Ch. 64 – Five years and awakening Monster Zero
"Who's a good boy? You are. Yes, you are."
I rub Baragon's belly as he's rolled over and panting happily.
*Heh Heh Heh*
I grab a smooth rock and rub it on Baragon's armor.
He immediately closes his eyes and practically turns to jelly, enjoying the armor scrub.
It's been a few years since I came to Skull Island. A few months into my stay on the island, humans found out where I was and sent more people to observe me. They even built a large research center.
Doctor Ilene Andrews was among them, she primarily studies the Kongs. She has been trying to teach them sign language.
They understand it perfectly and are completely fluent but they don't trust the humans so they keep it secret from her.
It's hilarious watching her bend over backwards trying to teach them something they already know.
About six months after they came to Skull Island, Dr. Andrews led an expedition to the Kongs' nest.
At this point I had only just started hunting down the Mother Longlegs. Dr. Andrews and her team entered through the bamboo forest and were attacked by two of the giant spiders.
They stabbed their long, pointy legs down on them, impaling two of her crewmembers before I intervened and killed both monsters.
After a while they found the nest and were surprised to find me in charge of the giant apes.
I allowed them to observe but whenever they tried getting too close I made it clear they understood.
I overheard Dr. Andrews mentioning something about how she wrote an article called 'The wolf leading apes'.
Over the years she's been here she switched her focus from researching the kongs to researching me.
-----
China, Yunnan Rainforest.
A man in his late fifties is sitting on a chair inside a nice house.
Next to him, on a table he grabs a family photo of a man and his wife along with their son and daughter on a beach.
"That must've been a lovely day. If you want to have days like this ever again, you will do exactly what I tell you to do, understood?" The man says as he looks at the man and woman from the picture, who are sitting on their knees in front of him with duct tape covering their mouth.
Next to them are their children who are also bound and gagged as tears are streaming down their cheeks.
Four men are standing behind them with rifles aimed at their heads.
After the parents nod their heads, indicating they understand, the man on the chair points at the woman and the man behind her lowers his weapon as he removes the duct tape from her mouth.
"I assume you know who I am, Doctor Russell? Mind if I call you Emma? It'd be easier, given you're both doctors."
The woman shakes her head meekly while looking over to her children.
"No, no. Don't worry about them. As long as you do exactly as I say, they won't get hurt.
My name is Alan Jonah."
Emma's expression immediately grows more fearful as she hears the name.
"Ah, I see the name is familiar at least, that's good. Then you know what I am and what I do.
I need you to alter your ORCA device to broadcast an Alpha signal."
Emma has a thoughtful expression on her face for a few seconds until her eyes widen in realization. "You want to control them? That's not what it was made for. We made it to communicate with them."
Jonah looks to the guy standing behind Mark Russell and nods.
*Bam!*
Suddenly the guy slams the butt of his rifle on Mark's head.
"Mark!"
"I said 'alter' did I not? I know it wasn't made for that, but you can do it and if you want your family to remain intact, you will."
She lowers her head as she softly answers. "Alright, I'll do it. Just please don't hurt my family."
-----
*SKREE!*
I'm sleeping in the jungle on Skull Island, surrounded by seven giant gorillas and Baragon who's curled up in a ball right next to me, when I suddenly wake up hearing a loud wailing cry.
'Was that Mothra?'
I listen for a while but the sound doesn't appear again.
'Hmm, oh well. If there's any Titan that will be just fine no matter what, it's Mothra.'
*TUNG, TUNG! TUNG, TUNG!*
'That's... not a Titan. It's man-made Titan bioacoustics.'
I get up and go towards the cave that leads to the hollow earth.
-----
Meanwhile in Washington DC, a Senate hearing is taking place.
"What we are witnessing here, senators, is the return of an ancient and forgotten super species.
Fenrir, Godzilla, Kong. We believe that these 'Titans' and others like them provide an essential balance to our world.
And while some may pose a threat, Monarch is uniquely qualified to determine which Titans are here to destroy us and which are here to protect us. Case in point, Fenrir." Sam Coleman says as he points to a video of Fenrir taking a heavy blow on his head from Muto Prime in order to protect humans.
"Thank you for the fifth grade history lesson, Mr. Coleman." One of the Senators interrupts. "But we still haven't heard one good reason why Monarch should not fall under military jurisdiction.
And even though Fenrir seems intent on protecting human life, what prevents him from changing his mind? What happens if a monster that can take on such overwhelming force and come out unscathed, decides to turn against us?
Monarch was tasked with finding and exterminating these monsters.
But you either can't or won't tell us how many there are or why they're showing up.
So, maybe it's time for the military to put them down."
"Killing them would be a mistake." Dr. Serizawa answers. "It was our atomic testing that awoke Gojira. Other creatures like the Mutos and Fenrir from strip mining and seismic surveys.
But these are not monsters. They are animals rising to reclaim a world that was once theirs."
"It almost sounds like you're protecting them, Doctor Serizawa. As if you admire them." The senator responds.
"I admire all forms of life. Besides, how could you not admire that?" Serizawa says as he points to the video of Fenrir digging people out of rubble.
"Senators, if we hope to survive, we must find ways to coexist with Titans. With Fenrir. He is the key to it."
"A sort of symbiotic relationship, if you will. Like the lion and the mouse." Dr. Graham adds.
"Or the scorpion and the frog. So you'd want to make Fenrir our pet?" The Senator asks.
"No. We will be his." Serizawa replies, causing all the senators to laugh.
Dr. Graham, meanwhile, recieves a message on her phone regarding the awakening of Mothra and the kidnapping of Dr. Emma Russell.
Serizawa and Graham both leave the auditorium.
"Doctor Serizawa, this hearing is not adjourned. I hope you understand the consequences of walking out that door." The Senator says as she's being ignored.
"You know what, senators, while I confer with my colleagues here, I'll set you up with a very brief and pretty fun documentary on Titan reproduction." Sam Coleman says as he leaves to follow Doctors Serizawa and Graham.
"I believe this is the one where the genitalia are blurred out. But if not, you can leave a comment with my assistant."
-----
"What happened?" Dr. Serizawa asks as he's sitting in a V-22 Osprey, while he's talking to Dr. Mark Russell on a tablet.
"Alan Jonah. He's a former British army Colonel turned eco-terrorist, obsessed with restoring a natural order where Titans roam free.
He held Maddie, Andrew and myself captive for two weeks while he forced Emma to alter the ORCA to control the Titans.
He forced her to free Mothra and then he took her, leaving me and the kids behind."
"Do you have any idea where they might go next?" Serizawa asks.
"No, he never spoke to us. But I know he's going to wake them up one by one."
-----
I went down to the hollow earth and just kept listening for the sound to appear again.
A few hours later, I hear it again, coming from Antarctica.
I get there as fast as I can, when I get through the tunnel, I notice Godzilla falling into the hole he made when he came through. As he is unconscious I decide to ignore him for now.
As I get up top, I see the same King Ghidorah that got away sixty-six million years ago.
It's distracted, looking at humans running across the snow and ice.
*RRROOOAAARRR!*
As it's about to attack one of them, I roar loudly, distracting it.
It turns its head in my direction and appears to remember me as it immediately takes flight without hesitation.
'Coward.'
-----
As Dr. Russell and Graham are running across the snow to safety, Dr. Graham looks up and sees one of Ghidorah's heads coming at her.
Suddenly, before she could even scream, she hears a deafening roar.
Ghidorah immediately stops and looks at the source and even Dr. Graham and Russell can't help but turn and look.
They see Fenrir, ready to fight the three headed dragon.
But to everyone's surprise, the dragon takes flight and disappears in the clouds.
"Are you alright?" Mark asks as he gets to Dr. Graham.
"He saved my life."
"Yeah, apparently he does that. Come on, we have to go. You can admire him later."
As they get back with the other Monarch scientists, Mark runs up to one of the women and hugs her.
"Emma, you're safe!"
"Why did he let you go?" Dr. Serizawa asks her.
"He only needed me to make the alterations to the ORCA, prove that it works and teach him how to operate the device himself. So when I woke up Monster Zero he let me go.
But the next time he uses the ORCA, we'll be able to track him."
"Was it just me or did it look like Monster Zero was afraid of Fenrir?" Sergeant Barnes asks Colonel Diane Foster.
"Damn right he was." She responds.
-----
After Ghidorah left Antarctica, I had no reason to stay. I started tracking him from the hollow earth.
He hides himself inside a storm, which does make it hard for me to keep track of him but the storm itself is just as easy to track.
As he's flying towards the United States, I start running towards the nearest exit, the one in the Rocky Mountains.
Turns out I overshot though, since he only ended up off the coast of Mexico on a volcanic island.
'Damn it.'