Prologue

It was fitting that it would be here, of all places. The crisp blue waters, the sun-bleached sands, the elegant green palms swaying in the winds of a beautiful sky. It probably looked very much like this all those years ago. The day man unleashed something extraordinary and terrifying all at once. This was Bikini Atoll, a small insignificant little stretch of islands that no one had paid much attention to. Until that aforementioned day of course, where it had all began. Now, on this day, if everything went to plan, it would be where it ended.

Captain Tatsuya Odagawa stood on the Observer's Platform of the battleship, overseeing the entire area. On each of the tiny little islands stretched out before him were several artillery batteries, loaded with high explosive ordinance. Between the islands, ships from every nation and corner of the globe, America, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and of course Japan. The battleships and artillery were loaded with TOW missiles, cruise missiles, radar-guided, heat-seeking, whatever they could carry. The carriers sported a similar armament with their bombers and jets. Ultimately though, none of them really mattered. They were only here to keep the target off balance and lead him where they wanted him to go.

There was only one less conventional weapon that could be seen and Odagawa decided to take another look at it. Buried among the trees was a massive gun, bigger than anything on any of the nearby ships. It didn't fire rockets, or missiles, or even shells. It fired dark energy, a power terrible enough to literally rip through time and space. At least that was what the scientists claimed as the thing had never been fired, not even in testing. How ironic given their current surroundings and what happened here before. The scientists called it "Dimension Tide", Odagawa just called it what was, a Black Hole Gun. He preferred simple titles over fanciful comic book names. The weapon was excessive in any other circumstances, but not this one. It was pretty much their last shot at this point.

Sixty years ago or so, in 1954 on this very spot, the Americans detonated the very first H-Bomb. Up to that date it had been the most powerful atomic weapon ever created. No one could've predicted the consequences when they dropped it. It wasn't until much later when cold hard reality hit them. The American's desire to claim victory in the Cold War of the 1950s had awakened something. A creature of such immense raw natural power that man's greatest war machines were rendered powerless. There was no clear theory of what he was. A survivor of the Jurassic age altered by radiation? An ancient monster brought to life by the bomb's detonation? All they knew was that the bomb had brought him into being and the world had never been the same since.

For that was the day, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, had begun his reign.

Over the decades since, Godzilla had rampaged across the Earth. His need for destruction seemed insatiable, relentless and most peculiar of all was that it seemed directed. Godzilla attacked power plants, nation capitals, military bases. To any outsider observer the attacks almost seemed strategic in nature. It was as if Godzilla was picking his targets, choosing which held priority over the other. The idea that this prehistoric monster was a thinking one was a disturbing thought for many.

Humanity had only ever succeeded in driving him off, it was the best they could do. Nothing seemed capable of killing him. Not even the other giant monsters that had arisen after him. From time to time, these other giant monsters, or Kaiju, focused Godzilla's rage away from humanity. Sometimes it even felt like he was protecting the Earth from them or at the very least establishing his dominance over the other monsters. The battles between the Kaiju had repeatedly destroyed many of the great cities of the world, ending countless lives in the process. Earth had gotten used to rebuilding its cities from the ground up at this point.

After so many decades of battles, of speculation on his origins, his objective, if he had any, whether he was protecting the Earth or punishing man, the governments of the world came to the conclusion that they had had enough. Godzilla was simply far too dangerous to remain here, too much of a menace for all the times he had supposedly saved Earth to pardon him any longer. He had escaped the so-called Monster Island too often. Other methods of containment had failed as well. They didn't want the King of the Monsters captured anymore, they wanted him gone.

So this was it, the final plan of a world that had decided that they were done. No more tolerating this "overgrown lizard" as some governments had decreed him. They needed to kill him, end this reign of terror he had griped the planet with for so long. They'd lure Godzilla in, force him into position and then fire the Dimension Tide. If the weapon worked, it would create a singularity that would tear Godzilla from the very fabric of reality. Nothing could survive that.

There were protests, mainly from the king's legion of "fans" if you will. Some crazy religion that had cropped up among the population, that Godzilla and these other monsters were in reality Gods of old, or at least divine creatures of Mother Gaia or something. Odagawa didn't really pay attention to the rabble. He only knew what the media reported. To these sycophants, Godzilla was a "Force of Nature." Any attempts to kill him only enraged him further. The use of the Dimension Tide would end with the destruction of everyone nearby and ultimately culminate with the end of humanity itself.

The more practical fear was a lot less dramatic, but no less dire. No one knew what the Black Hole Gun would ultimately do. It could kill Godzilla or it could unleash something worse. That was the fear Odagawa had. But, there was no point in arguing now. The decision had been made. It was time to end the king's reign.

Warning alarms sounded across the assorted fleet of ship. Odagawa looked back towards one of the terminals aboard his own ship. There he saw a large blip coming towards them from the air. He knew what it was instantly and knew what it meant. Everyone rushed to battle stations, preparing for the inevitable. Guns trained towards the direction the air contact was coming from, for they knew what would be following behind.

Suddenly, there was a blast of blue light off in the distance and something terrific exploding in the heavens above. Black smoke pooled into the air. It began growing bigger and wider as something careened from the sky towards the Atoll below. A nearby battery of men ran for cover as the object crashed down on top of them. Odagawa got out his binoculars and looked over at the destruction.

Lying in a smoking heap in what little remained of the artillery position was a metallic silver saurian machine. The Americans called this machine Mechagodzilla, the Japanese simply knew him as Kiryu. The robot had successfully driven off Godzilla several times from Japanese shores. He was their most successful weapon against him, now he was scrap. In an effort to enrage Godzilla to follow it to the firing line, Kiryu's crew had flown off in the early hours of the morning. They were to engage Godzilla and force him to follow them back to Bikini Atoll. From the looks of his battered and broken chassis, busted eyes, broken tail, missing arm and crushed jaw, Kiryu had put up a magnificent fight. But is was clear now that Godzilla had grown tired of the robot doppelganger and had decided to end him.

Mere moments later, as Kiryu's crew was being evacuated from their now burning craft, an explosion of water erupted off the coast of the Atoll. A pillar of blue foam shot up from the sea as a big, grey reptilian head jutted out of the deep. Piercing yellows eyes burning with rage stared down at the assorted fleet of ships. A massive mouth full of teeth the size of city buses snarled at the crews. Bristling fins, still shining bright blue from the recent ejection of radioactive breath, swayed to and fro as the monster shook the water off his body. His nostrils flared at the sight of the guns surrounding him, his gigantic claws bawling themselves into fists. A huge tail the size of a thousand redwood trees lashed together rose up from the water next, swishing about in the air, almost as if the monster was trying to pick where he would send it crashing down first. Odagawa had seen him before, but never this close and never looking this enraged. There were still fresh cuts and blows visible along the massive kaiju's body, Kiryu had at least left a few marks, but not enough to stem the beast's anger.

Rearing his head up, sucking in air from all around him, Godzilla suddenly lurched forward. His mouth opened wide, letting out a terrible, deafening roar. It shook and then shattered the glass of the assembled fleet windows, forced every man to clutch at his ears and even caused some seasoned sailors to fall on their backs from the sheer force of the sound. The monster then began walking forward, creating miniature tidal waves as he stomped through the surf towards the islands. All at once, every gun and plane in the air opened up.

Shells, missiles, bombs, they all crashed down onto Godzilla as he forced his way forward. He didn't even seem annoyed by the attacks. The battle with Kiryu had barely even tired him out. The monster was just acting on pure unbridled rage now. Nothing mattered, but the destruction of this fleet and the fool humans who dared strike at him. As a wing of jets flew over him, delivering their payload, Godzilla fired out a blast of atomic breath. A beam of blue radioactive fire shot out from his mouth and cut a swath through the air. The wing of jets was obliterated in the blink of an eye.

A cruise missile crashed into Godzilla's face next. He instantly turned to where the missile had come from, a battleship just a few feet away from him. He grabbed at the vessel with his giant hand and picked it up as if it was but a child's toy. Even from this distance, Odagawa could see men fall from the deck and into the water below. Godzilla soon chucked the battleship into the air, causing it to land on another ship, crushing it beneath the weight of its fellow ship and twisting the two into a mangled mess of metal.

Godzilla lifted a massive foot into the air and stomped it back down in such a way that it directed a tidal wave into a grouping of destroyers. The ships were engulfed by the waves. One of their captains had managed to turn the ship enough to break through the wave with their nose. The other two in the group weren't so lucky and were capsized by the wall of water. Godzilla only glared at the destruction before suddenly turning his head towards the skies again. A flight of fighter bombers were closing on him, ready to hit him with their ordinance. Godzilla simply slashed his tail into the sky, forcing them to break their attack run. He clipped two fighters with his tail, destroying them instantly. Godzilla then twisted the tail to collapse onto another battleship, snapping it in two right down the middle.

Godzilla now let loose a blast of atomic breath, the blue pillar of death shot across the battlefield and sliced into a carrier at the centre of one of the American battle groups. It exploded into a ball of flame, its flight deck being ripped clean off as the blasts tore it from underneath. Godzilla didn't stop firing though. He dragged his breath across the length of the American Fleet, cutting into the nearby Chinese and Russian flotillas. A sea of flame lashed out across coast of Bikini Atoll, sending dozens of boats and countless sailors to their watery graves.

However, even with all this carnage, the plan was still working. The firepower unleashed on him couldn't kill Godzilla, but it did drive him further towards the Atoll. The missiles and bombs from the planes and ships were forcing him to advance, driving him forward into the trap. Odagawa was impressed at how accurate the military strategists had been about the monster's reaction. Godzilla was a fighter first and foremost, in every conflict he only fled when his energy was spent or he decided the fight wasn't worth it. That was the theory anyway. You couldn't really tell what a kaiju was thinking.

After Kiryu's attack, however, Godzilla was now running on rage. This was the first time Kiryu had ever been used offensively against the monster. As predicted, Godzilla saw this as encroachment on his territory and decided to end the threat completely. That meant wiping out the source of the attack, like a bear going after an aggressive pack of wolves in their den. And that was just what they had been planning on.

Godzilla now stomped onto the beach of the first island in his path. The artillery guns started opening fire at this point, what little good it did. The missile barrages did nothing, the larger concentrated energy cannons and beams from Japan worked better. In the end, Godzilla stomped his foot onto the nearest artillery position and then shot a blast of radioactive fire across the nearest two islands to destroy the attackers there.

The Japanese Fleet, the closest to the Black Hold Gun, now renewed their attack with vigor. The other ships lessened their assault in response, firing just enough to keep Godzilla pushing forward but not enough to take his attention off the Japanese Fleet. Odagawa activated the main intercom.

"Concentrate all fire on the head," he ordered his men. "Make him come to us!"

The gunners did as instructed, hitting Godzilla in the head hard. The monster growled and roared in anger, shaking his head to get the smoke from the explosions out of his eyes. With explosions and fire erupting all around him, the giant saurian stomped back into the surf and raced as fast as his massive legs could take him through the water. He bellowed at the offending Japanese Fleet as he pushed towards his enemies, just as they predicted he would.

When the titanic lizard closed the distance, the tree cover around "Dimension Tide" gave way. The gigantic weapon, which looked like a cross between a massive jet turbine and futuristic cannon, began to glow bright purple. As the inner mechanisms began to whirl, Godzilla's attention was turned towards the weapon. He cocked his head curiously, confused as to what he was looking at. He roared at it loudly and began to rear his head up, his spines glowed bright blue, reaching up along his back towards his head. Whatever this thing was, he was going to destroy it. Odagawa raced to activate the comm-link again.

"Fire! Fire all guns! Fire at the head!" Odagawa ordered in a frantic panic of desperation.

Following their captain's orders, the gunners opened up. Cruise missiles crashed into Godzilla's head, just as he let loose his atomic breath. The atomic beam failed to hit dead on, grazing the base of "Dimension Tide." Sparks and flames shot out of the weapon's side where the beam hit it, but the gun kept charging. Once the weapon had started cycling, nothing could stop it from discharging. Odagawa was concerned about the damage, but there was nothing they could do about it now.

"Ten seconds to discharge!" Came a warning over the radio.

"All hands," Odagawa called to his men over the radio. "Brace yourselves!"

"Dimension Tide" reached the apex of its charge, a giant black and purple ball of energy coalescing in its massive barrel. Suddenly, it fired and the black-purplish ball rocketed out of the gun in a blinding flash of light. Trees, dirt, rocks and water were pulled into the singularity as it sped through the air. The weapon's discharge also sent out a booming shockwave that blew the leaves off nearby palm trees and created giant waves as it hit the water. Odagawa's ship rocked as the waves, both water and sound based, struck his ship. It was a miracle they didn't capsize from either.

The singularity sliced through the air, heading straight at Godzilla. The kaiju had just recovered from the blow he had taken to his head and spotted the ball of energy heading for him. Godzilla just stared the incoming black hole down, glaring at it with a snarl. True to form, he didn't back down, he roared loudly at the object and unleashed his atomic breath on the oncoming singularity. The blue breath just seemed to be pulled inside the approaching dark sphere, but Godzilla refused to relent. Finally, the black energy slammed into Godzilla, engulfing him entirely. The kaiju let loose one final tremendous roar and then was silenced by a massive explosion of energy.

Then, everything vanished in a flash of blinding purple light.

Odagawa only raised his head when the light dissipated. He carefully looked up into the center of the Atoll and saw… nothing. No black ball of energy, no Godzilla, just water. Everything was silent for a few moments more before a jubilant cry went out across the ship, the fleet and everyone on or around the Atoll itself. It took a minute before Odagawa realized he was cheering himself. They had done it, sixty years of terror, finally ended. Godzilla was gone. It took the combined efforts of nearly every developed Nation on Earth, but they had accomplished the impossible. They had defeated the King of the Monsters.

Odagawa looked towards "Dimension Tide", the weapon that had given them this victory. He expected to look on it with pride, only to see it smoking from every orifice and small fires erupting out its mouth. Apparently, Godzilla's last big shot had done enough damage. He couldn't be sure from this far away, but Odagawa suspected it wouldn't be firing again anytime soon. Perhaps it was for the best that way. A weapon of that kind of power was too great for any one nation to control. It had played its role, no sense in someone else besides Godzilla being on its business end.

Regardless of the destruction of their great weapon, it was hardly the time to feel dejected at its loss. This was a great victory for the world. Godzilla, King of the Monsters, was dead. There would be no more fear of the Kaiju's roar, his atomic breath, his massive tail or pounding footsteps. He would trouble them no more. His throngs of followers who thought of him as a literal God had turned out to be wrong after all. He wasn't a Force of Nature at all. He was just an animal, one that needed a really big gun to be put down, but nothing more.

However, in the back of his mind, Odagawa wondered a disturbing thought. Godzilla had survived everything else they threw at him, why not this? It wasn't like they could confirm the death definitively. There was no body after all. And there wasn't any real answer as to what "Dimension Tide" really did. Yes, they said it destroyed matter utterly, that it ripped apart the fabric of reality, as well as time and space. However, that was just speculation, there was a big difference between what you thought a weapon would do and what it actually did. This was the one and only instance of the gun firing. It would be the only instance of it firing. No one would ever really know what the full capability of the weapon was. So what if Godzilla wasn't dead? What if something else happened? What if he had been transported to the future or the past or another dimension or…?

Odagawa tried to put the inward debate out of his mind as he looked up towards the sky. Surely such thoughts were just creeping paranoia, disbelief at the accomplishment he had witnessed himself. Now was the time to look to a greater future, with one less monster in the world. They could all start living again. The king's reign was done.

The blackness faded and light finally returned. He gazed about the broken, cracked ground and the trees that have been pushed aside by the explosion. Instantly, he smelled the unfamiliar air. Knowing something was amiss, he stared at a sky above that he could not recognize. Three moons hanging in the stars above, obscured by dancing lights. This was not his world at all. He did not know where the human weapon had sent him, but it did not matter. All that mattered was that Godzilla, King of the Monsters, had survived yet another feeble attempt by man's machines against his life. He roared defiantly into the air, to let all know that this world was now his dominion. And any who defied his reign would burn beneath his shadow.