The Bridge

Humanity's Stand

Seven days had passed since the massive battle that had all but destroyed Solgell Island. Seven days in which the world held its collective breath, unsure of how to react to the disappearance of both its greatest protectors and some of its worst enemies. Many mourned the loss of Godzilla and his fellow Earth Defenders, calling out the generals who had ordered the use of the Dimension Tide, while others claimed it was good riddance of dangerous beasts that had threatened humanity one too many times. One man saw it as something else entirely. An opportunity for lasting peace.

Stacker Pentecost glared at the world map hanging over the Operations room, taking in the data it portrayed. Known Kaiju positions, military bases, relative distances, suspected allegiance lists, status reports on the various mechs and jaegers under his command. His mind started drawing lines between positions, analyzing equipment requirements and battle strategies, asset placement and coordination. A plan began to form in his brain. A plan to finally make Earth safe for humanity. "What I want to know is, are we ready?" he finally said, breaking the escalating argument that had been going on around him.

"Ready? Ready for what?" General Tachibana asked. He waved at the map behind him. "Nothing's going on right now. All the Kaiju that are still alive are laying low right now. My scout ships and aircraft haven't heard so much as a peep from any of them since the end of those last battles."

"Maybe they're too worried about Dimension Tide firing again to come out of their holes," General Gordon groused. He tapped the hilt of his ever present katana against the table in a sign of annoyance. "Figures they'd be too frightened to come out without their leader around to rally them."

Miki Saegusa threw a withering glare in Gordon's direction. "And whose fault is that General?"

Gordon stared back at her and said, "Don't try to guilt trip me missy. I'm not the only one who made the call to fire DT." He paused as he felt a familiar ache scratching in his head. "And don't bother with that empathy bullshit. You know it doesn't work on me."

"Miki," Pentecost called out softly. "Now isn't the time." He sighed to himself, feeling the ache of his years of leadership on his shoulders. "What I meant, Taizo, is are we ready for further operations?"

Tendo Choi, who had been reading various reports throughout the conversation, suddenly perked up. "Kiryu and Mechagodzilla are both fully functional and loaded. That new armor alloy they've been given has really proven itself."

"Glad to see something good came out of the Final Wars mess," Colonel Ozaki muttered to himself. Pentecost silently agreed with him. Far too many lives were lost in that never ending disaster. Even six years later the scars of those battles marred cities all over the world.

Tendo hesitantly nodded and continued. "Right. Things are somewhat worse with the others though. Jet Jaguar is currently getting its arm replaced after it suffered heavy damage from Orga, along with a whole laundry list of other problems. That's going to take most of the week to fix. Moguera is physically fine but its control system was completely shot because of an EMP. We think Ghidorah's lightning breath may have done it."

"Actually KG doesn't have lightning breath," Dr. Newton Geiszler interrupted. "What he really fires are these weird gravity beam things. See what they do is they change the gravitational pull of whatever it touches and causes it to be ripped apart by…"

"That's enough Newt," Pentecost said in a dry tone. "If it wasn't Ghidorah then who was it?"

Newt, looking somewhat mollified under all the glares he was receiving, said more slowly, "Based on what I saw it was probably Big G and S releasing all that energy that did it. Or it could have been Leatherback. He's the only Kaiju we know about that has a recorded Emp effect." He started to become excited again as he continued with, "But there's this new Kaiju hanging around in Hawaii that seems to have an Emp too. Plus he can fly and has these really cool neon eye things that…"

Everyone groaned as Newt started describing every little detail of the new Kaiju, only to be interrupted by Professor Gottlieb on how the term was pronounced EMP, not Emp, which started another whole slew of arguments between the two. "How long will it take to repair the damage?" Pentecost asked, ignoring the two bickering scientists to his left.

Tendo snatched his report back up and read from it. "Should be fixed later today sir. Thankfully the damage was mostly to the software, not the hardware, so it was easy to replace. As for the Jaegers, things are a little bit better. Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka only took a few hits in the fighting and both managed to put down an Antverse Kaiju each. With all of the other rampages the mutants have been doing they have numerous injuries but they'll back at 100% later today. Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon are mostly in the same boat but Cherno badly needs an armor upgrade and Typhoon's pilots are very fatigued. Both need a few days before they'll be fully capable again."

Pentecost allowed a grim smile to appear on his face as he looked back at the map again. "That will have to do. We need to be ready as soon as possible."

"Ready for what?" Gordon questioned. "What are you planning Stacker?"

"The end General," Pentecost said bluntly. "The end of this constant warfare that is destroying our planet. We finally have a chance to end this conflict once and for all."

"What do you mean sir?" Miki asked.

"We are going to finish what Godzilla and the others started on Solgell. We are going to eliminate all Kaiju who pose a threat to the Earth and humanity. And we're going to do it now."

Total silence met his proclamation, everyone too stunned to respond. Finally Taizo found his voice and said, "Sir, you know that's impossible. There are too many Kaiju out there for us to take on. Even if we got all of the world's jaegers to join us we would still be outnumbered. Not only that, but any attack on an individual mutant would bring the rest of them down on us all at once. We barely withstood this latest slew of attacks. Defeating them all for good is simply impossible."

Gordon agreed with a grunt and continued, "Even with the new flying battle platforms like Gotengo we would be completely outmatched. Unless you have some way to double our numbers and make sure our enemy wouldn't gang up on us, I don't see how it could be done."

Pentecost smiled and said, "I can do both." He got up and walked to the map pointing out the various known positions of enemy Kaiju. "Our enemy is isolated and leaderless right now. Without Xenilla to lead them, they are divided. We even saw them fighting each other as they retreated from Solgell after the Dimension Tide fired. They lacked any semblance of coordination in this week's assaults, attacking wherever they wanted and retreating after we showed the slightest resistance. The remaining mutants are little more than brutes and monsters. If we strike now we take them down one by one with impunity."

Colonel Ozaki was the next to interject. "So what? Even if the first few fights go unnoticed the mutants will eventually notice what we're up to. And every engagement carries the risk of damage to our mechs. If all of our mechs end up down for repairs too often, then all of humanity will be at risk. And if we attack each mutant with our full force at once that leaves the rest of the world open to attack. We just don't have the manpower to do this."

"You're right," Pentecost stated. "The GDF has never had enough power to go on the offensive. We've always been stuck playing a defensive game, reacting to Kaiju attacks and hoping we don't get overrun. But we can't do that anymore. Final Wars showed that if our enemies all attacked at once, we as a species would be finished."

He turned to the map once again and pointed at one of the Kaiju lists. "But we're not alone in this, just like we weren't in Final Wars. The Earth Defenders have as much reason as us to want the mutants gone as we do. They helped to defend us both from the alien threat and from the mutants' rampage. If we work together with them we can overwhelm the mutants and finally make this planet safe for both factions."

Taizo, Gordon, and Ozaki all looked amongst themselves, silently contemplating the idea while Newt, Gottlieb and Tendo started going over the data about the Earth Defenders, arguing about who should fight who and with what support. But there was only one person's reaction Pentecost cared about.

Miki was looking down at her lap, unsure of what to think. On the one hand, removing the mutants for good would be great for both Kaiju and humans. There was no doubting that most of the mutants were monsters of the worst sort, destroying everything that got in their way without concern for anything else. Some, like Obsidius and Titanosaurus, were mostly passive and had even fought on the Earth Defender's side in the past, but the rest had attacked human cities without remorse a dozen times each. With Godzilla and the other strongest guardian monsters gone there was no guarantee the Defenders could fulfill their duty against a unified mutant faction. The temporary peace would not last long. A new war was inevitable.

But none of this would have happened if Dimension Tide had never been fired. Godzilla may very well have won his fight with his evil brother, and the Earth Defenders could have finally been truly victorious. Instead they were betrayed by humans because of an 'irresistible opportunity', as General Gordon had put it. Would the guardians be willing to work with the same humans who had killed four of their most beloved members, including their king? She didn't know.

"How could we possibly convince them to help us sir?" she asked Pentecost.

The older man came over to her and put his arms on her shoulders, saying, "Because if they don't, we're all dead."

---

Zilla Jr. yawned loudly as he curled himself up for a nice long nap. It had been several days since he'd been able to get a chance to sleep, what with Monster Island (as he liked to call it) coming under attack and the subsequent clean up after both sides' leaders disappeared in a huge explosion. Gamera had charged Zilla with rounding up all of the good or neutral Kaiju together to explain what had happened and prevent any infighting over the new leadership. Given that he was the fastest non-flying Kaiju he was the best for the job but he had not enjoyed it. Most of the neutral Kaiju did not like him very much due to his strong respect and admiration for humans, whom most Kaiju at the very least were suspicious of. The fact that Zilla had often worked with human mechs in defense of the humans, against some of them at times, did not help matters.

Still, it was an order for a necessary job, so Zilla did it without complaint. Then, just as Gamera had finished explaining what had happened at Solgell, Zilla had been mentally contacted by the humans, who told him about the mutants running rampant all over the globe. The gathered Earth defenders and neutral Kaiju had all been sent to interdict their enemies. Zilla himself had been forced to fight the extremely annoying Buraki by himself. That damned snake had severely tested Zilla's patience and paid for it with a put out eye and twenty feet of missing tail. Much as Zilla had enjoyed the chance to take his rage out on something though, he was very glad it was over and looked forward to a nice long rest in his own little cave away from the others. Nothing could spoil this moment for me.

Zilla are you there? I need to speak with you

Except that. I just had to open my big mouth didn't I. Gradually Zilla allowed his eyes to open and looked to the entrance of the cave, where the mental voice had come from. Who calls me? If it's not about the fate of the planet or something then please go away.

Actually it is. About the planet that is.

Zilla made a deep throated groan which echoed around is cave. Of course it is. He stretched his limbs to wake himself up, carving deep groves in the rock where his claws scratched the surface, and began to crawl to the entrance on all fours. He had specifically picked a cave this short so he could ensure absolute privacy from the larger monsters. The only Kaiju that were able to enter his cave were Anguirus and Baragon, the two Kaiju he was closest with to be honest.

All three relied solely on their physical abilities in combat; Anguirus his toughness, Baragon his acrobatics, and Zilla his speed. Working together the three of them had been able to match the Big G himself once, though he'd later admitted he'd been going easy on them. Zilla paused in his movement as he felt a wave of sadness wash over him. Anguirus was his best friend, and Junior was practically the big brother he'd never had, and now they were both gone. It was almost impossible to believe. They'd always been so invincible, always standing against everything ever thrown at them. And then they were gone, without any warning or chance to say goodbye. Zilla was not one to show much emotion, but in the darkness of his cave, he had wept for them.

Zilla shook his head to clear out the unhappy thoughts and finished crawling to the entrance. Sure enough there was a small (to him) human transport with several people gathered outside it. Most of them Zilla did not recognize, but the woman standing at the front was someone he knew quite well indeed. Hello Miki. It has been a long time since we have spoken has it not?

The woman smiled up at him. Yes it has. I'm sorry to bother you just as you were going to sleep, but I need to speak with you urgently.

Zilla carefully lowered his head to the ground near the group, managing to not knock them to the ground at the contact. What is wrong? I sense you have great concern about something.

Miki clutched her hands in front of her, looking down at the ground as she thought, There… there is something I need to tell you Zilla, and I'm sure you're not going to like it. The explosion that killed Godzilla and the others… wasn't an explosion.

Really? Zilla asked with an eye blink. Then what was it?

It… it was a black hole. An object which absorbs anything close to it and crushes it with its gravity.

Zilla narrowed his gaze at the woman who had been his surrogate mother many years ago. How do you know this?

After a sigh that was barely audible even to Zilla's great hearing Miki answered his question. Because it was not a natural black hole. It was an artificial one created by humans with the intent of killing Kaiju. We… we were the ones who killed them.

Zilla could not believe what he was hearing. Humans, the very same humans who had saved his life before birth and raised him, were responsible for the deaths of four of his best friends. But... You… WHY?! He roared this last in both mind and voice, forcing the humans to cover their ears at the volume. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? WE TRUSTED YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US?! He rose to his feet, towering high above the cowering humans, his rage filled eyes glaring down at them.

The soldiers who had been ordered to protect the telepath were futilely pointing their rifles up at the humongous reptile, knowing how helpless they were and praying this day would not be their last. Miki was too busy weeping to be afraid as she pleadingly said, Zilla please! You must understand! They did not mean for Godzilla and your friends to be caught in the blast. They only intended to take down Xenilla and Destroyah. I told them that it was too dangerous, that friendly monsters would be caught in the crossfire but they didn't listen. I'm so sorry that it happened and I wish with all my heart that I could have stopped them. But regardless of my wishes it has happened and we must deal with the consequences.

Zilla was silent for some time, something which deeply unnerved the poor soldiers who were not a part of the mental conversation. Eventually Zilla looked away from the humans, his gaze lingering on some point far away on the horizon. Of all the ways I had expected any of us Kaiju to die, this was one I would never have predicted. To be killed by a force of nature beyond even our strongest, harnessed by those who we saw as less than ants. He paused for a moment as he turned his gaze to the heavens above. Even the beings that came from beyond stars did not threaten us so. It is hard for me to imagine, to grasp what they must have felt in the end.

The squad of soldiers, still understandably skittish about being so close to a kaiju, even one that was supposedly friendly, carefully pulled back to the transport. The captain attempted to drag Miki back with them, but she refused to budge. She just stared up at the creature who she had helped raise as a baby, whom she regarded as closer than even her own family. I can't understand it either. The science of how Dimension Tide works is beyond my comprehension. All I know is that nothing in the universe can withstand the force of a black hole for very long. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise however. They would not have felt the end coming.

Zilla gave a soft growl in response, sending the soldiers running in the false cover of their jet, while Miki only nodded at what she knew was an agreement. You did not come here simply to relay this to me, Zilla finally said. There was something more you wanted to speak about. What is it?

Miki looked up at her companion and saw calm acceptance in his eyes, something which reassured her far beyond words. I've been sent here to ask for your help. Humanity's leaders have decided it's time we take a stand and end the war once and for all.

Zilla gazed down at her from his extreme height with confusion coloring his tone. And just how do you propose to do that?

By combining human and Earth defender forces and killing the remaining mutants. We'll destroy them before they can destroy us.

The reptilian Kaiju looked down at the human telepath in near shock at her harsh words. While he had been growing up Miki had been the source of so many kind words and arguments defending Kaiju that to hear her condemning the mutants so blatantly was very unexpected. The fact that he had often been at odds with her on this very subject just made it that much stranger. What prompted this train of thought from your man Pentecost? It was my understanding that he would never dare to attack for fear of reprisal from the other mutants.

Normally yes, Miki agreed. But with Xenilla no longer leading them and so many of the most dangerous mutants also killed by the Dimension Tide misfiring we just might be able to succeed. But only if both Earth Defenders and humans work together.

Wait what did you say? Those later explosions, the ones that absorbed all those mutants, they weren't on purpose? But I thought you had control of the device that created them?

Miki nodded. We did at first, but during the attacks some outside force stole control of the Dimension Tide and fired it at many of the worst mutants. As far as we can tell no good Kaiju were absorbed, and definitely not any mechs, so regardless of the perpetrator's aims they have actually aided us greatly.

Zilla was not sure what to think about that. He had been informed about the events at the other fights and was unnerved at the reactions. Gorosaurus in particular had nearly been absorbed during his duel with Kuromonga, saved only by one of his enemy's webs, ironically enough. Each tale told the same story. A sudden explosion and a sphere of pure darkness annihilating everything it touched. It was terrifying. But regardless of how he feared what this Dimension Tide was capable of, there was no denying the opportunity they were now presented with. It is oddly fortuitous now that you point it out. The giant saurian swept his tail back and forth on the ground, wiping away what little plant growth had managed to appear while he was gone. I cannot help but to agree with you Miki. It is too great a chance to pass up. He crouched down to look at her more closely. But I am not the one you need to convince. Gamera is our leader now, and though he holds just as much respect for humans as I, he will not accept your actions as easily as I did.

No I did not.

Both Zilla and Miki were startled by the interruption of the unexpected third voice, with Zilla's leaping to his feet knocking Miki off her own. Standing on the cliff above Zilla's cave was none other than Gamera himself, and he did not appear to be pleased. A colleague of yours has already informed me of your plan Miss Miki. I'm not entirely sure I agree with it. He leaped down from the cliff, firing his mana thrusters near the bottom to land as lightly as a human would in sand. Despite the fact that most of humanity has disagreed with the firing of your Dimension Tide on my friends, that does not change the fact that your leaders did so without any warning to us, your supposed allies. He leaned down until his face was but 50 feet away from the tiny human. And the fact that you lost control of that same weapon to someone who could have used it against us yet again is no more reassuring. Give me one good reason that I should aide humanity in this insanity.

Miki became very quiet then, unable to look at anything but her shoes. After a few moments though she firmed up and looked Gamera straight in the eyes. Because we need your help. This endless war has cost both our peoples much, and the longer it continues the worse it will become. We have a chance to end it now, once and for all, and ensure peace for future generations. I know that we have wronged you with what we did at Solgell, but do not deny that some of your Earth defenders have wronged us just as harshly. Miki's eyes began to tear up as memories from her past resurfaced. For decades we humans have been forced to watch as creatures hundreds of times stronger than us rampaged across our planet, hopeless to stop them and reduced to praying for mere survival. How many thousands of people are dead because of this fighting, how many millions more lives destroyed by loss of home and family. The image of her parents' hands reaching out to her from beneath her crushed home swam in Miki's mind, clearly visible to both Kaiju.

While you have been able to fight for yourselves and live your lives in relative peace, we are forced to plow through every day knowing that it could be our last. That everything we love and dream could be ended because of a beast beyond our ability to harm. And when we finally found the tools to defend ourselves from the demons that plagued us, what did you do? You fought with them, simply because they might have been a threat to you, when we knew you to be our allies and had promised never to strike you. We suffered defeat after defeat for only the most meager gains, and each time we triumphed a new threat would appear even worse than the last. King Ghidorah, Gigan, Xenilla, the Alien Collision! All of them seeking nothing less than our extinction. Yes, you defended us from each threat, but that just highlighted how helpless we were. Without you our civilization, our very planet, would be gone.

But despite this, despite all the pain and suffering Kaiju have inflicted on our planet, we finally have a chance to end it all, to wipe the slate clean and begin again. And to do that we need your help. Even though we have not been the strongest of allies in the past, we are willing to set that aside and work with you for the betterment of us all. To let go of all the hatred and fear and repair what has been destroyed by riding ourselves of the destroyers. Then, maybe there will be a chance; just a chance, that we can all live in peace. As friends.

Neither Zilla nor Gamera spoke for many minutes, both in awe of the woman's speech. For years the two reptiles had argued in favor of humans, aware that they had been here just as long as many of the Kaiju, if not longer. But neither had been able to put themselves in a human's place, feel the fear and pain that they felt from the conflict of the titans around them. Even for Gamera, a guardian monster of the Earth itself, the feeling was humbling. Individually the humans often made mistakes. The events on Solgell were clear evidence of that. And yet for all their faults they had kept on fighting against foes they could never hope to defeat on their own. Kept living in the face of near certain doom. Could he or Zilla have gone on in the face of such odds? Could any Kaiju?

You are well spoken little one, Gamera finally said. And what you say carries a truth I had refused to recognize. Our actions have not always been the most conducive to our alliance either, must as it pains me to admit. Most of our number have dismissed you in favor of their own concerns. Clearly we were mistaken in that. He knelt down and lowered his face near to the human, a slight smile appearing on his scarred face. Perhaps it is time for that to end. He then bowed his head as he said, On my word as a Guardian of Earth, we will aid you in your coming fights against our shared enemy and bring about a permanent peace for both our peoples. This I swear, so mote it be.

Tears flowed freely down Miki's face as she ran to the giant turtle and hugged his chin resting on the ground. Thank you! Thank you so much!

Zilla, quietly smiling his own smile, turned away from them both and said, I will inform the others, before sprinting off for the center of the island.

Meanwhile the captain of the soldiers felt the pounding footsteps and poked his head outside, shouting, "Miss Saegusa, is everything alright?"

The young woman sniffed, wiping the remaining tears from her cheeks as she turned around to answer. "Yes Captain." A brilliant smile lit up her face. "Everything is going to be just fine. Contact Marshall Pentecost." The smile morphed into a proud smirk. "Tell him we have our reinforcements."

---

A/N: Hello readers of The Bridge, and welcome to the other side of the barrier. Some of you (like me) while reading Tarbtano's awesome story may have been wondering just what was happening on the human side of things while Equestria gets more and more hectic. Well, me being the obsessive time sink that I am, I decided to fill in the blanks for myself and anyone who is interested. Just to make note, Tarbtano is aware of my story and given it his full approval, (as you can see with the very first review) so all of what happens here might as well be canon. That said, I will be interfacing with him as much as possible to ensure that I don't throw a human wrench into his well oiled kaiju/pony plot machine. That said, *note to self, find new segues*, humanity's overall involvement with the main story is probably going to amount to... zilch. The Dimension Tide is broke, the unnamed Big Bad (my money is on it being Bagan, but that's just me) is focusing entirely on Equestria, and as this story will show, humanity has problems of its own to deal with. Much awesomeness and glory will soon ensue, so tune in next time for Humanity's Stand: The End War. BlazingPhoenix17 flame out.