Humanity's Stand

Preparing for the End

"You can't be serious."

Gamera groaned yet again as the latest Kaiju displayed his disapproval of the strengthening of the Earth Defender-Human alliance. For the past three hours Kaiju had been pouring in from all corners of the island, most of them irritable at the very least about their interrupted sleep. The turtle guardian had planned to wait until everyone had arrived before explaining his decision but had been forced to go over the events repeatedly by impatient allies who really only wanted to go back to sleep. As a result he had had to start his story over multiple times, each time becoming more frustrated with the situation, to the point he started wondering if there would be an Earth Defender faction left to aid the humans by the point he finally finished.

Thankfully the latest interloper was also the last, though this promised little respite given who it was. "You expect us to just accept this alliance that you made without having spoken with any of us beforehand. Especially since we know that it was the humans who got us in this mess in the first place!"

Gamera glared back at the incensed monster, regretting his sharing of that tidbit of information somewhat. "Yes Gabara, I do. In case you have somehow forgotten in the last few days, I am your new leader, and if I say that we are helping the humans, then we are helping the humans."

The green skinned beast snorted petulantly and replied, "And what if don't wanna, huh? You can't make me fight for your stupid alliance. I'm going to stay here and catch up on my Tanaka-damned sleep, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise."

Gamera did not have a chance to respond before Zilla did it before him. The saurian swiftly grabbed Gabara by the ear before he could react and pulled the toad's face to his own. "Listen here you idiot ogre. You've always been a pain in the rear for every Kaiju on this island ever since Godzilla let you stay with us. Every time we go out to fight our enemies you whine and complain about having to do the slightest thing. You're arrogant, lazy, and severely lacking in personal hygiene. Tanaka only knows why Junior put up with you as long as he did but here's something you need to learn right now. I. WILL. NOT!" Zilla then threw the taller Kaiju to the ground before planting his foot on the other's scaled chest. "Follow our commands, listen our reasons, and be a good little Kaiju, or I will make sure you'll never be able to set foot on this island again. IS! THAT! CLEAR!"

Gabara glared hatefully up at the saurian but said nothing, knowing better than to further provoke Zilla. The other Kaiju remained silent, though most of them were subtlety smirking at the brat's misfortunes. Despite being technically one of their allies, none of the Earth Defenders particularly cared for Gabara, let alone respected him. Still, better he was (nominally) on their side than fighting for the mutants. No matter how annoying he was.

The argument restarted when the bat-like Varan said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Gabara. Sort of." The green kaiju, who was rubbing his shoulder where he'd landed, hissed at Varan in annoyance, but was otherwise silent. "Even if joining the humans would give us enough strength to kill the remaining mutants, how could we possibly trust them? You yourself told us that they purposely fired that weapon of theirs at us in hopes of catching Xenilla and Destroyah. They didn't care about how many of us might have gotten in the way." Several of the other Kaiju nodded or growled agreements with the smaller creature's statement.

Gamera gazed back at his questioner, face blank. "I understand your hesitance, all of you. Despite our shared enemy in the mutants, we have always been in conflict with the humans. Our interests are often very different and we have both done things to harm the other. Yes, they fired their weapon knowing that some of us could be caught in the blast, but they did so to kill a pair of monsters who were a threat to the entire planet. Many humans also mourned our losses and have called out the leaders who ordered it. Even with all of the damage we have done to them over the years, both on purpose," his gaze shifted to several of the neutral kaiju, who had the grace to look guilty (save for Gabara), "and on accident, they care about us enough to regret our passing. Have any of us truly thought of the many deaths humanity has had to suffer through even when we are actively aiding them? How many Kaiju have we lost in comparison?"

Many of the Earth defenders looked amongst themselves, uncomfortably aware of how much truth was in their leader's words. Kaiju deaths were exceedingly rare, given how insanely tough they all were. Even the Antverse Kaiju, notorious amongst the humans for their relative frailty, took quite a bit of effort to completely kill. Mortally wound and send running home for repair, yes. Outright killing them? Not so much. The other side of the coin was much less pleasant for the humans. Even though most of the Earth Defenders tried to fight the mutants before they could reach human cities, sometimes they were forced to engage them inside those cities, which never went well no matter how cautious they were. And several of them were much less cautious then they should be.

"That may be true," Gorosaurus said, "but it does not change the fact that they are still a threat to us, just as we are to them. What guarantee do we have that they won't try to eliminate us one day?"

It was a valid question, Gamera knew, and one he had given plenty of thought to. For the most part, when the mutants weren't rampaging at least, Kaiju and humans left each other alone, with the Kaiju living on far away islands or in distant wilderness relative to human civilization. The problem was just how long such a status quo would last without a common enemy uniting them. Gamera had been watching humanity grow for eons upon eons, but these last few centuries had seen the smaller species expand in ways he would never have predicted. In truth, he expected that humanity would surpass them in less than hundred years. The fact that they had survived the endless onslaught of enemies so much larger than them for more than half a century was nothing short of remarkable. Even the change after the events of Final Wars was staggering. Despite having more than half the planet under simultaneous assault by both alien militaries and more than two dozen kaiju, humanity had managed to hold its ground and eventually push them all back with the assistance of the Godzilla lead Earth Defenders. Now they had improved their war machines to be a near match to even the strongest of the Kaiju. They just lacked the numbers to win on their own.

"The simple answer to that, Gorosaurus, is that there is no guarantee. At present there is no major reason why the humans may not one day decide that Earth would be better off without any Kaiju at all. And given just a few more decades, they may be able to do just that."

Many of the Kaiju stared at their leader in shock at his bluntness, as well as the idea of the long protected humans rising up against them. It took them some time to accept the possibility of that happening. "What do we do then Gamera?" asked a tightly coiled up Manda.

Gamera responded with, "We give them a reason. Many of you have not had a chance to look closely at human history, but I have. They have a remarkable ability to forgive and forget, and aiding them in finally bringing peace to the planet would create the good will we need to end the animosity between us. If we prove that they have nothing to fear from us and that we are willing to fight against their enemies, then they will be willing to let us live in peace. For the sake of both of us, we must let go of the past and fight for the future." He pointed to each Kaiju in the circle as he continued in a louder voice, "For the last sixty years we have all had to fight for our very lives. What kind of cowards would we be if we ignored this chance to end it all? Will we lay back and let our enemies destroy everything we fought for?"

"NO!" Baragon cried, as several of the other Kaiju roared in agreement.

"No, we will not! We will fight with the humans! We will kill the ones who have harmed us for all these years! WE WILL END THIS WAR!"

A chorus of roars echoed around the valley in answer, causing dozens of little avalanches all around the group. To any humans listening it would have sounded like a hurricane had shouted in earth-shattering rage. When the roars finally subsided Gamera said in a commanding tone, "Go and sleep. Rest your bodies and prepare your minds. Next week, the end will begin."

The group separated at his words, many of them growling in anticipation of what was to come. Gabara was the only one who didn't seem the least bit excited and was giving Zilla a look of sheer loathing while sparking some electricity around his hands.

Zilla just grinned cheekily at him and said, "What are you still doing here Gabby? Didn't you say something earlier about how sleepy you were? Now's your chance."

The green creature gave a (slightly) menacing growl before turning away. Zilla chuckled a bit and commented, "That's a good boy Gabby." Gabara rapidly faced the saurian, rage evident on his face and looking for all the world like he was ready to commit murder when he remembered that Gamera was there as well. Reluctantly, and after giving Zilla an even more hate-filled looked than before, he turned and stalked off. Zilla made a double click, similar to a human dismissing a dog, which caused the ogre to pause for a moment before stomping his foot and leaving for good.

"You should not taunt him like that Zilla," Gamera reprimanded. "Of all the Earth Defenders left, he is the only one I worry about controlling."

Zilla just grunted and replied, "He's nothing more than a bully Gamera, and the best way to control a bully is to show them who's boss. He may hate me for it, but he also has to respect me, and that means he will listen to what I say, whether he likes it or not." A smile appeared as he said, "Nice speech by the way."

Gamera turned away from his fellow reptile and gazed out at the sea, groaning as he did. "I hate giving speeches."

"So does Miki, yet you both seem to have a knack for it," Zilla commented as he stepped to his leader's side. "Weird how that works out huh?"

The turtle guardian could not help but chuckle. "I suppose it is." They both stood quietly on the cliff there, looking without seeing the sun rising above the waves. "It is quite likely that some of us will die in this conflict you know. I do not expect us all to survive unscathed."

"I know," Zilla responded quietly. "I won't pretend that I'm not scared. Not with you at least. Many of the mutants are stronger than us, and there are a whole lot of them out there. Even with the human's help this is going to be a very close fight. I'm not sure we can even win. But it would be a disgrace to the Big G's memory if we just let the world pass us by. One way or another we're going to finish this once and for all." Zilla slammed his tail against the ground in punctuation of his statement.

Gamera looked at his friend, his face a grim mask. "There is something I must tell you Zilla, but you must promise me that you will tell none of the others, at least not yet. I do not wish to give them false hope. Or fear, as the case may be."

"What are you talking about Gamera?" Zilla asked curiously.

"The Dimension Tide did not kill any of the Kaiju it hit. Instead it transported them across time and space to another world entirely. Godzilla, Mothra, Anguirus and Rodan are all still alive."

"THEY ARE!" Zilla cried joyously. "How do you know? Where are they? Are they alright? Is there any way they can get back home?"

"Easy Zilla," Gamera said as he laid a soothing hand on the lizard's shoulder. "Let me answer your questions before ask too many. I know they are alive because I have spoken with them. Or one of them at least. Mothra managed to contact me with a telepathy spell." Zilla groaned, prompting Gamera to pause and ask him, "What is wrong?"

Zilla just shook his head and said in an annoyed tone, "Magic that's what. I don't like magic. It's too unpredictable, not to mention dangerous."

Gamera, himself a creature created through magic (or something close to it) quirked an eye-ridge at him and said, "And what's so bad about magic hmm?"

Realizing what he had just said and to whom he had just said it, Zilla hastily said, "Not that all magic is untrustworthy of course. I just prefer to deal with science or natural stuff. At least with them I can understand what's going on."

Gamera simply rolled his eyes. "Getting back on topic, Mothra informed me that she and the others are all safe and sound, though not without a few… changes."

"Like what?"

Gamera coughed for a moment, remembering the rather… odd form Mothra had assumed. "I would rather not say. It is somewhat complicated. As for your other two questions, the land they are in is called Equestria and they are working with the land's inhabitants to find a way home. Nothing is available at present, but there are several possibilities they are looking into." Gamera's face grew grim as he continued, "That is where the good news ends I am afraid. Xenilla and Destroyah are there as well, and though they have managed to avoid a fight for the time being, there is no telling how long that will last. Even worse is the fact that all of the mutants and aliens who were struck by the Dimension Tide were also teleported as well. Mothra does not know where they all are, but whoever fired the Dimension Tide at them knew what it would do and took all of the strongest of our enemies for themselves."

Zilla stared down at the ground, brooding about what he'd heard. "So none of them are actually dead. Even if we clear out the Earth of the remaining mutants, the worst of them are still out there somewhere, under the control of someone we don't even know." He swept his tail back and forth nervously. "Not the nicest of thoughts."

"No, it is not," Gamera agreed. "But it does mean that killing the remaining mutants is even more important than before. If or when our friends return, they will need all the help we can muster to face what is arrayed against us. Removing the threats from Earth will mean both we Kaiju and the humans can concentrate on this unknown enemy whenever they make their move."

Zilla huffed, his gaze still turned towards the ground. "Makes sense that you wouldn't want to tell anyone else just yet I guess."

Gamera smiled reassuringly and patted his friend's head. "Fret not, Zilla. Mothra is hard at work finding them all a way home and she has some very good help too. Miss Sparkle seemed rather intelligent for a purple pony."

Zilla had been nodding along as Gamera spoke but froze when he heard that last word. He quickly turned to face his friend and asked in a rush, "What did you just say?"

Gamera stammered for a moment before saying, "Ah, yes, that. The inhabitants of the land our friends arrived in are apparently sentient ponies and our friends have been transformed into ponies themselves. I have no idea how that came about but magic seems to be very common there so it is not completely improbable."

In all the time Gamera had lived on Earth he had never once seen a kaiju's jaw drop like Zilla's did just then. The guardian monster was almost worried his friend had dislocated something because of how far it dropped. "Are you alright Zilla?"

"Ineedtochecksomething." Then, without even so much as a backward look or sign of hesitation Zilla leapt off the cliff into the water several hundred feet below. Gamera starred after him in stunned silence, unsure of whether he should follow the saurian or not. Eventually he decided to let his friend go and get some rest for himself. If it was important Zilla would tell him about it later.

---

"You have got to be shitting me!"

Marshall Pentecost sighed at the annoying but entirely expected shouting that came from the youngest of the Jaeger pilots in the room. He had gathered all of the controllers for his various mechs and jaegers together to brief them on the plan for what he was calling the End War. Most of them had reacted in the way most soldiers did to the announcement of planned hostilities. Stoic acceptance and quiet focus on what would be required of them. One of them did not do that though.

"You honestly expect me to trust those damn monsters with protecting my back while I'm fighting for my life against the monsters they have failed to kill for years? Are you out of your fucken mind?!"

"Enough!" Hercules Hansen shouted. "Remember who you're speaking to sonny. Pentecost is your commanding officer and you will treat him with the proper respect. Understood?"

Chuck Hansen, still visibly seething in impotent rage, managed to contain himself enough to say, "My apologies sir."

Pentecost gave his signature death glare to the young man and stated, "It will not happen again."

"Yes sir," Chuck said in a much steadier voice. "Sorry sir."

The Marshall let his tone soften as he said, "I understand that you are reluctant about this, Ranger, but I have a solid guarantee from the Earth Defender's leader that they will fully cooperate with us in battle and they have promised peace afterwards. There is no debate about that."

"Sir," Raleigh Becket said, "how exactly is this going to work? Every time we've worked with the Earth Defenders before we've had trouble trying to coordinate with them. We spend almost as much time avoiding their attacks as actually fighting the mutants."

"He's right," his copilot, Mako, agreed. "I have looked at the history of our fights alongside the Defender's, and each time our effectiveness was barely increased. We need to have a way of communicating with them during combat for our efforts to succeed."

Pentecost nodded at his surrogate daughter. "That is why every pilot team will be including a telepath in their drift. The telepaths will be able to contact the Defenders and keep them appraised of our strategies."

Aleksis, one of the pilots of the Russian Jaeger Cherno Alpha, scoffed and asked in his deep voice, "And where would we get that many compatible telepaths from?"

Miki took up this chance to enter the conversation, saying, "Common knowledge would say that is a problem, but in actuality all telepaths are compatible with anyone in a drift. Normal drifters are actually just partial telepaths who can only use their abilities with the aid of drifting technology." Most of the pilots were surprised by the information, but Mako just smiled at her sister knowingly while Raleigh shrugged.

"We will be spending the rest of this week running drills in the simulator to get everyone adjusted to the new setup. Any questions?" After a moment of silence he dismissed them, giving a lingering look at Herc and his son, whose face was one of carefully concealed anger.

As they were leaving the door opened to reveal a middle aged Asian woman wearing a doctor's lab coat entering the room. Upon seeing her both Mako and Miki rushed over and pulled her into three person hug. "Azusa-sama, when did you get in from San Francisco?" Miki asked after she and her sister finally let their adoptive mother go. "Why didn't you call us to let us know you were coming?"

The doctor's eyes twinkled with mirth as she responded, "Well, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you I was coming now would it?" The three of them all laughed, Miki's bright giggling contrasting with her sister's quieter chuckling. "To be honest, dears, I didn't have much time to warn you anyway. Marshall called me as soon as he knew you had succeeded Miki, and I had to catch the quickest flight I could. I still don't like flying in those darn Concords. Much too fast for an old woman like me."

Mako rolled her eyes at her mother's joking and gave her another tight squeeze before departing after her waiting partner, promising to meet her later as she left.

Pentecost, who had been silently smiling at the heartwarming scene at the back of the room, asked "Will the telepaths be ready for training tomorrow Dr. Gozo?"

"Hopefully, if any of them can even get to sleep tonight," she said with a huff. "That's another thing I don't like about hypersonic flight. It's supposed to make jet lag easier to deal with by arriving within a few hours of your departure, but that just makes it even more confusing. Instead of a day long flight, which most passengers are probably going to sleep through, you have a flight about as long as a short car trip, meaning your internal clock thinks it's acclimated to the local time, but it's even more off than it would be normally. It's utterly maddening."

Pentecost just stood there and listened to her rant, having heard his colleague go off on the same topic practically every time she was forced to use it. Even with his legendary composure he still had a hard time keeping himself from cracking a smile at her antics. "They've done it before. I'm sure they'll manage this time." His tone grew softer as he inquired, "How are you feeling?"

Azusa's eye's dimmed slightly as she recognized what he was really asking about. "I'll be fine. I'm…" She took a deep breath. "I'm sure that wherever he is, he's in a better place." Tears started to roll down her cheeks. "I just wish I had a chance to…" Her voice trailed off as she started to sob in earnest. Miki, whose own eyes were just as watery, drew her mother into a hug and held her as they both cried.

"If it's any consolation, I deeply regretted signing off on the order to fire the Dimension Tide," Pentecost said to the two weeping women.

"I know," Azusa said as she wiped the wet streaks off her cheeks. "I made sure of that."

Though he did not visibly react, Pentecost's mental grimace was very strong. That had not be a pleasant conversation. His bodyguards had actually burst into his room to make sure he was safe, only to receive their own earful from a then volcanic Azusa before she turned her attention back to him. As if his own guilt had not done the job of chastising him enough on its own. After a moment of thought he sighed and said, "There is something I have not informed you about…"

Suddenly alarms started blaring all around the room. Pentecost immediately ran to his desk and slammed the button for the central command room. "Tendo, what is it? What's been detected?"

"Kaiju signature in the Pacific about 200 kilometers away from us sir, and its closing fast! We're still trying to identify who it is."

"What do we have on hand for combat?" Pentecost asked as he brought up the readiness lists on his monitor. Miki and Azusa stood at his shoulders, grimly watching the man work.

"Horizon Brave is the only one on deck in the area sir. Should I contact the Chinese to get it sent out?"

Pentecost's answer died in his throat as a satellite image of the incoming Kaiju appeared on his screen. Miki gasped in his ear and quickly said, "That's Zilla! My god, I've never seen him swim that fast before."

"What's his speed Mr. Choi?" Azusa inquired.

After several muted beeps Tendo's voice was heard. "What? No, that's not possible, check it again. What do you mean you've already checked it?"

"His speed Mr. Choi," Pentecost ordered.

An audible gulp was heard before Tendo answered with, "90 knots sir. Maybe a little more, the waves make it hard to tell."

None of the three spoke for a moment, the silence only broken by the sounds of conversation from the command room. "What is the record for a kaiju swimming on the surface Mr. Choi?"

"The previous record was..." he paused as he entered in the requisite search, "uh, 76 knots sir. And Zilla was the previous record holder as well. So… do you still want me to contact the Chinese?"

"Negative, Mr. Choi. Alert all Shatterdome personnel that it is a friendly Kaiju and to return to repair work on Mogurea and Jet Jaguar. Then met us down on the launch deck. We're going to see what our saurian friend needs to tell us.

---

Sometime later (but much less than expected) lookouts on top of the Shatterdome reported the first signs of Zilla's approach. Ship traffic near the southeast entrance to the harbor had been cleared in advance, which thankfully resulted in less disruption than expected. As the Kaiju began to enter the bay, waves thirty foot high preceded him. While in the past such high torrents would have resulted in a danger of flooding for the city near the Dome, anti-flooding walls of more than 80 feet had been erected in every coastal city or town that was susceptible to kaiju attack. The walls made shipping moderately more difficult and beach tourism was all but eradicated, but the safety of the citizens took precedent.

Pentecost, Miki, Azusa, Tendo, Taizo, Gordon, and Ozaki all stared down at the mound of water that was rapidly approaching the mountain Shatterdome was built into. The landing pad around them was still bustling with activity, though many workers also sat idle in curiosity at the sight of the approaching creature.

"I wonder what has him so spooked," Ozaki commented to himself.

"Whatever it is," Gordon responded, "it probably isn't good. Zilla doesn't scare easily."

Miki nodded and leaned forward, concerned for her friend. "Are you sure none of the other Kaiju are reacting to his coming here?"

Taizo checked his personal tablet then shook his head. "Everyone else is still on Solgel. Looks like they all decided to bed down for the day. Or week, possibly."

Though not a common trait of all the kaiju, many of the large beasts were noted to spend long periods of time asleep, some staying unconscious for weeks or even months at a time. The activity baffled biologists, though to be fair to them the kaiju did make a mockery of previously established science just by existing. Many had given up hope of ever understanding just how the kaiju really worked, though maybe a lasting peace would give more opportunity for lasting study.

Finally Zilla began to slow as he neared the base of the mountain, the forward waves of his displacement lapping at the lower launch doors of the facility. The giant lizard breached the surface with a massive splash, parts of the spray reaching up over the lip of the launch pad. His subsequent shake-off of the water sliding down his scales looked for all the world like an explosion of rain for a brief instant, prompting a slight chuckle from Doctor Gozo, who never ceased to amaze at the activities of kaiju. Once he was clean, Zilla reached out with his clawed arms and climbed the bare rock of the mountainside until he could poke his head out over the launch pad.

Everyone who had been managing to focus on their assigned tasks stopped now to gaze in awe of the creature above them. Several of the soldiers present snapped off a salute to the friendly kaiju, while both Gordon and Ozaki gave their ally a strong nod of respect.

The quiet moment did not last longer though, as Zilla mentally shouted in the direction of his telepath friend, GODZILLA AND THE OTHERS HAVE TURNED INTO PONIES!

Miki, the only human who could hear the kaiju's announcement, could do naught but tilt her head to the side and say, "What."

---

A/N: Flame in. Hello again readers, and welcome to the next exciting installment of the End War. What do you mean its not exciting yet? Oh come on people, I gave you Zilla bullying Gabara into submission, what more do you want? Full on fighting? Uh... that's coming. Soon. Probably sometime next chapter (I hope). Hey, proper warfare takes time alright. You don't launch into it halfassedly unless you want your ass kicked. Anyway, most of this chapter is just talking, or shouting, with a little bit of world building and character introduction thrown in. Fret not. War will come, and it will not stop until either the world is destroyed, our your minds are. I leave it up to you which is the better outcome. Flam... oh and about that ending. Hehehe. AHHAHAHAHAHA! I just couldn't resist. But don't worry. It gets better. He he. BlazingPhoenix17, Flame out.