Godzilla 2000: New Era, PART 24 - FINALE Part 3 · 2:49am May 21st, 2022
PART 23
Proofed by Lance-Omikron
Story ideas by Faith-Wolff and CrystalMaster7
Gabriel Hopkins by Dr1ft3r0I a.k.a C0yot3721
Dr. Joanne Johnson by Corona Blaze
Hina and illustrations by FallenAngel5414
Ami by EvoWizard
Additional illustrations by LordShrekzilla and Zeroviks
Voice work provided by DiverseInterest
Because FimFic has a limit on how big you can make a blog post...
===========
Echoes of voices, past and present, rung through Yuji Shinoda’s deafened mind.
“Our… beau-utiful… dreamer…” Asuka cooed as she lay on her deathbed during the stormy night, looking upon him and the miracle between them.
“This will always be his home!” a child-aged Io squealed as she hugged the scaly form happily with the honest laughter only a child could muster, “And we’ll always be friends!”
“… Dr. Shinoda, I know you have some bad blood with C.C.I., but we’re all conscious of the sanctity of human life here,” Commander Aso turned to look at him; looking all the part of an aged and tired man, even as Aso seemed solemn and wise.
“I wasn’t lying when I said I was happy we’re on the same team again,” Katagiri stood in the door frame of the ships with canisters in hand, trying to look professional but letting a nostalgic smile edge at his lips as he looked aside, “I hope… that we can see that new era together...”
“Yu-..ji…” “Father…” “Doctor…” “Shinoda…”
The last memory, the most recent. Sitting beside a medical unit with his heart being crushed and full of sorrow and dread. He didn’t even know how to pray right anymore.
“..I’ve.. forgotten… I nee-d-” his own voice cracked between sobs, feeling himself crumble.
The hand inside his own pulled the fraying strands back together, Ichinose possessing a warmth like the sun as she sat beside him. What she said was so simple, and yet it made his pulse skip, “I’ll help you…”
All the voices and memories swirled together, and Shinoda jolted up from his unconsciousness as the ash continued to fall down on his face. He was covered in dust from the explosion, and his mind was still spinning. Through the vertigo of recollecting vision, he could see the warheads, larger and brighter than ever before.
The ground shook, not in a singular step but in a massive but constant tremor. As he lay in the street, bruised, bloodied, and trying to rise with an unresponsive body; a fearful tear leaked from his eye. Every nerve was dulled, numb. Not yielding to unconscious pulls or will.
That rumbling and the warheads not being averted could only mean this wasn’t over yet. This seemingly would never be over.
But there was still breath in his lungs, dusty and strained as they were. And there was still a beat in the weary man’s heart. He clenched his body as best he could and concentrated everything into just moving one side of his body, one limb, one finger; anything.
Dr. Yuji Shinoda, husband, father, colleague, friend, and more had promised himself not to lay down and give up tonight. And he was going to hold himself to that no matter what happened.
His fingers clenched, digging into the broken pavement and pulling to help haul his limp form on its side.
==========
Io Shinoda had been focusing everything she could on singing the song, even when her throat clenched up and refused to actually let her continue the chorus. She continued even when Ichinose was fighting tooth and nail to protect her. She continued even when the horrific explosion nearly knocked her off her feet, bruising most of her arm and feeling like it was broken.
But when she chanced to open her eyes at the horrific utterance, she could continue no more.
The entire building quaked, the constant rumbling having gotten stronger and stronger still. Wet, ugly growths sloshed against and coiled around the few remaining foundations and support beams. The room was torn from its holdings, held in place only by the outwards pushing force of her telekinesis. Orga wasn’t dead, and it wasn’t silent.
Growing around and onto the building as much as it was hauling itself onto it, the kaiju was constantly swelling and bursting; with most of its body no longer remotely resembling even its most malformed state. The explosion had completely blown open its chest and stomach, taking the lower jaw along with it. The cavernous gullet of exposed viscera, shattered or misshapen ribs, and the twitching upper jaw were all that remained and composed a majority of the body. Like a fleshy parade of growth one could compare to flora in fast-motion, Orga physically carpeted and grew over the CCI tower it had begun devouring. Strands of tissue and mass pulled over buildings, before crushing them and absorbing their broken mass into the main body.
The out of control growth and headless consumption resulted in ugly masses of shattered glass, twisted metal, and concrete embedded within its ugly hide. The central body, if it could be compared to one, was a towering form several hundred meters tall; with the CCI Tower’s corpse being drawn into the exposed ribcage that made up the chest. An enormous hellmouth, swallowing up the chamber Io, Yuki, and Belvera were entombed in.
Writhing masses of fleshy slop and tendrils snaked through the cracks in the walls and ceiling, thrashing about looking for matter to consume. Even with her telekinetic push, fracturing as it was, Io couldn’t hold back the tide fully.
TAKE. THE. GIRL!
===========
Yuji Shinoda staggered into a kneeling position, one leg’s nerves more stunned than the other and not wanting to straighten. Heaving for breath and bracing a hand on the ground, he managed to turn his head up and gaze upon the malign sight. He could see CCI Tower from here, or what was left of it; and the horrific demon that had begun to devour it by stuffing its victims into its gullet and trying to crush them within.
A fantastic quaking came from the rubble a block ahead of him and to the right. Shinoda could see the jagged dorsal spines, the very same he’d seen at Amami Bay erupting from the sea, push through the debris and dust to rise above them. Godzilla grumbled, having been thrown back by the explosion. But weariness was shrugged off. Even if he was worn, the great dragon was heedless in marching to meet his foe one last time.
===========
A mass went flying past Io, and she could register what it was as it flew past her. A right eye bruised so badly it was shut, blood leaking from its lid. More red draining from the scalp and mouth, the shoulders marred with cuts and bites. The neck was bruised entirely a grim blue and purple, and her clothes were split and frayed in some areas to reveal more injuries. The last detail was one of the worst. The hand limply suspended in air mid-fall, was missing two fingers.
Io Shinoda recognized her instantly despite the injuries. Yuki Ichinose, the imbecile of a photographer that had wound up getting pushed into her life over the past months. It was a strange recollection in her mind, as tormented and strained as it was; to remember traits and actions in categories. Yuki slouched to her side a lot, she hummed randomly, had that ridiculous looking bowl hat, was constantly tinkering with her camera and yet still missed multiple shots of a lifetime, she always bought cheap take-out and couldn’t cook to save her life. She wasn’t accomplished, wasn’t an intellectual, could barely keep herself clean much less others, and was almost as far removed from role models Io had set herself up for like Dr. Azusa Gojo as much as possible.
Ichinose always sat down to hear her out. She always incessantly checked in on her when Io constantly affirmed she was fine but knew she wasn’t. She wasn’t a genius and yet somehow had skilled her way through her and her father’s quirks and shortcomings beautifully. And even when Io had made things tough for her, she still took it in stride knowing it was Io’s own stresses and misplaced coping that was the issue. And Yuki had faced the impossible, her and her father’s baggage and the horrific monsters trying to come for them, and not only stuck around; but defeated both.
She was the strongest woman Io had ever met, unassuming as she at first seemed. A cord long wrapped around her heart since a terrible realization at Kyoto Institute in her childhood, tugged on by this stubborn photographer for months, finally snapped free.
Imbecile. Informal. Mellow. Perceptive. Skilled. Honest. Protective. Yuki Ichinose had gotten more than a few descriptors’ in Io’s mind. One she didn’t fully understand prior, chanced to be thought of as it was, came blurting out when Io Shinoda ran to her.
“MOM!” Shinoda cried out as she fell to her knees and tried to hold the dazed Yuki up.
“Taaaaark… heeeee… iiirrrlll…” a wheezing rasp came from behind her.
Stepping forward with one foot, misshapen with extra digits more resembling fingers trying to grow out of its side, and dragging the immobile tumor that had once been its other leg; the Asuka drone barely resembled itself.
Looking more like two women forcefully stitched together, with seven limbs total and the extra three jutting out at irregular angles, it still tried to carry out its programming. The hideous face, a distended jaw with a second maw formed where one of its damaged eyes had been, was wreathed and veiled in a long mass of mixed black and gray hair.
It reached out for Io, blood still dripping from long fingers twisted into claws.
============
Yuji Shinoda looked on as Godzilla approached the biomass, his form even more towering at ground level without a vehicle around him. The enormous dragon marched forward, his tail waving in the air behind him and at one point passing dozens of meters above Yuji’s head. He did not let loose his ray as the distance closed, despite the dim glow present on his dorsal spines. The gleam of Orga’s golden eyes shined brightly, and the barrier shield returned. This time it oscillated with power, brighter and luminescent when it had previously been dim and transparent unless struck. It was pouring everything it had into the shield. The means of keeping Godzilla from its prize. It finally, finally, had its salvation in another’s damnation; and it just needed to keep him out for a little longer.
Godzilla screeched sharply, the barrier conducting across his entire body and shocking him worse than he ever had before. Nerves sparked and skin that could shrug off magma singed. The dragon nearly loosed his burning ray or erupted with a nuclear pulse, but the glow faded the moment it arrived. Instead, Godzilla watched and looked at the barrier shield with an unreadable body language. Whether the lack of energy outburst was because of being drained by the battle or a conscious choice, Yuji could only speculate. Only hope.
There had to be only one thing on Godzilla's mind right now, and he had to have hope he knew which it was. He couldn't save them, so he had to take a leap of faith hoping the azure dragon was the one being who could. Who would.
His body still half stunned, Yuji Shinoda watched in awe and hope as Godzilla seemed to finish his studying of the situation. Odo Island's legendary kami of the seas roared allowed and slammed his bulk into the barrier, pushing and resisting it with every scrap of force in the sheer magnitude of his mass.
Getting shocked and concussed constantly, Godzilla redoubled his efforts. The struck barrier screamed, each fist a tsunami smashing into a mountain. The barrier shield flickered and created a blinding pulse of light, swelling outwards in circles from the impact point like ripples in a pond. Orga's innumerable eyes upon what remained of its head flashed, and the ripples froze in place before collapsing back to the contact points between Godzilla and the shield.
All of the kinetic energy rebounded back into the dragon, sending shockwaves through his body that threw it backwards. Foot and claw dug grooves several dozen meters long into the splitting pavement and earth, grinding the backpedal to a halt. Lips curled back into a hiss, biting back the pain before another enraged roar shook Kyoto to its foundations.
Godzilla bulldozed ahead, slamming head and claw-first into the barrier. The ripples of stored kinetic energy amassed and fired back, unleashing scores of shocking bursts and arcs of energy across the kaiju. But he’d braced, digging his feet in and slamming his tail into the ground for anchoring. Twitching and convulsing as he was, Godzilla wasn’t letting himself be moved as he pushed into the barrier.
==========
The echoes of Godzilla’s wrathful bellow rattled the air behind the barrier, vibrating the entire room as an earthquake even as more ribbons of flesh pushed into the falling defense to writhe about.
“Hu-urt, you’re-” Io whimpered as she stayed at Yuki’s side, barely able to talk through what she was feeling inside and out.
Io’s body twitched and convulsed from phantom shocks, tears falling freely from his shuddering cheeks. She stayed still with her eyes locked upon the battered woman before her. And yet, by some miracle, Yuki was still conscious and aware even if she’d been blinded by the bruising and wounds. A shaking pair of hands, one missing two fingers, gently took hold of Io’s cheeks.
“Sh-Sh… D-Don’t you cry now…” Yuki tried to softly whisper, even through the distressing dark crimson void that had become her vision. Even without the ability to see, she could hear the defenses of the room falter, and she could hear someone terrified right in front of her. The latter had her attention more.
There was a very, real possibility they were about to die. If there was anything after this or not, she didn’t want them to go out like this. Scared, sobbing, and afraid. Ichinose held back her own tears as best she could, but some still flowed nonetheless.
-Crying now, Yuki? And here I was trying to look strong for her. I already must look horrible…Stupid eyes, useless things in the worst of times.-
A low bellow rumbled through the room, one pained and yet determined. Io Shinoda felt something inside it. Not in the ambient air or shuddering floor, but within. Something, someone, touched her mind. A voice from what almost felt like another life, calling her name. She gasped and looked up.
Yuki Ichinose smiled, able to deduce who was coming even if she had no sight.
“He’s coming.. He’s coming to save you, and stop this,” Ichinose whispered assuringly, “He’s the only one who can.”
She had no proof. Absolutely no proof. Ichinose wasn’t dumb or naive. Godzilla might have truthfully just arrived to kill the Millennian without heed to them. She could be seeing intervention or signs where there was just chance. A dog in the clouds, chance luck avoiding a lightning strike, her own nation’s mytho-history saw divine intervention in a typhoon that sank the invading second Mongolian fleet.
Moreso, logically even if Godzilla was trying to save them and stop the Millennian, there was no guarantee he could. He could fail to get to them in time, fail to destroy what had grown over the tower, or just fail to do so before doomsday by any number of ways.
The faint step and drag indicated the drone had closed the distance, a misshapen hand starting to curl over Io’s shoulder to move for her throat. Yuki held Io’s hand with her good one, squeezing it assuringly. If this was their final few moments of life, she didn’t want the poor girl distraught and hopeless.
“Have faith… to have hope. Look at him, believe he can stop this,” Yuki forced her left eye open, red stained tears running from it as she looked at the blurry mass above her, “All you have to do.. is believe.”
Io’s eyes trembled at the sight before her. Out the window, through the walls of flesh trying to engulf the room and the barrier shield beyond it, the crackling energy across the forcefield intensified. It coalesced into a form, a shape she knew. Changed, but recognizable since the first day they met in this very city. There was so much pain, so much horrible pain she could empathically feel. And yet..
Godzilla was struggling, eyes wincing shut from the constant shocks that coursed down his body. The ground continued to split at his footing, and yet he just dug in deeper to keep his grounding. Virtually every part of his body was being concussed, but the dragon wasn’t giving the barrier an inch. Either it would give, or he would.
On the edges of Kyoto proper, having hauled himself out of the crashed Super-X3 cockpit, Aso limped forward before leaning on a torii gate at the head of the temple. The azure dragon statue loomed over his tired and worn down body, as Takaaki looked out upon the city in possibly its last moments. He was a man of strength, of stability through wisdom and power. And yet his options had run dry, his arms and guile had faltered by no lack of effort. He couldn’t stop this, the devastation of the city nor save the lives of those inside it. All he could do was hope for victory, by the force beyond man still fighting. The nightmare from 1954, replaced in faith for the next millennium; all incarnated in the very same being. Hina had been right, forces of nature, fate, kami; they were mysterious things.
He saw Godzilla fighting the tide of the last defense, and bowed his head slightly. If anyone knew how hard it was to stop a hurricane, a volcano, or another force of nature like a Godzilla; it was him. If it all worked out, the Millennian never stood a chance. If not…? Well, the old soldier could hope.
High up on Kyoto Institute, Mitsuo Katagiri heaved for breath whilst holding a torn sleeve tightly to his side. The roof continued to crackle and crumble, instability obvious. The fact one of the incoming warheads, less than a minute out, seemed to be barreling straight for him was a passing curiosity. Bad luck, or the Millennian having it out for him especially? He’d never know. The fact it was flying at all was on him. The errors he’d made, they stung at his core. What chance was it then, the number of them he’d made at this very building? He’d been a man of fear, paranoia driving every action to spite and strive. That had all come back to haunt him and others, and then some… The breath of Yuji in the radio microphone was passive comfort. Seeing him off and guiding him safely through the city had been an act free of his sins. One that might have paid off in giving them this one last shot thanks to Yuji’s quick thinking.
Mitsuo took light of where he was, not moving from his spot. Kyoto Institute of Biotechnics. The birthplace of tomorrow’s providence. In 1993, he thought it was the Mechagodzilla CCI had brought forth. Now, he could only hope it was something else. The fiery demon of 1984, replaced in mind with the innocent youth he’d horribly misjudged. One had taken two friends away, the other was now the only hope in saving a friend who remained and the last legacy of one lost.
In the streets several hundred meters behind Godzilla, Dr. Shinoda watched on. His dusty, and reddened eyes closed as a tear seeped at the seams of his leds. He was a man of logic and reason, the things that kept him able to focus on one task to another over the years. None of those would save anyone right now. He’d done all he could. Logic would take light of how he never had a chance in hell at rescuing anyone, driving half blind through a city in the middle of a kaiju battle to get to people dozens of meters off the ground with no stairs or rope. Reason would have had him hide in the deepest levels of Kyoto Institute to try and survive the blasts. Logic and reason would have had him realize how hopeless this all was, throw himself down and go insane at all the many ways his pathetic life was about to be over soon.
Shinoda had once told Yuki he’d forgotten how to pray, and that was the truth. What good would any of it do? Just the same outdated foolishness he tried to leave behind back on that island his wife and family were buried at. He’d been so set on trying to be task oriented after it took Asuka away, he’d forgotten how. Now, like a scared child praying for a storm to go away; he only had Yuki’s example to follow.
Clasping his hands together and bowing his head, he prayed. For hope, for life; to a kami of destruction or to a benevolent creature. He didn’t know or care which, it didn’t matter.
Io could feel so much, around her and beyond. Amongst them was the voice. One that came to the mind, from behind a pair of burning eyes visibly pushing into and warping the barrier. The cold hand of the drone wrapped around her throat and began to squeeze down, a jagged blade of bone prepared in the other limb poised for her back.
The voice called to her once again, recognizable as it was though changed in age and purpose. She’d been right, they’d both grown up. There was no going back to how things once were, much as she once wished for it.
-”Io…”-
Yuki’s words of wisdom echoed through her mind. All she had to do was believe… and that is what she wished.
A surge came across his form, one that she felt in herself. Not one of pain from the shocks, but a power all to itself. They’d both grown up, to new lives and new purposes. He was still himself, but he’d long since ascended to a new title. One his first friend finally called him, as the surges of power caused her own abilities to spike.
“FIGHT, GOJIRAAAA!” Io Shinoda screamed as all of her psychic powers came exploding outwards.
Hair billowing back, the strands of telekinesis netted the Asuka drone in a fing mesh. With a burst of power unknown to her, Azure sparks shot across Io’s body in arcs of energy exploding backwards in a shockwave not entirely different from a nuclear pulse. The psychic blast, hooked into every cell of the drone’s body, wrenched apart in different directions.
The last of the Millennian screamed as it was thrown at the back wall, its body disintegrating from being eviscerated at the cellular level mid-flight. By the time it hit the wall, its body had been shredded to mist that was soon crushed under the force of the psychic shockwave.
The mental feed between Io and Godzilla, be it a lingering psychic tether from their youth or something unknown from a destiny long ago forged, went both ways. Godzilla’s eyes dilated and for the first time, he gained traction. The great dragon’s muscles tensed and the kinetic shocks of the barrier flew back into Orga from the sheer force. Roaring to high heavens, Godzilla pushed into the barrier and took a step forward.
Then another… Then another. Throwing his full weight and force into it, the barrier was struck like a gong. Io Shinoda, wheezed, the psychic surge dissipating, as she put a hand on the window to steady herself. She gazed outside just in time to see the barrier be divided by a crack.
All anyone could hear was white noise. Eastern winds blew through Kyoto as the warhead streaked down. Mankind held its breath, its creations sought to destroy them, a man prayed, a woman was held, a girl hoped, and a dragon persevered. Godzilla pushed on through the barrier to gaze upon the eyes of his tethered. Until at last, the barrier shattered and nothing stopped the tide. Mouth aflame and spines exploding with brilliance, he grabbed onto the sole remaining piece of CCI tower and arched his back. Judgment was cast when azure wrath erupted from the dragon’s dorsum.
The resulting explosion rose up to engulf the shrieking Orga and could be seen far outside the city.
…..
……….
………….
…………….
Spears of metal stabbed into the ground, rocket engines still burning on impact. Several ruptured upon striking the ground, ramming through buildings in their way like enormous darts. One of the javelins slammed into the ground not far from Kyoto Institute, shredding half of itself on impact from the kinetic whiplash. The uproar of smoke and dirt thrown about started to clear slowly, letting Katagiri gaze upon its identity.
At over 30 meters long before it was broken apart, a nuclear-bearing US Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile was still recognizable. The fact he could see it and wasn’t instantly vaporized spoke of what he couldn’t see. Deep within its electronics, the missile’s countdown detonation had stopped. A few seconds to zero, stopping and disarming the moment the Millennian control had broken and the no-doubt enormous backlog of kill-commands the armed forces it had been keeping out had fed through.
Better kill switches for those sort of things, one thing from CCI’s hand he could take pride in. No one wanted another close call after 1984…
-But... if it’s disabled that means!..-
The roof cracked and split, sagging more as a divide ripped across it. Katagiri swallowed back a bile of mixed emotions, scrambling for his radio set and trying to get back on the right frequency. He controlled his heaving breath as best he could, trying not to pay mind to how the building’s lower levels were beginning to strain with the windows bursting. The center of Kyoto was a smoking ruin, where CCI Tower once stood was a pyre of a crater. Through the haze he thought he could glimpse what looked like a fragment of Orga, which was crumbling away into inert dust before his very eyes.
Dead. It was at last, entirely, dead.
Movement caught his eye to the right, and he saw more of it through the haze that had shrouded much of the city. Emanating out from where CCI Tower once stood, a trail had dragged a gouge into the earth like something was blown away by the blast several hundred meters. Through the smoke and dust, flickers of light brightened and flashed dimly. The form of enormous rows of spines slowly rose, pushing off waterfalls of debris and dust to cascade down and through their span.
A tremor rumbled the earth with every step, one after another. Though smoke and mists shrouded it, still shaking free of the titanic form to wreath it in obscurity like some mythic god; Katagiri knew exactly who it was. Larger than life as an animate mountain, he couldn’t fight the sense of awe starting to come over him.
“Magnificent…” he whispered to himself, shaking his head slowly as if to scold himself for having never seen it before, “...truly magnificent…”
The walking thunder limped itself along towards the institute, pausing in front of it. The smoke and dust billowing from the form blew away slightly from the eastern winds, and Katagiri watched on to gaze at its arm. Charred and smoking as its hide was, the object nestled within its arms and hands was miraculously intact relatively speaking. Mitsuo Katagiri sighed to himself, shaking his head in both recognition and disbelief. Tired and ill as he was, he didn’t fight the smile that formed when he caught a glimpse of Io Shinoda through the window. Still very much alive and conscious, their eyes met briefly while she descended. Hands that could shatter mountains gently put the room down, back at the footsteps of the very place they’d been born.
Katagiri felt a presence, a weight upon himself. Like the subtle cue one felt when they were watched, but drastically intensified. As the smoke and ash swirled about from the hunched form, it parted enough that he found this was exactly the case. That magnificent titan paused and tilted its head in his direction. Eyes of burned gold and fiery red dwarfed his gaze and swallowed up his focus.
He heard breathing, both a haggard breath through his radio headset; and the massive gust of it that blew past him. He couldn’t fight the chuckle of awe and amazement at the latter.
“Yuji-... Are you still alive?” Mitsuo Katagiri laughed weakly.
There was static, but the breath returned; along with a fumbling to indicate an adjusted microphone. Yuji Shinoda’s entire body ached, ragdolled from the explosion but having not landed on anything too hard when he’d been knocked over and briefly passed out. Fighting the stars in his vision, Shinoda panted and tried to articulate a response.
“Mi-Mitsuo?! I’m here! I’m alive, is Io-”
“Io’s just fine… He brought her to the institute,” Katagiri sighed, shaking his head as he admired the glimpse of enormous fangs taller than he was looming closer. The gigantic head dwarfed creation as it leaned in.
“M-Mitsuo... You mean?!”
“We won, Yuji…” Katagiri said plainly through his smile, fishing out something he’d quit years ago and yet always kept on hand. His brief vigor gave him the steadiness to withdraw and light a cigarette, puffing it before throwing the lighter away. He shook his head slowly, still in awe, “...I’ve never seen Godzilla this close before.”
So changed, this mighty beast; and yet so recognizable. He’d just seen a Godzilla, perhaps the Godzilla, not only save their world of man; but go out of his way to save a human life. The times, they really had changed. He’d been proven more wrong than he ever could have imagined… and yet, he felt so elated, perhaps enlightened by that fact.
The titan’s brow curled downwards in a universal symbol of anger. Lips pulled back to reveal more enormous teeth with flickers of blue in those gigantic eyes. Katagiri couldn’t help but yelp briefly, less in fear and more in exhilaration. First cigarette he had in years and he’d already dropped it not two puffs in.
Godzilla growled audibly, rumbling the air up to and through Katagiri. One of its great hands was brought up, passively touching or clawing lightly at the base of the throat. Right where, years ago at this very institute, the man before him had placed a shock collar.
Katagiri shook his head slowly, lips pursed, “Hehe… Yuji, he remembers me. He remembered your daughter, and he remembers me too… You were right, he was sapient even back then.”
“...Katagiri!?” Yuji Shinoda’s eyes widened as he panted, trying to get his bearings and orient himself towards the institute. It wasn’t too hard once the smoke and mist started to clear. There was a kaiju standing there after all who now qualified as the highest point in the city.
Mitsuo was shadowed by the enormity, looking back at the titan with a sense of wonder and awe overtaking him. The living mountain straightened back up and took in a deep breath, visibly drawing in gusts of air into his enormous maw and nostrils.
This was it, this was the moment he’d been dreading for years. Ever since 1984 he somehow knew he’d meet his end re-experiencing this nightmare. And yet, somehow, knowing who was yet to live on, knowing he’d been proven wrong in the best way possible; he couldn’t resist an elated smile and shout at the top of his lungs.
“GODZILLLAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”
His shout was deafened by the cry of a living hurricane, the loud trumpeting of Godzilla’s mightiest roar that shot up into the sky from the brow of the beast whose head touched heavens. It was such an awesome sight to behold, Katagiri was still feeling his pulse surge from it even after the call ending.
Even after Godzilla turned away from him and did nothing, instead walking aside to stop and rest beside the institute. A tear ran down Katagiri’s cheek, and he laughed beside himself. It took him a few moments to realize Shinoda was still trying to call out to him, partially due to being deafened by Godzilla’s titanic call.
“Mitsuo?! Mitsuo?! What’s going on?!”
“You were right! You were right again, you bastard!” Katagiri laughed, speaking to more than just Shinoda.
“You sound awfully happy, we just went through doomsday twice over and CCI is-”
“Destroyed beyond belief? Hehe… It was a small price to pay... I just never realized the gain,” Katagiri sighed, looking back at Godzilla as the beast stood by calmly and looked at the sealed room Io had been trapped inside. It was such a surreal sight to Mitsuo that he couldn’t help but smile again, “There's certainly a lot to go over after all this... How are you? Don’t tell me I have to patch you up again.”
Yuji Shinoda staggered through the streets, limping, bruised, with roadburn on half his left arm, but still with an intact wit, all things considered even if he was sobbing like a fool from the emotional rush.
“When isn’t there a lot of paperwork involved...? I’ll live.”
Katagiri nodded, looking down and behind him. His brow lowered, but his tone didn’t, “Right you are there. Say, Yuji, want to meet up for a meal later?”
Shinoda scoffed, looking around at the absolutely devastated Kyoto interior. Not a single window wasn’t smashed nor a section of street intact, and he remembered a lot more taller buildings once being present, “There's a place that hasn't been destroyed or evacuated? I think the KFC the institute staff liked didn’t make it.”
Katagiri shook his head, shrugging before turning his gaze upwards. He didn’t know where he was looking, staring at the starry New Years sky without an incoming missile in sight. But, he could perhaps imagine it was a place two friends might be looking at him right now from.
“Not the place I have in mind. It might take you a while to get there though,” he shrugged, mummering quietly to himself, “Hopefully...”
Something about his inflection, it tipped Yuji off. He swallowed a wad in his throat and staggered ahead, trying in vain to close the distance. He knew Mitsuo too well to know when something was up.
“Mitsuo?... Mitsuo?!”
The ground around Katagiri had already been breaking long before Godzilla showed up. He hadn’t the strength to get to safety before, his wounds were mortal. At least he could know, he’d spent his last strength helping his friend... and he’d been blessed with a sense of awe to take away.
Dr. Mitsuo Katagiri smiled contently, “Tell you what Yuji, you find out as much as you can about Io's friend; then when you get to the table, we can talk about it…. All of us…”
The ground gave way and he went over the edge. Katagiri’s vision began to fade into black as he tumbled in a free fall, phasing in and out as blood leaked from his wound in a trail above him. Even through the occasional shadows in his vision, he caught one last glimpse that left an impact upon him. The red and gold eyes upon him, a mountain turning around, and a hand reaching for him. For him.
“Heh…” he wept, smiling nonetheless so pleasantly and peacefully, “Got to prove me wrong one last time….. It’s up to you.”
His last thoughts were of what could have been. The possibilities if he hadn’t been ruled by fear. Maybe he could have been on Dr. Gojo’s team. Maybe he and Yuji could have worked together. Maybe his Jane could have been playmates with Io and… Junior. Who knows, if cards had fallen differently… maybe he’d have been in that group photograph Shinoda kept on him.
When the rescue teams and a haggard Shinoda would finally reach the institute, they’d find the panic room from CCI Tower clean of radiation; and the body of Dr. Mitsuo Katagiri laid down several dozen meters away from a broken off section of roof. He'd be caught and laid to rest at the precipice of his work.
Godzilla had disappeared into Lake Biwa without a trace…
==============
Months Later
==============
Stacker Pentecost, Taizo Tachibana, Biologist 023, and Takaaki Aso surveyed the demolition and documentation of what remained of the Millennian vessel, looking over the reports as the crew operated behind them. Godzilla hadn’t left much, but no one was wanting to risk being wrong again with something so dangerous.
“So, it finally is dead,” Tachibana huffed, “Looks like your retirement plan won’t be delayed much longer once this operation is over.”
He glanced at his mentor and superior with a humored chuckle before shrugging, “And what of the means of seeing what its last acts were?”
“Aside from making half the city jump out and try to attack the kaiju for the first time in history instead of the reverse,” 023 frowned as he passed along another print out and shook his head, “It sent out a signal of some form.”
“Where to? Anywhere else in Japan or elsewhere?” Aso frowned with a furrowed brow, now seated in an electric wheelchair when he got too tired for crutches, “Could any more of these things be hiding in the ocean?”
“Unlikely, this seems to be the sole iteration. This was a scout ship, sent alone. The signal,” 023 motioned with a finger towards the roof, “Was sent into deep space…”
The room was silent, and yet everyone could read it. This was not the kind of news to hope for, but it’s what they had to live with.
“Well then, G-Force’s task doesn’t seem finished now does it?” Pentecost crossed his arms, “I’m for appealing to the world powers to not rearm the nuclear stockpile, not to the level it was.”
023 nodded in agreement, “Agreed, the Cold War is over and socio-economic ties, and light of a common enemy makes major scale fighting improbable. Some arming can be done, but this last incident was one too close.”
“We should also make more global terminals, equalize the playing field for wireless systems… No more hoarding it,” Pentecost added in, having already gotten an earful from plenty of heads of state for what happened despite everyone agreeing in the end there was an equal measure of blame.
“Too much power in one force or hand is never a good idea,” Tachibana frowned as he nodded along, “History taught us that time and time again, about high time we heeded it.”
“There is one.. other detail then,” Aso sighed as he got the three’s attention. The old soldier, now looking much older as if his years and fully caught up to him, tapped at his uniform’s label. He took the velcro tag off and put it on the table, pushing it out with a flick of his fingers.
The logo of G-Force spun around lazily before coming to a stop.
“Tachibana is right, we can’t keep making the same mistakes. And the greatest of my career, was thinking that this Godzilla was our enemy. That signal proves much as that… We shall make ready as we can, rebuild and do it better; but I never want our arms brought to those who mean us no harm. Especially fellow Terrans,” Aso explained with a nod made by the others.
“Some might be hesitant of a rebranding,” Pentecost shrugged, agreeing to it but playing Devil’s advocate.
“We will do as we must... Because if or when they come, and our arms aren’t enough… I know whose side he’ll be fighting on.”
The old commander looked out the window, towards the ocean. Deep in thought, he was silent for a time before nodding in affirmation.
"If we may resolve for a time, there is somewhere I have to be..."
================
A slow breeze blew over the hills of Odo Island, slithering down the long gravel paths and dirt roads that lead into the highlands. Beyond a torii gate, a pair of small hands placed a rod of incense into a small altar at the front of a slab of stone that had been carved and polished into a rectangular pillar. A second set of hands put down a pair of sotoba, wooden planks with writing upon their flats as carved grave markers.
The stone pillar was for the Shinoda family, and the planks bore the names of the recently deceased.
Io Shinoda and Yuji Shinoda, dressed in rustic attire for their first big return to the island, clasped their hands and knelt before the family gravemarker. The ceremony wasn’t elaborate, but poignant. After spending some time praying, cleaning of the stone marker by pouring water across it, father and daughter rose back up. Io’s fingers slipped around her fathers, sensing how he was tearing up and squeezing his hand assuringly. This was the first time he’d done this in years.
He sighed, looking down at the now 14-year-old with pursed lips and a tear still on his cheek. The gray skinned hybrid offered her father a warm smile, flashing a bit of her teeth and squeezing his hand again.
Yuji closed his eyes, patted her head, much to her annoyance, and nodded. The smile spread to him as well.
“Well, shall we let your mother listen to it once more? We’ll collect it after the fair.”
Io nodded along, turning and fishing something out of her pocket. Setting it down on the grave marker and winding it up, she and her father exited the gravesite hand in hand. A few minutes later, as an easterly wind slithered through the graveyard, someone else stopped beside the grave just in time to catch the last portion of the music box’s song.
Yuki Ichinose, sporting a few scars on her face and a pair of glasses now, had been watching from the edge of the graveyard up on the hill past the torii gate. This didn’t feel like something she could intrude upon and she hesitated to move, but perhaps the wind nudged her on or something else pulled her along to wander over.
She knelt down, inspecting the first wooden sotoba board.
“Asuka Shinoda. Respected Scientist, daughter, wife, mother…”
Yuki Ichinose pursed her lips, a bit unsure of what to do. She’d seen this woman beyond the grave, if one could call a life or death struggle with an abomination. But she’d always known that horrific thing wasn’t that woman’s true legacy. That legacy, her family, she’d seen not a moment ago.
A family of two absent-minded-professors with their own faults and problems. Io clearly had taken after her father if stories of her mother’s poise and tact were true. Shame they never got to meet, Ichinose got the distinct vibe they’d have a lot in common.
So what did she do here right now? Was she supposed to make some grandiose speech, some big gesture, some long-winded prayer about-
The blunt force of the wind in her face caused her to snort from it going up her nose. It reoriented her train of thought to default back to the simple.
“Alright… Alright... Don’t need to choke me on a gust,” Yuki shrugged, before chuckling.
She couldn’t complain, simple worked for her. Simple meant honest and she was pretty good at that. Kneeling down, she took an island lily from her hair piece. Her hand, now bearing two large scars at the base of her reattached pinkie and ring fingers, gently laid it down beside the music box just as it hit its final notes of ‘A Beautiful Dreamer’. Yuki Ichinose smiled pleasantly, rewinding the song and putting the box back down.
“No matter what happens next,” she smiled at the photograph of Asuka Shinoda in the picture, “I’ll keep an eye on them, for us both…”
She cracked a sniggering smirk and winked, “Hope you don’t mind Io called me mom in the heat of the moment on once. She denies it vividly, but just between us women… I think she likes me.”
Feeling no retribution or refutation from beyond the grave, Yuki sighed and winked at the picture. She was just about to get up and leave when her eye caught the name on the other sotoba board. Narrowing her eyes and leaning in she-
“You’re late!” a crabby old voice crooned beside her.
-she jumped out of her skin and launched a good foot into the air, flailing her arms in what looked like some bad approximation of a martial arts stance.
The old woman, an ancient looking matriarch with pure white hair and wearing what looked like a weathered old miko garb, just stared at Ichinose plainly. Hina deadpanned and motioned to the festival grounds back in the foothills below with her cane.
“You’re gonna miss the best parts, this event only happens once a year.”
Festival of the Azure Dragon of the East. Kyoto had famously begun it recently. It seemed popular interest in a green and azure guardian had seen a resurgence ever since a certain saurian matching some of that description had returned. Seiryū’s temple of Kiyomizu-dera being one of the few places in the city relatively undamaged by the battle. The fact that the temple now had a huge hole in the nearby hills that survey showed had been blasted through almost the whole of Japan, attracting a lot of attention, certainly had some contribution.
Odo Island wasn’t one to let the old capital celebrate it alone however, even if the traditions and name ascribed to the dragon differed.
“Eeeeeey… eer-...” Yuki gulped, aware of how ridiculous she looked as she relaxed her stance. Tugging at her collar, she turned around to look at the festival grounds below, at all the lanterns and sounds of traditional music.
She shrugged, smiling beside herself and let herself get lost in some thoughts. It was a few moments, so she thought, later when she snapped back to attention after the breeze chilled her back, “Right!.. Bit of a walk down the mountain, do you need help getting-”
Ichinose turned around to face nothing. The wind had died down to silence.
“-there?...”
She was at a loss, looking about in confusion before the pounding of old drums stirred her attention again. Confirming the old lady wasn’t around anymore and deciding maybe she’d just excuse this as getting lost in thought and losing track of time, Ichinose began her trek down the mountainside and back to the town of Odo proper.
==========
He was certainly feeling his age ascending the stony steps. One after another, with a heavier load than they usually strode with. Some things would take awhile to get used to. He’d had to stop to rest a few times, feeling the object in his pocket dig slightly into his thigh when he’d seated himself for a minute or two. It and who it left him thinking of, had him shaking his head.
“I can see how you stayed fit enough to sneak into my office so many times, Miss Shinoda,” Takaaki Aso huffed, shaking his head and patting a bit of sweat off his brow. Out of uniform for what felt like the first time in decades, to a passerby he was nothing more than another old man out of breath.
He stayed seated for a moment, surveying the sloped, hilly land of the highland island of Odo. A particular set of hills he could even recognize on the far end of the island, visible from this vantage point. An old weather-beaten trail snaked up their length, and even forty-five years later one could just barely make out the impact depressions of footsteps and claw marks left gouged into bedrock when a giant loomed over the hill. He’d seen Dr. Yamane’s photograph and remembered his daughter Emiko’s account vividly, even all the way back to the first time he’d experienced them as a young man.
Now he was an old man, back where this all started, come to try and put an end to things. If someone told him this is how he’d ‘end this’ years ago, he’d have them recommended for psychiatric help.
The last year and a lot of talks had led to some changed perspectives.
Grunting to himself, Aso pushed himself up and continued on the old stony stairs, still unsteady on his prosthetic present below the knee and needing a cane. The old man, no longer a Commander for much longer, managed himself up and through the divide of the sea cliffs. Despite not knowing exactly what he was looking for, gut feeling told him when he found it.
A clearly very, very ancient stony slab at the precipice of the stairway, a short span of distance behind it leading to a sheer drop off into the sea cliffs below. Within the slap was a hollow cavity, with the remnants of what was clearly some kind of altar in front of it. Aso hummed passively, observing the item with a curious eye.
In an older, more cynical time he might have looked at this as some backwards place of sacrifice of appeasement of misplaced worship to a malevolent abomination at worst or just some unusual but uncaring animal at best. But he could perhaps now see it for what it was. A stony slab with a simple altar, it was not unlike the graveyards he’d visited many times for the fallen. First, the family gravestones of his superiors in the aftermath of the ‘54 attack and later, his own soldiers as a commander. Even without being religious, he understood the sentiment of the action. A marker like this wasn’t just for one person, it was for a whole lineage.
“Took me days of sweeping the Terminal room to find these,” he whispered to no one in particular present whilst fishing a sealed bag from his inner pocket.
Reaching inside, he withdrew a small glass frame and placed it inside the cavity of the grave slab, “I hope you appreciate the sentiment. Not much left, the explosion had to be sufficient. I was taking no chances.”
“Call it a piece of the modern day, to hold the bygone,” Aso sighed, a small frown crossing his face as he recollected old wounds and older memories looking at what was inside the glass box, “So that you may know peace.”
There was some precedent for this, as Aso was one to know his history. One couldn’t be a military man and in Tokyo without knowing one old story.
Taira no Masakado, a powerful local lord and samurai from just over a millennia ago, was once a scourge to Japan. The cause of the first major uprising against the capital, Kyoto, his rebellion killed many and caused arguably one of the greatest calamities of the earliest Imperial era. And yet, his tomb was well-maintained to this day in the most expensive district of Tokyo, venerated like a kami and facing the Imperial Palace. If his spirit was at rest and respected, prosperity would come. If it wasn’t, that ancient warlord’s wrathful spirit would manifest as disaster. Or at least, that was how the old belief went.
Masakado was an enemy, just as much a scourge to his foe as he was respected for his power. The sentiment was similar if one thought the same of whom this stony slab before him right now was dedicated to as a person, instead of some vicious, unthinking beast. Sitting in the old altar’s cavity, a glass box was very carefully pushed against the back wall to shield it from wind and rain. Aso withdrew his hands, before pulling a small bit of cloth out from his pocket and wiping his prints off the surface to ensure it was clean. Taking a few moments more, he set to cleaning the gravestone itself; pouring some water from a bottle he’d carried up across the top to let it run down and rinse off the ancient stone.
Steeling himself with a breath, the old soldier closed his eyes and put his hands together in a prayer. Whether this actually meant anything or not, it really didn’t matter. This was, perhaps, just as much for his quest to at last have peace for himself as it was for those passed by. Keeping his eyes shut to focus, he fished out another old relic he’d been meaning to give back ever since it came into his possession. The small flute, simple and lacking decoration, was drawn out and put to his lips. Aso only knew a few old melodies, more the general tune than specific notes, but he played the old Hokkaido song all the same for the sensation it engendered within him. All to serenade the grave in a sort of tribute.
It was such an odd feeling coming over him, but not unwelcome. The stilling of twitching nerves and relaxing of muscle. He’d joined the Self-Defense Force as a young man looking for a way to keep the peace, maybe this was finally getting to be at peace decades later?
Thinking back to how the world had changed between the decades, he couldn’t help but ponder the gap in time between the tragic events that so marked his and other’s lives. Maybe something bad had happened here between 1954 and thirty years hence, just like how some attributed one of the worst earthquakes in history to Masakado’s grave being neglected? Maybe the seeming return of devastation was somehow karmic retribution for the unjust arms build-up of the Cold War? Or maybe, it was all just back luck and nothing more? Who was to say the will of the unknown, be it fate or kami?
Feeling the sea spray across his face as he prayed, Aso stayed still until the sun beams set below the horizon of the seas. Able to detect the calm darkness around him now, Takaaki straightened back up and took light of what was before him now.
Within the dim light of the early night one could see an image of the same visage but decades apart. A titan who walked with thunder and loomed over creation, one looking over a hillside here on Odo Island and the other photographed striding across Birth Island with his adoptive son. These contrasted with the shadows of his past. Of the wrathful shadows shrouding Tokyo in seas of smoke and flames, looking up at the living wrathful mountain of mighty nature at ground level and even kilometers away. Here, it was just another life to witness and remember. Takaaki had intentionally picked the images that didn’t convey terror, to give a distinct perspective than the images that haunted him for years. If this was to be a lasting memory, it was to be showing the being that was no longer his hated enemy, just another victim of fate in their half-century war neither of them ever wanted.
Nestled alongside the photographs, a few small pieces of charred bone fragments lay still. He’d gotten every scrap he could find of that claw Hina had given him, it only felt right to try his best. When he’d first gotten that mummified chunk of bone from the miko of this island, he could admit to his dismissal even if he’d been respectful to the woman. At best what she saw as a piece of a kami was a curiosity to a scientist of rare animals or a historian interested in mythohistory. At worst, it was worshiping and venerating a destructive, dangerous beast the world was far better without.
He stopped playing the old flute and remained in silence.
The last year helped to give him some new outlooks on matters. Had the attacks of 1954, 1984, and hence happened too differently, either not at all or had they managed to strike down either dragon the moment they came to be; who could say how New Years would have gone? If the right people weren’t in the time and places they were, both during that fateful year and those prior, was there any other chain of events where they didn’t lose? He couldn’t say for sure, such was perhaps beyond anyone to fully comprehend. He could only take light of how all that pain of before had resulted in this life.
It wasn’t to suppose those bygone had been sacrificed for a reason, just to be grateful for who survived to live on. Some could call what happened against the Millennian fate, others would say it was the right people in the right place stopping annihilation. Great purpose, or happenstance of chance? And what did it mean that he should live on whilst so many did not? The recollected faces of those departed, friends buried elsewhere and foes marked here on this island, were silent.
The answer, perhaps, lay only known to the dead. He could only hope he would be graced to not join them soon.
“Our war is over… You can rest now, Gojira,” he addressed the two as one, like it was the same legacy or individual incarnating again and again. In the same life filled with that terrible resolve. Hopefully now, he could find some peace. Both of them.
Turning away from the old gravestone with the hope he’d done something good today, Aso started down the long walkway of stony steps. He could feel a weight upon him, one he didn’t know he’d been carrying since he was a young man, was at last gone.
==========
Io Shinoda stood away from the festivities, walking along the perimeter of the town with a snack in hand as she tried to seek out somewhere quieter. Not like she minded roaming much, this was her birthplace after all, and it was high time she explored it some. She’d just wanted a reprieve to get away from all the folk music, food, and stage plays after ensuring her father and Ms. Ichinose got caught up in a small parade together with some help from a new frie-acquaintance she’d made. Mayor’s kid named Ayako. They’d worked together to shove her father and Yuki into the parade and dance line-up to get them away for a bit.
Now alone, though on the payback promise she’d hit up the game stalls with Ayako later, the-14-year old was just trying to find… something. She wasn’t even sure what. Passing along the last house on the perimeter, she felt a small mental twing or tugging upon looking to a shadowed structure. It was a humble looking abode, nothing particularly special in terms of size or upkeep. As a matter of fact, in many ways it looked on the run-down side. A creaking old fishing and boat house, likely pushing on a century old. Not a light on, nor a door open; nor any real evidence of habitation in sight.
Normally she’d suppose it strange to approach someone’s residence, but the islanders were remarkably relaxed about property boundaries compared to the mainland so she’d suppose it wouldn’t cause an offense by walking up to the old abode. After all, she wasn’t about to go walking in just… have a look.
“If you’re looking for somewhere quiet,” the distant, old voice pushed past her, spurring Io to turn around and look at the passerby.
Takaaki Aso stood on the other side of the street from the young girl, sure she recognized him as he did her. The fact they’d finally run into each other in person, here of all places, left the old man pondering many a speculation about fate and chance being locked in a seemingly eternal duel for recognition. The girl’s grandmother once told him that what we see in something depends on the name we give it. Fate, happenstance, flukes, seemed to be true there too.
Aso casually pointed back at the old stony stairs he’d just gotten down from, leaning a bit harder on a walking stick from the effort of going back down the old steps, “There’s a walkway that way, nice and quiet.”
Io puzzled her lips briefly before the young hybrid tilted her head to the side, “... Why were you thinking I wanted to be somewhere like that? Lots of festivities going on.”
“Yes indeed, yes indeed. It was were I was heading to meet someone when I saw you. Guess that I just misread you…” Takaaki shrugged as he turned to start slowly staggering his way back to town, “Pardon an old man on such misunderstandings. I used to have such a knack for reading people.”
He still humored a chuckle, the grit and grind of his prosthetic foot distinct from his real one on the gravel and dirt path going past the houses, “Wouldn’t be the only thing I lost recently.”
He stepped along several strides before hearing the tapping of footfalls power walking to catch up to him, Young Miss Shinoda coming up beside Aso to offer a hand and shoulder.
After shaking her hand a bit to affirm his attention, Io sighed, “Here, let me help you back to those festivities you’re heading to… Then I’ll see to checking out those stairs.”
Aso relented and let the young woman help support him, feeling his age more than he ever had before. He was a man weighed down by a lot until recently, and it had cost him and others a lot; something he was reminded of with literally every step he took. Still, they’d learned; sometimes harsh lessons but learning nonetheless. And there was one other piece to take to mind.
Takaaki Aso, from the day he signed up as a Private to the last day he stood in rank as a Commander, had always resolved to put those who’d come after his time before himself. It was, perhaps, the most damning distinction he’d ever swore to between himself and the commanders of decades prior like Tojo. The king of the new era, probably the most powerful creature on the planet, was now its champion. Between them and what Aso left behind, youth like Io might yet not fear extinction as he did. He’d struggled, he’d strained, he’d made mistakes, he was only human… But, it wasn’t all for nothing.
Io didn’t know why he smiled and shed a tear, it didn’t feel like her place to pry, but she nonetheless helped to shoulder some more of his burden to get him back to town. As they paced away from the old house, their exchanges were quiet, calm company on the long walk.
“Did you know, you could say I’m a friend of your grandmother?”
“Really? She always seemed a mysterious one.”
Aso chuckled, “Young Miss Shinoda, I see the apple didn’t fall far from that tree.”
The old house that welcomed Io into the world while hosting her mother out of it stood alone, quiet and at peace.
A time later, following Aso's instruction, Io soon found the spot. The stairs, clearly quite ancient given their state, continued on into the peaks of the sea cliffs. The path carved into the precipices themselves, she soon found herself beside what looked like an old altar. There was a cavity within, which looked like it should have contained something big but if it had, it was gone now. Only a glass box with some photographs she couldn't clearly make out in the darkness, and scraps of bone.
The sheer drop behind it was as awesome as it was harrowing, and Io wisely avoided the edge. It didn’t stop her from getting lost in thought, staring out into the ocean for a long while.
The seas rolled steadily under the lunar glow, expanding out seemingly into infinity; it left her to ponder.
Something had changed with her after New Years. Her psychic abilities seemed, for lack of better terms, ‘burned out’ for months after the surge. And when they returned it was with some changes. Some were improvements, but others felt… different. The news briefly mentioned a scuffle between Godzilla and some kind of mutation, and yet it was the first time she’d heard of it.
She hadn’t felt anything. No tinges, no mirroring. Whatever it was that led to her feeling what Junior felt, that tether had been cut.
Io Shinoda sighed, closing her eyes and dipping her head as she contemplated the hows and whys. Very little of it was explicable, not even Ms. Miki Saegusa had any idea how it happened. There was only one possibility that made any sense. That somehow, by some means, he’d cut the connection tethered them together himself. Whether it was a consequence of the one-shot power surge they shared, or some means to protect her from the life he seemed to know he’d lead; she might never know for sure. She would no longer feel his pain, but also no longer sense him as she once had.
All she did know was that, with the GPN paused for now as they all finished recovering and healing, she wouldn’t be seeing him any time soon except on the news…
The winds blew up the stony stairwell, billowing past Io and causing her twintails to float in the wind. Into the depths of the sea it blew, carrying her wishes with it.
'This will always be his home' her younger self had exclaimed once, but time had proved her wrong on that part. They’d grown up and had to lead different lives now.
A bittersweet smile crossed her trembling lips whilst her eyes watered lightly.
The surf below audibly shifted, waves breaching onto a new shore. The sudden shift in noise spurred the girl to pause, but kept her eyes closed. A flicker of hope was felt, deep in her chest. She couldn’t see out with her mind like she used to. But this... she hoped she could see with her heart.
The waves continued to roll against a new mass, and a shadowing blocked out some of the moonlight cast across Io’s face. The young psychic finally opened her eyes, a single, joyful tear seeping out of the corner of one.
There was one other part to her old declaration however. One that still, through time, proved true.
'And we’ll always be friends!...'
With bolstered telekinesis, she lifted up the tray of sushi and floated it far out to the range of safety; to the form who stood in the seas and yet whose head touched the heavens. He smiled just as fondly as she did.
=======================
FIN
Meanwhile, Yuji is still making his way to his daughter, even as he managed to turn the tide of the battle. I like all the memories going through his mind and the realization this isn't over.
And somehow, Orga's STILL not dead. It's trying to absorb the tower just to get Io, likely the only thing that could save it by this point.
Fortunately, Godzilla isn't dead either and comes to the rescue and Yuji isn't dead either and also fighting to protect her.
I like Io's realization of what Yuki is to her and what it means to her...and calls Yuki mom...as she stands against the horrific perversion that was once her mother, now a horrific mass of body parts.
Meanwhile, Yuji notes Godzilla doesn't attack at a distance, rather he comes to deal with Orga personally and save who is inside. Meanwhile, Orga is desperate and throwing everything into its last barrier. Junior won't stop...
While Io deals with seeing what she has now made clear is her mother in all but legality, but Yuki continues to comfort her.
And Yuji senses Junior, hears him call to her. Given Junior has a degree of psychic power, who knows?
And now everyone has to have faith in the only thing that can stop him. I like Aso accepting Godzilla as their ally.
Meanwhile, Katagiri acknowledges this is all his fault, all his mistakes, the fact his fear and hate had driven him. Yuji prays to the Kami of Destruction to save his daughter by destroying the demon now threatening her.
And Io feels her friend and calls to him...while doing her best 11 impression and does a psychic nuclear pull, obliterates the Asuka drone. Nice, I love that.
Love the video.
With Io's driving force, Junior finally puts an end to the abomination that had once been the Millennian and saving the world.
Fun fact, nukes do not, in fact, explode on impact.
Katagiri realizes that if the missiles have stopped, Orga is finally dead. Any thought that Junior wasn't here to save them as well as destroy Orga is cleared up when he saves Io from Orga.
And we get the scene we've really been waiting for. Junior finally looking at the one who had tormented him as a child as Katagiri realizes just how wrong he was. That the being before him is truly sapient. Junior recognizes him and is angry...
And Junior spares him.
Katagiri is relieved and elated. Kyoto is wrecked, but the world is saved...but knows he's already dead. Rather than killing him, Junior tried to save him. Katagiri is dead...but Junior saves the body.
Two months later, G-Force is checking through the wreckage and finds a message was sent off (not sure if that's setting up another Orga for the Coalition). I like the decisions made to prepare for what the future holds. And them admitting Godzilla isn't and enemy, it was a mistake to think of him as one to begin with.
Meanwhile, the Shinodas care for graves. Yuki is there too, but felt it wasn't her place.
I also like the implication Asuka might have given her blessing from beyond the grave. Also, glad her fingers were reattached.
I also like Seiryu's reverence has increased. And Hina pulling a Batman and may be a ghost...maybe.
Io, meanwhile, is at the Gojira alter. The tether is broken with Junior, no one understands it...but Junior likely did it to protect her.
Bittersweet, not knowing where this will go, but optimistic...
And she sees her old friend.
Great story and great rewrite of 2000. I really love the changes and characters. Katagiri's change was really great and the fight with Orga was exciting.
I really liked the connection between Io and Junior finally coalescing into that double finish at the end. Just great fun and imagery
5658949
Since I did a little homage to 2014 with Yuji, wanted to do something different with Io. Planet didn't come off as hokey as I was tying it into their previous tether.
5658873
Always fun to read these live reactions, glad to see the whole package paid off in the end. Curiosity, in retrospective who would you say are some of your favorite characters or particular character?
5658964
I like everyone, I especially like this version of Yuki and the sheer motherly determination she has and the action set pieces around her Belvera is also a treat, nice to see what I pre-Toba Fae can REALLY do when the gloves are off and I like her being a snarky ball of rage that can also be protective.
Yuji's story arc is also fun, and Aso was a treat. Nice to see him step up and not only admit his faults, but take part in the final battle in a meaningful way. Junior was also fun.
But I think most of all, I really liked your Katagiri and how complex he is. I especaily like his Heel Realization and the differences in his final moments resulting from it.
Alright, so, final thoughts on this whole thing. I do apologize for being so harsh with some of the things I said during the early chapters. While I do think it's a little slow and some of the more referential stuff was a little distracting, I do admit that I went a little far. I understand that this was kind of you doing your own version of a Godzilla film now. And I shouldn't have been so harsh. Katagiri is always gonna be weird to me. I get that he redeemed himself in the end and I appreciate that you managed to find a way to keep his death without making Junior look bad. I just feel it was too little, too late. And, while I get why it stuck around for so long so you could have the mirrored finishes, the Asuka drone overstays its welcome. It's like every time it should logically be dead, it springs back like it's barely inconvenienced. It just got a little repetitive after a while.
That said, I do feel that this was a very strong finale. Junior being given more focus towards the end was great. And I do like the wrap up with all the characters who made it through. I was surprised at your decision to have Orga flat out die since he originally survived the battle, but honestly, it works out better that way. Having Orga survive honestly would have just rendered this entire finale meaningless. Plus, let's be honest, the world is a better place with Orga not in it. And Junior really doesn't have a lot of kills under his belt as is.
All in all, I did find myself enjoying this little side story. It has its flaws, but honestly, so does every Godzilla film. It's a good read that was very clearly a labor of love. And I can't say much more.
8/10
It's finally over and it was definitely fun to read, hope we get more prequel stories in the future.
Also how in the hell Orga come back after all that in the future?
5659195
I think Tarb has more or less retconned that Orga died here.
I'd have to say, out of all the changes from the original, pretty much all the stuff with Yuki was a highlight to me.
This was a great story. Orga's final form made me think of a piece of concept art for a scrapped idea for G vs mg2, where MG would end up taking on a misshapen form after going berserk and constantly absorbing metal. Coincidence or intentional reference?
Done reviewing the finale. Laying out overall thoughts.
The battle between Orga & Junior lived up to expectations. Junior got to flex his skills, and Orga was grisly af. The ending was epic.
Yuji giving his prayer at the battle was a great moment.
I will admit it was getting a bit tiresome how often the Asuka drone was surviving, but Io landing the killing blow was awesome enough to mitigate it.
Katagiri's death was also a good moment. He's had an overall fantastic portrayal for New Era & was one of my favorite characters for the duration of it.
Aso's final scene is a good closure on the themes of New Era's narrative. I was a bit surprised to see Yuji & Ichinose hadn't made it official by the end, but the door was left open. And her words for Asuka was wholesomely cute.
Lastly, the ending was poignant yet happy.
Overall, 9/10 for New Era.
Alrighty I’m gonna take page out Evo’s book of lines for this. “You really like your body Horror.”
In all fairness, this was excellent way to finish on. With a totally obvious anime like battle. To bitch thot drone making a horror scene for herself and Aso just finally being able to relax. Nice job on revamping on the 2000 movie with your own nice touches. And thanks for giving some of my characters a place to shine, especially Hina.