Lessons on how to pilot the minisub took no more than a few hours, the controls simple enough that a child could do it. Kanade had basically been told to think of it like a flight simulator type of video game; the sub had been upgraded over the years and the onboard computers would handle most of the technical details of handling the sub as it dove deeper and deeper. After a rough start, Kanade had mastered the little vessel enough to keep it moving straight; assuming they didn’t need to flee from an enemy, Kanade would be able to handle it for this trip for sure.
The seas were blessedly calm as the small vessel descended beneath the waves. The Calico would track the minisub for as long as it could, though Captain Majors warned that at a certain depth - and especially if they went into any caves or radioactive zones - they’d lose contact quickly. Despite being the more likely of the two to survive this mission, Wriggle closed her eyes from the start, muttering and chanting to herself as Kanade steered the ship downward, the performer barely getting a chance to look at the plethora of life surrounding them as the seas grew darker and darker, two spotlights and a sonar-based imaging system working to give her as clear a view of their surroundings as possible as they approached the coordinates of the nuclear hot spot.
As the seas grew completely black and the sub reached the bottom, Kanade looked about trying to find the source of the atomic energy. The sub’s map began to ping a little, a weak signal but steady. Gently, slowly, not wanting to hit anything, Kanade edged the little sub forward, growing closer and closer until...until....
A hole. A tunnel. A MASSIVE tunnel that looked as if it had been BURNED into the rocky surface, a hole melted into the bottom of the sea despite the frigid, near-freezing temperatures. Wriggle stopped muttering long enough to take a look, eyes widening.
“This must be it. No other creature on this planet would be able to melt rock down here. Even Gojira’s descendents are unable to utilize their flame very well underwater…” the Mothra girl whispered.
Kanade whistles as she takes it in. On the surface, she seems completely composed, ready to take this challenge on without a single concern. It’s only when Wriggle looks closely that she can see the way her hands are clenching, the sweat apparent on her face, and the slight crack of nervousness in her voice that she does her best to hide once she starts talking.
“So we’re right there, huh? Right about to face the big guy himself... “ Kanade gulps slightly. “Well, we don’t have a choice, huh? It’s a bit too late to turn around and head back. We’d better just go for it. He won’t kill us before we can talk… right?”
Wriggle took a moment to think, looking very unsure of the answer. “I will announce our presence before we get to him. You do not get to be as old as he is with this kind of lifestyle by taking chances. If...if he knows we are coming, I am sure we will at least get an audience. If we do not threaten him, we will be fine. I’m...I’m sure of it.”
Wriggle closed her eyes, more serenely this time, as she began to concentrate, sending out psychic waves as Kanade began steering the sub into the tunnel, communication with the Calico starting to cut out the deeper they went. The radiation continued to climb and the amount of other lifeforms down there had declined sharply, barely anything else venturing into the radioactive hell. Probably how the one who dug the tunnel preferred it. Deep and wide, the cavernous tunnel seemed to go down forever, though actually little more than a mile, before it turned upwards, a vertical shaft that seemed to get smoother on the sides, not the rough melted patterns of the cave before. The archaeologist in Kanade would slow their descent a bit, turning the sub gently to take a look around. The walls, it seemed, weren’t just smooth.
There were carvings. Intricate ones too. Depictions of the King of the Monsters himself surrounded by humans, worshipping the beast even as they showed the beast leaving. Numerous scenes of battle, Godzilla facing off with a lobster that walked like a man, a demon armed with a massive hammer and clad in samurai armor, a sinister bat with a long tail, a towering reptavian shooting lighting from its beak, and a three-headed dragon that dwarfed them all. The closer they came to the end of the tunnel, the less intricate the carvings got. Kanade could tell as well that some hadn’t been damaged but simply never completed; if the tunnel had been as hot back then as it was now - likely hotter - the artisans likely died in the middle of their work.
Wriggle’s eyes shot open and she began chanting as the sub approached the end of the tunnel and...the surface of the water. “He...he is aware of us now. I have cast every protection spell I know to keep us safe while we approach him, but we will still need these suits.” She coughed harshly, covering her mouth. “P-part of what makes Gojira so powerful is that...that this energy is anathema to magic. It is powerful but damaging to the body, resists magic. Lady Suwako knows th-this though, so she will...be able to make it work.”
“Right. No Gear, got it.” The way her pendant is sparking told Kanade that much, at least. It’s clear that she won’t be able to don Gray Gungnir in an emergency, and she’ll need to be ready to move the second something happens. It’s still nervewracking, but there’s also a sense of less tension - after all, at this point, whatever happens, happens. Wondering what drove the worshippers to the point of dying for the sake of veneration, Kanade decides she’ll have to figure that question out alongside the rest. Meeting Gojira should tell her a lot about what drove everyone to praise him.
“If he’s aware of us, then I hope he’s aware of what I can do to him, too!” The big talk is obviously a bluff, Kanade knowing the titan could easily evaporate her but trying to help Wriggle keep herself together as they surface.
The sub bobbed gently on the surface for a moment to give its occupants a look around, a strange light in the distance allowing adequate visibility. The underground chamber they emerged into wasn’t merely a cave or another tunnel, but a massive temple of some sort, a miles-long and wide chamber covered in carvings and filled with the remains of what might have been a small city, now mainly dust and echoes thanks to countless centuries, if not millenia, of neglect. What was once a harbor carved into the cavern provided them a place to park without causing the vessel damage and gave them a perfect look towards the center of the old city and the massive form within. The massive form that was watching Kanade and Wriggle as they exited the sub in their radiation suits.
Gojira.
Wriggle dropped onto her knees, kneeling despite the great distance between them.
“Lord Gojira,” she whispered, averting her gaze.
The temple trembled, bits of rock and dust falling from the ceiling, the structures that stood trembling as the monster king, truly worthy of the title of Titan, rose to his feet, towering far above it all. The Earth seemed to shake with fear as Gojira roared.
“Y-yes, sir, I...I am Mothra youngest. M-my friend and I are h-ere on behalf-”
Another roar caused Wriggle to shriek, nearly curling up into a ball to cocoon herself.
“We are here on behalf of Lady Suwako Moriya, the Dinosaur Toad, to request your presence at the Temple of Joining to give this human, Kanade Amou, your blessing of power in order to combat the threats to the planet!” the Mothra said as quickly as she could.
Gojira snorted, motionless.
Kanade spends a moment watching the area, at first, just impressed. This would have been a great discovery! Imagine the things they could learn from the people who lived here, especially with how long ago they clearly had been around!
Then her attention is captured by something more important. The titanic kaiju that they had been here to see. When she looks upon Gojira at his full height, Kanade feels a bolt of fear. Was this really even a good idea? Hadn’t she just led the two of them here to get squashed like bugs? This being, far more powerful than she is…
But no. If they’re here, and they try to run, that would be pointless. So if running didn’t work, the only thing to do is to face up to what’s in front of them. Kanade forces down her fears, takes a step forward, and looks up at Gojira.
“She summed it up. I’m here to ask for a bit of your power, so I can use it against whatever things try to cause problems in the future. Because trust me, big guy, there’s going to be a lot of them. So what do you say, willing to donate to a good cause?” Kanade says, only her body language making her true feelings clear as her forced-casual tone of voice sounds practically natural.
The largest living creature on Earth looked down and snarled, its lip curling slightly. Wriggle looked up, ready to translate as Gojira growled.
“‘I am familiar with this ceremony. The others use it to give power to the tribes, to bolster their power against their enemies. I have no enemies anymore and my progeny are more than able to deal with...problems. What makes you think I need to lend you my strength? What makes you think you can handle it?’”
“I know you don’t have enemies. Nothing can stand against you. This isn’t true of everything on this world. There are beings like Dark Matter that would see everything destroyed or claimed for their own, and even your children might have difficulty.” Kanade tactfully doesn’t mention that the Godzilla of Heart Star had outright fallen to Dark Matter. “So rather than try to wake you up any time one of these world-shaking threats comes along, if I bring your power to them, that should be enough, right?
And as for handling it…” Kanade momentarily thinks about bluffing, but decides that the truth is the best way to convince Gojira - if anything will. “I don’t know if I can. But there’s only one way to find out, right?”
A loud grunt caused the room to ripple. Laughter? Disbelief? It was hard even for Wriggle to tell. Gojira leaned in slightly to get a better look at the small human. “Humans would not know what to do with power. They think they know what it is and how to control it, but then they snuff out many of their own before they know how wrong they are. You would burn up like a little ember trying to be me. So no.”
“...Huh. Just like that?” Kanade looks at the kaiju, showing no expression, doing her best to stand up and let the inner fire that drove her here show on her face. “Maybe I should demonstrate.
Croitzal ronzell Gungnir tron…”
With that, a flash of light surrounds Kanade, though the environmental suit stays intact, adjusted to accommodate this. When the light fades, Kanade is now wearing her Symphogear, the form evident within her suit. “How’s that? Still think I’d burn up like nothing?”
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Wriggle ferociously whispered, grabbing Kanade’s arm.
Gojira looked at Kanade for a moment. “Yes. You put on a metal skin. I am not impressed. The tribes have been coating themselves in metal for generations. I can smell the magic in yours, but it still burns. I saw your kind’s floating slabs the last time I surfaced. I am not unaware of the world and its change. My offspring tells of his struggles with your people. Your birds and turtles of metal, your tall dwellings...they all burn. What makes YOU different?”
“I’m trying to convince him!” Kanade whispers back, before looking up at Gojira.
Can she articulate what makes her believe she can handle this? The stories she’s heard since she was a child? The way that she’s willing to let her inner fire finally start raging, awakened by everything she’d been through with the Kobbers? Her willingness to risk it, knowing that she might fail, understanding it could kill her? And still willing to give it a try?
It’s not something Kanade knows how to put into words. But she can try to communicate it, through her eyes, and through the words she DOES choose.
“Trust me.
I won’t burn.”
It was a long, tense moment as Gojira stared into Kanade’s eyes, frowning impassively. The old kaiju had heard stories like this before, humans who thought themselves powerful, beyond reproach, capable of changing the world. Stories all of them. ‘Heroes’ one and all, falling in battle or dying before they could do anything meaningful. An arrogant little species with even littler to back the attitude up.
Gojira could recognize a threat display though. The moth cowered in respect and fear. The human bared its teeth even if its little muscles twitched just enough to let on its true feelings. He wondered for a moment if she could be provoked into attacking despite knowing she would be killed, mostly alone, definitely anonymous. A hot snort would probably send her fancy metal skin crumbling like so many magical things he had battled.
“You won’t burn? Prove it.”
The kaiju king rose back up to his full height, taking several steps back. His dorsal fins began to flicker with blue light, a steady glow starting at the base of his tail and quickly running up his spine as blue sparks lit up his eyes and glowing vapors leaked from his mouth. Wriggle’s eyes widened as Gojira began to charge up his greatest weapon, the powerful blue glow that had ended the lives of so many of his rivals.
Kanade’s eyes reflect awe, tinged with fear. She hadn’t expected her words to work THAT well - and she feels the urge to break and run. It takes a lot of willpower and effort to stand there. But stand there she does, Kanade feeling that if she breaks here, she’ll never be able to try this again.
Taking a battle stance, Kanade brings up her spear, ready to use it to block. In truth, she doesn’t expect it to work for more than maybe a couple seconds, before the legendary atomic breath melts through her spear. But those couple seconds… If she can use them just right, maybe she can find a way to leave a mark. There’s no way she could ever defeat Gojira single-handedly, but giving him a scar? That might be within reason.
And then...the light. Seering atomic energy erupts from the kaiju’s maw, shooting out towards the two women. Wriggle screams, curling up like she’s back in her cocoon as explosions erupt where the beam hits rock, sending slag and debris flying, a blast powerful enough to destroy a fleet of battleships pulverizing the cavern floor...about a mile behind the two of them, the lake they arrived in expanded slightly. As quickly as the terror began, it abruptly ends.
Gojira stands silent, looking down at them, looking down at Kanade, who remains standing, spear held firm. The silence lingers for a long moment.
“Tell the toad I will be at her temple in a week. Now begone; my patience is exhausted.”
The ground trembles as Gojira turns around, slowly walking towards his resting place. Wriggle, her knees shaking as she translates the last line, slumps over, exhausted in her own right.
“Understood. Thank you, sir.”
Kanade stands firm, only her knees quivering a bit as she and Wriggle return to the sub. She makes sure the door is sealed shut, sound no longer passing through.
“...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAohmygod I can’t believe I’m not dead.” Slumping to the floor, the drained idol lets her Symphogear dissolve, finally giving up on the brave face she’d kept going the entire time. “How’d I even do that!?”
“I...don’t know…” Wriggle groans, rubbing her face. “D-don’t ever do that again though. Not when I’m around. That w-was too scary. I thought he was really gonna roast us!”
The Mothra looks through the sub’s canopy, glad they’d gotten inside before Kanade had let the mask slip. Gojira had returned to his slumber.
“I don’t plan to. I don’t think I ever could do it.” Kanade wipes the sweat that’s matting her hair. “Right. A temple in a week’s time. Looking forward to it?” She asks Wriggle, weakly.
Wriggle looked back as the sub began to descend beneath the water once more, watching the King of the Monsters slumber. She turned back to Kanade with a relieved, confident grin and nodded.
“Absolutely not.”
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