radiation to replenish his energy, and we were wondering if you’re able to do the same.’

Rayquaza hummed, maybe this could work, ‘Is this radiation the same energy I sense from some of your power generating buildings?’

‘Powerplants? Yeah.’

‘Then I should have no problem absorbing the energy this bomb expels.’

‘Nice!’ Madison turned to look at Serizawa and Vivienne, “He said yeah, he can absorb radiation.”

Serizawa and Vivienne looked at her with confusion and furrowed brows, “But, Madison,” Serizawa started, perplexed, “It has only been five seconds? And you didn’t speak?”

Madison tilted her head, “Really? It felt like I was talking to him for a good minute there.”

“Perhaps your perception of time passes slower when speaking to Rayquaza in her mind. That or you two were having an exceptionally fast telepathic conversation,” Vivienne inferred.

Serizawa smiled in amazement before turning his attention back to the matter at hand, “You said he can absorb radiation, Madison? Like, Gojira, yes?”

Madison nodded, “He said he’s come across some powerplants, and he said that if it’s similar to the energy expelled from them than he could absorb the energy without a problem.”

“Great, the sooner we can get Rayquaza back into the fight, the better.”

---

Emma and Jonah observed the tense and nervous atmosphere of New Jersey from their seats inside a white van. Everyone present in the parking lot of the mall, all the way to the busy and congested streets, were tense and noticeably worried about the raging Titans laying waste to their precious country.

The radio in the van playing music was suddenly cut off as a very important piece of news was broadcast to all open channels.

“Breaking news!” a feminine voice spoke through the radio, “The Arizona National Guard has begun engaging the newest Titan codenamed: Scylla. Monster Zero and the Titan Rodan are currently located in Dallas, Texas and are predicted to continue heading east. The government recommends any and all citizens in major population centers to begin evacuating at the earliest possible time. The U.S. military will assist in evacuation efforts-“

Jonah tuned out the radio and turned his head to the back where his men were double checking their equipment, “Is everyone ready?”

“Yes, sir,” his men quickly responded.

Jonah then grabbed his handheld radio and asked the same question to the second squad in a different van. A second later, he got an, “Affirmative.”

Jonah smiled, “Let’s get started,” he said before putting the van in reverse and exiting his parking spot.

Behind him, another van exited their parking spot and followed Jonah as he maneuvered through the parking lot. Jonah then stopped in front of the lane which went into a straight line towards the entrance of the mall.

Jonah spared a glance at Emma and noticed her tightly gripping her seatbelt, “Hang on tight,” he teased before slamming on the gas pedal.

Jonah began honking the horn as several people jumped out of the van’s way. Unfortunately, some people were unable to clear the way for the van, but it was a small price to pay. Having seen the van coming, the people near the entrance had time to quickly flee screaming and shouting, leaving it open for Jonah to ram into it, shattering it’s glass doors and allowing the van to fully enter the mall. His second squad quickly entered with their own van.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Jonah shouted to his men in the back and into his radio.

The citizens screams of shock quickly turned into screams of terror once they witness about a dozen men dressed in tactical gear and equipped with automatic weapons exit the vans. People ran away from the van’s screaming bloody murder, and it left Jonah and his men with a clean path to their destination.

Some security guards attempted to stop their advance, but they were quickly dealt with and cast aside. They were the easy part, the hard part would be down below them. Approaching an inconspicuous set of elevators, Jonah and his men pressed the button to call the elevators. The elevators dinged and the doors opened for Jonah and his men to enter.

“Masks!” Jonah shouted into his radio.

His men with him in the elevator and the second elevator grabbed the gas masks hanging by their necks and securely attached them to their faces. Jonah put on his gas mask and then assisted Emma in putting hers on.

Once everyone’s masks were on their faces and secured in place, one of Jonah’s men turned to look at Emma before gesturing to the buttons on the elevator, “It’s all yours ma’am.”

Emma nodded and stepped up to the buttons. At first glance, there was nothing weird or out of the ordinary with the buttons. There was a lobby button, second floor, third floor, open doors, and close doors buttons; and, there was an emergency stop switch that required a key. Pulling out a special key from her pocket, Emma inserted the key and turned it to the emergency stop side. The sound of the elevators locks activating and Jonah whispering directions into his radio filled Emma’s ears as she continued. Letting go of the key, Emma began to put in a secret code by pushing the various buttons on the elevator. First floor, lobby, close doors, third floor, close doors again, and finally second floor.

The sound of gears twisting and turning filled the air inside the elevator as a secret compartment under the normal elevator buttons revealed itself. Once open Emma kneeled to get a better look at the new buttons that made themselves known, all sub-basement level buttons. Emma pressed the button that had “B6” on it before grabbing the key and disengaging the emergency stop feature. The elevators locks deactivated, and the elevator began taking them down.

Jonah smirked, “A rather ingenious way to hide such a complex labyrinth. Don’t you think, Dr. Russell?”

Emma nodded hesitantly, “Yes, it is.”

Emma was beginning to have doubts about this plan of hers. The longer they went about this, the worse she felt about it. Anytime she would stare at Monster Zero, whether it be through news footage or through a recording, she felt this lump of existential dread form in her stomach. The way he destroyed everything and anyone around him without a care in the world unnerved her, yeah, but what really disturbed her was that the Titan seemed to be enjoying it. They weren’t doing it for the betterment of the planet, they were doing it for their own pleasure. She doesn’t know how she didn’t see it at first, when she walked into the base in Antarctica and saw them perfectly encapsulated within the ice, she was in awe at such a specimen. She was so blinded that she didn’t heed nor bother with any if Madison’s desperate warnings.

A gloved hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder and pushed her against the wall. The elevator was stopping she realized. A loud “ding!” sounded as the elevator reached the floor and the doors began opening. No bullets were immediately fired surprisingly, but Emma was secretly glad about that, she wouldn’t want a bullet to ricochet off the elevators walls and dome her in the head, or anywhere for that matter.

“Surrender yourselves now!” she heard a Monarch soldier yell from floor.

Jonah’s men responded by throwing gas grenades out.

“What the fuck!?”

They wouldn’t be able to get another word out as tear gas soon began clogging up their lungs leaving them heaving and desperate for another breath. Jonah’s men took this moment to exit the elevators and begin cleaning house, clearing room after room while throwing out more grenades full of tear gas to ensure that they held the advantage. Eventually, the sound of guns firing went silent and an all clear was announced over Jonah’s radio.

Emma led Jonah to the control room and she began setting up the Orca. The gas made it a bit hard to see, but it wasn’t unbearable. Once the Orca was fully set up to the base’s PA system, Emma began scrolling through the bioacoustics of several Titans before coming to a stop at the Queen MUTO’s bioacoustics. Emma was about to begin broadcasting the Orca before she stopped herself.

Is this really the right thing to do? Will the world really get a fresh start or will it be destroyed forever?

“What are you waiting for, Dr?” Jonah's muffled voice said menacingly, “Wake it up.”

Emma felt her hands begin to shake as she turned to face Jonah, “Jonah, wait. Let’s think about this for a moment.”

“Think about what, Dr?”

“M-Maybe this isn’t the right thing to do, maybe we’ll just be destroying more than we’re saving.”

“Emma, all I see are the fruits of our labor coming to life. Your plan was to release the Titans to bring balance to the world, isn’t that what we are doing? Yes, the Titans are causing untold amounts of death and destruction against humanity, but this wouldn’t be the first time would it? As much as I hate to admit it, us humans are like cockroaches, they can’t kill all of us, even if they wanted too.”

Emma shook her head, “No, but Monster Zero can.”

“Excuse me?” Jonah asked with a tilt of his head.

“Have you not seen it, Alan? There’s no reason to its destruction, it destroys everything, human or not, and it enjoys it, Alan. I’m afraid that if it wins, then all life on the planet will die, all the way down to the bacterial level.”

“Well, then our Mother Earth will have a true clean state to restart life, wouldn’t she?” Alan said, and although Emma can’t see it, she could tell he was smiling, the sick bastard.

“No, y-you can’t! This path we’re going down, who’s to know that life will restart at all when Monster Zero is finished with the planet.”

Jonah sighed in defeat, and Emma thought she had managed to convince him to stop. But that small moment of joy was immediately sucked from her body once she saw Jonah pull his gun out, point it at her head, and pull the trigger.

Chapter Text

“Awaken. Awaken. Awaken.”

Barb stirred from her slumber, a slumber that had lasted thousands of years. Her many legs shifted sluggishly, scraping across stone and ancient roots as she tried to orient herself. The voice, booming and guttural, like that of Godzilla himself, kept calling to her, insistent and thunderous.

She blinked slowly in the darkness, her thoughts still groggy as she struggled to figure out where his voice was coming from.

A pause. Then, a sigh-like trill rumbled from her throat.

Ugh… of course. It's coming from the surface, she thought bitterly. Where else would it come from?

With another annoyed click of her mandibles, Barb began to move. She had better get out there before he found a way to come down and drag her out himself.

Raising her powerful front legs, Barb began to dig upward. Earth and stone crumbled beneath her claws, centuries of compacted soil giving way to her strength. At some point during the climb, Godzilla’s voice stopped echoing in her head. She wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. She hoped it was good. Maybe he finally gave up. Or maybe he was waiting.

Eventually, one of her front legs punched through the surface. Sunlight streamed through the crack, stabbing down into her burrow like a divine spotlight. With a final heave, Barb erupted from the ground in a thunderous crash, sending dust, gravel, and broken asphalt in every direction.

The cloud of debris slowly settled around her.

Barb stepped forward, shaking off centuries of grime. She squinted into the light, fully expecting to see Godzilla looming above her with that same signature resting bitch face.

But instead…

Towering skyscrapers. Glass and steel stretching into the sky. Streets filled with strange, small moving squares. And humans, so many humans, all scattering like ants, screaming in every direction.

Barb stared.

“…Huh,” she muttered.

But to the humans, it sounded like a loud growl.

Still stunned by the sudden change of events, Barb remained rooted in place, her massive form casting a shadow over the shattered city street. Her mind struggled to process it all. The noise, the humans, the buildings that stretched to the clouds. What was the next best course of action?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar sound: Godzilla’s voice again, though now it sounded… smaller. Fainter.

Her two red eyes drifted toward the source. A small cluster of humans stood in the open, seemingly oblivious to the chaos erupting around them. They stared up at her, and for a moment, Barb stared back, puzzled.

Then the voice shifted.

“Bow. Bow. Bow.”

The command was sharp, artificial, and carried a hollow, authoritarian weight.

Barb clicked her mandibles in disgust. Really? Just who did these pathetic little creatures think they were? Did they know who she was?

She was no weak-willed Titan. She would not bow. Not to humans mimicking Godzilla’s voice like some half-baked impression. Not to anyone.

With a piercing shriek, Barb reared back and raised both of her massive front legs, red energy pulsing violently through them. In a thunderous motion, she slammed them down into the ground, releasing a powerful electromagnetic pulse that rippled outward like a shockwave.

The humans were thrown to the pavement, their frail bodies tossed like leaves in a storm. Whatever device they’d used to mimic Godzilla fell silent, sparks erupting from its fried circuits. Barb trilled in satisfaction, the smug static finally silenced.

She watched with gleeful contempt as the panicked humans scrambled into their small white square-things vehicles, she assumed, desperate to hide, to escape.

Fools.

If anything, they’d just made her job easier.

Raising her legs once more, she brought them crashing down with a bone-shaking crack, crushing the cars and everyone inside into twisted metal and pulp.

“What’s the status on the nuke?” Mark asked, his tone tense.

Rick, still wincing from the damage to his ears, replied, “The military’s prepping a B-2 with a nuclear payload. It’ll be airborne in an hour, maybe longer.”

“And Madison?”

“We’re en route to pick her up now. We can drop her at Castle Bravo if that’s still the plan.”

Mark paused. As much as he wanted Madison somewhere safe, he had a sinking feeling she wouldn’t go along with it willingly.

“I’ll talk to her,” he muttered. “Anything else I need to know?”

Rick sighed, rubbing the side of his head. “Let’s see… Godzilla and Mothra are currently tangling with Scylla in Arizona. Rodan and Monster Zero broke off from Dallas and are heading for New Jersey, where the Queen MUTO just got released. Behemoth’s back in hibernation, and Quetzalcoatl is still MIA.”

Mark grimaced. “So… still a shitshow.”

“Pretty much.”

“Let me know when Madison’s on board,” Mark said, turning away and heading for his quarters aboard the Argo.

Walking inside, Mark quietly shut the door behind him and sat on the edge of his bed, leaning back against the wall.

He didn’t know what would happen next, but whatever came, he knew one thing for certain: he wouldn’t regret a second of it, not if his final moments were spent with Madison.

Rayquaza lay limp, floating atop the ocean's surface, his body still aching, though no longer screaming in agony.

Gentle waves lapped against his scales, their rhythmic motion lulling him toward sleep.

He wondered how much longer he would have to wait for the massive bomb Madison had spoken of. It had been some time since she left.

Still, the wait would be worth it if it meant putting an end to that three-headed abomination once and for all.

A being as destructive and malicious as Ghidorah deserved no mercy, no second chance. Not if he refused to change for the betterment of all life.

The thought burned within Rayquaza. As a guardian of the world, it enraged him to know that Ghidorah continued his rampage unchecked.

Rayquaza growled, his patience wearing thinner with each passing moment as he floated, powerless, in the open sea.

How much longer was he expected to wait!?

Suddenly, a sharp whistling pierced the sky.

His head snapped toward the sound just in time to glimpse a small, nearly invisible object hurtling toward him at blistering speeds.

Before his mind could fully register what it was, the object soared overhead and detonated.

The explosion followed an instant later, too loud for his ears to comprehend; instead, it struck him as a deafening ring that drowned out all else.

Then came the heat.

Unimaginable, searing heat, as if Solgaleo’s sun itself had fallen from the heavens and landed atop him.

But Rayquaza ignored it all.

The ringing in his ears, the burning heat, the sheer force of the blast. Because now, he could taste it now.

The “radiation,” as Madison had called it.

Opening his jaws wide, Rayquaza began to draw in the energy released by the nuclear explosion, absorbing it with ravenous hunger.

The moment the first waves of radiation entered him, he felt it: strength. Restoration. Power.

His torn, bruised scales knit together in seconds, emerald and unblemished. The deep wounds left by Ghidorah and that Moltres-like avian evaporated, pain replaced by vigor.

And still, there was more.

So much more.

He kept absorbing, the energy pouring into him like a tidal wave, until it felt like his very body might burst apart from within.

And then it happened.

His serpentine form began to glow, a radiant, prismatic light pulsing from within.

Rayquaza’s grin widened. He knew what this was.

His body lengthened and expanded, growing massive and commanding. His horns sharpened and stretched outward, flaming tendrils curling and twisting from their tips and along his jawline.

His once-rectangular wings shifted, reshaping into sleek, aerodynamic plates that twitched with life and precision.

The golden patterns along his body shimmered and reformed, turning into brilliant, glowing orbs of energy embedded in his sides, each pair neatly separated across the segments of his long body.

When the transformation reached its peak, a thunderous shockwave exploded outward from his form.

The clouds overhead evaporated in an instant, torn apart by the sheer force of his ascension, letting the evening sun cast its final golden light across the horizon.

There he hovered, high above the ocean.

Mega Rayquaza.

Resplendent in the dying light of day.

Transcendent. Unmatched.

And most importantly…

Ready to kick some ass.

Chapter Text

“...”

“...”

“Holy… shit…” Rick muttered, eyes wide as Rayquaza let out a thunderous roar and vanished into the skies above.

“Remarkable…” Serizawa whispered, awe gleaming in his eyes, his lips curling into a rare, unrestrained smile.

For once, Madison was speechless. Through the bond she shared, she felt the sheer force radiating from Rayquaza—limitless, unshakable. In that moment, it felt like no other being on Earth could even hold a torch to the power he held in that moment.

The others stood in silence, caught between reverence and disbelief. All except Madison, who quickly shook herself out of her shock.

“Come on! What are we waiting for? Follow him!” she suddenly shouted, her voice snapping them out of their stupor.

Foster immediately strode to the front of the Argo, ordering her radio operator to request the earliest possible mid-air refueling. Turning back, she joined the others at the map table, eyes locked on Rayquaza’s projected course.

“Jesus… he’s already over Florida,” Sam murmured, still unable to shake the sight of Rayquaza’s transformation.

“Yes,” Serizawa said firmly, his voice carrying weight. “All estimates point to an interception near Charleston. That is where the final battle will take place.” His expression hardened into quiet resolve. “We must aid them however we can. Even if it means joining the fight ourselves.”

“I’m on board with that,” Madison said, nodding without hesitation.

Mark bit the inside of his cheek. He agreed in spirit, but the thought of Madison being anywhere near the battlefield twisted unease in his chest.

---

Godzilla let out huffs of pure, unfiltered rage with each earth-shaking step he took. His dorsal spikes pulsed occasionally with a bright cyan hue, the glow growing brighter as he drew closer to Ghidorah and the little traitor who had joined his side.

There was no more sky above him—only the endless downpour of rain and the striking of yellow lightning all around.

It was ugly, unbalanced, like a parasitic worm that had found its way into the atmosphere and was ruining everything.

Speaking of worms…

Just where was that green bastard anyway?

“We are closing in, my King. I’ll fly ahead and tell you what I see,” Mothra said, lifting into the stormy sky to scout ahead.

Godzilla huffed in acknowledgment, continuing his long strides forward, undeterred, until Mothra eventually returned, landing gently on his back.

“I’ve spotted them,” she began. “I made sure to stay back and remain undetected, but we have some bad news.”

“Which is?” Godzilla demanded, a blast of hot air escaping his nostrils.

“Barb has awoken and appears to be working with… him.”

Godzilla let out a low growl that reverberated through the air around him.

“I should’ve destroyed that vermin when I had the chance,” he hissed, his dorsal spikes flaring brightly.

Mothra touched him gently with one of her sharp legs. “Now’s not the time for uncontrolled emotions. We’re outnumbered two to three. We need to be careful about this,” she scolded.

Godzilla opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a piercing shriek cut through the storm. Rodan burst from the clouds, talons outstretched, and aimed to snatch Mothra in his grip.

Mothra cried out in surprise, leaping from Godzilla’s back as her massive wings beat furiously to carry her out of reach.

Godzilla roared in fury, spinning around to blast the intruder with his atomic breath. His dorsal spines glowed with a bright blue hue, the air filling with the deep hum of building power. But before he could unleash it, Barb slammed into his side, blindsiding him. The impact knocked him off balance, and his blast shot harmlessly into the empty sky.

Catching himself before he could topple, Godzilla twisted sharply and whipped his tail with devastating force. It struck Barb, sending her skidding across the ground with a pained cry.

Bellowing in rage, Godzilla advanced on her, slamming a massive foot down across her back to pin her to the earth.

“You should’ve stayed asleep,” he hissed, his spines glowing brighter as he charged another blast of atomic breath.

Before he could fire, a barrage of yellow electricity tore into his side. Godzilla roared in pain, his scales searing as the crackling bolts forced him to stagger back.

The assault ended, and Godzilla’s furious gaze locked onto the towering, three-headed abomination that had dared strike him.

Ghidorah cackled, arcs of lightning striking the ground around his colossal form as he stood tall and unyielding, giving Barb time to recover.

Above, Mothra and Rodan clashed savagely in the storm, their battle hidden among the clouds. But the sky rang with their cries and shrieks of pain, echoing down through the relentless rain, their struggle no less monumental than Godzilla’s below.

Godzilla glowered at Ghidorah, his fury reaching its peak as his dorsal spines pulsed with an intimidating rhythm.

This would not be an easy fight, but, then again, when had any fight ever been easy for him? He wasn’t called the King of the Monsters for nothing.

With a thunderous roar, Godzilla charged. Ghidorah answered in kind, galloping toward him with terrifying speed while Barb lingered behind, no doubt waiting for the chance to strike at his blind spots.

The two titans collided, the impact unleashing a shockwave that shattered windows across Charleston. Seizing the initiative, Godzilla clamped his claws around Ghidorah’s two outer heads and wrestled him toward the ground, straining every muscle to force the bastard down.

But Ghidorah wasn't going down that easily. Ichi snapped forward like a viper, sinking his fangs deep into Godzilla’s shoulder before unleashing a torrent of crackling gravity beams. The searing energy scorched Godzilla’s scales, wrenching a roar of agony from his throat and forcing him to stagger back—only to retaliate a heartbeat later with a devastating blast of atomic breath.

The blast struck Ghidorah dead-on, sending him skidding backward for several seconds before he dug his massive feet into the ground and ground to a halt.

Out of the corner of his eye, Godzilla caught sight of Barb charging straight toward him. Cutting off his atomic breath, he pivoted sharply and intercepted her, his claws clamping down before she could slam into him.

With a snarl, Godzilla shifted his grip to her jaws, prying them open despite her frantic struggling. His spines flared, energy building as he began charging another blast of atomic breath, this time aimed directly down her throat.

Oh, he should have done this long ago.

But before he could fire, searing pain lanced across his side as triple gravity beams tore into him, each head of Ghidorah unleashing its fury at once.

The beams didn’t relent. Crackling energy hammered into him, pushing him back step by step, scorching his scales as the golden hydra pressed the assault.

Godzilla roared defiantly, raising his arms to shield himself as he dug his heels into the earth. But even then, the relentless force continued to drive him backward.

A piercing screech suddenly split the air. Ichi snapped his gaze upward just in time to see Mothra dive-bombing from above. He tried to alert his brothers, but before he could cry out, all three of Ghidorah’s heads were struck squarely with her viscous silk. Their jaws snapped shut, muffled beneath the sticky threads.

From behind her, Rodan burst through the clouds like a fiery demon, his blazing wings spreading wide as he dove. He pulled up at the last moment, the scorching downdraft searing the ground below, before surging forward to catch up with Mothra.

With a sudden strike, his talons closed around her abdomen, wrenching her from the sky. Mothra shrieked, thrashing wildly, her serrated legs lashing out in desperation.

The blows glanced off Rodan’s molten, armor-like scales. He barely flinched. Tucking his wings tight, he plummeted, slamming Mothra into the earth with bone-crushing force. The impact sent a shockwave rippling across the battlefield.

Agony tore through her as Rodan’s immense weight bore down on her. Before she could regain herself, his wings flared with a violent gust, dragging her helpless form across the ground. Dirt and stone shredded her delicate wings, leaving streaks of torn scales and glowing dust in her wake.

Acting on instinct, Mothra reared her head and spat a torrent of silk directly into Rodan’s face. The sticky mass blinded him, forcing him back with a startled, furious screech.

Seizing the opportunity, Mothra launched herself skyward once more, vanishing into the safety of the clouds. For now, she would recover, regroup, and strike again.

Rodan finally tore the stubborn silk from his face with a guttural snarl, shredding it away with his talons. Without hesitation, he hurled himself back into the sky, wings igniting the air as he resumed the hunt for his elusive prey.

Ghidorah, however, fared far worse. Mothra’s binding silk clung tenaciously to all three heads, forcing the golden hydra onto the defensive. Their movements grew jerky and frustrated, each thrash only tangling the sticky strands tighter.

Godzilla, meanwhile, was locked in a vicious struggle with Barb. The Queen MUTO fought with all her might, but it was clear she was hopelessly outmatched.

With a powerful swing of his tail, Godzilla swept her legs out from under her, sending her crashing onto her side. Before she could recover, he closed the distance, planting a massive foot on her neck and pressing down with deliberate force.

Barb shrieked and thrashed wildly, her cries of pain rising as Godzilla’s weight bore down. His eyes narrowed, a grim satisfaction flashing across his face.

Then-

CRACK!

Barb stiffened, her body convulsing once before falling still. Dead.

Godzilla growled at Barb’s lifeless body before kicking it aside, as if to cast her existence from the battlefield entirely. One foe was gone. Only the usurper remained.

Ghidorah thrashed and writhed, still unable to free his heads from Mothra’s silk. Panic flickered through his cackling cries, as Godzilla’s fury was now entirely on him.

With no hesitation, Godzilla unleashed his might. His dorsal spines blazed like molten glass as he fired the most powerful atomic breath he could muster. The torrent of searing radiation slammed into Ghidorah’s chest, forcing him back step by step, his golden scales hissing and melting under the unrelenting beam.

It should have been the end.

But then, a strange vibration filled the air. Ghidorah’s body trembled as a foreign energy surged within him, answering his desperate calls. Electricity sparked violently across his form, coalescing between his wings in a storm of raw power.

With a sudden flare, Ghidorah conjured a massive sphere of yellow lightning, and with a roar that shook the heavens, he hurled it at his rival.

Godzilla never saw it coming. One moment, he was overpowering his foe; the next, the world detonated in light and pain. The explosion hurled him off his feet, his body convulsing as arcs of electricity raced across his scales. His muscles spasmed, locking under the shocks, leaving him writhing on the ground, unable to rise.

Ghidorah was genuinely stunned.

“Ichi, what was that!?” San demanded through their shared link.

“Yeah, what was that!?” Ni echoed in disbelief.

“Does it matter!?” Ichi snapped back, grinning wickedly. “Look at him! He’s down! I’d say it’s time this world finally got put under new management.”

Before the moment could linger, Rodan burst through the storm clouds, Mothra once again clutched in his talons. Her wings were tattered and scorched, riddled with smoking holes. With a vicious slam, he drove her into the ground once more. This time, she didn’t resist—too weakened to fight back.

Rodan cocked his head back, preparing to deliver the killing blow. But before he could strike, Ghidorah’s commanding voice cut through the rain.

“Wait.”

Rodan froze, then lowered his head respectfully, stepping aside and leaving Mothra to whatever fate Ghidorah intended.

Leaning down, the golden hydra brought his snarling faces within inches of the battered Queen. His breath washed over her in foul, searing waves, making her recoil in disgust.

“You might think I’m going to offer you some kind of deal,” Ichi hissed, his eyes glinting with cruel amusement. “But no.”

All three heads turned toward Godzilla, who glared back with eyes burning with fury, his body still spasming under the torment of the crackling yellow electricity pinning him down.

“I just want him to watch.”

Ichi, Ni, and San all began charging their gravity beams, deadly currents of electricity pooling in their throats as they pulled their heads back to unleash devastation.

Mothra closed her eyes, resigned to her fate. Godzilla, paralyzed and burning with desperation, let out a thunderous roar, his body refusing to obey his will.

But before Ghidorah could fire, the battlefield was suddenly consumed by a blinding emerald light. It was so bright that for a heartbeat, everyone was left reeling, blinded.

When Ichi’s vision cleared, he caught only a glimpse of something vast and serpentine streaking down from the heavens. In an instant, the Sky High Pokémon slammed into Ghidorah with the force of a comet, sending the hydra hurtling backward, all three heads screeching in agony.

Ghidorah had no chance to recover. A storm of missiles rained down upon him, fired from jets, helicopters, and the infamous Argo. Explosions engulfed him as the combined assault hammered his golden form. He snarled furiously, raising his massive wings to shield himself, scattering most of the projectiles, their impacts rocking the earth around him.

“Rodan! Help us, you useless fool!” Ichi roared, his voice cracking with fury as control of his storm began to slip.

But Rodan would prove no salvation. Rayquaza descended on him like a predator, unleashing a devastating Hyper Beam before finishing the firebird with a bone-crushing Dragon Ascent. The flaming titan was slammed into the ground, broken and unconscious, removed from the battle entirely.

Hovering above, Rayquaza coiled majestically through the storm, his emerald body glowing with cosmic power. With an earth-shaking roar, he declared his dominance. The very skies trembled, Ghidorah’s unnatural control weakening under Rayquaza’s overwhelming presence.

Ghidorah staggered to his feet, folding his wings tight against his body, his three heads staring wide-eyed at the intruder.

“What!?”

“But how!?”

“Impossible!”

All three voices cried out in disbelief, their arrogance fractured into disbelief.

“How are you here!?” Ichi demanded. “We killed you!”

Rayquaza’s glowing eyes narrowed. “My death was… greatly exaggerated. So—are you ready to die?” His voice dropped into a low, rumbling growl.

Ghidorah smirked. “As if. Let’s see how you handle this, then.”

All three heads threw themselves into charging the same attack that had crippled Godzilla, energy sparking violently in their jaws. Rayquaza only floated in silence, watching them without a flicker of concern.

With a unified roar, Ghidorah unleashed the sphere of concentrated yellow lightning. The attack ripped through the skies, vaporizing every aircraft in its path before colliding with Rayquaza in a cataclysmic explosion. Bolts of electricity arced wildly across the battlefield, scorching the earth and splitting the air with thunderous cracks.

Ghidorah’s three heads cackled in triumph, their laughter rising above the chaos.

“Yes! Let’s see you recover from that, serpent!” San said with a smirk.

But their celebration died instantly at the sound of a cold, cutting voice.

“You really don’t learn, do you?”

The smoke parted, and there he was. Rayquaza hovered unscathed, a blue barrier of energy shimmering faintly around him, formed by Protect.

“Now, you survived one Dragon Ascent…” Rayquaza’s voice rumbled like thunder, his serpentine form coiling upward. “…but can you survive another, I wonder?”

Without another word, he shot skyward, his body glowing with a brilliant emerald aura.

Ghidorah immediately retaliated, all three heads unleashing torrents of gravity beams, but Rayquaza was too fast, and he vanished into the storm, swallowed by the clouds.

“Show yourself, coward!” Ichi roared, charging another beam. His brothers snarled, wings beating furiously as they gave chase through their dimming hurricane.

The response came in the form of impact. Rayquaza slammed into them with crushing force, pain rippling across Ghidorah’s body. Before the hydra could even react, Rayquaza was gone again, vanishing into streaks of green light.

Another strike, this time from the back. Then the shoulder. Again and again, Rayquaza struck like a phantom, each blow punctuated by Ghidorah’s pained cries. No eye, no head, no wing could track him. For the first time, the realization dawned on them: they were prey.

Ghidorah flailed in frustration and agony, descending against his will as Rayquaza’s relentless barrage drove him lower.

Rayquaza’s grin widened. If Ghidorah wanted to fall… he would help him.

With terrifying speed, Rayquaza surged past, twisted his body, and lunged. His fangs clamped onto Ghidorah’s right wing, then tore it clean off in a spray of golden ichor.

Ghidorah’s shriek split the heavens, his body spiraling uncontrollably. The remaining wing flapped desperately, pitifully, but it was no use. The hydra plummeted like a meteor, smashing into the earth below with a thunderous impact that split the land and shrouded the battlefield in dust and shattered rock.

Ghidorah never had the chance to rise. Rayquaza hovered above him like a wrathful god, emerald scales gleaming against the storm as his eyes narrowed to burning slits. His throat rumbled with a low, primal growl as he stared down at the broken, bleeding Titan.

“Do you surrender?” Rayquaza asked, though he already knew the answer.

Ichi’s glare burned upward, all three heads seething with undiluted hatred.

“DIE!” Ichi roared, letting loose one final, desperate gravity beam.

“Didn’t think so.”

Rayquaza answered with a Hyper Beam. The radiant blast tore through Ghidorah’s attack effortlessly, swallowing it whole before crashing into his body. Ghidorah shrieked in agony, his scales melting, his flesh blistering under the relentless fury. Rayquaza poured his wrath into the beam, unrelenting, until the hydra’s lower body was stripped bare, reduced to charred bone with stubborn scraps of flesh still clinging to it.

Rayquaza’s growl deepened. “Not enough.”

He unleashed a Dragon Breath, recalling how easily it had incinerated Ghidorah once before in the frozen region. The effect was instantaneous, purple and pink flames seared through golden scales, peeling them back like paper, before devouring the titan’s very insides. Flesh and sinew turned to ash, rising as black motes into the raging winds.

Ghidorah’s screams dwindled, then ceased. Their lungs vaporized.

Eventually, all that remained were the three heads. They writhed weakly, snapping and flopping against the ground like Magikarp cast onto dry land. Pitiful, broken, and utterly powerless.

Rayquaza gazed at them without pity. Then, with a final surge of purple fire, he burned them to dust.

Rayquaza stared at the place where Ghidorah had been, watching the last motes of ash scatter into the wind. Beneath them, molten rock glowed faintly, hissing as the falling rain cooled it into blackened stone.

With a low grunt, Rayquaza lifted himself higher into the air and began to push back the storm clouds that still lingered overhead. Slowly, steadily, the dark veil unraveled under his careful guidance. Bit by bit, the world’s natural order was restored, and before long, the sun began to pierce through the thinning haze. The storm was finally over.

Godzilla staggered upright, his body wracked with exhaustion after days of relentless battle. Each step toward Mothra was heavy, but relief washed over him when he saw she still lived, even if her injuries were grievous.

Mothra turned her head weakly, her wings twitching with effort.

“So… that’s the new Titan you mentioned?” she asked.

“Yes. Yes, it is,” Godzilla muttered, lifting his gaze toward Rayquaza.

The emerald serpent halted mid-flight, sensing Godzilla’s eyes on him, and turned his head. Godzilla growled under his breath, unease prickling at him. In his current state, he was far too weak to challenge this new force.

Was this how it was going to be? Just wait until they were too tired to go on, swoop in, end the fight, and then go for his title?

Oh, that son of a-

“Are you two, alright?” Rayquaza asked, his voice cutting through Godzilla’s thoughts.

Godzilla grunted, his gaze never leaving Rayquaza. “Yeah… no thanks to you.”

Rayquaza gave a low hum, unfazed, before letting his eyes drift to Mothra’s battered form. Her singed, torn wings twitched weakly, each breath shallow and labored. He looked back at Godzilla.

“Would you allow me to heal her?” he asked evenly.

Godzilla’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. His first instinct was to refuse, yet a glance at Mothra—writhing faintly in pain—silenced him. He bared his teeth in warning.

“Don’t try anything funny.”

“Noted,” Rayquaza replied simply.

He descended, hovering above Mothra with surprising gentleness for a creature of his size. Extending a clawed hand, he pressed it lightly against her head. A soft, emerald glow pulsed from his touch as Recover surged through her body.

The change was immediate. Torn membranes stitched themselves together across her wings, burns faded into smooth chitin, and deep cuts sealed as if time itself had rewound. The weakness that weighed her down drained away, replaced by a warm, revitalizing strength.

For the first time since the battle began, Mothra drew a steady breath.

Rolling onto her legs, Mothra lifted her gaze to Rayquaza.
“Thank you,” she said softly, gratitude lacing her tone.

Rayquaza inclined his head. “Of course.”

In the next instant, his body flared white, light rippling across his frame before fading, leaving him in his base form once more.

Godzilla huffed. “So you can’t stay like that forever?”

“Unfortunately not,” Rayquaza replied with faint amusement. “So you can stop acting so paranoid. I’m not here to take your throne.”

Mothra let out a light giggle, earning a low growl from Godzilla. Their exchange was abruptly cut short by a groan echoing across the battlefield.

All three turned.

From amidst the rubble, Rodan stirred, slowly spreading a battered wing to clutch at his aching head.

“Wh-What happened…?” he rasped, blinking blearily at the devastated landscape.

His eyes landed on the trio. Recognition struck, and the memories of recent days slammed into him like a tidal wave.
“G-Godzilla! I-I can explain!” he squawked, crouching under the Titan King’s glare.

“Run,” Godzilla growled.

Rodan blinked. “W-What?”

“RUN!” Godzilla thundered, dorsal plates blazing to life as his chest filled with the telltale glow of atomic fire.

With a terrified screech, Rodan launched into the sky, wings beating frantically as he fled toward the distant line of his volcano, desperate to escape being the outlet for Godzilla’s still-simmering fury.

As his figure shrank into the horizon, Mothra turned a sharp, disapproving gaze on Godzilla.

“You had no justification for that,” she chided.

“Did you not see who he was siding with?” Godzilla shot back.

“You know as well as I do it wasn’t by choice,” she countered firmly.

Godzilla rolled his eyes, turning away with a snort before trudging toward the ocean. Mothra followed close behind, unwilling to let the matter drop.

“You’d better apologize.”

“I’d rather die.”

“I’ll keep at you until you do.”

“Fine. Try bothering me underwater.”

“I think you’re forgetting we’re telepathically linked, Your Majesty.”

Rayquaza lingered behind, watching their banter with an amused rumble. Then his gaze lifted skyward, to where another link tugged at his thoughts. High above, circling in cautious formation, Madison and the others observed. Some eyes brimmed with awe, others with wariness, and a few with unrestrained joy.

Rayquaza offered them a small, knowing smile before turning toward the heavens. With a surge of emerald light, he ascended through the clouds toward the ozone layer.

There was still much work to be done after all.

The End!

Arceus groaned in frustration, failing once again to so much as reach his son across the vast expanse of the universe into which the boy had been cast. His mind throbbed with pain, and he longed to scold Palkia and Dialga for the 54th time over their petty quarrel that had caused this chaos, but he knew it would accomplish nothing.

His gaze lingered on the small rift through which he could observe the other world: the world his son had just saved. A surge of pride swelled in his chest, proud that no matter what world he was in, Rayquaza would strive for justice and balance.

Arceus’ determination was renewed. No matter what it took, he would bring his son back.