Godzilla Warriors 6: Breach [Wattys 2017]

Chapter 16: Monsters and Men

While Leatherback and Otachi were located in forest areas, Scunner was located in a more tropical region. It reminded Mothra of Monster Island, sort of. She smiled as she grew more and more nostalgic for her old home. Then she remembered who she had been paired up with. Crimson was walking close behind her. He had his red and green laser sword drawn, which was making Mothra a bit nervous.
"Why are you making me walk in front of you?" She asked. "You're kind of freaking me out."
"Oh please. Like I would allow a Kaiju to walk behind me." Crimson scoffed. Mothra narrowed he eyes at him as they continued to walk.
"You seriously don't trust me?" She asked.
"I don't trust any Kaiju." Crimson replied.
"But I'm literally the guardian of nature and Earth itself." Mothra argued. "It's my purpose to protect all life on this planet."
"That doesn't matter to me." Crimson said. "All Kaiju are the same. You're all just a bunch of filthy sub-species." Mothra tried to not to let his words get to her, but she couldn't help it. She swivelled around to face him and put her hands on her hips.
"Well you're just a hairless monkey wearing a tin can, but I'm not complaining." She countered. Crimson's eyes narrowed and he stepped towards her. He was a little too close for her liking.
"If I killed you right now, nobody would know." He said.
"Why don't you try it then?" Mothra mocked. Crimson said nothing. Instead, he continued to walk foreword, making Mothra start to step back. Now she was getting scared. Finally, her foot hit nothing but the air, and she stumbled and fell back. She realized that he had backed her up to the edge of a cliff. She continued to stumble, and almost fell off the cliff, until Crimson nonchalantly grabbed her by the collar, stopping her from tumbling over the edge. He smirked sinisterly.
"Want me to let go?" He asked. He didn't realize that Mothra wasn't actually standing on the cliff. In fact, she was floating in the air front of him.
"You do realize I can fly, right?" She asked with a chuckle in her voice. Crimson had completely forgotten. His smirk fell and his face crumpled in defeat. He was about to pull her back onto the cliff, until Mothra saw a clawed hand reach up behind his back. A long whip-like tail was not far behind. Mothra gasped as she realized what was happening. Scunner was right behind him.
"Crimson, look out!" She shouted. She reached out to him, but it was too late. The hand came down on the back of Crimson's neck, making him shout in pain as the claws ripped through his armour. He let go of Mothra and his hand went to the back of his neck. Scunner then kicked him, sending him off the edge of the cliff. Mothra grabbed him by the arm and swung him back to safety. He landed on the ground and rolled into a bush. Meanwhile, Scunner grabbed Mothra and dragged her back onto the cliff. She fell to the ground, and her eyes instinctively closed due to her pain. When she opened up her eyes, she realized the Scunner was on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
"Hey, Mothra." She said.
"Get off of me!" Mothra ordered. In response, Scunner placed a hand over her mouth, both to keep her quiet and to tilt her head back, exposing her neck.
"You know, I really didn't want to kill you." She explained. "I always though we could be friends. But Slattern ordered it, so, you know." She said this with a shrug, as if this was a normal thing for her. With her other hand, she extended and raised a claw in the air. Mothra gasped as her eyes widened. Scunner was about to bring the claw down on Mothra's throat, but something crashed into her, making her topple off of Mothra. As she looked up, she realized that Crimson had actually knocked Scunner away and into a tree. He drew his sword again and was prepared to fight. Scunner screeched and lunged at Crimson, climbing onto his back and scratching at him. She was trying to drag him over to the cliff, presumably to throw him off. Mothra had an idea. She got up and rushed over to them. Without thinking about it for too long, she grabbed Crimson and tossed him over the side of the cliff. Both Crimson and Scunner began to fall, but Mothra still had a plan. She dove down and grabbed Crimson before he could fall too far. She pulled him back up to the surface as Scunner's screams faded out of earshot, ending with a soft thud as she hit the bottom. Mothra put Crimson onto the ground and knelt over to catch her breath. Crimson stared at her with wide eyes.
"What?" Mothra asked, wondering why he was staring.
"You... saved my life." He said.
"Yeah. You saved mine." Mothra replied. "I just thought I may as well return the favour. Besides, like I said, it's my purpose to protect all life."
Crimson nodded and looked over the side of the cliff. Scunner was undoubtedly dead. He exhaled sharply and looked back at Mothra.
"We were supposed to bring her back to the Shatterdome, not kill her." He growled. "Gypsy is going to be pissed."
Mothra gasped and covered her mouth as she realized what she had done. She had just killed someone again. After what happened with Megaguirus, she had vowed never to kill anyone ever again. But now, that vow was broken.
"Oh no..." She whispered, slowly sinking onto the ground. "I promised myself I... no... god dammit, no!"
Crimson raised an eyebrow, until he realized what was happening. She was feeling remorse. He didn't think Kaiju were capable of the feeling. But as he watched Mothra rock slowly back and forth and quietly berate herself, he realized that she was indeed capable. At that moment, he realized he was wrong about not only Mothra, but most Kaiju. He want over to her, knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at his face, which to her surprise, showed a hint of sympathy.
"It's alright." He said. "There was nothing else we could have done. Let's just head back to the boat, alright?"
Mothra stopped berating herself. Instead, she stared up with confused bewilderment at Crimson. He was comforting her. She would have never expected that from Crimson.
"I... wait, what?" She asked. Crimson rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Whatever, just come with me." He said. He helped Mothra up to her feet and the two made their way back to the boat. Mothra stared at Crimson in disbelief the whole way.