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"Damn, can't you hold back just a little?"
"You've completely ruined the image I had in my head." Jared tossed the other bottle of whiskey over to Natsuki, then grumbled under his breath.
Watching Ultraman destroy King Ghidorah — Monster Zero , with his own eyes, that mysterious and powerful silhouette had always stirred something in him, a kind of yearning... but the real thing turned out to be an old man playing at being young. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around it.
"Glug glug glug—" Natsuki leaned forward and caught the bottle with his mouth. No hands. The whiskey just poured straight down his throat.
"Hah... that took the edge off." He drained the bottle, let out a long breath, tilted his head, and flung the empty bottle away.
"What image was ruined?" He glanced over at Jared.
Getting older, he genuinely didn't care much about appearances anymore. Pointless, really.
"Nothing. Forget it. You just rest, sir." Jared's eye twitched. He clinked his bottle against Old De's and took a long pull.
This frozen hellhole was going to kill someone.
If they weren't out here looking for the old Ultraman, they'd have gone back to the fighter jet wreckage to warm up ages ago.
"Sure." Natsuki nodded.
And then.
Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.
A heavy tremor rolled through the ground. Natsuki, flat on his back, jolted with it. A vein surfaced on his forehead. He rode the next tremor into a kip-up, landed on his feet, and looked toward the source.
Godzilla. Moving toward them. Big as a mountain.
At the same time, light spilled down from above , softer and more dreamlike than any aurora , and Mothra swept in on great wings, descending not far from the three of them.
"Those two are really something." Old De tilted his head back and stared up at the two colossal shapes looming over them.
The three of them stood at Godzilla's feet and didn't even reach its toes. The tough, ridged skin and scales were right there, close enough to touch. Even in the frozen waste, Godzilla radiated heat. Just standing near it, they all felt the warmth.
Old De hated Titans. But he knew the difference between the ones that were enemies and the ones that weren't.
"Chirp-aww—" Mothra lowered her head slowly, studying Natsuki in his floral shirt with open curiosity. She'd come over to say hello, and to say thank you.
"Hi there." Natsuki looked up at her and waved. He already knew she meant no harm.
Godzilla stood off to the side, head dipped, watching the Ultraman in human form.
It had planned to leave straight after the fight, same as always. But Mothra wanted to learn about this friendly giant from beyond the stars, so it decided to stay a little longer.
Through telepathy, Mothra told Natsuki just how much he'd done for them.
In the ancient age, their war against King Ghidorah had been brutal. It should have been a war with casualties, a disaster they'd have to bleed through. But Natsuki's arrival had let them walk out of it whole.
Natsuki explained where he came from , the Land of Light, Nebula M78 , and told her why he'd come to Earth. Based on everything he'd seen before, dimensional travelers could be hiding anywhere, even among the Titans. He asked if Mothra and Godzilla could keep an eye out for anything that seemed off. Mothra agreed without hesitation.
As a Titan who upheld Earth's natural order, she accepted on Godzilla's behalf. If it ever came to a fight, they would come.
"Are you two talking?" Jared stood with his bottle, eyes moving between Mothra and Natsuki, brow furrowed.
Natsuki wasn't moving his mouth. Mothra occasionally let out a call that meant nothing to him.
He figured the old man was using alien powers again.
"Correct." Natsuki looked at him with a perfectly straight face. "You could say we've just proposed and finalized a mutually beneficial partnership between the Land of Light's field operatives and Earth's natural guardians."
Jared: "??"
Was that even human language?
Soon, Mothra gave Natsuki one more nod, called out to Godzilla, then beat her wings and rose into the aurora-streaked night sky.
Godzilla, who had never been one for lingering, glanced at Natsuki. It snorted a plume of white vapor, turned with a kind of unhurried ease, and stepped across the ice. The ground shuddered. Then it slipped beneath the surface, dorsal fins cutting lower and lower until they disappeared.
That flying one... someday, he was going to settle the score.
"Mothra's a lot easier to deal with than Godzilla, I'll give her that." Natsuki watched them go and shook his head.
Godzilla's whole thing was: fight first, talk later, maybe. Mothra actually believed in communication over force. Earth would be in real trouble without her.
The Monarch flying wing came down and landed.
The rear hatch opened. Ishiro Serizawa and Dr. Vivienne Graham walked out in snowsuits, heading their way.
"We're a step too late, as expected." Serizawa watched Godzilla's retreating form with visible regret. By the time they'd touched down, both Titans were already gone.
He'd been hoping to use this chance to reach out to Godzilla. That would have to wait.
"Mr. Natsuki." Serizawa stopped in front of the three of them. A smile crossed his stubbled face, genuine and warm. "Can we offer you a lift?"
In an era where disaster could strike at any moment, running into this man had been their greatest stroke of luck. He wanted to build something with him , a real connection.
"Sure."
"Sorry to keep troubling you." Natsuki smiled back.
Serizawa had always left a good impression. A man who genuinely cared about both humanity and nature. Having him on side would take a lot off Natsuki's plate.
The old-timer trio was about to become the old-timer quartet.
This world, it turned out, still needed old-timers to save it.
Don't underestimate what old-timers can do when they stick together, you bastards.
"Let's move. Another few minutes out here and I'm going to freeze solid." Jared chucked his empty bottle and started walking.
No organization politics. No leash. Just freedom to act. That was exactly what they'd wanted.
"You can't handle a little cold?"
"I really should take you back to my hometown for some proper training." Old De glanced sideways at Jared, smirking.
"Screw you. You're just as frozen as I am, stop pretending, OK?" Jared fired back without missing a beat.
Old De said he wasn't cold. His legs told a different story.
Serizawa and Natsuki fell in at the back. Natsuki started listing dishes , a long list, very specific , and Serizawa felt something quietly shift. The image he'd built up of Ultraman was developing a crack.
He nodded quickly. "Yes, sir. We have all of that."
Hospitality was something he was good at. After everything this man had done for them, keeping him fed was the least they could do.
But.
Halfway to the ship, his phone rang.
"What... Skull Island?"
➤ Next: Skull Island — Face to Face
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