Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dominic strolled out of the cinema with a smile.

'Oh my word, that movie was amazing!' 

He looked around.

At week's end, many people came for different reasons. Perhaps it was a break to unwind from the long work day? Maybe they were out with family and friends to have a good time? Or they were just fans of a character within that movie, and showed their passion by viewing it here.

Of the posters on the wall, one stood out.

'Gojira did his thing, and I'm satisfied,'

Dominic dropped an empty bag of popcorn into the trash bin.

'If I have to be honest, Minus One is at that level with 1954,' He thought, fishing out his phone, 'Literally everything is brilliant,'

The time revealed itself.

'However, it could've been an eleven out of ten if they used his strongest move; The Dropkick,'

When he thought about it, Dominic held his breath. He shook his head and walked to the entrance.

The sun hit so hard that he had to blink a few times.

When his gaze met the street, his shoulders lowered.

'That movie made me proud,' 

He reached the zebra crossing and looked both ways.

'so why can I not do the same for my parents?'

That tensed him up.

Soon, his imagination took hold.

There he was, his head high in the sky. The buildings are only small twigs compared to his size. People like ants. Fear. His roar echoed all around, terrifying those who were not already running for their lives.

Dominic blinked.

'Sometimes, I wish I could turn into a Godzilla,' 

Everyone's comfort zone is different.

This was his.

Although, it was only for a moment.

'Then everything else hits,' He sighed, 'It is only a dream of mine. A dream that cannot be accomplished,'

As he reached the other side of the road, Dominic smiled.

'Does not change that I went to see that great movie,' 

If there was one thing Dominic hoped for, it was for more Godzilla movies in the future.

Perhaps they could add kaiju that has not seen the big screen in a while. Maybe even have a fight between Gamera and Godzilla? That would be epic. 

'A sequel to Shin Godzilla would be cool, even if it meant more suffering for the poor guy,'

As his footsteps carried him forward, Dominic's mind grew dark.

Such high expectations from him.

Such a high bar to fill.

That bar would be beat, though. He was sure of it.

He looked at his phone again.

'Damn,' Dominic frowned, 'Work, tomorrow,'

As he straightened his back, he wondered.

'Gosh, I really wish I could...'

HONK! HONK!

'...make them proud,'

It was weird.

The only thing he remembered was walking down a street, past buildings.

Now, why did it all vanish?

Why did he only see darkness?

Dominic moved his arms and legs.

For some reason, his back and legs ached as if he had done a long run of exercises. 

Yet, he didn't work out the previous day.

'Uh,' 

Dominic felt light as if he was in space. There was no force pulling him to the ground. Not even a gust of wind nor sound. Just silence.

"It's not over yet..."

This soft, calming voice intruded the silence and Dominic's confusion.

"Who...Who's there?" His head spun around.

Nothing.

Was he dreaming again like when he did as Godzilla?

"You're not useless..."

He felt a spike within his heart.

Of all things, why did this strike a cord within himself? Why did he have to keep his face normal, and not break down? And lastly:

Why did that voice sound so familiar?

The thoughts swelled within his skull. He held his head, trying to make sense of it all.

His eyes felt heavy. Extremely heavy.

Right now, Dominic focused on prying them open. When his fingers didn't work, he just hoped on his eyelids.

The reward was pretty uplifting.

Too uplifting.

Green grass. A good view overlooking the forest around him. Dominic wondered if he was dreaming.

He felt a shiver.

'Where am I? This isn't home,' Dominic looked around, his heart rate skyrocketing, 'did I get kidnapped?'

It was strange. The aches he once felt were gone. A breeze blew against him. Dominic turned.

Nothing felt wrong. Only the surroundings did.

'How in the world did I end up here?' he thought, 'I was walking, the road on my right, buildings on the left...'

'How? How? HOW!?'

Dominic took a sharp breath.

'Must not panic... Must not panic...' He began to take slow and steady breaths, 'Worse thing to do is panic, right? Let's try and walk to one of the trees,'

So he did, moving down the apparent hill.

However, Dominic noticed his face was close to the ground. Was the grass smaller than usual?

The next thing froze him in his tracks.

'Th-those trees. No. No,' He glared at them, 'Why are they small? Did I walk into a miniature set?'

'...'

He held his breath.

Out of the corner of his eye. He saw it. To not notice it sooner, Dominic convinced himself that he was quite a dunce.

A wing.

A hairy, colourful wing.

A moth wing.

'Wha-What...' He watched it move, going up, then down.

'Am I controlling these wings!?'

It was like any other appendage. Of course, Dominic did not notice it. 

'Why is it not weird that I have WINGS?' He thought, trying not to scream, 'Do I...Am I still a human?'

Dominic froze again.

In front of the trees, snaked a glistening river.

Something clicked.

He marched on, panic settling in even more. Dominic shook, and his breathing turned into an unpredictable mess.

There was nothing else he wanted to see but his old face.

The small trees, the wings, and even his feet, which he began to fear were more than one pair, were the lock on the door he needed to open. There was no key.

With a huff, Dominic peered over and stared down at the calm waters. An interesting comparison.

'No...'

On the other side, he met a face.

Two big blue eyes.

Antenna.

Mandibles.

No human completion.

Dominic could only think of one thing.

'A moth?'

Chapter Text

For a full minute, Dominic stared at his reflection in silence.

So many hypotheses. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he was a moth. A big one.

Dominic turned his large head to the side. The moth on the other end followed. He shook his wings. They too within the reflection did so.

'This isn't a dream, is it?' Dominic looked around, 'I really am in the middle of nowhere and have been turned into this giant insect!?'

He looked back.

His body shook.

This moth shared a recognizing look.

'Am I a Mothra?'  Dominic scoffed, 'No way, don't be an idiot,'

Just because he shared the same looks does not mean that he could be that. There was no proof.

Slowly, he began to wonder if he was even on earth anymore.

'I understand that there are no giant moths where I live, maybe I am a species not seen before?' He stared at the trees, 'I'm no entomologist, but that sounds really unlikely,'

Could he be sure?

Dominic tried to raise his head, seeing a pretty good distance away.

'I don't see any villages or cities. Is this a remote place with no sign of humanity? Maybe if I walk, I can find civili-'

He paused. Dominic lowered his wings.

'I...I am not human any more,' He slammed the ground with his wings, "Shit!"

That was the first time he talked in this moth body. It didn't feel different. It was as if he spoke without trouble.

Dominic could've believed he always made that noise.

A screech.

'I've heard that before,' His blood ran cold, 'That sounds like Mothra or an Imago,'

Air escaped his mandibles.

With some silence, Dominic ran through his memories.

HONK! HONK!

Now that he thought about it, he heard that loud and obnoxious sound before this started. The aching he felt afterwards came too.

'Did I die?'

There were not a lot of things Dominic would believe in. He didn't bother to try.

Isekai was one of those things.

'Have I gone insane?' He thought. He began to pace in a circle, 'Why have I concluded to that?'

The situation hit him again.

'There's no way I got kidnapped and became a failed test experiment. Why would they ride me over? Even in a crowded area? Could they have revived me, then transformed me into a moth? My word, there are so many other things that could've led to this,'

Yet, his body and mind stuck with Isekai.

'Okay,' He lowered his gaze, following the grass, 'Isekai conventionally uses a truck. I assume my death was that truck,'

'If that's the case, I would then be transported to another world,' Dominic scanned the area, 'Can't tell, but that checks out,'

'However, no matter what my problem is,' He sighed, 'I am not human,'

 'Ugh...'

No wonder his environment, encased in an orchestra of natural selection, felt so different. Maybe that is the reason a heavy weight fell on his heart.

"AHH!" Dominic could not control his scream. A screech, that is.

It pierced the air around him, only solidifying his dread.

"I...let them down again," He looked at his antennae, "I...want to see them AGAIN!"

As much as that tore into him, Dominic knew the truth.

'Maybe it's for the better,' He thought, 'they eventually will overcome my death and won't need to be let down anymore,'

There was much restraint from himself not to cry and wail.

'My phone, my life,' Dominic halted his walk, 'my kaiju movies...'

He sighed and shook his head.

'Keep calm!' Dominic thought, 'Remember, the worst thing is to panic,'

That was right.

Now was not the time to sulk, he could do that later. Right that instant, Dominic took stock of the situation. Without the hypotheses.

'I'm in a place with no apparent civilization. I'm a giant moth. Actually, not sure if I am even large,"

He took in the free environment, and walked parallel to the river, away from the hill.

'If this place is unfamiliar, what dangers are there?'

Dominic paused and eyed a group of trees suspiciously. He continued.

'I have wings,'

 His heart became giddy.

'Oh lord, I can fly!'

However, Dominic had to calm himself down.

'I can do that later when I've judged my options,'

After walking a while next to the river, Dominic turned around and walked back the way he came.

On the return, he saw some vegetation like bushes and shrubs.

'Hmm,' This was something he could use, 'If I walked through a bush, it would be troublesome,'

With some calculations, Dominic was able to judge that this particular bush would be as tall as he was in human form.

If that's the case, the bush was pretty small.

'If it is small, scaled to the river and these trees, that's just its normal size,' He thought, staring at this clump of leaves from different angles.

'Bet my size won't count when a threat appears,'

Dominic thought for a while.

'If a giant moth can exist,' He exhaled, 'then anything else can,'

With a head filled with unanswered thoughts, he strolled on.

'Okay,' Dominic reached the hill he woke on, 'Let's go over the essentials,'

'Hunger? Not really. Thirsty? No. Energy? I don't feel sluggish nor exhausted...'

'What can I eat?'

In food, Dominic had to be doing the most.

'Probably anything, if I'm assuming,'

After some thought, Dominic shifted his attention to other things.

'I wonder what it is like to fly,'

So he settled on the top of the green hill and raised his colourful wings.

He could feel his heart pound with excitement.

'Let's do this!'

There was not much that Dominic expected. He was not even sure if he could. He did wake up not too long ago. However, Dominic had to know.

It won't hurt to try.

His wings flapped with power, creating a gust that rolled down the hill with frightening force.

"Oh...Oh...Oh Yeah," 

Adrenaline circuited within his veins like an electric shock. His feet were off the ground. Dominic was off the ground. He watched as he rose slowly into the sky, the landscape revealing itself for Dominic to see.

Euphoria.

He was flying.

More like hovering, but Dominic didn't care. His wings flapped with a rhythm. It felt routine, like walking. 

"YES!"

Dominic was so swept with so much emotion that he had to descend to the ground to calm himself.

He felt the hard ground of the hill on his many feet, the gravity pressing back down on him again.

'Oh my word!' Dominic thought, screeching, 'I just FLEW!'

If he could describe it, nothing was pulling him down to the surface. It was as if he was light. Although, Dominic could tell that if he constantly used his wings, they would obviously end up sore.

As he shook, Dominic took deep breaths.

'Too much excitement for me, but a useful ability,'

He began to what other things he had in his repertoire.

'I could have any ability,' Dominic thought, 'I can also be just an ordinary moth,'

'Hypothetically, if I do, how does a giant insect activate it?'

What followed was the ongoing concentration.

Dominic focused on the many parts of his body, trying to see what cool or wacky skills he may have.

After a few minutes of trying, Dominic paused.

An itch.

Not the one that can be scratched with a finger, but an itch that was alarming.

These came from his wings and antennae.

A tingling sensation soon fell on the moth.

'I do not know what it is, but some hocus-pocus is going to go down...'

He looked away at a tree on the other side of the river.

Without convincingly possible effort, his antennae emitted a bright glow.

Two beams blitzed forward.

An explosive crack afterwards.

A gaping hole within the tree was all he could see.

That left a tingling sensation in Dominic's antennae, and confusion within his wrinkled brain.

'How...How did I know how to do that?' He thought, eyeing his destruction, 'The wings were the same,'

'Whatever! I have a beam!'

Dominic let out a joyous screech.

'...'

That quickly ended and left a question in the forest before him:

Who is that?

Chapter Text

Humanity.

Who would've thought that another person would appear so soon?

They peeked from a tree, in awe of the thing on the hill.

Dominic couldn't believe his eyes.

It looked like a young adult man. Long black hair with eyes filled with curiosity.  

'Why?'

As they locked eyes, Dominic was shocked.

Not because there is what appeared to be a human before him, but because of something else.

'Why do I feel threatened?'

There has never been a time when Dominic was in danger of a predator or even another person. That changed when he saw this man.

'I-' He had to remind himself, 'I am a moth. A monster,'

His wings raised gently. The man took action. 

A spear rose, clasped within his hand. Ready.

Dominic let out a cry. The man slipped behind a tree. 

A moment later, the man broke the tree line and walked across the knee-deep river.

When three others followed him, all with spears, that froze Dominic up.

'I-I can fl-fly,' He thought as the group crossed the river, 'but-but-'

Unlike before, there was this genuine fear he felt, that squashed his movements. His wings stopped as if exposed to cold temperatures, and his legs' small claws, if he could call them that, dug into the soil of the hill. 

Dominic couldn't move.

He was a giant moth, but how could he be sure that he could survive against these people?

With a crouched position, the first man made it up the hill, spear ready, his eyes waiting for a reaction or an attack. Not even the sunlight above wavered his focus.

Despite the danger in front of him, Dominic realised something.

'I can do that,'

As the man raised his spear, he leaned back. To throw it accurately, he took a moment.

However, the glow of Dominic's antennae caught his gaze.

The spear went through its arc and landed.

Landed on the other side of the hill.

A loud crack reverberated within the air. The other three people jolted back, their eyes on the man in front of them.

Screams.

Blood-curdling screams.

When they heard this noise, the ground near the front man exploded in a cloud of dust.

The man fell.

When the group ran to see what was wrong, one of them let out a yell of fury.

An arm and a leg rolling down the hill would tip this off.

As the other two carried the injured man down, one stayed behind and readied their shot.

Another explosion came, but the person saw it.

He saw the glowing antennae.

This was the first time Dominic would see a head fly off and roll down the mountain, ending at the base.

He could only hear the screams of the first man, held in the hands of another two men, painted red from his wounds.

Yet, Dominic felt nothing.

'I only defended myself,' He thought, seeing the spectacle of red, 'I would've thrown up if I saw a man die...'

"MONSTER!"

The last two of the group had left the man on the ground. Their spears faced Dominic, their faces were ruthless.

Almost like monsters themselves.

'That's...right,' Dominic thought, 'they are correct,'

As the two men charged, his frozen wings rose to their highest.

"I am..."

"A MONSTER!"

Dominic let out a shrill screech, his wings pushed down with all the force he had.

The wind carried the men away, their screams reaching high into the sky, much like their bodies.

One landed on his head and splashed into the river.

Another fell on his stomach, his spear still intact.

Dominic's wings fell silent.

'I understand,' He looked at the four corpses, 'I should've when I first woke up,'

He was not human anymore. This act, even in self-defence, did not generate sympathy on his end. It was like stepping on an ant. 

Who really cares about the ant that is crushed?

Maybe this ant had more motivations than just collecting food for their colony, but why should Dominic care? It is inhumane, but he's a moth.

Something broke him out of this.

When he scanned the corpses, one stood.

The man, covered in blood, held the spear in his left hand. His right arm looked to be in pain as shown on his face. With difficulty, he limped all the way back to the foot of the hill.

His eyes tinted with a flash of red. 

"AHH!"

Dominic watched as this man made his way with difficulty, seething at his wounds. Nothing made him flinch.

CRACK!

Only in self-defence did Dominic fire another beam at the man.

The shot whooshed its way through the air, almost cutting it apart.

A moment later, the man halted. His body seemed motionless and apathetic as it fell face-first onto the hill. Another wound, a gaping hole, could be seen in the middle of the man's stomach.

With an exhale, Dominic scanned his destruction.

Even if these were just ants, he felt a bit sombre. His chest pulled tight and his antennae lowered.

'I really just killed a human,' He thought, letting out a cry of disdain, 'why am I even feeling bad? Would they have felt bad for me if this was reversed?'

Maybe Dominic was not only a dunce but had a short-term memory.

"MONSTER!"

'I heard that,' Dominic flapped his wings gently, trying to calm himself, 'I'm sure one of them exclaimed that before I blasted those guys away,'

He took a moment to look at his wings.

Perhaps flying was a good way to get out of there.

However, Dominic disagreed.

Glancing several times at the four corpses and the red grass around them, he walked down the hill slowly.

He needed to remember them.

'Perhaps there will be bigger threats,' Dominic looked at the river, 'but I wonder if these men are a part of another group or something?'

The body peeking out of the water made him pause.

A crude marker for a while.

With a turn, Dominic walked along the river, away from the corpse.

He kept his eyes peeled on the trees from across the river. Luckily, on his side, the ground was only of grass. 

Until it hit a tree line.

'It will be a pain to walk through there,' He thought, looking at the river, 'wait,'

His wings rose.

'Compared to those guys, I'm pretty large,' Dominic looked at his antennae, 'Were those beams supposed to do more?'

Dominic remembered the tree he shot at.

'If that's possible,' His antennae gleamed, 'how do I make these attacks stronger?'

BOOM!

He instantly froze, the glow diminishing. 

BOOM!

The ground shook.

BOOM!

Dominic knew something.

BOOM!

Whatever it was, it was massive. 

'F-Fu-Fuck...' He hurriedly flapped his wings.

This was a threat. Whatever it was.

His body shook when the vibrations rounded him, turning up his heartbeat. 

Adrenaline circled his body when Dominic hovered up into the air. The ground shrunk the more he did. 

Exhilaration.

The flight felt amazing, but the noises he heard...

BOOM!

Footsteps.

Dominic quickly turned in one place, the wind trying to ease him down.

The landscape stretched for a while. Past numerous acres of trees. He could even see a shoreline.

After a few moments in the air, Dominic felt dread.

There were no more footsteps.

What he heard was quite the high-pitched shriek.

He instantly turned to where this noise came from.

Weirdly enough, it did not sound like any animal he had heard before. No bird came to recognition.

Only something else.

What he saw bewildered him.

The black frame. The red eyes. The hooked appendages.

'Wh-what?' Dominic thought he was seeing things, but on closer inspection, it grew closer.

Or, he grew closer.

He did nothing as the male Muto flew by, circling as if looking for something.

'Why is there that-No, I'm jumping to conclusions,' 

Dominic's eyes couldn't lie.

'That really is a male Muto. A fu-fucking Kaiju?'

This itself answered a few questions and theories.

'So then, maybe I am a Mothra and not a lookalike,' He thought watching the Muto soar.

However, he went to more pressing matters.

'It's not attacking me,' 

After a round of flying in the sky, the Muto looked at Dominic for a moment, before looking elsewhere, as if not interested in the moth.

'I'm not sure if I am radioactive,' He thought, eyeing the Muto with caution, 'but there is something else with even more potent radiation,'

BOOM!

Dominic had a clue about what it was looking for.

The Muto cried once more, finding its target.

From behind a large hill, it stirred.

Thus, Dominic found out how the land would turn.

From a harmonic forest into a scorched hellscape.

Chapter Text

He heard it.

That ear-bleeding roar. 

It sent vibrations through Dominic, who tried not to cower in dread.

Although, the roar was quite the throwback for him.

'F-Fuck-F-Fuck,' 

The monster revealed itself, ready for an engagement.

It's eyes locked on the Muto.

He cried back, raising his hook-like arms.

Dominic was out of the picture.

With a dash, the male Muto zoomed at it, aiming for the face.

Right after, he felt a long, heavy force pound his side. 

The Muto groaned in pain, flattening trees upon his fall.

It roared again, raising its mouth to the sky in a show of dominance.

For Dominic, his mind wavered to a singular kaiju.

The skin. The dorsal plates. That piercing roar.

Only one word.

'G-Gojira!'

There were, however, other words Dominic let slip.

"Minus One!?"

Of course, this was for everyone to hear.

Even the monster ahead of him.

Chills went down from Dominic's head to his abdomen when the 'Godzilla' looked at him.

It gave him a stare that almost sent his soul out of his body once again.

"Minus...One?"

He paused and looked around.

Was that a voice? Was there someone near him? There was only this Godzilla.

Even then, the voice came from its direction.

A painful roar came from the Godzilla as the Muto jabbed it with his appendages.

The Godzilla only gripped one of those and flung the Muto again.

As its injuries disappeared, Dominic flapped in the same place.

Brainstorming.

'Wait,' there was something wrong, 'their sizes,'

'An average male Muto, according to the movie,  is 281 feet in height,' He thought, watching the Muto on the ground, "that's like...er...80-85 meters,"

Dominic eyed the Godzilla again, it heaving.

'Assuming that's Minus One,' His head began to burn, 'it's around 50 meters or something,'

'Which means...160 feet- ARGH!'

He let out a gasp in frustration.

"My..."

Dominic heard a voice.

From where?

Past the Godzilla, and at the Muto.

'Huh?' He was confused, 'they can talk? In English?'

Maybe it wasn't English, but Dominic understood.

"I...need..." The Muto gasped painfully, staggering back up again, "A...gift..."

He shrieked, eyeing the Godzilla.

"..." It only stayed silent.

As the Muto raced forward again, Dominic could see.

This Godzilla was a little bit bigger than the male Muto.

However, how could he judge?

The trees.

The grass.

The landscape.

Even at his spot, these two monsters loomed over him.

'I can only hypothesize,' He thought, looking around.

When he looked back, the Godzilla had its hands on the Muto.

He screeched, trying to get away.

The Muto was held down, only its jaw cranked open by the Godzilla.

THUMP!

Dominic's heart stopped. 

As soon as he saw the end of the tail, he turned around.

"N-no,"

Dominic screeched.

"Fu-fuck,"

THUMP!

"FLY FASTER, DAMMIT!"

As he attempted to fly away, two others saw this.

"Grandpa, what is going on?"

THUMP!

In a clearing, an old man and a young boy stood. They watched the kaiju.

"Hmm," He groaned, holding onto his walking stick, "Godzilla has brought judgment upon our sins,"

THUMP!

The boy stared at him with a confused face.

"My faithful grandson," The old man said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, a gloomy frown on his face, "I beg for your forgiveness,"

"What?"

A sniff came from his grandpa.

THUMP!

"Your purity," He said, tears rolling down and dripping onto the forest floor, "will vanish with this island,"

THUMP!

In shock, they watched the Godzilla.

Its dorsal plates jacked out of its back with a blue glow. One by one.

The Muto clawed at the Godzilla, desperate to escape.

THUMP!

THUMP!

THUMP!

...

A blue flash.

Dominic, now quite the distance away, shook as everything went quiet.

The island disappeared.

When he looked back, only a humongous mushroom cloud remained.

'Oh...my...word,' 

Dominic couldn't breathe.

He couldn't move.

It was beautiful as the blast reached the atmosphere.

However, it was horrifying as all he could see was smoke.

No hills.

No greens.

'Oh no,'

Around him, there was just this blanket of blue. The shifting waves forever hid a dreadful depth.

Much like that, Dominic had reached his mind's depth.

As well as some not-so-great feelings.

'I'm a coward,' He thought, not moving at all, 'No, I was right for running away,'

'Sounds like something a failure would say,'

Dominic's mind almost imploded.

'You're useless,'

'A waste of space and oxygen,'

'Perhaps it was better that you died,'

'Now you can't be a reminder of your parent's failures,'

"ARGH," He cried, "NO!"

He looked at the sea.

Something was running across it.

In fact, this thing was like an expanding dome.

'Oh...'

Dominic remembered what came after a nuclear explosion.

A shockwave.

Suddenly, a strong force flung him back.

He tried to gain his flight.

It took some time, but Dominic was able to do it.

Until.

This burn.

Like placing your hand on a boiling kettle, Dominic felt the same.

However, no matter how he tried, the part of his body couldn't get away from this heat.

So he glanced at where it stung.

His wing.

Some of it was not there anymore.

Only a rigid outline of cinders showed how much Dominic had lost.

Also, he had felt a strong gust of wind. 

Whys that?

As the ocean grew bigger and bigger, Dominic immediately tried to flap his wings.

Though, this halted the only outcome.

His body slammed onto the surface of the water.

Dominic screamed.

He could've tried to fly again, but he had a missing piece from his wing. 

Even if he could, it would be pointless.

Although, there was something to learn.

'How am I floating?' With his wings spread out, Dominic could actually stay on the surface, 'but, shit,'

His burnt wing was on his mind.

"Fuck..." He screeched. The burns didn't go away, "Won't salt water-Ow,"

It made the pain worse.

'Dammit, where do I go now?' Dominic looked around, the mushroom cloud not too far away, 'This nuked island is the only place I know,'

'Nuked...'

With a slow turn, he looked up as much as he could.

Another thing he forgot.

That came as a piece of mass.

Dominic didn't know.

All he knew was that this thing was burrowing down fast for the ocean.

It looked to be landing straight on him.

So his heart began to beat. The panic-inducing ball of mass grew closer.

'Will I live?' Dominic wanted to believe the situation would be survivable, 'No...'

'I can't,'

As it grew even closer, he knew why he wouldn't survive.

'I am a failure.'

Dominic wanted to sulk. He had a few more seconds. Might as well.

'NO!'

He didn't want to die. Not again.

'I am a failure,' He looked up, 'only in the past,'

His wings came into view.

'But I'm not a failure now!'

So, he ran through with what he could do.

By now, the projectile covered Dominic with a shadow.

'Wings? No, can't do it from that angle,' He tried to feel or even attempt to switch on a power that this moth body may have.

But there was no time to think.

There was only one thing he could do.

Dominic tried his best to activate his antennae.

They did, so vividly and brightly.

He focused on the mass.

'Here...'

'I will not be a FAILURE!'

The two yellow beams sliced through the air, on a one-way collision course with the projectile.

Dominic felt something he had never felt in a long time.

Success.

'I...did...'

The beams crashed into the mass.

It broke it into another two pieces.

However, the stairs of success plummeted when Dominic realised it.

The mass was huge. Much larger than he expected.

What about the beams? Sure, they did their job.

Nevertheless, the pieces were too small to be noticeable.

'N-NO!'

BOOM!

Dominic only heard rushing water and felt his body slip below the surface before his vision dimmed.

Chapter Text

A room.

On a couch, sat...something.

Dominic didn't know.

Its face was blurred out. Maybe it was a human? Something else?

"You scraped through, again,"

The voice was full of disappointment.

That sulking feeling, as if all you did, all that effort, went down the drain after you realised the outcome.

Dominic was acquainted with this.

'Is this...familiar?' He thought, looking around, 'What happened to me?'

There was no answer.

Not even the entity replied, even if he could feel its stare on him.

"Dominic..."

This alarmed him.

How did this thing know him? Who was it? 

"you will fail if this continues,"

He breathed out.

'I...know this,' Dominic looked around, 'This is...painful,'

"If you sink to the bottom, do you think the darkness will welcome you?"

Another voice spoke this.

A familiar voice. 

"Hu-" Dominic was interrupted as the sounds of water rocked his ears.

Panic fueled him.

He didn't know where he was, but his body went to work.

A faint light glowed in the distance, obscured by the motion of the blue sea.

As Dominic rose, the light grew.

With such force, he broke through the surface of the water, his wings pushing wave after wave.

The air greeted him.

Then the water.

'What...' He heaved, keeping himself above the surface, 'Where?'

Dominic looked around.

"I'm alive!?"

His body was in a state of adrenaline.

There was no calculating how many times he flapped his wings, but Dominic definitely messed with the water.

Some waves hit his side and his face. He even swallowed some of it.

"Pah," He tried to spit it out from his mandibles, 'I really am alive,'

'How did I survive that?'

He thought about the projectile that landed on him.

'Just dumb luck,' Dominic exhaled, 'I would've been dead,'

He paused.

'Yeah,' His blue eyes widened, 'If I died again, then what?'

'What would've happened to me?'

Dominic thought, but his wings came to mind.

'Huh?'

He was met with some tomfoolery.

His wings.

There was no burn mark.

No injury.

'How did my wing get fixed?' He thought, watching the waves push him around, 'Do I have regeneration or something else?'

Dominic shook his head. That was all he could think of at a time like this.

'Maybe I would've drowned if my wing was still broken,' He made a short pause, "Whatever healed my wing was not fast enough when I was taken down by that body of mass,"

Dominic scanned his surroundings.

Only a blue surface of the sea.

In the distance, he could see some clouds.

'I'm in the middle of the ocean? Fuck,' Dominic thought, splashing his wings in anger.

In any direction could be more land or sea.

'I can take a chance,'

He looked down.

The forever-stretching water filled his nerves with panic.

'Wh-' Dominic paused, 'Oh hell nah,'

'I need a break, not another...'

He knew well enough how many red flags that had been raised.

Really, anything could jump him from below and before he knew it, Dominic's dead.

However, the dark water kept him on edge.

He took a breath.

'Why should I believe that, I could be in danger in this world,' He ruffled his wings, 'Laying here won't do good,'

Nevertheless, Dominic thought about that dream, if he could call it that.

'How long was I down there?' He thought, shaking his head of water, 'If I died, what would happen then?'

'Would I have reincarnated again?" 

Another thought caught his attention.

"Wait, can't I do that?" Dominic shakes his head, "Can't assume it's possible in this world, plus, even if I was in the monsterverse, I'm male, erm..."

He looked at himself in the water.

'I don't feel like a female, like I even know,' He thought, 'I don't think I can lay an egg, or even,'

"Uh..."

His gaze darkened when he realised it.

'How will I...breed? Will I be a virgin even as a kaiju? Oh, my word...'

Dominic cleared his thoughts.

Now's not the time to think about that.

'The waves won't calm me down,' He looked around, bobbing from the constant motion of the sea, 'I should get...up...'

Beyond a few of these endless waves, Dominic laid eyes on one of them.

It was rather far, and would not have been noticeable.

However, its size was what made it stick out like a sore thumb.

'A large one?'

Behind it, now very far away, a large group of dark clouds floated in the sky, marching forward.

Maybe this was the first taste of a storm at sea.

'Is this another unintentional red flag?' He thought.

Dominic's eyes narrowed.

And almost lost their life.

This wave moved...differently.

Like something breaking through the water.

"OH!" Dominic screeched, swinging his wings into action, "F-Fly, FLY!"

Yes. He found out.

As his heavy wings propelled him into the air, he looked back.

It wasn't a wave.

Fins poked through the water's surface as if tearing through skin and into flesh.

The water in front of this column crashed up into the air.

A devastating roar right after.

It rippled through the sea. It cracked through the air.

It was nightmare fuel.

As Dominic rushed forward, he looked behind him.

The Godzilla followed without a problem.

Was this another Godzilla?

'No...' He thought, shaking in the air, 'this...can't be the same? Could it?'

A voice would answer these problems.

"SLOW DOWN, YOU BIG BUG!"

This sentence shackled his wings as Dominic hovered in mid-air. Filled with fear, he turned around.

A shiver ran through him as this Godzilla rose from the sea, its height almost reaching Dominic's altitude.

It stared back.

'What can I say? This looks like Gojira Minus One, but it could be a different one altogether,' Dominic hovered in the air, not knowing what to do, 'What do I say? I'm a nuclear-fried moth if I say something wrong,'

'In strength...what a joke.'

That event was still fresh in his mind.

However, the Godzilla spoke again.

"What are you?"

Dominic heard this one clearly.

A female voice.

'Wait, no, no, no,' That had to be wrong. He was a dunce and forgetful.

However, he needed to answer.

"I-I'm...a giant moth,"

This was a gamble. Perhaps it had awakened after he did. 

"Hmm...okay,"

Dominic was sure this time.  Why was he getting so flustered over it?

"You're the one who named me Minus One, correct?"

"Named you?"

"Yes, back on that island," Godzilla answered, slapping her tail on the water, "it really hurt, but I can grow back,"

Dominic was too focused on trying to get away.

"The reason it hurt," She looked at him with an intimidating glare, "is because of that name. That's the reason that other creature attacked me,"

She growled. Dominic focused again.

"'Minus One' must be very important," Godzilla roared, "that it hurts me to no end,"

"Now, I have to kill you,"

When Dominic heard this, he couldn't believe it.

Maybe if he tried to speak, some bad blood could've been purified.

But alas, the frightened moth spun around, and flapped away, his entire body telling him to run.

With a pounding heart, he unanimously picked a course, flying as fast as he could. 

'How far does this ocean stretch?'

The horizon was empty, only a riveting display of ocean currents. 

Not a safe haven, but a sure cemetery for giant moths.

A flash of blue rushed by.

It funnelled into a cloud, decimating it. The beam rushed into the sky and disappeared without a trace.

It grew silent for a moment.

Was Dominic dreaming?

He looked back.

Minus One sunk below the sea, the white foam a reminder of her presence.

'Strange,' Dominic thought, looking forward again, 'Perhaps that Gojira is a carbon copy of Minus One,'

'The atomic breath is a double-edged sword if that's the case,'

He kept on, the dark clouds creeping closer and closer from his right.

'If it rains, I could still fly,' He thought, 'Maybe it won't be a challenge,'

The more he thought about it, the more puzzled Dominic thought.

'What's my flight speed?' 

Back to hypotheses, as it seemed.

'Guess I'm not a fast Mothra if they could move at Mach 1 or something,' Something clicked, 'perhaps I would've been gone if I didn't freeze from that Gojira,'

He screeched, it flowed with frustration in the wind.

"I could've finished her off then!" Dominic looked back.

An ocean of blue as always.

'Oh my word,' He couldn't find the foam or Minus One.

He looked at the water behind him.

Just maybe, could this Godzilla be following him? She somehow regenerated after the stunt it pulled. Perhaps Minus One wasn't affected? But what she said, there should be more beams coming if the regen was that good.

This all comes back to how long Dominic was knocked out.

He sighed.

'I really made an enemy of a Gojira, and I could've spoken, shit!'

Despite that, Dominic breathed out, flapping his wings gently, flying forward.

'She would've still have killed me for all I know,' He looked forward, 'I could be attacked by another monster,'

So, Dominic flew at a fast pace, eyeing not only the horizon for land but his surroundings for threats.

Chapter Text

There were no monsters. 

And no land.

'This ocean is large,' He thought, glancing at his wings, 'will I get tired?'

Dominic decided to do a survival check.

'Thirst? No. Hunger? No. Exhaustion? No.'

'Do I not get hungry anymore?'

If so, how did he get energy? Was Dominic like a plant and got it from the sun, or was he just starving without realizing it?

He must eat. At some point.

'Oh yeah, I never got that answer,' Dominic watched the passing waves as he flew by, 'I must see what I can eat with these mandibles,'

A wind brushed past him.

Dominic looked back. He didn't see those dark clouds even on the horizon. Perhaps he was a fast moth?

"Oh!" 

He screeched in surprise.

On the horizon, a minuscule dot rose.

The more Dominic closed in, the bigger this dot got. 

By the time he reached the shore, it was a whole landscape, stretching far out of view. 

'Maybe I can rest,' 

With a turn, Dominic descended upon the shoreline, landing on the sandy beach.

The air smelt of sea salt. A calm breeze pushed happily against him. The sand swallowed Dominic's feet in. That made him uneasy.

In fact, this whole place, with the noon sun in the sky, created a peaceful resting place.

If only Dominic was not so tense.

With his feet struggling in the sand, he looked around quickly, making sure there were no monsters.

'I should do something,' His heart pumped, 'right! There's a fricking Gojira after me,'

Dominic turned, moving through the sand at a slow pace.

He could see where the shoreline ended and tall, or small, trees stood, filling the land as it enlarged.

These trees watched Dominic as he tried to do what he was doing.

'Okay,' He stood there, his wings raised, 'how do I strengthen my powers?'

His blue eyes focused on a small dune of sand.

Dominic's antennae glowed yellow, surging with energy.

Two beams thundered down the sand.

CRACK!

The dune blew up. 

Sand flew everywhere. Most landed back onto the beach, hiding amongst themselves.

'That's not going to kill a Gojira,' He thought, 'What about...'

Without hesitation, he hovered close to the ground, sand flying around his wings.

A forceful swing sent these grains far past the treeline.

'Back then, I felt something,' He looked at his wings, 'what was it?'

Dominic breathed in and out, waiting for a sign.

'Mmm,' His antennae came into view, 'perhaps...'

They glowed all the same.

However, they never fired.

As it happened,  Dominic felt he could do so much more.

"Urgh..." He groaned, trying to control whatever he was doing, 'What...w-will happen...if I...'

The antennae dimmed, and Dominic lowered his head in pain.

'I don't know what I'm doing,' He sighed, focusing again, 'but I know I may gain something from this,'

Hours passed, and Dominic slaved away at this thing he was doing.

As the sun touched the horizon, its pallet of orange, yellow, and red filling the sky brought him out of the training.

'How did I do it for so long?' 

As he breathed, Dominic knew he had to take a break.

So, his stare reached across the sea, absorbing the beautiful scenery.

'Hmm,' He thought, 'I've gotten nowhere,'

Dominic looked around. His heart sank.

'I did not let anyone down,' His body warmed up in relief, 'did I disappoint myself?'

Much like the settling sun, this whole day was effort and survival. A learning experience. Maybe he didn't find a new weapon, but he tried.

'I suppose one can't let another down if there are no expectations,' Dominic gazed at the sand, 'what do I expect of myself?'

Only the calm sea's current was his empty answer.

'That's right, I cannot take a break,' He frowned, 'shit, I miss my phone,'

What he really needed right now was a good packet of chips, some cool drink, and a kaiju movie to relax.

Here, there was nothing.

'Damn it,' Dominic looked at the sky with a disappointed frown with his mandibles, 'if I do not have a goal, then I should try and make one,'

A pile of energy filed into him.

'I'm not tired,' He watched the sun slip into the sea, 'I can still do this,'

The night was not something Dominic thought of.

As he focused, straining on the effort, the night around him made their noise.

Trees rustled, the sea swished and danced, and the sand trickled through spots on Dominic's body.

It was dark. He kept his guard up.

"Ah," He screeched, "Argh,"

His eyes darted around, the darkness seeming dreadful.

'I used to be so scared of the dark,' He thought, eyeing his antennae again, 'now, it's just an inconvenience,'

The night flew by.

Like the morning sun, a new day meant a new milestone to reach.

Never wavered, Dominic was at it.

His feet gripped the ground, attempting to fight the strain. The antennae on his head shimmered. Dominic's body shook.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

But what did he expect? To learn the thing in a single day?

'Oh my word,' He sighed in frustration, slamming a wing down, 'What must I do?'

In a world unknown to Dominic, he was sometimes forgetful in certain circumstances.

'At least I'm not getting attacked...' 

He grunted and his eyes darted around. 

After a long check of his surroundings, Dominic relaxed.

'I must really stop thinking about that,' 

Without much momentum, Dominic continued what he was doing.

Even if he knew that this would lead him to a more beneficial standpoint in this world, Dominic was really at a loss.

'My word,' He thought, 'am I really dumb? Yes, I am,'

Dominic stared at the ocean.

All the effort that was put in to make these constant waves really didn't show any improvement, but the hard work was there.

It looked like a typical ocean, with waves encroaching onto the beach and then retreating. This cycle would repeat.

There was even a spot in the ocean tainted with blood. Dominic admired that.

He looked again.

The red had begun to expand and take over the blue around it like a virus.

'It can't be anything else but blood,' Dominic thought, 'I need to check,'

Not to satiate his curiosity, but to give him closure on his fear of the unknown.

So, Dominic hovered in the air, his wings flapped with urgency.

When the red splotch was under him, he was high up in the air. Having a monster like Godzilla in this world really hammered in that he should never fly near the sea. 

Upon looking closely at the pool of blood, he eyed a few body parts.

'Looks like parts to a fish,' Dominic looked around, 'the culprit's probably here,'

And it sure was.

He saw it, hundreds of meters away.

A large fin.

From up there, Dominic could see an outline of the creature just below the surface.

'I can't judge the length,' He thought, watching it cut through the water at a breakneck pace, 'I want to say Megalodon, but this could be something else entirely,'

The creature reached the outskirts of the pool quickly.

Dominic decided to move away, right back to the shore. He checked his surroundings. The landing was almost perfect on the sand.

From where Dominic was, he could still see the fin. It moved about the pool as if indulging in its hunger.

The fin stopped.

He watched as this creature thrashed about. A tail appeared, and so did the head.

It was a shark of some sort. A large one.

Almost immediately, the red water rose, as if a bubble tried to escape upon hitting the surface.

This bubble broke, and so did the shark.

Dominic, however, froze at what had the fish in its jaws.

The monster shook its maw, the shark wriggling helplessly within it.

As the massive creature crashed into the water again, Dominic had a chill.

'Those parts soaked in the blood,' He thought, his wings shaking, 'they...'

'...were parts of a shark?'

The water broke again. Something flew.

With a thud, the thing landed, painting the sand red.

Right next to Dominic.

He let out a cry.

The shark wasn't moving. A chunk from its middle section had been ripped open. Blood and guts spilled out.

'What is...'

The ocean came into view.

Whatever it was, came hurtling towards the shoreline, straight for Dominic.

At first, he looked on in fright, before taking to the air.

'What the hell...'

A long, scaly tail lashed through the air, almost like a whip. On a one-way course for the moth.

'...is THIS!?'

Chapter Text

Skin. Flesh. Exoskeleton.

As if thrust into an almighty storm, these things shuddered with such fury as the tail pulverised Dominic. 

It sent him to the ground. He jumped a few times before skidding to a halt.

Swaths of trees were cut down, spoiling the perfect pattern of the natural environment.

"Ugh..." He groaned. Dominic attempted to get up.

His vision was blurry. His head pained. The world shook around him.

'Hurts...so much...' 

A roar split the air.

"OH! SHIT!"

That brought him back from his knockout. Dominic hovered into the air, his wings flapped quickly.

He saw it.

Upon the beach, crawled a humongous creature. A crocodile? An alligator? Both? Who knows. Whatever it was, with its dark green, scaly hard skin, its large jaws of jagged teeth, its menacing eyes...

No matter, Dominic could feel his heart throb within him as this majestic beast flung sand around with its claws.

It was as if he froze in the air.

'Oh...my...word,' The creature sunk the shark carcass in between its jaws, 'this thing's huge,'

From the environment, Dominic could judge the size. 

'A hundred or so meters in length,' He stared intently, 'tail included,'

Height? The creature stood taller than the trees not too far away.

As it swallowed the shark whole, Dominic felt a chill.

'W-What am I doing!?'

He turned around.

'I should-'

'Coward...'

'...' Dominic stopped and turned around again, 'this isn't...'

He nearly broke his head when the kaiju rumbled at him, flattening trees to an even greater extent.

Two beams crackled forward at the creature, exploding against its skin.

Nothing.

Dominic flew back in fright but didn't think to fly higher.

'Eyes, EYES!' 

Before he knew it, his antennae glowed.

Another pair of beams fired down at the kaiju.

It groaned, throwing its head around.

'That...did that work?' 

The creature looked back in rage.

'I forgot...'

Dominic's wings began to flap with power. Soon, a whirling wind rushed forward, even pressing the monster back.

His wings kept on.

Yet, the creature pushed forward.

With every step it took, the more struggle it went through.

Dominic could only panic and swing his wings as much as he could.

"No, g-go away!" He screeched.

If he was to combat against a fricking Godzilla, a huge crocodile shouldn't be a problem.

This, however, spawned doubts within himself.

So much so, that Dominic couldn't react to the large tail.

BOOM!

'Why...' He thought, the pain increasing as he landed on the ground, 'why am I so weak?'

The world shook over. 

'I'm a moth, I can't beat this thing!' His heart sank, 'Were they right?'

He heard another roar.

The creature swung its tail again.

'Am I a failure?'

BOOM!

The tail swung against skin and flesh. Dominic's body reverberated, and his mind shook.

It was quite the distance he travelled, before landing once again, the forest as his safety net.

Like an imploding building, Dominic's mind fell into torment.

'I...I'm going to die,'

As he thought that, he didn't notice the hole to his far left.

The creature crawled to him. Dominic saw as it approached him.

'What was I thinking? Fighting this thing?' His body ached. He couldn't move, 'I'm an imbecile,'

As it neared, he let out a screech. One of humor.

'I don't want to die,' He kept on looking, 'but there is no plot armour here to help me,'

'Shit...'

Dominic shook as the large creature towered over him, it stared hungrily at him. It roared.

'Maybe?'

As a last bit of hope, his antennae lit up and sent another round of beams.

Much like a crocodile, the creature's underside had no hard scales. It was bare.

The beams did what they did, exploding upon the contact.

The creature let out a loud cry of pain.

Was Dominic seeing blood?

No.

Nothing at all.

He only saw its jaws widen. They lowered down to him.

In that last moment, Dominic felt himself give up as the creature sunk its teeth into his sides.

Not too deep. Perhaps it was making sure?

A roar.

Dominic heard it, but he didn't care. He gave up. The creature did and widened its jaws. Dominic fell out.

Surprised, yet still reeling from his intense injuries, he turned.

His big blue eyes widened.

It was another creature, probably the same size as the giant crocodile.

'Why does that...' He thought, 'No, that can't be...'

The other kaiju roared again.

Dominic heard it before.

Its four legs. A back full of pointy spikes. The roar.

'Anguirus!?'

It roared again as if annoyed at what was happening.

The was a hole behind it.

'Oh yeah,' Dominic groaned, attempting to move, 'I should run, while I still can,'

That, however, didn't help him.

"More...meat..." 

Dominic stared at the massive crocodile creature. 

It could also talk?

Anguirus looked displeased, shaking his head in pity.

The creature charged, flinging its green tail.

It slammed against spikes.

Quickly, Anguirus lunged forward.

His sharp teeth sunk into the creature's underside.

Dominic watched as these two kaiju wrestled with one another, the crocodile sometimes unleashed its heavy tail, only for it to be jabbed by Anguirus' back spikes.

The creature roared in hunger.

Anguirus used this to attack.

It dug its teeth into the underside of the crocodile kaiju once again. 

Anguirus pulled.

Light green flesh peeled off like orange skins.

As Anguirus had mouthful after mouthful, the giant crocodile grew limp.

It stopped moving.

'That Anguirus took it down, Oh my word,'

Perhaps Dominic was glad that the creature was dead, yet, another part of his mind went to work in the worst possible case.

Maybe it was because this kaiju actually won a fight?

Whatever it was, he stopped when it walked over to him. Anguirus looked down. A face of curiosity.

Dominic wanted to move, yet his body prevented him to.

Yet, it sat there, waiting for his reaction.

Dominic did nothing.

"How refreshing," 

Anguirus moved back to give Dominic some space.

However, he kept his mandibles shut.

"I'm not a foe, moth," Anguirus spoke, "no need to be silent,"

For a moment, Dominic was able to speak.

"Thanks?" He replied, confused as to why he didn't attack him.

Anguirus looked at the carcass.

"You're lucky," He breathed out, "that it liked to use its tail,"

A silence drew among the two.

"So, if you're not here to kill," Anguirus turned around, "I don't mind the company,"

He walked and disappeared into the hole.

A breath escaped Dominic's mandibles.

'How am I still alive?' 

He looked around. At the destruction. 

'Ugh,' Dominic sighed, moving around bit by bit, 'I was so close to dying,'

Despite his pain, Dominic stood, his wings raised.

'Why did that Anguirus not attack me?' He started at the corpse, 'I'm really lucky,'

He frowned, the wind acted as a comforting hug. A nonexistent hug at that.

'Reality can be so harsh,' Dominic thought, moving around on the spot, 'I'm intact, I don't know how, but I need to rest,'

The cave came into view.

'No, I can't rest yet, I need to practice, to get stronger,'

He paused.

'I'm lost,'

A grim emotion swept over him. 

'I...have no idea how to improve,' Dominic looked at his antennae, 'Is this my limit?'

There was nothing he could deny. That crocodile monster would've killed him if not for Anguirus. Dominic couldn't deny that he was a moth. He assumed he was a made-up kaiju from his memory. There were only hypotheses to his powers.

Like a black hole, He couldn't escape the truth.

Or was that truth assumed too?

He shook his head.

'Not yet, this was my first actual fight as a kaiju,' Dominic tried to cope with it, 'Of course, I sucked. Never been in a fight before.'

'I can improve. Right?'

He looked around as if someone was going to validate his thought.

'What's wrong with me? Get it TOGETHER!'

Dominic shook his head and stared at the corpse.

'Hmm,' He opened his mandibles, 'I did fight it, that Anguirus should understand,'

Chapter Text

To get his mind off the pain, Dominic began to nibble on the crocodile corpse.

'I do not feel disgusted at all,' He thought, his mandibles closing down on the light green skin, 'the only good thing about this moth,'

With some effort, Dominic chewed off a piece big enough for his mandibles.

He swallowed it all.

'How weird,' Dominic felt no different, 'that's a new taste,'

It was a shame to him that it didn't taste like fast food or any junk food.

There was no description of how it tasted, but it was hard to chew.

As he chewed off the small pieces, time went by.

Dominic took a step back and stared at the missing skin.

'How long was I at that?' He turned, 'Oh...'

There was no more pain.

'I can assume that's regeneration,' He frowned, 'Or I was overreacting,'

'I feel refreshed too,' Dominic moved a bit, away from the hole and the corpse, 'I can do my training,'

While he concentrated, he wondered where Minus One was.

'She's destroying the world for all I know,' He flapped his wings lightly as his antennae lit up, 'While I'm here-ggh,'

Dominic groaned in pain, the hue of the charged-up antennae grew yellow, throbbing with energy. It travelled around his body with each pulse.

'Ugh...' Dominic kept himself together, 'It's painful to have all this energy explode inside me-'

He halted everything he was doing. The antennae dimmed.

'Pause.'

'Why did I use explode?' He rustled his wings, 'okay,'

Without another thought, Dominic continued for the day.

Even for a few more days.

To watch a giant moth stare one way for several days and nights would be quite fascinating entertainment.

Almost no breaks in between.

Dominic wanted to do something new. Something for combat. Not only for Minus One but for anything in general.

As dusk came, he grew agitated.

"Oh my WORD!" Dominic screeched, slapping the ground with a wing, 'This isn't doing me any good,'

"Hey, moth,"

Apparently, all those days had inflated his guard and tension.

So, when Anguirus called out to him, Dominic shot up into the air.

He gazed at him.

"Don't trust me?" Anguirus chuckled, "My company may not be that good. I apologize,"

Dominic, with a sigh, descended to the ground, staying on guard.

"Why are you friendly to me?" Dominic asked, out of frustration.

"Follow me," Anguirus turned and walked away. 

By now, Dominic had calmed down from his outburst.

'Okay,' He followed him, though still distant.

In the end, he had to be careful. 

The place where Anguirus would lead Dominic to was the beach he landed on.

"Come," He looked at Dominic, motioning to the spot next to him.

"..." Very carefully, he landed, the sand giving his feet quite the memory.

The trio of colours melted into the sky once again, creating a mixture of beauty.

If only Dominic was not so tense.

"You're wondering why I'm friendly, huh?"

Dominic looked at Anguirus. An inch was added between them.

"Yep,"

"How do I say this again..." He looked at Dominic, showing no signs of aggression, "respect goes both ways,"

He could see the puzzled expression Dominic made. 

"I have a rule that I stand by," Anguirus answered with efficiency, "It only needs your action,"

"Oh," Dominic replied, "So, because I didn't attack you, you didn't attack me?"

Anguirus nodded as if he had stated the obvious.

"Even now, that rule still applies," 

A piece of dread fell when those words were spoken. Dominic couldn't help it.

"Now, moth. I'll lend you my attention," Anguirus spoke, "what has you so...eager?"

As if he was a loaded cannon, Dominic answered quickly.

"I'm being chased by another creature..."

He paused.

'Would this Anguirus know? Will it respond if I call it that, or what?'

"Well then," He watched Dominic humorously, "you have your problems, young moth,"

No matter what, Dominic had to say it.

"Does the name Godzilla mean something to you?"

After hearing that, Anguirus had a widened gaze.

"That really is a big problem," He admitted.

"I know, right?" Dominic looked at the sand, "I'm trying to think up something, but I can't beat her,"

The gaze Anguirus gave him generated a tinge of fear.

"Listen, and listen well," He looked at the sea, the waves moving with a hint of rhythm, "I've had a fair share of battles. Some victories. Some defeats. All of them are various. Yet, one aspect stayed the same,"

"What was it?" Dominic asked.

"My confidence," Anguirus answered, laughing heartily, "No matter what, I went in with this...delusional thought that I could win,"

"call me crazy, foolish, arrogant. That is needed for us to survive in this world." He looked at Dominic with a stern glare, "Most of them, I was lucky. They were stronger and more experienced than I was. But I still would fight, why?"

Dominic turned his head to the side curiously.

"I'd fight an enemy that's stronger, that could kill me without effort, thinking I could win, than fight a weak enemy I could easily beat, thinking I could lose."

That kept Dominic silent.

"You can be beaten numerous times by your opponents, but lose only once to yourself."

"And once..." Anguirus continued, "You're defeated by your mind, you become...broken,"

"B-Broken?"

"You doubt yourself. You never think about winning, only failing. If you're broken, the battle's half done. When your life is at stake, your enemy only needs to finish you off."

A lump appeared In Dominic's throat.

Anguirus glared at him as if interrogating him.

"Young moth, are you broken?"

He stayed quiet.

But maybe, was Anguirus right?

Dominic opened his mandibles, but a chuckle cut him off.

"I apologize once again," Anguirus said, blinking, "My tangents are quite putrid, and are half true,"

He shook his head and turned with his back to the sun.

"You'll still experience the world, moth," He chuckled in between, "Don't let my way of thinking control your actions,"

"However, for as long as I lived, there are two types you will meet in your lifetime."

Dominic listened.

"Those who survive, and those who think they can't," He breathed, "your question should be:'

"Which one am I?"

Anguirus couldn't help but laugh again.

"Well, would you look at that," He stared at the sun, "I began once more,"

"I'll leave you to enjoy the sun, moth," 

Anguirus left.

What he departed behind, was an area full of fear, doubt, and maybe failure.

Dominic had many questions.

He looked to his left. He saw a massive pile of bones. That's where the corpse went after those few days.

The sand pulled Dominic in, as a whirlpool began to swish and swirl around his head.

'I must not waste time,' He didn't think Anguirus would break into a speech like that, 'I should train-'

'Should I?'

His thorax pulled tight with worry. If he could, Dominic wanted the world to swallow him up at that moment.

'He's right,' Dominic stared at the sun, ignoring the pain, 'I don't need to listen to his thoughts,'

'Yet...'

That feeling.

The one that gripped itself and carved so deeply into Dominic.

'Oh my word, stop being such a wimp,' He told himself, 'I can find a wa-'

'You can't,'

That's right. Dominic attempted to lie to himself.

'Was he right? About all of that?' He felt uneasy,  'it's just chance, that I'm...'

'No...'

A leg of his dug into the sand.

'I can't be that. No way,' 

'How can I prove it? I tried something that didn't work for a few days straight. I can't fight Gojira.'

The bottom of his head hit the sand and sent some flying.

'I'm confident. That's right. It's too early for it. But I was like this in my past life...No, no, no! I can win, but I lost against a crocodile. I ran away when I could've spoken. I failed when I tried to do better.'

As the war of Dominic's mind raged on, the sun touched the ocean, as if slipping under the blankets for a good night's sleep.

In conclusion, his head hung against the sand, his wings down and his feet limp.

With one convincing statement:

'I am not broken.'

Was it really convincing?

Chapter Text

'Fuck...' 

Dominic released a soft screech, still lying on the beach.

Doubt in his mind.

'I'm not going to fall apart at the start,' He thought, 'I won't turn into a used car or some junk. I'm not a piece of machinery,'

'I...won't...break.'

There was a ring in his hearing. His adorable appearance came to be this messed-up abomination.

'NO!' Dominic had realised his mistake, 'That's a massive red flag for anyone who will die!'

Even so, he couldn't help his panicked self.

'So what? This is far from a story with a beginning, middle and end,' There was a glint in his eye, 'I would sacrifice anything to become stronger.'

'If I had the behelit, who could I...'

In this world, there was no one he cared about.

'This isn't Berserk, idiot!'

Dominic shook his head, sand flying.

'No matter, I'd sacrifice myself then,' He thought, his mind deteriorating, 'My eyes, my antennae, my wings, my head, thorax, abdomen, hell, take my blood, take everything!'

'I'd do all of that to not be a failure,'

A wave splashed close. Dominic laughed.

'Look at me,' He turned, and walked to the other end of the beach, 'whimpering like a lost puppy. I'm better than that.'

Dominic looked at the ground in disappointment. Not the first time he ever did.

'What would my parents think of me?' He frowned, 'Probably try to sway the truth and soothe me with 'You can always try next time' or 'I'm still proud of you'.'

The beach hit its end.

He turned.

"Oh my word," Dominic muttered.

In the distance, he saw a formation of dark clouds.

'Whatever, I have rain to add to my failures,' His eyes widened, 'I'm still talking like I'm broken.'

Dominic shook his abdomen in frustration.

'That monologue was a massive red flag!' Dominic thought, 'Idiot,'

He decided to run through the little options he had.

'I have two weapons, but many weaknesses,' He looked at the ocean, 'No plot armour either, but a little luck,'

'Gojira looks cool like that,'

'Luck can't win against a giant lizard, what can I do?'

His gaze was straight. 

Body? locked in place. The hairs on his skin stood on end. His heart nearly jumped out of his mouth. Dominic's wings battered the air with each vibration.

'What is that sound?' Slowly, he turned his head, 'I've heard this song before,'

The ground shook as Godzilla stomped, her reach of the shoreline grew smaller and smaller.

She grew bigger and bigger the closer she was.

Instinctually, Dominic tried to fly, but he couldn't move. 

A weight, a towering mass of fear held him down, making any means of escape hopeless.

Dominic knew the only way out.

'S-Shit...' He thought, watching her body move effectively past the powerful waves, 'I must do this...'

'I'm afraid...but...'

After a moment, Dominic's wings flapped hard, finally taking him to the air.

'I...can prove...to myself...' He thought, eying the kaiju, 'that I'm not broken.'

With an exhale, Dominic flew forward.

His worries were right.

This was not a dream, but a nightmare.

A nightmare he had to conquer.

As he circled the Godzilla at a sizable distance, it let out its devastating roar.

Something that sent chills down Dominic even then.

"I have found you!" It was also Minus One, '"You cannot get away, moth,"

Dominic could've, but if he did, this kaiju would just find him over and over.

It was a cycle he needed to break.

Yet, he didn't attack as she spoke.

Perhaps his mind had other plans.

"I see," Minus One laughed, watching him circle her, "you're just like that creature, back on that island,"

THUMP!

"But, I have been thinking,"

THUMP!

Dominic's heart stopped as the plates on her tail jacked up.

THUMP!

"All this time..."

THUMP!

Should Dominic try and attack?

THUMP!

"That name,"

THUMP!

Perhaps her aim will be thrown off?

THUMP!

"Gives me meaning,"

THUMP!

"One way or another,"

THUMP!

THUMP!

THUMP!

As the dorsal plates jacked up with a blue glow, Minus One began to inhale, her mouth blue.

THUMP!

THUMP!

CRACK!

Two beams crashed into her hard skin. Nothing changed.

CLICK!

At the climax, her dorsal plates shoved into her back all at once, and Minus One moved forward, her mouth locking open.

The beam flew in a singular pathway.

Right past Dominic.

Past the clouds and vanished into the atmosphere. 

The waves splashed around Minus One as she kept her angered gaze on Dominic.

Dominic stared elsewhere.

Her jaw.

Gone.

'Shit,' His eyes widened, as it fell into the sea, 'mmm...'

Minus One was injured. As she regenerated, Dominic saw a strategy.

His heart jumped.

It was something he could do.

"...t...ha..." Minus One attempted to talk, but her mouth didn't fully form.

"That doesn't hurt a lot, not anymore," A few seconds later, she could.

"Although, I-"

A powerful wind battered her hardened skin, the waves were shoved away. Minus One stood.

'Why did I do that!?' Dominic screeched at himself, still shaky from the blast, 'Whatever,'

"Although..." He heard her continue, her tail breaching the water, "...I will not kill you,"

'What?' Dominic was caught off guard when he heard this.

THUMP!

"That'll be too easy,"

THUMP!

THUMP!

Dominic waited as once again, her plates shot out until she inhaled.

CRACK!

Another pair of beams thundered down at Minus One.

CLICK!

She fired.

Inches away from Dominic.

He could feel the air still radiating with heat as he flew.

And his exoskeleton nearly jumped off him.

'I can survive.'

He took a long look at his enemy.

Minus One was slashed with scars, the flesh on her face exposed to the salty air.

"Y...Y..." It took some time for the healing, "You're good,"

THUMP!

"This time's different,"

THUMP!

For as long as this battle went, Dominic had the advantage.

THUMP!

Such a neat way to combat her beam.

THUMP!

'This time...' His skin hair stood on end.

THUMP!

'I must...'

THUMP!

THUMP!

THUMP!

CLICK!

CRACK!

Like before, Minus One shrugged off the attack and made sure she inhaled.

The release was potent.

Right into nothing but sky.

With her face burnt off and flesh exposed, Minus One watched Dominic revolve around her.

In the opposite direction.

'Fuck... I can't do much but only mess up her aim.'

For as long as the battle went on, Dominic had the advantage.

Yet, there was really nothing he could do.

Anguirus was too far away. Minus One would have a clear shot on Dominic.

'Her defence is too strong, she's unbeatable-' He groaned, 'don't say that!'

This time, he watched as Minus One's regeneration went to work. Her body was the worst he had seen it in.

'I can win this!'

"He...H...eh"

As Dominic circled Minus One as the moon does to the Earth, he noticed her laughter.

It came from a messed up and damaged mouth.

"Heh...Heh...Heh..."

Minus One glared at Dominic. Not in anger. But in a way described by a single word:

'Checkmate,'

That's what he thought as she kept that gaze, raising her tail.

THUMP! 

'What was that?'

THUMP!

'A plan?'

THUMP!

As each plate jumped, Dominic's thorax twisted with worry and tension.

THUMP!

He was curious. Too curious. Yet fear kept Dominic back, flying around Minus One.

THUMP!

'I must not be a coward,'

THUMP!

'I don't want to be...'

THUMP!

'...Broken.'

THUMP!

THUMP!

THUMP!

In her repetitive nature, Minus One inhaled and brought her head back, readying her atomic breath.

Dominic prepared himself.

CRACK!

The beams tattered her skin lightly, however, this opened a window for Dominic to dodge.

CLICK!

His moth body tensed up, surely to dodge the beam.

'What...'

Minus One threw her head forward.

Until her mouth was in line with the sea in front of her.

Dominic was flying over the sand at that point.

Close. Too close.

He could only screech as Minus One unleashed her nuke.

Chapter Text

A giant cloud of fire and smoke fumed from the impact.

The shockwave pulverised Dominic as it carried him across the beach.

He could feel every muscle shake and tear. His body was stiff.

Then came the inferno.

What Dominic felt could be described as if he had received a large paper cut. Now increase that by a thousand, and the feeling appeared all over his body.

The flash blocked his vision.

He spun around like a cannonball. Untouchable. Unpredictable. Unstoppable.

The ground surprised him.

What was left of it.

Dominic smashed into the dirt. His bones shook with the crash. He bounced. A few more later, Dominic stopped.

He was on his back. 

The earth seeped into the burns. Dominic groaned.

'I am stupid,' He thought incoherently, the cuts of flames scorching his frame, 'Ggh,'

There was a constant ring in his hearing. He looked around. Still blinded.

Even then, Dominic thought.

The blast radius should've reached Anguirus.

Would that kaiju have survived?

He was not sure.

Then again, Dominic was close enough, yet he survived, albeit poorly, but alive anyhow.

Perhaps a positive for Anguirus.

And a negative for Dominic.

Minus One would obviously be okay. After regeneration. If she were to find him, would Anguirus help?

He shook his scorched head. 

'Why would Anguirus help?'

A poor assumption.

His vision slowly grew back. Not enough, but barely.

'I'm...dead then,' He shook from fear.

Although, after some time, Dominic could see.

The first thing he saw was the mushroom cloud. It jumped for the heavens, yet never set foot on the doorstep.

Around him, destruction.

All vegetation was flattened by the blast. Trees had their leaves removed, and some branches too.

A wasteland.

Minus One was the embodiment of a nuke. 

If it wasn't clear enough already.

As he strained onto his feet, which were still intact, luckily, Dominic was hit with cloud after cloud of dust.

He decided to flap his wings. 

As Dominic tried, he couldn't get this feeling that something felt off.

With some difficulty, he turned his head left and right.

No wings.

The more he twisted his head, the more Dominic began to panic.

Embers.

Around him, several pieces of something were engulfed in small flames, vanishing as they were incinerated.

'That's...'

His heart raced as Dominic realised where his wings had gone.

'Whatever,' Even if he accepted it, that dawned on him.

How could he combat Minus One now?

Only one answer:

'I can't,' Dominic's blue eyes seemed to widen at that, 'I'm really screwed,'

BOOM!

The ground rumbled.

BOOM!

As the dust cleared, Dominic saw his nightmare.

BOOM!

A nightmare turned reality.

Minus One let out an ear-raping roar. One of relief and dominance.

When she caught sight of Dominic's tattered body, he could almost see a grin.

'No...' He shivered as Minus One drew near. The earthquakes intensified the nearer she got.

Dominic didn't want to lose again.

He was 0-1 in this world. Now, he could die as an 0-2.

'I...have nothing to fight with,' His eyes never left her towering form.

His antennae hung just outside the top of his vision, but what could those beams do to Minus One?

One thing.

Dominic knew that it wouldn't kill her, but it will annoy her.

Maybe.

He trembled as Minus One stood over him. There looked to be no escape. 

Dominic cranked his neck. 

Exposed flesh and bones were strewn on the Godzilla. Small pieces fell from her cut-up body.

Although, as the seconds ticked on, the wounds closed up.

She was able to talk.

"Finally," Minus One said, staring at him, "I'm-"

CRACK!

Her skin zapped from the blast.

'Now,'

Dominic limped away, wanting to create space.

This wasn't a plan to defeat her, but a plan to survive.

BOOM!

Minus One pulled the carpet from under Dominic with one step.

She lowered her head.

That sent a wave of fear into Dominic.

He tried to get away, but there was nothing he could do.

"Shit!" He screeched as Minus One brought her sharp teeth down onto his antennae.

Like two twigs, they easily snapped off, leaving Dominic disoriented for a moment. When she began to laugh as she swallowed his broken antennae, he watched in horror.

The slight damage she did sent Dominic onto his back.

"I'm hoping..." Minus One lowered her face inches away from his, exhaling through her nostrils, "...you understand,"

The next thing he knew, his thorax flattened, his organs screaming to get out of such a high space.

Dominic screeched as Minus One stomped a foot on him. His legs freaked about in the air, trying to escape such hopelessness.

He could see the content on her face as she watched him squirm under her weight.

'Ggh,' Dominic thought he would be crushed and explode in a splash of goo.

Yet, he wondered why that didn't happen.

Minus One let out another roar.

Filled with victory.

She looked down at him once more. 

"I'm going to enjoy..." 

At that moment, Minus One raised her foot, giving Dominic a chance to breathe.

"...breaking you."

STOMP!

A dome of dust expanded as she crushed his chest, slamming all oxygen from it.

She stomped again.

And again.

And again.

Dominic was bludgeoned by the oncoming wave of attacks. Each one rattled and broke not only his thorax but his entire body.

Every stomp, she crushed all hope.

What leaked in, was a grim reality.

Something Dominic finally accepted.

'I'm broken,'

With another stomp, his body curled, from his mandibles leaked a liquid. 

Was that blood?

No matter, Minus One relished that as a trophy of the absolute ass beating she was handing him.

A few more stomps later, she pressed down on him one last time before examining her work.

A pulp.

She could feel Dominic's chest raising and lowering at a slow rate.

"Ah," Minus One sighed, lifting her foot off his chest, "so satisfying,"

If there was one thing she made sure of, it was for damn certain that Dominic could hear her.

Even on a thin thread, she knew he could.

"I now understand," She spoke, "the meaning of 'Minus One',"

She scanned the surroundings. A brown stain of dust and earth. Quite the outstanding work.

"I've been given that name to destroy you," Minus One exhaled, steam exiting her nostrils, "not kill you, but destroy you,"

She looked at him. Dominic couldn't even move to look back.

"To destroy the one who gave me this name," There was a scoff from her, "over and over and over again,"

Her tail swayed calmly.

"Now, I shall name you, moth," There was venom in her voice, "something to make you never forget your place in this world,"

"To be beaten by me," Minus One continued, "the name will remind you of how I will break you again, in our next fight,"

She took a step.

"Furthermore, if you were to rebuild yourself, and face me," She spoke, "I will break all that over again with pleasure,"

Minus One blinked.

"Darthra," She said, "I name you, Darthra,"

There was a light chuckle from Minus One.

"So, Darthra, until then..." Her footsteps shook the ground, "improve,"

"Once you reach the skies above, I'll drag you back into the sea."

As the vibrations of her footsteps dimmed, Minus One's faint roar echoed all around.

Dominic heard it.

There was nothing he could do.

All he did, was lay there, unable to move, unable to see, unable to scream.

Greenish-yellowish liquid ran down his face onto the cold earth. 

So did his thoughts.

Only a single sentence.

This sentence repeated in his head like a broken record. It was the bane of his existence, the nail on his coffin, the Achilles' heel.

One simple sentence.

'I'm a failure,'

Chapter Text

The woman quivered as she made it up the steps.

On some days, the temple would shine from the sun's stern glare.

When she walked into the large dim room inside, her nervous breaths were the only sounds she could hear, the sun was not the only thing that would glare at her.

She stopped.

There, within the darkness, the imposing gaze of something large dawned down on her, as if telling her that if there was resistance, there would be blood.

She looked forward.

In front of her, were many baskets. Each was filled with gifts, for all she knew.

The woman held one as well. That's why she was here.

With each step, she shook, making her way slowly to the row of baskets.

When she walked there, all were open. Much like what she expected, there were offerings.

The woman stared down at her basket and blinked.

Hopefully, it was enough.

As she lowered herself, the woman placed the basket in front of the row, for it to see.

She squirmed a few steps back as two glowing red eyes descended as if seeing what she had offered.

With that, the woman closed her eyes and internally prayed that it was satisfied.

She opened them.

The pair of eyes stared with a fit of unbridled anger.

A screech echoed several times throughout the temple. 

The line of people outside lowered their heads.

By now, even though she saw only one pair of eyes, the woman felt another pair of eyes on her.

As sweat dropped, fear crept in as the woman sprinted away.

What came next, was the surge of energy, as if it was collecting within a single spot.

The woman didn't know what it was. She needed to escape.

A red beam crackled through the air.

There was nothing left.

Only a screech.

A metallic screech.
___

"Moth? Is that you?"

He had heard that voice before, even the roar of success afterwards.

Anguirus walked over to the moth. He had a grim expression.

"Are you still alive?"

"Yes," Darthra's voice was sombre and hoarse as if he had been there for a few days.

The barren surroundings confused Anguirus.

"What happened?"

"Godzilla,"

"Oh," He nodded, "whatever your friend did, they were able to affect me, too,"

Darthra looked at Anguirus in confusion.

"You can't see it from there," He chuckled, looking back, presumably at the hole, "but I was caved in. Not a problem, if I wasn't resting,"

Anguirus shook his head.

From the way Darthra looked, the fight must've been pretty bloody, with the obvious winner.

"You're lucky, moth," He said, stepping on the earth.

Darthra screeched softly in agreement.

"I would've missed your company," Anguirus chuckled, "more so, be glad,"

"For...what?"

"You lost...and lived. That's only one of many,"

As he gazed at Anguirus, Darthra felt his heart jabbed with a claw.

"I'm...a failure,"

"Huh?" Anguirus looked at him, "you said something?"

"I...lost," Darthra answered, dragging it out, "I don't think I deserved to live,"

What he would hear was the most heartwarming laugh from a kaiju. From Anguirus for crying out loud.

"Don't do that," He rebutted, "don't let one action sway who you are. This is only for a short time."

This was something Darthra wanted to argue against.

It wasn't one action if it carried over from a past life. Though, why would he tell Anguirus that?

"But...I," He tried to talk, but he couldn't.

The ends of Anguirus' mouth rose a little.

"Remember, this is one small endeavour. It may break you, or even destroy you, there may not even be a shaft of hope." 

He looked down at Darthra.

"What we tend to do, however, is think and believe there is no hope, when it's right in front of us, thinking of how stupid we are."

Anguirus had a frown.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Darthra was so confused.

"Remember when I said that you can lose once to yourself?" He asked, "I forgot to tell you the after of that,"

Darthra's blue eyes stared at Anguirus with bafflement.

"When you are broken, is when you are truly tested," He answered, "one can prove whether they can fix themselves, or leave the cracks open and die,"

"Only themselves can do that,"

He directed that at Darthra, who was on his feet, his head lowered.

"I understand," He moped, "when I get my wings back, I think I need to leave,"

Anguirus looked sad but nodded.

"I'll be here," He turned around, "I won't leave this place, even with the...newer spacing,"

"Well then, if you leave," Anguirus continued, nodding in respect, "I hope your luck stays with you forever,"

As Anguirus walked away, Darthra had much to say.

For those few days, he kept telling himself the same thing.

Each time, it was rubbed in.

He was devastated.

'I won't bother to listen,' Darthra thought, 'even now, I can only call myself a failure,'

The air around him stilled.

A drop.

After a while, the rain began, pattering the soft ground, damping it, and Darthra.

However, he was not bothered. 

'About time it rained,' Darthra looked up, droplets wetting his fur, 'cloudy all the time,'

There was something else he noticed.

His antennae.

Darthra nodded as he shook.

'My wings,' He turned left and right.

No wings for him.

'How long will they take?' You could see a frown on his mandibles, 'What if Minus One attacks...'

His eyes widened when he thought of her.

'Oh my word,' He sighed, 'I'm going to lose again if she appears,'

The battle was fresh in his memory.

'Why did I do that!?' Darthra slammed his head on the wet earth, shaking some water off his fur, 'If I only wasn't so scared, I would-'

He paused.

'-still be a failure, like now,'

Darthra felt his heart sink. Frustration brewed below the cuteness of his moth face.

'Crap,' He looked around, the splattering rain hitting everything in a circuit of wetness, 'I'll die if another kaiju appears,'

As he stood there, nonchalant about the rain, Darthra scoffed.

'I love the rain,' He thought, turning a foot on the wet ground, 'yet, it feels as though it betrayed me,'

'No, I was the one who did it,'

Darthra turned in the direction of where Anguirus went.

He then laid on his back, his underside battered by the rain.

'What he said doesn't apply to me,' Darthra thought, exhaling, 'because I have failed many times before,'

Those melancholy thoughts pressed him.

'I suppose everyone was right,' He felt like he was going to cry, 'about me,'

The clouds above with the rain falling around him provided some comfort.

'Why do I find solace here?' Darthra wondered, 'I know I'm a kaiju, but even now, the comfort it brings...is immaculate,'

The rain brought back memories.

Not so good to remember, but they were memories nonetheless.

Darthra was reminded how he would play late into the night, the rain dripping down his window. The chips and cool drink. Sometimes a kaiju movie. Maybe he would sleep, and the rain would aid him through and through.

It was as if Darthra could vividly see the memory within the droplets around him.

He sighed.

'That time...' Darthra relaxed, 'it was like that time,'

The rain increased, but he didn't mind.

What kaiju would mind, anyway?

'I...miss them,'

He shifted on the spot, making himself more comfortable.

'Doesn't matter if I'm a failure, I miss them,'

Darthra scanned his surroundings, the empty landscape slowly flooded with the endless encore of water.

'Where do I go?' He thought about what he said, 'What's the point of doing something when you don't even know what your goal is?'

Darthra's eyes widened even more.

'What is...my goal?' 

To be honest, he could've said that he wanted to survive. Or even get stronger. Maybe he wanted to go back home, despite there being no chance of that happening?

No, everyone could say their goal is to become strong or to survive.

At this point, Darthra would die before even finding a way back home.

'What would be a failure's goal?'

As he thought that, the rain did their thing, adding their touch to his problems.

Like always.

Chapter Text

As time flowed, so did the rain.

There was this weird revitalization within Darthra.

He exhaled. Over time, he felt his body fill to the brim with energy, and like a boiling kettle of water, some of this streamed out, as if to repair his lost wings.

Before he knew it, even after the rain cleared up, they were back.

'So weird,' He thought, his wings moving gently, 'the days passed so quickly, why am I not fazed?'

Darthra didn't mind.

Like promised, and because he wanted to, his wings flapped as if refilled by fuel. When he hovered in the air, Darthra screeched with vigour.

"I've missed this!" He couldn't help himself.

With that sorted, Dartha headed for Anguirus.

The flight was slow and forgiving, helping him settle within the constant motion of air.

Anguirus was finally in his sights.

As Darthra landed, his feet touched the smooth landscape, his wings fleeting dust into the air.

There was this strange glare from Anguirus before he nodded and broke into a chuckle. Darthra ignored it.

"Well, Well," He laughed, "look at you,"

"I know, right?" Darthra replied with a cheerful screech, raising his wings, "That's why I came to see you," 

Anguirus nodded with a sad frown.

"Well, didn't think you'd actually come and see me,"

Darthra nodded.

"Farewell," Anguirus greeted, "like I said before, hope your luck never runs out,"

"Yes," Darthra slowly moved his wings, "goodbye,"

"One more thing," This stopped him from flying, "this loss may have been temporary, but the darkness is eternal,"

Anguirus stared at him.

"Don't forget," He continued, "you may improve, but as you stare into the endless sea, one day, you will meet yourself in those depths,"

Darthra paused.

Why did that sound familiar?

"I understand," was all he said, his wings finally alive.

With a flap, and a screech, Anguirus watched Darthra ascend into the air before soaring away, the sun gleaming off his lightly coloured fur.

'What did he mean by that?' Darthra thought, flying at a gentle and slow pace, 'That stare, too...'

He looked forward, the horizon his only limit.

'I'm still stupid,' Darthra thought, watching the land move past him at a constant rate, 'I'm like an abandoned ship, I have no idea of where I'm going, nor have a goal in mind, but the current pushes me, the waves are my road to a neverending sea of twists and turns,'

He shook his head, 'Now I know I'm stupid,' 

As he flew, Darthra enjoyed flying at a steady altitude, while he watched the land.

'What can be my goal?' He looked around, 'what can I achieve to make myself stronger?'

Minus One came to mind.

Darthra had a shiver go down from his head to his abdomen.

'It won't beat her, for that matter,' He frowned, 'I'll still be a failure,'

In the end, Darthra couldn't help it.

'Maybe that whole sacrifice speech would be helpful,' His wings battered against the breeze, 'but, would I really do it? Sacrifice myself? For myself?'

For a moment, that didn't sound very logical.

Even after some thought, it still didn't make sense.

'I need a goal, whether I like it or not,' He squinted, though his blue eyes stayed the same, 'maybe it's down there, and not up here,'

Darthra carefully lowered himself down, descending close to the ground.

There were no monsters.

Just a stretch of trees, a few small rock surfaces, and grass.

In these tall mountain sides, were a few crevasses. Some may have led to caves.

Speaking of which...

'Ggh,'

A strange sensation hit the back of Darthra's head. There was something addicting about it if he had to describe it. It was a craving. 

He needed it.

'This feeling,' Darthra looked in a certain direction, 'must follow it?'

For all he knew, it could be a trap. Hell, maybe he would be cursed or something. What if he was sent into an endless purgatory?

He looked around.

'Does a failure have anything to lose?' Darthra shook his head, 'I must stop talking like that,'

'What did Anguirus say again?'

He thought for a moment.

'Whatever,' Darthra glided forward, 'my goal, for now, can be to see what this thing is, that's got me hooked like a fish,'

This sensation guided him through these mountains, and he turned and swayed in between each piece of rock.

A large mouth appeared on his right.

One of a cave.

To judge, Darthra could fly in and out without a problem.

The only problem, however...

'There could be a monster waiting within,' He thought, flying around to get a good look inside.

Weirdly enough, torches lit up a few parts of the massive pathway. Which meant something else.

'Someone else is in here,'

A woosh later Darthra flew in, slowly scanning the walls as he went through.

He came across two rock pillars. Both are the height of the cave. They were neatly defined, with a curvature and roundness that was rare within this cave. More torches surrounded the bottom of the pillars, lighting up a part around them.

'If push comes to shove, I can fly,' He thought, flying in between the pillars, 'I don't have the firepower, but I have the power to retreat,'

Rounding a corner, Darthra entered a room.

It was large enough for him to fly around freely. The walls of this place were smooth. At the far end, a small, square piece of ground stood leveraged above the rest. Big enough for Darthra to sit on.

Light peeked from above. From this, Darthra eyed at the single podium of stone again.

"What!?" He let out a screech in surprise.

His heart slammed around within his thorax. Some rubble from the ceiling fell around him.

There were also a few screams from below.

Darthra snapped his head down.

He watched as these humans ran for the walls. Some had torches. Within the cracks, they found their refuge.

Pairs of eyes jabbed at his sides with an insurmountable amount of fear.

However, Darthra had no fear.

'What was their business here?' He looked around, 'Oh...'

The podium came back to view.

As he stared longer, the more he grew uneasy.

From the light above, the space was highlighted.

Within it...

A moth.

A moth statue.

As the dust clung to the outer rim, the gleam of the statue was something of majestic quality.

Everything.

From head to abdomen, wings to feet, was like a disco ball. All these spots of silver shined despite how old it looked.

This was it.

It was as if Darthra was pulled into a black hole.

Whatever this silver statue was, it called to him.

"Power..."

"Sacrifice..."

"Desire..."

Darthra heard this.

'What?' He looked around, 'Am I dreaming?'

"Power.."

The statue on the podium came into view.

An unsettling rush of electricity zapped Darthra.

'Trap, Trap, Trap!' Was all he thought, 'The people here must be summoning a demon, and I may be the sacrifice,'

He heard a click.

Then another.

'Oh my word,'

Dominic shivered.

The statue moved.

Like an insect moulting, it came to life, opening itself. Clangs and clicks echoed throughout the room.

As it opened up, it regurgitated something out.

A corpse.

'That's a moth!'

The already rotten body stood the same way the statue did. The only differences were the missing wing, antennae and most of its skin and flesh.

'What the...'

Darthra's skin crawled.

The silver part moved.

Directly off the elevated stone.

It landed with a thud, the heavy wings slamming against the ground.

Slowly but surely, it limped its way to Darthra, head and thorax open, as if welcoming him in.

Yet, even though this scared the skin off him, Darthra never moved.

Not even the confused screams from the people wavered him.

'Why am I not afraid?'

Even if the walking skin could traumatic someone, the voices came from it.

"Power..."

"Sacrifice..."

"Desire..."

It was from this abomination of silver.

At that moment, Darthra thought for a moment.

Was it worth it?

Maybe the corpse it left was what it did? Was it a moth killer?

His wings raised, and Darthra flew into the air.

This entanglement of shiny silver attempted to do so as well, but the wings clanked about, offering no help.

'I must've walked into a cult,' Darthra looked at the ceiling, 'I don't know what that thing is, but it definitely isn't a kaiju,'

He looked at it.

It wiggled around, body clunking against the cold, stone floor.

Darthra turned his head.

'It...looks like some kind of armour,' He shook his head, 'whatever,'

As he hovered around the ceiling, Darthra was able to fly out. The space was big enough.

When the sun slapped against his body, he looked down again.

'I guess, my goal is complete,' Darthra flew forward, 'let's find another one,'

He stopped.

There was a cry.

One of a kaiju.

More of a screech.

It made Darthra's hair stand on end. This was because of the screech. There was this uncanny feeling about it. So, as he turned, Darthra jumped when he heard it again.

Now, he could tell why.

It was the noise.

That metallic noise.

Chapter Text

'What the...'

The kaiju flew closer, its mechanic wings battering the air. Its red, soulless eyes marked Darthra with an aura of dread. 

Whatever this thing was, Darthra immediately screeched.

"Mothra? A robot Mothra? No,"

He just had to assume.

'Mecha-Mothra,'

It screeched as it circled Darthra.

As it did, he could hear how really heavy its wings were as they flapped. Its body looked clunky, yet soared like an eagle in the air.

Even as he locked eyes with its metal form, Darthra couldn't help but shake.

'Is it hostile?' He began to worry, 'Is it friendly?'

In the end, Darthra increased his altitude.

There was room to check.

He noticed the glowing antenna. 

A bit too late.

From Mecha-Mothra, a radical beam of red pulsed forward, straight past Darthra.

"Agh!" He screeched.

Not from the random beam which turned this tin can of a robot into a hostile.

But the stinging burn.

One too familiar.

"SHIT!"

Darthra could only fly frantically as he fell. 

Into the hole.

Back into the room.

With a thud, Dartha landed, eying his left wing.

'Now I can't fly,' He looked at the opening in the ceiling, 'I'm a goner...'

'Wait...'

Darthra's gaze landed.

An abomination of silver seemed to look back as it lumbered forward, struggling with each step as its body was open.

No matter how disturbing it looked or how grossed out he was, there was one key difference between Mecha-Mothra and this alive armour.

Hostility.

As it moved closer, Darthra felt no threat from it.

Instead, he felt...support.

"Power..."

"Sacrifice..."

"Desire..."

'Even now...I don't think I'll win with my powers,' Darthra kept his gaze on the ceiling, 'I didn't try, but why should I if I'm going to lose?'

"Don't do that,"

A voice.

Darthra knew it from before.

Where was it coming from?

"Don't let one action sway who you are,"

'Oh, I know that,'

By now, if it could, the silver armour could pounce Darthra at this point.

'That's...my next goal,' he stared it down, 'there's always a risk,'

'However, I'm willing to sacrifice,'

So, with shaky legs, Darthra walked forward, towards the stumbling armour wear.

It stopped for a split second as if surprised by Darthra's movements.

Then, it continued, opening itself to improbable extremes.

With his heart bouncing out of his mandibles, Darthra prepared for the worst.

The next thing he knew, the armour jumped on him, covering Darthra like a blanket.

All he could feel was the constant movement of this amalgamation. It was like having hundreds upon hundreds of spiders or centipedes crawling up and down constantly on his skin.

A few seconds later, there was this weight on his body.

Every part, even his antennae and wings, felt a bit heavier.

'Ugh,' He groaned, the bulky feeling made him uncomfortable, 'It's like I'm in a sauna,'

'but, I'm alive,'

A screech echoed.

Mecha-Mothra.

'Shit,' He felt his movements required more effort, 'what does this armour do?'

As the robot hovered above, the people still there screamed.

Both from the robot insect and from the silver mess of a moth.

"Sacrifice..."

'Huh? That again?' Darthra heard it in his head, 'must be the armour,'

"Your pain...is your freedom,"

As the room glowed red, from Mecha-Mothra, Darthra began to panic.

'Do something!' He thought, 'Was this a bad idea?'

'What do I-'

PLISH!

 Sounds of flesh cut through the room.

The people and even Mecha-Mothra reacted to it.

Darthra felt it.

It was like getting pinched. Then from the pinch, came the twist, then the rip.

Whatever it was, caused such pain, that Darthra let out a blood-curdling screech.

One that halted Mecha-Mothra's attack.

In fact, it was Darthra's cry of pain that led the robot to not only stop attacking altogether but to fly out of the room, disappearing with a faraway screech.

A shame for Darthra.

"Fuck...argh...fuck!" He screeched, "The pain!"

He felt it.

Blood trickled from his wound. It seeped through the silver armour and dripped onto the floor.

"Your blood...matches your passion..."

The armour moved.

What Darthra felt was the exact opposite of the excruciating pain he went through. It was as if the armour grifted into his very flesh and exoskeleton. Into his nerves. Now that it moved. The pain was gone.

So was the apparent 'wound' he felt on his abdomen.

The blood still stained him, though.

'What...was that?' Darthra could move, though with more effort, 'Did I scare away that Mecha-Mothra?'

As he walked, he shook his head.

'That's kinda dumb,' Darthra thought, eyeing his body, 'how could a robot feel fear? Maybe it was controlled and the pilot was frightened? Or in this world, robots have feelings?'

He had many questions, but like a kid who didn't study for a test, Darthra had no answers.

'What is this armour, anyway?' He shook, 'Can I even take it off?'

Darthra sighed.

Then, a shroud of glee entered his heart.

'With this on, I was able to stop myself from dying, I think,' He thought, looking around, 'with this, I can combat a bit better,'

'I can win.'

Darthra shook his head again.

This was no time to get ahead of himself. The armour was a mystery to him. Not only did it hurt him, but it also fixed that wound, somehow.

'Whatever,' Darthra stared at the moth corpse on the stone podium, 'then, what happened this that moth?'

His brainstorming began.

Then ended quickly.

Why? Because of a human.

Yes. Darthra would turn to face this human as they walked out of the cracks, where they had been hiding.

Soon, the rest followed suit, quivering in their skins.

Darthra stood at the ready in front of the podium, despite his armour weighing him down.

'Perhaps an answer will be fulfilled.' He thought, waiting for a response.

He noticed one. 

A man.

With a face of terror, he fell to his knees.

"Our saviour has come," He said, lowering his head to pray, tears in his eyes, "we...are safe,"

One by one, the group of people surrounded Darthra in a half circle, on their knees and praying as well. Some sniffed like the man. Others stayed quiet.

Darthra, however, was shitting himself with confusion.

'Did I hear saviour?' He thought, standing there, 'Am I a hero to these people? How? Where they not just scared of me?'

Mecha-Mothra came to mind.

'Hmm,' Darthra watched the people pray, 'is there some bad blood between these two?'

He didn't care for the people, but he did care about Mecha-Mothra.

Even then, seeing this group of people bowing to him, to a failure like Darthra, and calling him their saviour, grew a new feeling within him. Plus, he realised something.

They must be desperate.

'That corpse,' Darthra faced the rotten moth again, 'the armour was on that before I arrived,'

'could they have been doing the same thing to this corpse that they are doing now to me?'

With a heave, the armour clunking on his body, Darthra turned and watched the people. 

'At least they're not killing me, like last time,' He thought, 'they're putting their hopes on me instead,'

Darthra sighed. That happened before and didn't go well.

'I'll just disappoint them again like I always do...'

He paused.

'No,' He told himself, 'this is a wake-up call.'

'I must believe in myself,'

With his one and a half wings raised, Darthra stood, as if posing.

'I must start here, I have this armour to help me,' 

"Strength...for your blood,"

He heard it talk again.

'Not forgetting it's weird sentences,' Darthra shook his head, 'whatever, starting today, I'll say something with certainty,'

'Like how Anguirus said,'

He breathed in and out.

'I can beat that Mecha-Mothra.'

'I will do it.'

A sensation fell upon him.

One of confidence.

'Not good enough, I still feel doubtful,' He posed again, 'While I wait for my wing, I can practice,'

As the group of people prayed to him, Darthra would stand like the statue before them, the light shining off the armour he wore, and repeat one phrase.

'I can do this.'

Chapter Text

As the hours passed, Darthra found out that these people were really living here.

Some of them even created a fire, settling meat on it. Besides bowing to his bulky self, they were in an endless cycle of eating and sleeping. Perhaps their waste went elsewhere.

'They must be hiding from something,' He pondered, the armour clanging with him, 'I'd be hiding too,'

His heavy wings moved.

'Healed?' Weird,' Darthra thought, admiring the fact that his wing was back, 'Now that I mention it, how does this armour truly work?'

The armour accompanied his body movements with simple bangs and clunks.

'Honestly, I don't mind keeping it on, but I have no choice,'

'Hmm?'

While he thought, a man approached him.

He walked slowly, taking each step with extra caution. A basket clung tightly to his chest, wrapped by his skinny arms. The light above revealed his dirty skin.

The man stopped and set the basket down in front of Darthra with care.

Within it, flowers. Bundled up perfectly.

'...'

Darthra didn't know how to respond. The man looked at him, waiting for an answer.

'I don't think I can communicate with them,' He thought, staring at the basket, 'I don't have the Cosmos, nor any telepathy, I think,'

When he looked back, the man shivered and descended to his knees, his head against the floor.

"P-Please..." He whimpered, his voice dry, "I'll get you an even greater gift, but please..."

Darthra looked at the man.

'I mean, it's a nice gift,' He thought, 'wait...I see...'

He let out a screech.

One of acceptance. 

At least Darthra hoped so.

"Thank you," The man groveled, and raised his head, "I hand you this offering for your assistance, if you care to listen, our saviour,"

'I don't have a choice, I don't even care, as I am not human," He stared at his silver wing, 'Once I'm healed, I'm out,'

"Our village," The man continued, pointing at everyone around him, "has been taken over by those...demons!"

He seethed, slamming a fist on the cold ground.

"All we can do is pray that something can change, as there is no hope for us. Against them, we do not stand a chance,"

Rage fumed from him as he exhaled, opening his hand.

"We're...useless to the giant monsters who flatten our houses. So we prayed. Prayed here in this cave, to the statue."

Darthra glanced over at the corpse, understanding what he had meant.

"Those here won't go back," The man sighed, looking over his shoulder, "until now,"

He raised a finger at Darthra.

"If you understand, please," The man bowed again, "Rid of those monsters who terrorize the blue sky,"

Darthra's eyes lit up like a lightbulb.

"The one you scared away, will be back," The man spoke, "until then, we have nowhere else to go,"

'It is Mecha-Mothra he is talking about,' Darthra thought, looking up at the open ceiling, 'it would be good if they were destroyed,'

He looked at the man with indifference.

'My wing's back,' Darthra flapped it a bit, 'I can get out of here,'

"It is quite the travel, for us, to follow the valley," The man raised, "only a breeze for you,"

Darthra stared at the man and the ceiling in separate intervals.

He could get out of there, but one question would stick in his dented brain.

'What is my goal?'

To arise to the heavens, and out of hell, Darthra would be lost. He would be free, but there'd be no direction.

Even if he was a monster, and a human's plight was not of his valour, Darthra needed a goal. 

Something to drive him forward.

'This...could be my goal,' He pondered, his antennae twitching, 'To improve myself,'

'I can do this,'

With a flap, Darthra struggled a little as his wings took him into the air.

The armour could be compared to arm and leg weights. Would it be wing weights now?

Whatever the case, He rose from the cold floor, and a wave of dust hit the walls of the room. The people too.

"T-Thank you, saviour," The man called out, kowtowing, "We'll forever be in your debt,"

Darthra heard this as he made it out of the ceiling, his wings battered against the heaviness of his armour.

'My goal is to defeat Mecha-Mothra, not save some humans,' He thought, hovering in the hair, 'I often forget that I'm a monster, not a hero,'

That man said something about a valley, and Darthra knew that there was more than just a 'valley'.

However, far in the distance, Darthra could make out a certain characteristic of something.

As he glided through the air, his thorax tightened in uneasiness.

Darthra would land harshly on the green below, his silver body rampaging and cutting down all that stood in his way.

His feet shuddered as something ate at the inside of his thorax as if it were going to burst out.

"Ugh," It made Darthra want to hurl and puke.

But nothing happened.

That heavy sensation sat there, waiting...

'What was that?' He looked around, trying to find the culprit, 'No,'

He shook his head.

'I must not be nervous now,' Darthra flapped his wings, 'whatever that was...I don't know,'

Even as he battered into the air, that feeling never left.

Darthra continued onward, following the valley as he went. It ended. On one side, he could see the shoreline of a beach and almost taste the salt.

He hesitated for a moment.

'No. Keep flying.' Darthra was not going to jinx it.

Sadly, the memories kept on coming.

"Argh!" He groaned, trying to ignore them, "STOP!"

For what seemed like an eternity, was a few seconds as Darthra shut out what he had wanted.

It was silent before he reached another point of interest.

The stretching land came to an end. On this end, almost touching the shoreline, stood rows of huts made of wood.

Darthra focused on the centre.

Standing out from the huts, stood a massive temple. A large staircase led to the top of the building, the inside obscured by darkness.

He ran a gaze over all the huts.

No people outside.

'They must be hiding inside,' Darthra stared at the temple, 'do they worship someone? Something?'

As he stared, Darthra felt this pressure roll off his body. From the armour to his exoskeleton.

The darkness in that temple held something. 

'Is that where my goal is?' Darthra hovered slowly to the top, his heart beating like a drum, 'This void...is pulling me,'

The next thing he knew, Darthra froze.

A monstrous roar shook the very foundation of this village. Trees fell and huts rattled.

There was no mistaking this roar. However, there was an underline of pain and struggle. Darthra paid no more attention to the temple, but out to sea.

Nothing else made him fly up into the air faster.   

As he heaved, Darthra's gaze rolled carefully across the surface of the ocean, the waves looking to branch at any moment. Maybe he was paranoid and scared himself. 

He could see it now.

Perhaps if he had looked left and right more, Darthra would've seen it sooner.

Mecha-Mothra.

The robotic moth fluttered with no emotion around a certain spot, eying its challenger.

Darthra's body tensed as he laid eyes on the other monster Mecha-Mothra was fighting.

'No.'

Yes. It was the monster. The one that he had bad memories of. The kaiju to solidify his position as a failure.

'Minus One.'

Chapter Text

Darthra watched the two kaiju battle it out, staring intently.

He trembled.

Not because it was far away. Even for him, he could still see, being a giant moth and all.

It was because those two looked to be on their last.

'What should I do?' Darthra pondered,  watching the scene unfold, 'I could let those two fight...'

However, he felt a bit...unsatisfied.

Despite that, it was better, in his eyes.

Yet...

'If I can activate the armour again,'  He hovered in the air, 'I could take out both of them,'

That was a solid plan, but Darthra knew certainly that Minus One had good regeneration. Mecha-Mothra had a mean beam too.

Besides, could his weapons even have an effect?

'I can do this,' Without thinking, Darthra flew forward, 'I can-'

'Can I?'

At the last moment, he stopped.

'Damn it...STOP it, Darthra!' Darthra paused, 'Did I...really call myself Darthra instead of Dominic?'

He looked at the temple.

'Whatever,' Dartha thought, 'I'll let them fight it out,'

The sinister energy from the building gripped him once more. As he flapped closer, it intensified.

'What is in this place?' From the looks of it, the opening looked big enough for Dartha to fly in.

That was a possibility, so as he got in line to enter, a red beam of energy blasted past him, clipping his wing.

"ARGH!" He screeched, creating distance from the dark entrance.

Darthra checked his wing. 

The slight sting of the heat was there, but it didn't interfere with his flight. The armour protected him.

'This means that I can-'

Something dark flew out of the space in the temple, letting out a cry.

He had chills.

'The red beam,'

As it flew around him, Darthra was surprised.

"Two?" he screeched, trying to keep his gaze on the Mecha, "Shit!"

Darthra flew into the sky, attempting to get better ground against his foe. Another red beam sliced his chest. Once again, the armour protected him, but not in the way he thought.

It scratched the surface, but that was enough to see blood.

As he fell, Darthra felt the excruciating pain of the wound, green blood falling with him like rain.

'I can beat it.'

This was the only thing he could think as he fell to the ground, the temple being the not-so-great cushion. Darthra grew limp, his wings covered the sides of the building.

A lump was caught in his throat. The outward appearance of the armour hid his true feelings within.

He heard a metallic screech.

Mecha-Mothra.

Darthra shook in terror as its antennae charged, red electricity cackling with menace. It made him realize something.

Instantly, his own antennae charged.

It was like a certain retaliation, a distant memory. 

Two yellow beams bolted from Darthra, slamming into the metal body of his foe.

'...' His heart sank.

Where was the aid that this armour promised? Was it all a delusion to his failed self? 

As he laid eyes on the imminent attack, it was as if he accepted defeat.

SCREECH!

What stopped Mecha-Mothra was another roar.

Darthra knew for sure that this was the other one, fighting Minus One.

As it flew away, he had a grim expression.

'Was all that talk for nothing?' Darthra griped, his feet sinking into the temple, 'Am I...letting my cracks be?'

'No.'

He shook his head.

'Stop with this bullshit,' Darthra straightened his wings, 'I can do this,'

Green blood dripped, staining the armour. He tensed from the pain.

'I will win,'

Fighting through it, Darthra took to the air, eyes set on his foe.

'One way or another,' the air seemed to intensify as the antennae atop his head glowed, 'I will kill-'

From his gaze, Darthra saw the crimson beam.

Minus One was in view.

Her head clean off.

Soon, his body grew heavy. A shockwave of some sort pounded him back onto the temple. Darthra's thorax squeezed as he hurled, more blood dripping from his wounds.

Above him, was the other Mothra, its wings thrusting through the air with ease.

He could feel a light yet constant force breezing against him.

'Oh my...' He groaned, his head sore, 'I won't lose,'

The two Mecha-Mothras floated in the air, the two indistinguishable from one another, eyeing Dartha's pain.

A conversation appeared to be happening between the two.

He didn't care to listen.

Only the armour spoke.

"Your blood and suffering have thoroughly quenched our thirst,"

Darthra stared down the steps of the temple.

At the very first, a crowd amassed there, watching in horror. They did nothing but stare. What could they do?

"Have your aid, for we are harsh, but never evil."

'Aid?'

Slowly, Darthra felt it again.

That knawing. It once struck when he left the cave. Like an anvil. An anvil of a million degrees. 

His antennae flickered. 

All saw what was once a yellow static, became a green hue, as Darthra curled his body, the heaviness in his thorax intensifying.

'Is this...'

A moment later, the armour shifted.

In a split second, the now once-silver Darthra became a bloodied monster. Like a needle, the armour injected itself into his skin, sinking into his abdomen, thorax, head, and even his feet and wings.

No more thoughts came out of him.

Only an agonising shriek.

The Mecha-Mothras flew back, trying to get a meaning of all this. Down below, people tensed from the screech. They stood.

All the pain in his body, including the blood splattered everywhere, forced his head down.

The static green of the antennae lit up his wings too, the colours wavering like a crowd in a stadium.

Darthra's mandibles were open.

Wide.

Like incoming vomit, the heavy feeling rolled up his thorax and brimmed at the mouth.

His eyes glowed green, and it all came out.

In a beam.

A horrendous, green beam. It tore through the steps below, heat bursting around it.

Darthra hurled.

He didn't know how the beam sprang from his mouth, but from the damage, his life came first.

In a movement of pain, Darthra pulled his head up, aiming for the Mecha-Mothras in his sight.

The beam traced a line, cutting through houses, leaving a small explosion behind. There were screams from the people.

When it took to the air, it made work of one of them, slicing the Mecha in half. It lit up in a bright explosion of circuits and fire.

Darthra wasn't quick enough to hit the other one, as it flew out of his reach.

As the green beam quelled, a fire began where he had blasted, scorching the wooden homes ruthlessly. 

With the beam gone, Darthra took a sharp inhale, and his wings turned up a brightness, brimming with power.

He felt them ache immensely as a wave of green lighting bolted, setting areas around Darthra alight.

A few zapped the other Mecha-Mothra. That imploded, slamming into the ground.

Darthra looked ahead with shattered eyes.

Not only did the pains of the armour send him over the edge, but the heat that began to build around him pushed Darthra to his limits.

At the first step, the group of people stood, their homes set alight.

Nothing could compare to their faces of despair.

And hatred.

A moment later, Darthra's mandibles opened again. His body curled.

The green beam appeared a second later.

What was not in a crisp, Darthra made into one.

Mostly because he couldn't help it.

The beam fired forcefully, and he could only suffer.

Lines traced the defenseless buildings, each adding to the flow of flames. Blood stained the temple, rolling down the sides.

Darthra's beam ran out of fuel.

Like a sailor lost at sea, the temple as his boat, Darthra watched the river of flames around him, flickering and cackling loudly without a purpose.

For a moment in time, Darthra could breathe.

He could think.

The agony ceased.

'I did it,' He looked at the bolstering fire, 'I...beat them,'

However, for that split-second, Darthra's body gave way.

'Yet...' His conscience faded, 'I didn't,'

As Darthra slept, his blood-soaked armour shined.

Slowly retracting from his skin.

Chapter Text

A man.

Before him, in the abyss, Darthra looked at a man in a bathroom. His head was low in the sink in front of him, his hands rummaging through his messy black hair. Darthra heard the tap of this sink running.

Something within him ticked.

This looked familiar. Where did he see this situation and when did it happen? 

Why was he staring through a mirror?

The man on the other end splashed water on his face, rubbing it into his skin. He looked up.

A wave of shock swept Darthra's moth face.

'That's me...' He thought grimly, '...what I used to look like,'

"It's not over yet," The boy stared at the mirror, his wet eyes piercing into Darthra's, "you're not useless, you can make them proud,"

It clicked.

This was another memory of Darthra. Nothing new.

'It's a shame you'll never succeed,' He thought, watching the boy cry, 'and...become a giant moth after your death,'

The mirror warped, and not long after, Darthra awoke.

On a throne of devastation.

Ash and charcoal settled around what were wooden huts and corpses, the air was so thick, that Darthra almost choked. There were so many similarities between this and the aftermath of a battlefield.

Silent, with a story untold.

That was not all. As Darthra eyed the town, a voice faded into his head and jabbed itself into his skull.

"You've done well, but our cooperation ends here. May our aid push you to new heights..."

A heat rose within Darthra. 

It encapsulated his very being and travelled throughout his system. What it paved the way for was this unbridled boiling that Darthra never felt before.

Strength.

Weirdly enough, as he lifted his moth body, Darthra knew there was something off. The weight of the armour was no more. It was gone. He checked his wings. No silver. The only gleam was of the waves crashing onto the shore of the burnt village.

Darthra moved around.

'Am I...bulkier?' His heart pumped, 'Oh my word,'

With every movement he made, Darthra felt like he needed to do something. The energy within him bounced around as if it were on a trampoline. He couldn't explain it, but he knew one thing.

'I feel stronger,' Darthra fluttered his wings, each swish exerting more power than he could ever imagine, 'stronger...'

A light switched on in his head.

Mecha-Mothra.

He fired into the air, his wings cannons against his sides as Darthra spun around and around, checking for his enemies.

One laid where it was before, limp. The other, Darthra saw pieces of its mechanical body strewn around in a set part of the village.

They were destroyed.

'I...did it...' He couldn't believe his blue innocent moth eyes, "YES!"

Darthra let out a victory screech.

In his energetic behaviour, he noticed the people below.

He almost froze, even the heat he felt halted for a moment.

Out of the crowd, he recognized one.

'Oh,' So he hovered to the shore, reading himself to land, 'right...'

Sand blew into the air with each beat his wings did, and the humans covered their faces and fought the onslaught in response, but Darthra landed without a hitch.

As the group approached him, they were not too similar to before. Faces of shock, horror and confusion were what they wore, but one stood different.

It was the man.

The clumped mess of humans stopped at a distance, but he continued on. No one stopped him.

Three words.

Relief.

Awe.

Disappointment.

At the culmination of each step, the man fell to his knees, bowing.

Darthra stared, but despite this, something stirred within him. 

The man spoke.

"It is bittersweet, saviour," He spoke, cranking his head, "were you hiding as a demon? A demon disguised as an angel?"

"Yet, I am satisfied, you freed us, and yourself," The man continued, with a sombre smile on his face, "your features intrigue me, but maybe even some demons have good sides,"

He stood.

"Better yet, I handed you my greater gift," The man bowed again, his head turned to the rubble of the village, "that I can be thankful for,"

Darthra watched the man turn around and walk back to the village, past the other people.

'What the fuck?' Was all Darthra could think, before exhaling, 'Were those the only demons?'

It didn't matter to him.

'He said my features...' The heat came back, '...that's it!'

Without a second thought, Dartha ascended to the air, his wings so strong that even more sand launched up high.

He took one last look, and Darthra was off.

The main focus was the ocean below.

Darthra's reflection.

To say the least, he was gobsmacked as he lowered himself close to the surface.

His once blue eyes were replaced by a light green. His body had this whitish flair to it, but that was not the biggest shock. Green cracks riveted his body. In the middle of his chest, a green circle glowed, almost like a heartbeat.

'Is this why I feel so strong?' Nevertheless, Darthra was amazed by it, 'Hell yeah!'

He didn't care.

Not by his features, nor by his palpitating heart that seemed to beat more energy and heat into him.

"I..." Darthra screeched, "I'm strong...I'M-"

His heart squeezed for a moment, and Darthra flinched in pain.

The next thing Darthra knew, he crashed into the waves below.

And immediately flew back into the air.

'I forgot,' He thought, increasing his elevation, 'Minus One,'

At the thought, Darthra chuckled.

'More like Minus none, where is she?' He took a lazy glance around him, 'If she couldn't stand a robotic beam, she'll die if I ever fight her,'

That's right.

With this newfound power, Darthra had shed a light of confidence. A lot of confidence. Despite that, all this input creating an energetic Darthra became his lifeblood.

'Mmm...' As Darthra glided with the makeshift authority that he was the king of the sky, a pulse of heat sprang inside his thorax.

'That stung a little,' Darthra thought, 'maybe I have injuries? Though the armour would've healed me, right? Speaking off...'

The thought of the village people came back.

'How long was I out for those guys to travel from that armour place to the village?' The wind blew lightly against him, 'Where did the armour go?'

He screeched in frustration.

'It must've given me these cracks, this power,' Darthra looked ahead, 'I don't need it anymore,'

Through his flight, Darthra made sure the land and ocean were in view. In fact, he practically flew above the shoreline, trying to make everything balanced, but that was not the case.

He looked for prey.

Or other kaiju for that matter.

It looked as though some arrogance injected into his bloodstream. Darthra not only wanted to eagerly fight but also to see what powers he had.  He needed to see.

Deep down, Darthra believed he was no longer a failure.

He kept that thought as he came across a crocodile.

A massive crocodile.

Darthra screeched in delight.

He remembered this massive creature, he didn't know what to call it or how it got there, but here it was. A giant crocodile-like kaiju squirming on a beach.

It was when another flew into it that he stopped in mid-flight.

Then another.

And another...

Ten.

Ten of these big-ass creatures jumbled together, basically clearing and crushing every living thing and plant in their vicinity, each focused on something in the sky.

Darthra didn't take note. He immediately dashed at the conglomeration of scales. He didn't hear the screech either.

For he was out for blood.

Chapter Text

From his wings, green bolts of charged lighting fell, blowing up the ground beneath them.

Darthra's happiness fired off the charts as he watched the geysers of sand, flesh, and blood fired into the air, splattering amongst the kaiju below.

A tail whipped into the sky.

In a semi-panic, Darthra flapped his wings hard, shoving himself out of range.

This pushed a few of the creatures even more.

"Oh YES!" He screeched as two lines of green fired from his antennae, onto the cluster below.

Blood.

For the first time in a long time, Darthra was thrilled at the amount of damage he did. With only the charges from his wings, scales upon scales tore off these crocodiles. 

He did something useful.

'I can do this,' Once again, he flew low, more bolts unleashed, 'I can-'

A massive green tail clobbered his side. That sent him spiralling to the ground hundreds of feet away, smashing through acres of trees.

However, it was not painful.

That tail, the same size as the crocodile he lost to before, felt like a light arm shove and not a mace to a watermelon.

"..." He quickly rose as a wave of kaiju dashed for him, crashing into one another.

It only garnered a wing flap from Darthra.

"I'm not a failure!"

With a powerful swing of his turbulent wings, he set off a devastating gust of pelting wind.

It seemed ludicrous how high these monsters took to the air. Most landed in the sea, washing great tidal waves onto the land, and two landed on the shore, trying to brace the heinous winds.  

Darthra fumed his mighty wings.

Those creatures did not advance a single step.

CRACK!

He was taken off guard as a yellow beam bolted down on one of the kaiju, peeling off some of the hard flesh.

That was not from Darthra.

Gazing at the area where the attack came, he could not believe his green eyes.

Mothra.

The moth soared past, making its way out of reach.

'So...there's a Mothra, too-'

BOOM!

One of the kaiju whipped their tail directly into Darthra's face.

The cracks on his skin glowed as he shuddered from the bludgeoning attack. 

As he spiralled into the earth, Darthra felt no damage.

He only repelled.

The crocodile roared, exposing its underbelly.

Darthra wasted no time to unleash a pair of potent energy from his antennae.

'Could this be?'

The beams travelled close to the ground before they ricocheted and jumped for the creature's chin.

What did Darthra see?

Blood.

The lighting sliced through the croc, ejecting out the top of its head.

It uttered a pitiful growl as it slammed against the ground.

Never getting up again.

Darthra screeched.

His green spot pulsed as he hovered above the rest, raining down the thunderous lighting, splitting open more wounds.

With some assistance from Mothra, who didn't stop despite his intervention, what remained of these ten one-hundred-meter-long crocodiles were only a mush of green and red. 

To compare the scene, Darthra shared similarities to a painter. 

The shoreline was his canvas and the corpses his paint and brushes.

He was satisfied.

In this body, in this jubilant hole of heat and adrenaline, Darthra found success. He found happiness. As Darthra landed on the red shore, he let out a screech of contentment.

Only a second did he forget about his reality.

"I...never thought the day would come,"

Darthra lifted his head.

In front of him, stood the legendary kaiju, the benevolent protector of earth.

Mothra.

As he locked eyes with her, Mothra had this slight hesitation, maybe from all the glowing cracks on Darthra's white fur, or maybe something else?

"Firstly," She spoke, lowering her head slightly, "greetings, my kin,"

'Kin?'

From her speech, Darthra felt no malice or hostility. 

"Nice to meet you," He replied, lowering his head too.

"It's been...a while since I have met another one of my kind," She sighed, looking around, "be it as it may, I've completed my mission,"

The more he thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. In the end, he could only ask.

"Your mission?"

"My people prayed for my aid," She answered, scanning the bloodied sand, "no more worries after your help,"

He may have had enough heat and energy, but Darthra felt another warmth when he heard this. It was as if he was embraced in a hug.

Mothra continued.

"Let's go back, they need to give you their thanks," She said eagerly, her wings swinging lightly as she soared into the air, "Come with me now, my kin,"

Darthra took a moment.

'If, by random chance, she is lying,' He sighed, and took to the air, 'I can fight back,'

"Brilliant," She said, travelling slowly in the sky so he could catch up. 

The next moment, Darthra flew with her over the ocean, making sure he was far from the surface.

As they slowly soared over the floor of blue, he couldn't help but glance at her. With the way she flew, Darthra couldn't help but feel even more heated.

'The hell?' He looked at the sea, 'So weird, I just met her...that's a fucking moth I'm thinking about,'

Darthra's heart pulsed.

'It's been too long,' He thought as his head began to spin, 'could they have looked under my bed!?'

At that thought, Darthra almost lost his flight.

"Everything okay?" 

He heard Mothra's comforting voice and almost turned into a simp.

"I-I'm fine," He muttered, trying to shake the feeling off, 'focus, you're a moth now!'

"We are only halfway," She chirped, keeping a steady air pace, "this will be a day Infant Island will remember,"

By the time they reached the island in the middle of the ocean, the sky grew dark.

Flying steadily, Darthra followed her to a clearing, big enough for the two.

The inhabitants were there, bowing and praying not only to Mothra but to Darthra as well.

Deep into the night, the people celebrated too, dancing and singing not only in their gratitude to these two but to their safety in general.

They partied so much, that they miraculously didn't notice the giant moth, Darthra, heading to the shore, and why should they? He knew of their happiness, and besides, they were enjoying themselves.

Darthra, however, wasn't.

He had so much energy that he couldn't just sit still and watch these people move about. There was training to be done. Landing on the grainy sand below, Darthra had something in mind.

'I feel that itch,' He concentrated, 'let me scratch it,'

This itch he felt sprinkled around his wings.

In those moments of focus, Darthra felt like he was going to burst. His heart banged like a drum and his body shone the dark surroundings with green light. What felt like tiny burns stung his insides.

Then it happened.

Like a full moon on a specific night, Darthra's wings pulsed a dark green. The air sizzled around them, letting him know how potentially lethal they could be.

"Oh my WORD!" He screeched excitedly, 'I should try it on something-'

"There you are,"

His heart skipped a beat as Mothra landed next to him. Even with her hesitant look, Darthra was brimming with energy. He had something to tell her.

"I'm curious, my kin," She said methodically. Her antennae flung slowly, "your appearance...how did it come to be?"

At this point, Darthra was in the heavens, his emotions running high. 

"About that," He began, his heart beating even faster, "I have something...to tell you,"

Finally, he could say it.

Mothra kept her soft and attentive gaze on him, waiting to hear him.

"I came across a strange mountain range," Darthra's feet gripped the sand as he controlled his emotions so that they did not spill over, "I found a cave. In it, sat humans, worshipping a suit of armour that could fit any moth,"

He didn't see Mothra's expression and only continued.

"Even with its alluring calls, and the intense pressure, due to some circumstances, I wore it," Darthra stared out across the shore, the waves crashing like always, "but, that's not all,"

The spot on his chest glowed as he rested his head on the beach.

"It made me stronger," He continued, "now, I feel like I can fight anything. I may have crashed twice due to the intense heat, but that's fine. With this power handed to me, I don't need to feel afraid. I don't worry anymore..."

He screeched softly.

'I don't feel useless anymore.'

"After I passed out from battle, I awoke with these cracks of green and a body pumping with energy," Darthra continued, finally turning his head to look at his moth friend, "that's when I...met...you..."

The absolute joy of finally sharing with someone what he couldn't fell away as his gaze met Mothra's.

To everyone, they'd see the face of a pretty moth.

What Darthra saw, made him boil with rage.

To describe what he saw in this expressionless moth's face, it was a simple sentence. One he wished he never saw again.

She gave the look of a mother that read:

'I'm not angry at you, I'm just disappointed.'

There was much that Darthra could do with his unbridled anger. He wanted to fly away. He wanted to destroy every single thing around him. 

He could only speak.

"Why..." Darthra muttered, visibly shaking, "I know I've just met you and known you for not even a damned day, but tell me, my 'kin', what gave you the incentive to give such a look?"

Mothra stared, as if understanding his reaction. She remained calm and spoke carefully.

"I am only sorrowful for you, my kin," She said, letting out a saddened screech, "you...did not deserve what you have been given,"

Darthra looked at her in utter confusion.

She inhaled.

"You...have been cursed."

Chapter Text

"W-What?"

The seconds ticked on, and the words seeped in like a sponge absorbing water. Not even the heat within him could stop his blood from running cold.

"I'm cursed?"

"The armour is a curse," Mothra replied, her antennae drooping in front of her face, "it...is a curse hidden as a blessing,"

"Be it as it may, I do not blame you," She continued, "the extraordinary power it gives is unparalleled to the limit we moths can touch,"

Darthra kept quiet, the energy flaring with anxiety within him.

"but, the cost is far too great-"

"Just...tell me," Darthra interrupted her, his voice a bit shaky, "what's going to happen to me?"

"When one dons the armour, they receive its energy. That is the green glow you hue and ooze," Mothra answered calmly, gazing at the stars in the sky, "however, those who wear it...meet a tragic end,"

"Tragic?"

She shifted on the spot, "Your body cannot handle such energy..."

Mothra breathed in.

"...your body will crumble. Crumble until there is nothing left but a green mist."

Silence floated in between the two, the wave rolling onto the beach the only reminder of where they were.

Then, Mothra heard it.

Laughter.

It came from Darthra beside her.

It was more of a sulk, but she could hear the desperation and hopelessness that seeped into that laughter.

Through the scrambled chuckling, he spoke.

"I'm...supposed to just accept that?" Darthra trembling, his wings shook with his denial, "Are...Are you lying to me? I-Is this some sick joke? Tell me. Tell me it's just a joke,"

His heart sank as Mothra's expression didn't change.

"Why...Why would I ever lie?" She asked, her face softening to his questions, "that would be just awful if I ever did such a thing,"

Fear gripped Darthra's heart as he moved uneasily on the sand, trying not to believe what he just heard.

"I'm going to die? Th-That's it?" His wings lowered, "Is there a way...I can..."

"You poor dear," Mothra spoke, her chest aching, "the second you wore that armour was the moment you signed your life away,"

She moved closer, trying to comfort him.

"That's why...you brought me here," Darthra added, his body boiling to destroy something, "Not for fucking thanks, but to tell me this BULLSHIT!?" 

Mothra sighed.

"I was really glad to see you, you know?" She replied, her voice sincere, "And my people needed to know I was not their only ally,"

"..."

"Even when my wings shook when I saw your appearance, that was not the only thing on my mind," Mothra continued, "but, when the time came, I had to ask you, just in case..."

"You graciously explained it to me as well!" Darthra added, frustrated over his situation, "I bet you could talk for hours on how I'll disintegrate, and by then maybe I will-"

He paused. Darthra could feel something heavy pushing him down.

"When will I...d-die?" He choked. No one would've expected themselves to ask such a question, especially Darthra, "I...don't want to...die..."

"I'm not sure," Mothra answered grimly, "but, once the energy reaches its breaking point, you  may show signs of heightened emotions, heat, and random but sharp pains."

Darthra's heart dropped as if it had its rope cut, and it plummeted to the neverending bottom of his chest.

By his account, he experienced all three.

"No," He mumbled, slamming a wing onto the sand, "I..."

"FUCK!"

He turned to Mothra.

"I...I'm sorry," Darthra spoke, his eyes almost hollow, "please, can you...leave me?"

For a moment, she stared back, despite showing some disagreement, Mothra understood his intentions.

"It is I who is sorry, my kin," She said, slowly flapping her wings, "if only we moths were not fragile nor prone to death...if only our lives were not so disastrous..."

Mothra flew away, presumably to the ongoing party.

To describe Darthra, he was stuck in a lake of tar.

He couldn't move, not because he was stuck, but because of the ongoing emotions that bombarded him like an endless orchestra of cannons and fire.

Some thoughts slipped in too.

'I'm dreaming, I ain't gonna die,' He thought, his antennae dropping, 'Oh my word, I'm worrying over nothing, that's right! I'm worrying...over...'

A cutting sting sliced at his chest, paralysing him for a second.

'No,' He shook his big head, flinging sand around, 'I'm not going to die, I ain't Heisei Godzilla. I won't meltdown,'

'I'm not David Martinez, and I am not Joe Yabuki,' Darthra thought, his body shivering, 'I want to live, I don't want my life to end like this, for it to end in a slow-motion train crash,'

His wings lowered themselves to the ground.

'I failed again...' Darthra sighed, his cracks gleaming, 'I left my cracks open...no, that's not what he meant! This is too literal,'

In his distress, Darthra fired a bolt of green into the sky.

"Fucking trash," He told himself, "You're a piece of shit..."

"You're useless,"

"A waste of space and oxygen,"

"It was right that you died..."

"You FAILURE!"

Darthra heaved, his body heating up.

'I can't change anything,' He inhaled deeply, 'I wish I had more time to impress....'

At the thought, his mind went to work, and Darthra slowly chuckled.

He laughed quietly and almost crazily for a minute.

'Who am I trying to impress?' Darthra thought humorously, 'I'm such an idiot,'

He walked forward, the waves stretching to touch him.

'Insanity,' He pondered, 'To do the same thing over and over and over again, expecting something to change...'

'I'm insane,'

Darthra let out a massive sigh, feeling some of his worry disappear.

'I did this for people who don't exist anymore,' He turned, 'I...still tried to impress those who think I'm dead,'

Darthra slowly walked across the beach, his cracks lighting the way.

'I should try and please myself, rather than trying to please others,' He stopped, 'wait...'

'Didn't I have a dream?'

Darthra faced the inland.

'Oh my word,' He thought, 'I did.'

As he realised his long-forgotten dream, Darthra noticed the rising sun on the horizon.

Did time fly that quickly?

He was not sure.

But what Darthra was sure of, was his dream.

'I may not be that kaiju, but I can still carry out that dream,' He watched as the sun peeked into view, lighting up his surroundings, 'not as Darthra, but as Dominic,'

Another pain rebounded inside his body, crippling Darthra for a moment.

'I don't have time to worry about my past failures, nor do I have time to sulk about my fate,' Relief began to shine its light onto his fur, much like the morning sun, 'I'll do everything in the present, everything I can,'

He laughed.

'This energy...brimming within me, like a boiling volcano,' The spot on his chest pulsed, 'I'll use all of it,'

Darthra screeched.

'I'll do what makes me happy,' His wings, injected with life, began to wipe through the air, sand blowing far into the distance, 'No more will I be Darthra, a moth. I'll finish this as Dominic, that human with a dream,'

As he sprang into the air, Darthra flew inland, trying to find Mothra.

'I suppose I'll take some inspiration,' He thought, flying over trees, 'I'll go over the edge, and burn brightly...'

"Burn. Burn until there's nothing left...but pure, white ash."

Chapter Text

"You're going?"

Dominic nodded his head.

"I'm not going to sit around with all this energy," He said, his eyes glowing, "It's...what I want to do,"

Mothra nodded.

"Farewell, my kin," She took a moment to say it, knowing this would be the last goodbye, "I hope you...enjoy it,"

"Oh, I will," When Dominic stared at her, Mothra could tell he was smiling, "thank you,"

As he took to the air, Mothra wondered why he thanked her. Didn't she just tell him of his death? Why was he not in despair?

Whatever the case, she'll never know.

Mothra could only watch as Dominic soared into the distance.

Slowly forming into a speck.

Then nothing.

Dominic kept his head high, his green eyes glued to the beautiful blue sky.

'I never knew...the sky could be so pleasing to see,' He felt a pang of relief, then the surge of colossal energy flowing in his withering body, 'for the first time, in a long time, I feel good,'

Despite the bubbling cinders building in the green cracks and the dreading end that he forced into the back of his mind, Dominic sighed in satisfaction.

His wings began to glow.

Like a thunderstorm, bolts of green pulverised the sea below, shooting water into the air.

'Not yet,' Dominic looked forward, increasing his speed, 'there's no ash yet, no mist,'

Travelling across the ocean, he continued to fire at the water with his antennae and wings. Each attack helped loosen the tightening pressure in his chest.

'What's this?'

His gaze lowered, and Dominic noticed how he left a light, but present trail of some type of green fog.

'...' He flew faster, 'I must find a kaiju. Now.'

Weirdly enough, it may have been his perception of time, or Dominic was flying way faster than he should be going, but he found himself heading to another shore.

'Where's the crocodiles when you need them?' He shook his head, and continued to the right, 'The hell's Minus One!?'

"Gah!"

Dominic could feel his entire body rupture like an earthquake. He flew to the ground, trying to control his flight.

"Oh my word," After colliding with the earth, he took to the air right after.

With a trail of green tracing his irregular flying pattern, Dominic heard something.

It was faint but sudden.

The rumble of explosions, or footsteps? The ethereal call of a being.

Of two beings.

Dominic rushed once more.

He may have found his target.

In the far distance, in the middle of a desolate and empty plain of nothing, a gargantuan cloud of thick, grey smoke absorbed the air around it like a wildfire, growing in sheer space and intensity.

No more was there the cries of battle. 

All was quiet. For a moment.

Before Dominic saw a head, torn off from its body.

He could tell from the liquid surrounding it.

'...Damn...'

That same head belonged to a very familiar kaiju.

Dominic couldn't help but screech.

A couple of tremendous flaps later, he destroyed the cloud and found the menaces within. 
 
Creatures, all red and conglomerating on one spot.

There was no time wasted as Dominic unleashed every single attack he had in him.

Like an unstoppable inferno, the canisters of green incinerated into each and every one of their skins.

In turn, this fumed more dust.

Enough to guarantee time for their escape.

As Dominic floated in the air, he heard the many steps of each organism. He heard everyone come together.

He heard a singular roar.

The smoke cleared, revealing the mutilated body of Anguirus.

As well as the culprit.

The kaiju stood tall, protrusions everywhere on its bulky and colossal body. 

It let out a terrifying cry.

One that almost shook Dominic's exterior.

'Destroyah...'

For a moment, he studied the corpse of his friend.

'I...don't care...' He screeched into the air once more, 'Time to...'

'Burn.'

Dominic launched forward.

With him, came the bombardment of beams and lightning.

Destroyah roared, only able to shake and take the battering from its new foe.

It was rather easy to hit this massive kaiju, and so came the blood that poured from its many wounds.

'More...' Dominic felt his heartache as if his life was pulsing away, 'I'm not finished,'

With a few flaps, his wings glowed with the energy of the sun, as Dominic would compare it, the cinders of green baking around them.

As he did this, he saw Destroyah take off.

Right at him.

'Come on, you overgrown crab!' He thought, rushing the barreling kaiju head-on.

It was a magnificent sight. 

Two forces of green and red soared toward each other as if they were two planets on a course of collision.

All that changed when Dominic's chest squeezed. 

Green smoke puffed out of his cracks like a fog machine. Heck, one could see a few specks of blood.

Whatever the case, Dominic collided head-on with Destroyah.

Right into its massive, crabby claws.

The wings cleaved what they could put of Destroyah like a scissor through paper, but the punch aided by the kaiju's body weight, ran into Dominic's face like a sledgehammer through glass.

Two things fell.

One of Destroyah's arms and Dominic.

Both plummeted to the earth. Dominic uprooted rows of trees as he slid to a halt.

Pain stung the area around his right eye. 

'This...is want I wanted...' Struggling to move, Dominic turned to face his foe, 'I love this,'

As Destroyah roared, its footsteps shaking the very foundations of the earth's dirt and soil, Dominic came to a revelation.

He saw half of this kaiju.

For some reason, his sight felt off.

'Did it...get my eye?' Dominic felt the reminiscent blood stain his white fur, but a pain etched in his heart as it did so, 'No, that's not it,'

'It's starting,'

"Urgh," He felt it.

The overwhelming buildup of heat in his chest, the green fumes bursting from his cracks. A beam was incoming.

It came sooner than expected.

Dominic's body glowed as if charging up, and he opened his mandibles.

Out, came a beam. 

One filled with not only the pent-up energy within his melting body but with the desire and burn for action from Dominic's one dream.

The attack travelled across the land, splitting the ground into two. It sliced into Destroyah.

More blood spewed from the kaiju. Its response?

Nothing.

As his insides corroded, Dominic watched as the beam cut into Destroyah's many spikes and body parts, but the kaiju never flinched.

In fact, at some point, Dominic trailed the beam off entirely because of his eyesight.

Once the beam ended, and he heaved in pain, Destroyah blasted its own beam. There was not enough effort used as the Micro-Oxygen beam tore into Dominic's back. More green fluids, not only blood, spewed from the dying moth, but he shared something.

A look of dissatisfaction.

Even as the red kaiju clobbered Dominic with its tail, plus the glowing wound on his back, Dominic took to the air and struggled as he did.

'Awesome...' He thought, his body heating up, 'but...I don't see...any ash...'

He hovered in the air for so long, that Dominic even heard a voice.

"I don't understand,"

There was a pause, and he stared at Destroyah for a moment.

"You are still alive," The voice was so mixed, that Dominic didn't hear a distinct male or female tone, "I hate you-"

Like a jouster, he darted past, his pulsing wings gashing off Destroyah's other arm.

It roared in rage.

Dominic screeched as he blasted past once more, slicing off one of Destroyah's wings. Even though this was a considerable amount of damage, it truly did nothing in the long run to officially kill the kaiju.

He knew this, but he didn't care.

'Whatever,' Dominic thought as he flapped his wings, sending wave upon wave of rolling gusts of wind, 'Winning or losing is not my goal,'

'My dream is different. Very different.'

With his half-vision, he saw Destroyah tumble through the hurricane-like winds as if it were a light piece of paper fluttering in a breeze.

At that moment, something clicked.

Like the ground beneath your feet crumbling away and gravity pulling at your body. The very moment where if one sought safety, had that ripped away from them the very next second. 

As if it were a whispering voice in the back of his head, Dominic heard its plea.

'...' Beneath the celestial power he wielded. Under the molten heat and perpetual mist. Below the now crumbling corpse of a moth, Dominic knew.

The ashes fell.

He stopped thinking.

Finally, his wings lightened to an elegance unmatched.

To the now upright Destroyah, Dominic charged. Like a shooting star, he blazed across the air, his body brighter than the sun. The kaiju had only its eyesight to use. Even then it was no use.

Dominic didn't care about what he did. He didn't care if the mist he oozed incinerated the ground below. He was aloof to the melting pot he turned Destroyah into as it bubbled into nothingness.

He, stumbling through the air with one working eye, fluttered over the shore, and above the ocean.

There was one thing on his mind.

The dream.

His dream.

Dominic beamed, satisfied to the brim.

One could say he was happy, smiling even.

'Oh my word, this was amazing.'

What was left of his corpse had bursted into a cloud right then and there.

A cloud of not only mist and ash.

But one of a dream.

Dominic's dream.