A day had passed since his encounter with the swarm, and now Godzilla was entering new territory. He had passed through some small towns during the night; Godzilla hadn’t stopped to rest. Though he flattened a few cars and mowed through some small structures, he hadn’t done any intentional damage to any of them. He was too tired, at least at the time.

Godzilla lumbered through the new land with meager interest, his head hung low. He moved through the countryside lazily, making no effort to get to his next destination. If there was another city nearby, he’d find it eventually. Right now all he wanted to do was find a nice place to lay down for a few hours. It seemed safe, he hadn’t encountered any military at all. They were probably busy with the Kamacuras.

As Godzilla made his way through this land of small rolling hills, alone in the quiet landscape, he began to think. He tried to remember… anything, everything. He wanted to know why there weren’t any other Godzillas. Had they all died? Were the humans responsible? He paused on that thought. What if the humans were responsible?

It didn’t seem likely to him, though. The humans were numerous, yes, but weak. They controlled no force powerful enough to harm Godzilla… or did they? The image of the towering mushroom cloud suddenly flashed into his head like an exploding star, forcing him to grimace. That cloud… was it connected to the humans? Was that even possible?

The silence was eventually broken by the gentle sound of running water nearby. By instinct he followed it, crushing trees beneath his feet as he stomped towards the source. It soon came into view; the source of the sound was a river. Something about it seemed strange, though. Godzilla couldn’t place it, but somehow this river felt out of the ordinary… and in a bizarre sort of way, familiar.

Godzilla slipped into it’s dark waters, submerging for a moment to cool down, then pulling his head above the surface to breath the fresh air. The water was cold, but invigorating. He’d follow it North for a while, there were bound to be humans along it’s shores.

An hour passed, and still no sign of the humans or their military. It seemed that this area was completely devoid of them for some reason. It wasn’t nice, though… it was eerie. He almost wished that the humans were there, just to make things seem less like a giant graveyard. Just then, he glanced something on the shore: buildings! Small ones, but buildings nevertheless. Buildings meant humans, and humans meant excitement, good or bad…

Godzilla’s head broke the surface, his white eyes scanning the shore with hopeful curiosity. This human realm was far from a cityscape; what few buildings he saw were old and neglected, spaced far apart, and were strikingly empty. The feeling of being in a graveyard suddenly intensified, a chill running down Godzilla’s spine. It wasn’t just the buildings, it was the whole area… the cold wind, the odd tingling feeling near the water… and the trees. Godzilla lifted his head completely out of the water, peering down at them as ice-cold water trickled off his chin. The trees were old, white, and dead… every last one them. Everything here was completely and totally lifeless.

Godzilla started to slip back into the river when, out of the corner of his eye, he glanced movement. His head spun around, but whatever had caught his attention was gone. Godzilla let out a suspicious snort and disappeared back into the river, pushing away from the shore with a whip of his tail. He must’ve been imagining things, this place had clearly been dead for years.

But that was a mystery in it’s self. Why was everything here so lifeless? Even the river was barren- Godzilla hadn’t spotted a single fish, not even a minnow. What could have caused this? No monster brought death this thoroughly, and surely there was no human weapon anywhere near powerful enough. And yet, he had an unshakable suspicion that they were heavily involved with this devastation…

There was a cold current running through the river, and after the movement he thought he had seen, he was a little uneasy about staying in the water here. He crawled onto shore, shook his head, and stood up. Now standing at his full height, Godzilla looked down on the abandoned human realm. It wasn’t big enough to be a city, it was more of a small town. A ghost town…

Hesitantly, Godzilla began to walk through the city. Though it was very faint, there was a distinct odor in the air that Godzilla recognized. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it was shockingly familiar. He moved on, trampling a small home as he walked by. Godzilla paused, feeling an odd tingle rise up his body as the dust and debris from the house settled. Godzilla took a step back and examined the house again. It looked like a regular pile of wreckage to him… but something had felt different when he destroyed it. This was a very strange place indeed.

Godzilla pushed on, plowing through the abandoned town and crushing everything in his path. The strange tingle returned every time he destroyed one of the old, bleached buildings, and it was growing harder and harder to ignore. Finally, Godzilla stopped, feeling the unknown tingle through his entire body. Godzilla looked around, but there was nothing in the air, nothing touching him. Whatever was causing this sensation could not be seen by the naked eye, it seemed. Godzilla marched on, trying to ignore the feeling as he crushed the mysterious buildings and trees underfoot.

Godzilla stopped again, this time directing his gaze to the sky. The sky was now gray and cloudy, and a chilly breeze started to pick up. Godzilla groaned, seeing tiny white particles drift down through the air. It was beginning to snow. As he watched the snow fall, a large human structure caught his attention. Godzilla moved closer, staring at the weird superstructure with inquisitive eyes.

The object, circular in form and made of some sort of metal frame, was taller than the surrounding buildings, though it didn’t even come up to Godzilla’s chest. He lowered his head, inspecting the structure further. Tiny, bright yellow hung from it, looking something like metal bird nests. The structure, though Godzilla did not know it, was a Ferris Wheel.

Godzilla glanced over the unusual mountain of steel and grunted. He didn’t know what it was, except that it was man-made, so he had no interest in it. He turned his back on it, his long tail hitting the broad side of it and knocking it off it’s rusted supports. The Ferris Wheel slowly toppled over, landing in the snow with a colossal, metallic clang. The clamor echoed through the dead city for several long minutes, breaking the silence uncomfortably. Godzilla cringed and kept moving through the town.

Some time had passed, and the freezing winds had died down. The snow was still falling consistently, and a thin blanket of it now coated the ground. As he wandered through the ghost town, Godzilla spotted another body of water parallel to the river. He picked up the pace and moved towards it quickly, knowing that the water would be a little bit warmer than the air, at least for the time being.

As he approached the body of water, he noticed that this new feature, like everything else here, was strange. It was a large body of water, much like a lake, but it’s shores were abrupt and carved. It looked as if it had been a giant hole that was dug and then filled with water. There was also a strip of ground in it’s middle, extending from the shore. Godzilla growled, the origin of this oddity was obvious. This lake was not a part of nature, it was human made. But why would the humans try and replicate nature…?

Godzilla waded into the lakes cool waters as snow flakes landed on his head, feeling the bizarre tingle of the area increase as he went deeper and deeper. Whatever caused the feeling was abundant here. Godzilla shrugged it off and submerged, swimming through it’s gloom. Immediately Godzilla noticed that there were fish here. They were small, though, and didn’t travel in schools- there was no way he could catch them, and they wouldn’t be worth the effort anyway. Godzilla let out a deep rumble from his throat, scaring them off, then swam on.

For an hour or so he swam, moving through the darkness like a ghost. The fish avoided him, hovering in the water just out of sight. With the sun blocked by clouds, very little light reached into the lake, and under the surface it seemed like night. Godzilla began to ascend in the water, the largest part of the manmade land strip was coming up and he wanted to explore it.

He surfaced, sucking air into his cavernous mouth and shaking the cold water from his head. The wind, though soft, was still cold, and it chilled his wet body to the bone. Godzilla hissed, planted his feet on the bottom of the lake, and started to wade towards the shore. He lifted the full length of his body out of the lake and shook, trying to throw the freezing water from his body to keep warm.

Godzilla straightened up and looked at his surroundings. There was a small structure, made of glass and steel. It was making a quiet humming noise, and part of it was pumping water into the lake. Godzilla crouched down and examined it more thoroughly. It reeked of humans- had they been to this place recently? He wasn’t sure… but he was sure of how to stop them from coming back. Godzilla stood up, narrowed his eyes, and opened his mouth. Radioactive fire exploded from his mouth and shattered the puny glass building, melting it’s metal frame instantaneously. Godzilla stood proudly over the azure inferno he had created, basking in it’s warmth.

Again, something moved. Godzilla did not turn to look, though- if something was there, it would probably go into hiding if he looked. Godzilla feigned ignorance, swaying his tail back and worth and raising his chin as he absorbed the fire’s heat. There was a soft splash somewhere to his left, and he could almost see what was moving. It drew closer, swimming through the lake very slowly. It thought it was being sneaky.

Without warning, Godzilla abruptly turned his head and fired off a blast of his thermonuclear breath. The beam collided with the lake in an explosive show of steam and light, throwing a cold mist of lake water into the air. Godzilla stomped his foot and roared loudly, flexing his muscles and raising his switchblade spikes. The steam settled on the lake, and whatever had been sneaking up on him was gone. Godzilla stood there a minute, breathing heavily. Either he was imagining things again, or something in the lake liked playing mind games.

Godzilla snarled, eyeing the lake one more time before he slipped back into the mysterious lake. This place was beginning to give him the creeps, but he’d get through this wasteland faster by cutting across the lake rather than walking around it. He swam through the icy-cold lake for what seemed like an eternity, his own paranoia seemingly freezing time. It seemed as though every time he looked away, some figment of his imagination manifested itself in the shadows, just outside the range of vision. But every time he looked, there was nothing.

Finally, he reached the other side. Godzilla wasted no time getting out of the lake; with a powerful tail thrust he burst out of water and into the air. He slammed down to the ground, landing on his feet and shaking the earth. He lifted his head, feeling the freezing embrace of the wind. It was much colder out of the water, but he felt a certain security from being out of the lake. If something tried to attack him here he could defend himself more easily.

Almost immediately, something nearby seized his attention… but it wasn’t a monster. It was another human structure, though this one was far more interesting than the Ferris Wheel or the ghost town. Godzilla moved towards it as soon as he saw it, feeling drawn to it somehow.

What he saw was a massive complex, a facility of some sort. Large towers rose from it’s smaller box-shaped regions, and vehicles lay scattered around it. Cars, trucks, even cranes stood completely motionless all around. It looked like everything here was frozen in time, slowly rusting and decaying as it staid in the same spot it had likely occupied many years ago.

Godzilla also noticed that tingling sensation again, but here it was magnified tenfold. Godzilla stood up, feeling it running through his entire body. It’s puzzling effects felt so unmistakably familiar, almost to the point of déjà vu. Godzilla looked around at the facility, searching for anything that might give him a clue. There was something painted onto one of the towers, some kind of marking made by the humans. He had seen these kind of markings before. The humans used them to communicate somehow. Though he did not know it, they spelled four very important words.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Godzilla sniffed around the plant, trying to figure out just what the place was and why it caused this unexplained feeling. He peered over towers and into open buildings, skirting it’s perimeter and trying to understand it’s unique presence. Then, at long last, he found the answer he was looking for. It was another human symbol, different from the others. For some reason, he remembered this one. It was a solid yellow circle, with a black dot center and outstretched triangular pieces. Bright, striking, and unmistakable.

Godzilla’s brain was suddenly blasted with an intense image, an overwhelming vision. Godzilla’s entire body froze as memories that had long been locked up exploded into his mind so clearly he almost mistook them as current events. He closed his eyes as he was quickly swept up in a vivid flashback…

Much younger and smaller, Godzilla stood on a sandy white beach. A hot, humid wind was blowing mercilessly, causing the many palm trees around him to sway violently. Dark clouds were swirling in the sky above, foreshadowing events far worse than the upcoming storm. Nearby, other creatures stirred- his family. There were many of them, large and small, moving around uncomfortably as the scene grew more and more grim. Suddenly, there was a sound like booming thunder- but the rain had not yet begun to fall.

Tearing through the clouds like a bullet, a huge metal bird that did not flap it’s wings flew overhead. Godzilla watched in silent fascination, mouth agape. The bird soared past their little island, towards the sea. As his relatives drew closer around him, the bird did something that Godzilla had not expected. It laid an egg.

Long and pointed on both ends, one of which studded with fins, the bizarre looking egg dropped from the sky. As it plummeted towards the sea, a flash of color on it’s side caught Godzilla’s eye. A solid yellow circle, with a black dot center and outstretched triangular pieces.

Then it hit. There was a cataclysmic flash of fiery light, so great it forced him to look away with tearing eyes. The ocean exploded into a titanic tower, fire raining from the sky, ear-splitting thunder shaking the very ground he stood on. Heat and sound traveled in every direction from the spot, and a sickening tingle flushed through every fiber of his being. A blast of searing air suddenly threw him through the air. As he lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was flaming palm trees flying through the pitch-black sky.

Godzilla opened his eyes, sore all over and sick to his stomach. Hot sea water lapped against his body as he clung to a piece of shattered earth, the island and his family gone from all vision. The wind did not blow, the sun did not shine, and the only sound to be heard was the distant thunder of the storm. Godzilla shuddered, feeling another blackout coming on. He lifted his head weakly, looking at the horizon one last time. In it’s place was a smoking monolith, a single gray cloud, taller than anything he had ever seen before. It’s terrifying demeanor was matched only by the oddity of it’s shape. Godzilla gazed at the horrific mushroom cloud, and closed his eyes.

With an abrupt gasp of breath, Godzilla reeled backwards and fell to the ground, chest heaving wildly. Wide eyed and horrified, he lay on his back, claws dug into the ground. The sky darkened by thick gray clouds, it was almost like it had just happened. Godzilla cringed and scrambled to his feet, refusing to look at the firmament above.

The metal “bird”, the yellow symbol, the tingle in the air- it all came together now, a horrible puzzle suddenly put together and laid before him. Godzilla lifted his head and let out a long wailing roar, the volume of his anguish shattering the remaining windows of the power plant.

Godzilla rose up to his feet, looming over the abandoned facility with unrelenting rage. Now he knew the full extent of the human’s atrocities- they had not only twisted the land, they had twisted him! Their terrible experiments with radiation had wiped this land completely devoid of life, just like they had killed his family and friends so many years ago! The after effects of their idiotic attempts to delve into the unknown had destroyed everything he knew and loved and turned him into the monster he was today…

Godzilla’s spines flashed with radioactive fury, the air warped by the intense heat they gave off. He bared his teeth, snarling savagely as he clenched his fists and narrowed his white eyes. Filled to the brim with hatred, Godzilla charged up his nuclear breath like never before. The humans were no longer mere rivals to compete with and sabotage- they were loathsome enemies that needed to be completely and totally eradicated. No more mercy. Ever.

Godzilla fired a concentrated blast of flaming hate at the nearest reactor, infamous number four. Long ago Reactor # 4 had destroyed itself in a terrible nuclear explosion, releasing the very radiation that had sapped the life from the surrounding land. It had since been covered in a heavy sarcophagus to keep it’s deadly radiation from further contaminating Chernobyl… but not for long.

The sarcophagus blew into thousands of pieces as Godzilla’s wrath smited it, incinerating the irradiated trees and cars nearby. The resulting explosion engulfed parts of the main building, tearing several of the main corridors apart. Godzilla tilted back his head and roared, radiation pouring from the reactor’s tomb and filling the air. Godzilla’s skin tingled as he absorbed dose after dose, his fins glowing brilliantly. As the fire spread, Godzilla reveled in the destruction. He was not aware of the “figment of his imagination” lurking nearby.

Creeping towards him, it took long and deliberate strides, hiding in blind-spots and shadows. It kept low to the ground, it’s belly dragging on the ground and leaving a trail in the snow. Through black, beady eyes it watched Godzilla, a string of saliva hanging from it’s lower lip. It lingered in his wake, waiting for just the right moment to pounce.

Without warning, the creature leapt into the air. Godzilla let out a howl of surprise as it collided with his backside, holding onto him with scrabbling claws and sinking a set of razor-sharp fangs into his left shoulder. Godzilla lurched forward from the added weight of his attacker, nearly falling over into the very fire he had created. He reached up over his head, grabbing hold of his assailant and throwing him aside with a quick tug. The creature hit the ground nearby with a satisfying thud, landing on it’s back and then hurrying to it’s feet.

Turning around to face his foe, Godzilla finally glimpsed the monster that had been stalking him. It was much smaller than he was, less than half his height. It stood on four legs, supported by webbed feet with dark gray claws, and a row of thin spines supported a fin on it’s back. It was some kind of rat, though it was much uglier than any he had seen before. It was vaguely fishlike too, it’s hairless tail ending in a fin, and catfish-like tendrils pointing out from it’s face in place of whiskers. It’s scraggily, tangled-up fur repelled water, causing it to slide off it’s body and collect in puddles beneath it. To the humans it was known as Deutalios. To Godzilla, it was a punching bag with fur.

Deutalios ambled forward, throwing snow and dirt around with it’s frantic movement and rushing Godzilla. It let out a shrill cry and, legs outstretched, jumped into the air. Godzilla roared in protest as Deutalios slammed into his chest, sinking it’s claws in to hold on. Godzilla grabbed the monster’s head, holding it’s jaws shut to prevent it from attacking his throat. Deutalios let out a murmured snarl and dug it’s claws in deeper, the pain ushering a loud shriek from Godzilla.

Letting go with one hand, Godzilla reached down and seized Deutalios’ tail. Hesitantly, he did the same with the other, grasping the rodent’s tail with both hands and leaving it’s jaws unchecked. Deutalios immediately went for Godzilla’s throat, neglecting the knowledge that it’s tail was restrained and lunging upwards. Godzilla pulled Deutalios downward by the tail, yanking the monster away from his throat and off his body. Deutalios hit the ground, kicked up with it’s hind legs, lifted itself to a standing position, and screeched loudly.

Godzilla returned with a powerful roar, throwing the monster back down to the ground with a fierce swipe of his claws. Deutalios got up quickly, but Godzilla pressed his attack, lifting his leg and stomping down with his foot. Deutalios scurried out of the way, Godzilla’s foot striking unoccupied ground and shaking the earth. Deutalios pounced, grabbing hold of Godzilla’s leg and biting down. Godzilla lifted knee to his chest and brought down his foot hard. As his foot hammered the snowy terrain, the shock from the impact threw Deutalios off. Godzilla backed up, raising his spines and growling. Blood welled up from the wound, quickly cooling down from the low temperature and drying into a hardened red knob.

Godzilla’s spines flickered, energy coursing through his entire body as he prepared to nuke his enemy. Deutalios squeaked, seeing the deadly glow of Godzilla’s fins, remembering their run in at the lake. Deutalios suddenly turned tail and fled, scrambling towards the artificial lake for cover. Godzilla released his breath, the pounding stream of nuclear fire hitting the spot Deutalios had just occupied. Godzilla fired again as Deutalios dove into the cooling pond, missing the fleet-footed monster again and vaporizing lake water.

Godzilla wasn’t letting him go that easily, though, not now that he had seen him. Head down and tail high, Godzilla charged the shore and jumped into the snowy sky, falling down on the body of water with an enormous splash, the resulting waves crashing onto the snowy shore and leaving behind a thin sheet of ice.

Godzilla swam through murky waters in search of the cowardly monster, but Deutalios was the first to strike. Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Deutalios rocketed towards Godzilla from the side and rammed into his flank. Godzilla let out a stifled snarl and spun around to face Deutalios, snapping at the rodent as it fled from sight. Godzilla rushed after it, pushing as hard as he could with his tail as he pursued his mammalian quarry.

Unexpectedly, Deutalios turned skyward and thrusted, breaking the surface and leaping out of the water with a dramatic splash of white water. Godzilla’s eyes widened in disappointment as he suddenly lost his prey… or had he?

As Deutalios launched itself out of the lake and towards the shore, it hadn’t planned on the layer of ice covering the ground. If it hadn’t been so quick to dive down deep, it might have noticed the magnitude of the splash Godzilla made when he entered the water. Deutalios let out a high pitched scream and landed with a whopping crash, shattering some of the ice with his weight. In a panicky rush Deutalios scrambled for solid land with it’s forepaws, but it was a useless struggle. Deutalios slid off the slippery sheet of frozen water, dumped back into the lake, right into Godzilla’s line of sight. Like a torpedo with teeth, Godzilla shot towards his dazed opponent and slammed into him with such Herculean force that both monsters flew out of the water and over the shoreline. Deutalios landed first, hitting the ground hard while Godzilla, not far off, landed on his feet.

Deutalios shuddered and turned it’s head just in time to see Godzilla barreling towards it. The rat kaiju ran, dodging Godzilla’s perilous jaws as they slammed shut beside it. Deutalios shrieked and made a desperate pounce, falling on top of Godzilla’s head. Godzilla lifted his head, heaving the other monster’s inferior weight with ease. It yelped in fear, holding on for dear life as Godzilla swung his head around wildly.

As Godzilla thrashed around, Deutalios’ strength began to fail. Godzilla was just too strong. Deutalios’ grip faltered, his claws loosened, and one of his hind legs slipped. Godzilla’s next swing sent Deutalios soaring through the air and into the cold, hard ground. Deutalios’ barbels twitched, sensitive to the touch of the frigid, white blanket that coated the earth. Godzilla stepped closer, a rumbling volcano ready to erupt. Deutalios struggled to it’s feet, ice sickles dangling from it’s pointy chin.

Godzilla let loose, his radioactive breath hitting the ground beneath Deutalios with a vibrant energy explosion and tossing Deutalios up into the air. Deutalios crash landed, hissed weakly, and tried desperately to get to it’s feet. Godzilla snarled, charging his spines and preparing to finish the fight. This foe stood no chance against him, and Godzilla wasn’t exactly feeling merciful today.

Deutalios scampered directly towards Godzilla, ready to pounce on Godzilla and fight for his life. Godzilla had other ideas. As Deutalios vaulted forward, Godzilla lowered his head and crouched down low. The monster rat glided over him, completely missing it’s target, and suddenly found itself on a collision course with one of the nuclear power plant’s cooling towers. The giant, hourglass-shaped structure was obliterated as Deutalios collided with it and triggered a fiery, radioactive explosion. Godzilla lifted his head high and roared, the brief excess in fire momentarily casting an eerie orange glow on his face.

His moment of triumph was interrupted by a terrible scream so loud it made his head ring. Deutalios’ battered form abruptly burst from the flames, it’s furry body flaming uncontrollably, searing and scaring the flesh beneath. Godzilla took a step back in disbelief as the walking inferno bound from the wreckage wailing like a fiend, the heat of it’s burning body melting the snow it ran across. Deutalios dove into the lake in a massive expulsion of steam, it’s horror-struck screams still audible to Godzilla as it descended to the depths.

The King of the Monsters stood still; the nearly undetectable sound of falling snow was the only noise to be heard all around. He gave a loud snort, clouds of breath appearing and then disappearing as he did so. It might be possible to track the fleeing kaiju underwater, but there was little point in it. Godzilla had already given the diminutive monster a sound thrashing, and with the power plant’s towers turned into smoking candles, there was no reason to linger here any longer. His instincts told him to keep moving, and he had little choice but to follow them.