It was dawn when Godzilla awoke and returned to the surface. His gargantuan head broke the surface, and he surveyed the shore from afar. The sun was just rising, casting reddish light onto the land. Godzilla could see buildings in the distance, like the ones he had set fire too the day before. He didn’t spot any flying machines though. Maybe this place was a little safer… but he still wasn’t going to risk going on land. After all, the first city had been peaceful until he approached it.

He dove back under the water and glided down to the sandy bottom. He continued to swim along the coast, making sure not to lose sight of it. As he swam, he spotted a mass of glimmering slivers darting about. It was a large school of fish. Godzilla’s stomach growled, he still hadn’t eaten.

Whipping his tail, Godzilla launched himself at the school and attacked. A plate in his throat instinctively shut, blocking the income of seawater as his jaws opened up to swallow the doomed fish. His enormous teeth closed shut around them, sealing them away in a razor-edged prison. Godzilla lifted his upper body out of the water and shook his head. As water poured out from in between his teeth, the unlucky fish remained inside, flopping helplessly on his tongue. Tilting his head back and gulping loudly, Godzilla swallowed the entire school whole.

Since his head was already above the surface, Godzilla looked over to check up on the shore again. There were still buildings about… but they were much smaller, and there were less of them than before. It seemed as though this might be a place where the humans control was not very strong. He wondered, would it be safe to come ashore?

Ducking beneath the waves, Godzilla disappeared from sight. After a brief period of calm, a spray of white water flew up into the air as Godzilla‘s fins shot up from below and sliced through the tide. Godzilla was sure that he could get onto the land safely, the stink of human was much less poignant here. In fact, the place seemed deserted. Maybe there weren’t even any humans here at all.

However, despite the surprising lack of human presence on the land, there was strong evidence of their doings in the ocean. As Godzilla got closer to land, he could tell that the water was getting warmer- and dirtier. It had an almost greenish hue to it, and there were bits of garbage floating on the surface. Pieces of it stuck to the jagged edges on his fins as they passed through the thin, grimy layer of human carelessness.

A horrible smell suddenly attacked Godzilla’s nostrils, making him cringe. It was a mix of foul chemicals and dead, rotten fish. Godzilla looked down to the sea floor, where the offensive odor seemed to be coming from. Lodged in the sand, he beheld a cornucopia of tiny, blackish-colored objects. Godzilla dove down deeper, shutting his nostrils and squinting at the cylinder shaped things. They were clearly man made, and had a thin coating of rust on them. Placed on the center of all of them was an identical mark. It was some kind of symbol… for some reason it seemed familiar to him, but they were so small, he couldn’t tell for sure.

Godzilla didn’t know what all this meant, but he didn’t like it. He rose to the surface, trying to escape the rank stench that the humans had placed on the ocean. Halfway up, something caught his attention. Godzilla halted his ascension by spreading out his limbs and treading water. He hovered there in the water, glaring into the gloom from which he had seen movement.

Lurking in the brackish waters, four mechanical stalkers approached Godzilla. They were larger than the other machines, but they moved much slower, as if they were taking caution. Godzilla watched them closely, observing their movements and appearance. They were almost entirely featureless- there were no arms or legs at all, and their fins, which were small and motionless, were located only at the tail end. A stream of bubbles tailed from their posteriors, though he could not tell why. They moved at a slow pace, making no noise at all.

The machines stopped. Godzilla growled and lifted his tail, ready to push off towards the metal assassins and counter whatever foul deed it was they planned. Before he could do so, there was a soft boom, followed by a cloud of small, fine bubbles. Emerging from the clouds came missiles, like the ones from the flying machines, though these were larger. Godzilla’s tail struck the water behind him, pushing him towards the oncoming projectiles. As they rocketed towards him, he quickly dropped down to the sea floor, grasping the sand in his claws. The missiles passed over him, fading away into the murky ocean water. He kicked off from the bottom and targeted one of the machines, swinging at it with a clawed hand. His swipe tore through the side of the machine, allowing water to inside it‘s body, which was apparently hollow. It rumbled, then exploded into a short-lived ball of fire that dissipated almost instantly, forming a dark, underwater fog. Godzilla hissed at the inky cloud, irritated. The water here was murky enough as it was… now he could barely see anything around him.

He heard the subtle blast of torpedoes launching and tried and get away, kicking at the water and distancing himself from the fog of destruction. The torpedoes passed through it, racing towards Godzilla as he tried in vain to escape them. They struck him in the chest and exploded with surprising force: Godzilla could fell himself moving backwards, pushed away by their detonation. A stream of bubbles escaped from his mouth as the impact winded him. He snarled and straightened out, putting his tail to the sea floor and aiming his fury at the obscured foes above him.

Godzilla ripped through the black cloud of debris and met the machines with open jaws, catching one of them off guard. He snapped the aggravating war machine in half, blowing it to smithereens in his fang-lined maw. Striking him from the left, another torpedo hit him in the side and detonated. The blast pushed him away from the second cloud, giving him a clear view of one of the attacking machines. He rushed towards it, homing in on it with fierce determination.

As he entered striking range, Godzilla suddenly descended. He sank beneath the machine, passing beneath it. As he did, the monstrous blades along his back tore into it‘s underside, gutting it like a fish. It’s ruined form exploded, throwing shrapnel that bounced harmlessly off Godzilla’s hide. He dove down to the bottom, hovering just above the sea floor, and looked up into the vaster waters above him. He spotted the last assailant as it maneuvered away from him. Thinking it was hidden by the destruction of it’s teammates, it was slowly turning away from him and preparing to change directions. It’s attempt at escape only further encouraged him- he was determined not to let this one get away as the helicopters had.

The retreating machine fired off another torpedo, but it was already turned too far away from him. It missed by a long shot, striking the sea bed to his far right and blowing up uselessly. Instead of trying to turn back the way it was and fight, the machine continued to turn away… presenting Godzilla with a wide, easy target.

A beam of piercing blue light shot up from the depths, penetrating both the murk and the machine. In a brilliant flash of light, it exploded into a thousand smoldering pieces. Godzilla emerged from the cloud and headed for the shore at top speed.

The humans had followed him, and now it was clear that he would meet opposition wherever he tried to approach the shore. He didn’t care, though- not anymore. If the humans wanted a fight, he’d give them one.

Bursting out of the water, Godzilla’s chest and neck elevated his head high above the water. He scowled down at the beach which, as he might have guessed, was swarming with humans. They tiny machines in their hands, miniature versions of the weapons that had been used against him before. The hateful little mammals cried gibberish at him, yelling words he could not understand. Godzilla snorted at their feeble offenses and charged his spines with glowering energy.

The humans fired their weapons, shooting Godzilla all over with bullets that were so tiny he could barely even feel them. Godzilla opened his mouth and blasted the right end of the beach with his breath, then swept left, torching the entire battalion of humans. They disappeared in tiny puffs of blue flame as he raked his hellish breath across the beach, reducing them to ashes. Godzilla watched them burn into nothingness as the searing heat of his breath turned the sand into glass. He titled his head back and roared in triumph, only to be interrupted by being hit in the throat by a pack of missiles. With a startled shriek, Godzilla staggered backwards and pawed at his smoking neck.

The flying machines were back in force. Godzilla stood tall and roared defiantly, watching their approach with great anticipation. There were more of them than before, and this time they moved in a wave formation. Godzilla crouched down, his chin almost touching the water. Tensing his leg muscles and then leaping up, Godzilla pounced towards the flying machines with outspread claws. They panicked, trying frantically to avoid the immense obstacle that was now flying towards them. Several swerved into each other, raining debris on the beach, while others collided with Godzilla himself. Swinging his claws, Godzilla tore into the swarm of machines, ushering more and more explosions all around him. Debris rained down on the countryside, passing the beach and smashing the wooden shacks and cottages that lay beyond.

Seven of them had made it past Godzilla and, spinning around to face him, unleashed their rockets. The high-powered explosives soared through the air and hit Godzilla, blowing off pieces of his skin as they detonated. The pain was mild, though, their weapons were too puny to do him any real harm. Rushing towards them, Godzilla charged through their barrage and roared. The helicopters quickly began to back off, moving with great haste. Godzilla couldn’t help but notice just how hurried they were, and with an irritated snarl, he decided that they too were trying to flee. He ran after them, focusing his attention solely on them. He was oblivious to the trap that lay before him.

Watching the helicopters instead of his surroundings, Godzilla had forgotten the strip of beach that his breath had glazed over. Stepping down on the shining cove, Godzilla’s foot slipped. His massive body tilted backwards, and with a surprised shriek, he lost his balance and fell to the earth. The glass shattered under his immense weight, sending sparkling shards into the sky. He slid down the slope of the beach, finding himself laying on his back in shallow water. The flying machines, hovering over him, fired their weaponry at his exposed underside. Godzilla writhed in agony as rocket after rocket bombarded his stomach, filling the air with smoke.

The machines were completely and totally unrelenting this time. They fired nonstop; pumping out every one of their rockets at Godzilla. With each new explosion the beach became more and more obscured by smoke- by the time they let up, the entire beach was masked with their dirty gray mist. Godzilla’s cries had ceased, and though it was hard to tell through the fog of war, the beach appeared to be devoid of any movement.

Perhaps the humans stopped firing because they felt they had killed him, or maybe they just ran out of ammo. Godzilla didn’t know. What he did know, however, was that it was a very unwise thing of them to do. Pushing up into the heavens, a glowing pillar of light struck the helicopters. Godzilla’s radioactive breath annihilated the meddlesome machines. Their occupants vanished in miniscule puffs of flame as the metal skeletons that gave them shape were vaporized. In an instant they were gone, nothing more than blackened debris floating in the wind.

Rising up from the sea of gray, Godzilla stood up and shook the ash from his scales. Mean-spirited and persistent as they were, the humans were no match for his power. He turned back towards the shore, scanning it’s scarred landscape. The few buildings that had resided here were now flattened by the remains of downed aircraft, and the beach was now a smoldering cemetery for charred soldiers and obliterated helicopters. The entire area was thoroughly wrecked.

With the war machines swept aside, Godzilla took in the devastation and felt peace at last. The humans here had been defeated, but he knew that there were surely more of them nearby. This patch of beach had been cleared, but he had no doubt that traveling further on shore would bring about another attack. He would have to return to the sea.

Godzilla’s trumpeting roar echoed across the barren coast as he waded back into the ocean. Submerging and sinking down to the bottoms, Godzilla noted the abundance of disgusting, chemical-filled barrels. They were all over the place, mucking up the water with their foul contents. Godzilla wondered what it was leaking out of them… and what effect it was having on the ocean life. Judging by the pungent odor of dead fish, he decided it was bad.

Godzilla swam out into the deeper water, investigating the polluted sea floor. He took caution, just in case there were more of those underwater machines lurking about. He swam for a long time, following the trail of chemicals into increasingly deeper water. As he realized just how far out from shore he was, he couldn’t help but wonder: just how much of this garbage had they dumped?

Hours later, the trail of filth (eventually) stopped. The shore was far out of sight now, Godzilla had traveled a considerable distance. It seemed that his own curiosity had gotten the better of him… If he was going to do anymore exploration of the shore, he‘d have to swim all the way back. It’d probably be the evening by the time he got there, and by then the humans could easily have more fighters waiting for him. Perhaps he’d be better off going elsewhere to come on land. He began to turn himself about, getting a full view of his surroundings, which was, of course, nothing but water. He was in the middle of a deep blue abyss, the only land being the rocky, coral-coated sea floor beneath him, and even that seemed terribly distant now.

He hesitated, trying to decided what to do. If he turned back now he’d be guaranteed a long swim and a welcoming party of missile-totting war machines. If he took a different route he might find some other shore, some place where the humans weren’t yet expecting him… but he didn’t know that for sure. He might travel for days on end without finding any land…

As he weighed his options, Godzilla slowly began to notice that something was amiss. He felt as though something were sneaking up on him… turning fast, Godzilla scrutinized the empty seas behind him for movement, but there was none. He looked all around, but the only thing that caught his attention was a tiny stream of bubbles. They floated up towards the surface, more important than they looked. Godzilla paid them little attention, treading water and listening for some clue to his stalker’s location.

Almost inaudible at first, a faint noise coming from the sea floor reached Godzilla’s ears and increased in volume. Even as it grew louder it was hard to pick up, but it was definitely sound, and it was definitely coming from somewhere below him. Whatever was giving Godzilla the creeps was moving around down there, scraping it’s claws against the rocky bottom. Lifting his head above the surface and taking in air, Godzilla dove down towards the enigma.

Slowing down and letting himself sink to the bottom, Godzilla felt his feet touch solid ground. He felt uncomfortable, surrounded by creeping darkness. The ocean seemed so empty… but he knew that it wasn’t. There was something else down here, something hiding from him. It was shy, whatever it was. Or perhaps it wasn’t shy. Perhaps it was sneaky.

Godzilla took a few steps forward, searching the underwater wasteland for some sign of life. He couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable it was to tread here, the ground felt rough and jagged. He looked down and saw the cause; the sea floor was littered with dead coral, bleached white and crumbled into pieces.

Materializing out of the gloom, a strange-looking landmark appeared up ahead. As Godzilla approached the mass of earth he recognized it as a cave of some sort. It looked like it had been the entrance to some underground cavern once, but much of it had caved in. Boulders the size of his head had been moved towards it, piled up around it as if to rebuild it’s ruined frame.

He stopped in front of it’s entrance, looking around at it’s threshold. Huge piles of bones, the skeletons of many different species of fish, were scattered about, stripped of their flesh. Barrels like the ones he had seen earlier were laying about, empty and badly rusted. Sharks browsed the toxic graveyard, searching for some tidbit of meat to scavenge. Godzilla backed away from the cave, disturbed by what he saw.

The scratching picked up again. The cave’s resident was moving around again, and this time is was coming even closer. The scratching didn’t stop, either- it was moving towards him, slowly and deliberately. Unaware that Godzilla could hear it’s movements, the creature snuck closer. It thought it was going to ambush him…

Then, only a short distance away, it stopped. Godzilla could hear it very clearly now. It’s claws scraped against the sea floor tentatively as it stood there, watching him. An odd creaking noise sounded from it’s presence, baffling Godzilla. Then, picking up speed, the creature came towards him. Now was his chance- Godzilla would intercept it’s ambush and get in the first blow!

Spinning around as the invisible terror was nearly upon him, Godzilla lashed out with his claws, striking what he took to be the face of his attacker. The beast reared back, emitting a high-pitched screech from it’s mouth. Godzilla’s eyes widened as he finally glimpsed the monster- it was an enormous crustacean, like a lobster, but thousands of times larger! It hoisted it’s terrible pincers above it’s head, screeching and waving it’s long, thread-like antennae.

The giant crustacean opened and closed it’s pincers, snapping them angrily. The creaking noise resumed as the bony plates that made up it‘s exoskeleton rubbed together while it’s six, spiny legs moved back and forth and stabbed at the ground. It chirped and shrieked, egging Godzilla on, challenging him to fight. Godzilla gladly accepted the beast’s offer and leapt towards it, claws and jaws at the ready.

Ebirah (that was what the humans called it) lurched forward, reaching out with it’s crushing pincers. Racing towards the behemoth, Godzilla dodged the snapping claws and went straight for the monster‘s head. He bit down on it, grabbing it’s bony cranium in his jaws and gnawing on it. He tried puncturing it’s exoskeleton with his teeth, but it was too thick to penetrate. Godzilla immediately regretted coming in so close to the monster- one of it’s giant pincers closed down on him, seizing his neck. Ebirah’s claws, armed with huge bone spikes, closed down on him like a vice.

As the spines dug into him, Godzilla realized that Ebirah’s spikes had actually broken the skin. For the first time, Godzilla saw his own blood, floating around him in diluted clouds. Ebirah began to pull Godzilla off, tearing him away. He yanked Godzilla off and threw him aside with an angry shriek. Godzilla slapped the water with his tail and stopped himself. Ebirah had detached him, but at a cost- caught in Godzilla’s teeth, still twitching with life, was one of Ebirah’s antennae. The monster crustacean screeched, flailing it‘s other antennae angrily and scuttling towards Godzilla with outstretched pincers.

Godzilla spat the dying limb out and held his ground, treading water above the sea floor and glaring down at Ebirah. The giant shrimp mutant clicked and gurgled, it’s hunger aroused by the scent of blood. The giant arthropod lifted it’s tail and then slammed it down on the ground, forcing itself upwards off the sea bed and towards Godzilla. It’s left pincer found Godzilla’s tail and quickly snapped shut, forcing Godzilla to howl in pain. As he voiced his anguish, the plate in his throat opened for a split second, allowing precious oxygen to leave him. Godzilla shut his mouth and rumbled, realizing that he could not spare to lose anymore air.

With the giant crustacean still latched onto his tail, Godzilla struggled to swim towards the surface. As Ebirah’s feet lifted off the sea floor it began pulling, trying to drag Godzilla back down. It extended it’s second pincer, clamping down higher on Godzilla’s tail and squeezing hard. Godzilla shook violently, resisting the urge to vocalize his pain. He swam with all his might and, finally at the surface, lifted his head and neck out of the water long enough to suck in more air.

Godzilla jerked back under the water, glaring at the monster on his tail. Godzilla dove down, snout pointing to the bottom, and swam hard and fast. Hanging onto Godzilla’s tail, Ebirah clamped down harder and groped at the sea with it’s legs, trying to find something to hold onto. Godzilla sped down towards the bottom of the ocean, swimming as fast as he could, dragging Ebirah behind him. The rocky, coral-laden bottom was growing closer and closer by the second- Then, at the last possible moment, Godzilla swerved away. Swung by the momentum of the drop as well as the whip of Godzilla’s tail, Ebirah rocketed down towards the ground, head-first. It seemed as though the entire ocean shook with it’s impact. A large cloud of undersea dust settled around the massive crustacean as it lay on it’s back, legs twitching.

Godzilla waved his tail, trying to ignore the pain he felt in it. Ebirah’s grip was remarkably strong. He’d be fine, though- he’d always been a fast healer. An unnaturally fast healer. He had special cells within his body that were constantly working to repair him.

Below him, Ebirah was turning back onto his feet and getting up. Instead of being defiantly open, Ebirah‘s claws were now shut. Still, it pointed them up at Godzilla, as if threatening him. Then, although very slowly, Ebirah’s claws began to open. Godzilla watched, mesmerized, as something began to sparkle inside each pincer.

As the giant claws opened, pockets of air were being forced between them. A giant bubble formed in between each pincer, shaking tremendously, ready to pop at a moment’s notice. Godzilla watched, awestruck- what nonsense was this? Ebirah was making bubbles? What did it expect to do with bubbles?

Undaunted by his foe’s seemingly harmless new trick, Godzilla charged. He spread his fingers, ready to sink his claws into Ebirah’s shell and rip it off. Then the pincers shut.

The bubbles, which had grown to a gigantic size, popped. Tremendous heat exploded outwards from every direction, boiling the sea, and a terrible sonic boom echoed for what felt like an eternity. The blast, incredibly concussive, threw Godzilla through the water and back, down to the murky bottom.

Falling down on the abrasive surface of the sea floor, Godzilla laid on his back, stunned. His fingers flexed and inflexed, uncontrollable. He tried to open his eyes, but the world seemed a blur. A terrible ringing shook his head, bouncing from eardrum to eardrum, driving him mad. He turned his head to see Ebirah crawling over him, pincers open and moving towards his throat. Godzilla tried to move his legs, and for a moment he didn’t think he could. Then, as if suddenly unlocked, his legs thrust upwards into Ebirah’s stomach. The giant shrimp flew upwards, it’s terrible screech booming in Godzilla’s sore ears. As he began to regain feeling in his limbs, Godzilla pushed off the sea bed and swam towards Ebirah as fast as he could manage. He lowered his head and, with a snarl of regret, rammed his skull into Ebirah’s underbelly. Hit with an awful headache, Godzilla recoiled as Ebirah flew backwards. He hadn’t realized just how hard he had rammed it.

The calm surface of the ocean erupted as Ebirah left the ocean and flew into the air, spinning and screeching. The monstrous crustacean fell back into the sea with a magnificent splash and quickly sank back into the gloom, engulfed in a cloud of bubbles.

Godzilla watched Ebirah fall, recuperating. When his vision finally cleared, he rushed at the titanic arthropod and attacked. He latched onto the red-shelled monster, biting down on one of it’s giant pincers. Ebirah shrieked, eye stalks swiveling towards Godzilla. It grabbed Godzilla with it’s free pincer, grasping the radioactive dinosaur his the throat. Godzilla hissed and thrashed about, trying to free himself to no avail. Ebirah’s grip was near-unbreakable. Godzilla bit down harder on Ebirah’s pincer and reached out with his hands, trying to grab a hold of the other pincer and pry it open. Godzilla wedged his fingers in between his throat and Ebirah’s claws and started to pull, hoping to free himself from it’s vice-grip. He struggled, but Ebirah’s grip was just too strong to break. Focusing all his energy on the other pincer, Godzilla strained to tighten his grip. The veins in his neck began to bulge as he applied thousands of pounds of pressure on the barnacle-covered claw, slowly beginning to break through the exoskeleton. The sound of Ebirah’s armor cracking sounded through the barren ocean, echoing for miles.

It couldn’t take anymore- Ebirah had to get away, fast. He released his hold on Godzilla’s neck, letting go and paddling with it‘s tail, trying to pull away. But Godzilla wouldn’t let go, not now. He grabbed onto the pincer with both his hands, bit down harder, pulled back with all his terrible, god-like might.

Ebirah screamed, it’s single antennae flailing so wildly that it looked as though it might have been on fire. Flesh separated from bone and deep-blue ichor spewed into the salt water- with a tremendous explosion of gore, Godzilla ripped the entire arm off. Ebirah bawled, wracked with unbearable pain as Godzilla heaved the appendage away and threw it to the side, allowing it to sink into shadow. The sharks, deprived off prey by the enormous arthropod and driven to starvation, began to swarm the enormous claw as it landed gently on the bottom. Ebirah watched mindlessly as they ripped away at his detached limb.

Godzilla blitzed, lunging at his dismembered foe, prepared to finish him off. Snapping out of it’s trance, Ebirah pushed away with it’s tail, propelling himself backwards and out of Godzilla’s reach.

But the King of the Monsters was tenacious and, determined to tear the life out of Ebirah, swam harder and faster. He set upon the giant crustacean, but Ebirah swung it’s remaining pincer and batted Godzilla away. As Godzilla drew back, the deadly claw began to open, oxygen welling up inside. Godzilla knew better than to approach a second time- he’d intercept Ebirah’s nightmarish bubble and turn it’s explosive power against him.

Godzilla’s dorsal fins began to glow, radiating heat and power. Energy surged through them, preparing Ebirah’s ultimate downfall. Godzilla’s jaws opened, unleashing a blazing column of devastation. The beam struck the bubble forming in Ebirah’s claw, destroying it prematurely. Too small to push outward and blast Godzilla, the bubble exploded between Ebirah’s claws, tearing it apart. Huge chunks of claw fell down to the sea bed, lost in the sharks’ feeding frenzy.

As the explosion rocked Ebirah’s body, Godzilla saw his opportunity to attack. Paddling with his tail, he launched himself at Ebirah and extended his still-glowing spines. He would dispatch Ebirah just like he had dispatched the submarine earlier. Gliding underneath the mammoth shrimp, Godzilla raked his fiery fins across Ebirah’s underbelly, slicing through it’s unprotected flesh. The ocean turned dark blue with it’s strange, crustacean blood.

Twirling around before the mortally wounded monster could react, Godzilla clamped his jaws down on the creature’s tail and pulled down, throwing it at the ocean floor. Trailing blood, the powerless crustacean hit the sea bed with an explosion of silt and coral, dispersing the swarm of sharks.

Godzilla descended, landing softly on his feet and looking over the titanic shrimp. Limp and ruined, Ebirah lay on it’s back. Too hungry to be timid, the sharks returned, swimming past Godzilla and continuing to pick away at the crustacean’s body. As they fed, Godzilla couldn’t help but wonder what giant shrimp tasted like. It was such a large shellfish… so plump and juicy looking…

Latching onto Ebirah’s damaged pincer, Godzilla dragged the corpse up to the surface. His head rose up above the waves and into the orange-tinted sunlight as he lifted Ebirah and began to feed. He ripped away at the seams in the crustacean’s armor, pulling off portions of exoskeleton and revealing the vast quantities of pale, succulent flesh that lay underneath. He tore off long strips of it in his jaws and swallowed them whole, gorging himself on the monster’s meat. It was a meal fit for a king- and a rare one, at that. He wouldn’t get another opportunity like this again, and he knew it. Eating until his stomach was ready to burst, Godzilla fed voraciously on Ebirah’s carcass for hours.