A Post-Gorath Toho World

It’s been roughly twenty years since the Gorath incident. The desperate plan to move the planet out of the way of the rogue star succeeded in saving Earth and its inhabitants from complete annihilation, but as a side-effect the world was thrown into chaos. The environment has been devastated as water levels rise, Earth’s governments scramble to recover from a near armageddon, and various space entities regard earth with envious eyes. Oh, and all of Earth’s monsters have gone wild.

The moon was only partially destroyed by Gorath, much to humanity’s relief. Without it, the Earth’s fate would certainly have been sealed. It was cracked, however. The vast majority of the moon’s pieces are still in close proximity to one another, clumped together as a pseudo-moon, while the rest of the moon’s debris has encircled the planet, forming a sparse ring. Occasionally a large fragment will crash its way to the planet’s surface, but nothing capable of causing an extinction scenario seems to be in the foreseeable future.

The ice caps have melted away, due to the one-two punch of the massive Earth moving engines installed in the south pole and the fly-by of a very hot celestial object. Water levels have risen roughly 67 meters worldwide, flooding the edges of every continent. Many cities were lost: New York, London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo to name a few. Storms and earthquakes ravaged the planet for a few months afterwards.

The state of Florida is completely gone. The Amazon river is now significantly larger as water flooded into Brazil. The Nile river has been similarly affected, and no longer dries up as often. The Caspian sea has eaten up large bits of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Arctic ocean has covered up a large potion of northern Russia. Australia now houses a small sea. Saying Antartica has been diminished is an understatement.

Earlier on, when it was announced Earth was on the brink of destruction by Gorath, the general public had reacted pretty much how you would expect. Of course, anarchy reigned, mostly in urban areas. Some people decided they didn’t want to be alive when the star hit the Earth, and others decided they’d rather face the end in their favorite locale or surrounded by loved ones. Travel spiked as families and friends journeyed to meet each other or rushed to finish their bucket lists. There were some pretty wild parties. Some who fancied themselves survivalists moved to remote areas, or even built their own shelters to wait out the apocalypse. Some are probably still down there. 

It was a nightmare for each respective government to keep the peace while the UN enacted the South Pole Operation. Almost all of the atomic furnaces still remain on the remnants of Antarctica, most of them underwater, completely spent of fuel. The force required to move the earth was an astronomical 60,600,000 megatons in order to sidestep out of the Calamity Star’s range of influence. The heat from the engines alone thawed out the majority of Antartica.

The United Nations Science Committee was able to predict many of the disasters and properly prepare for them, but some things went unforeseen. The moon was one thing. The near sinking of Japan was another. Thanks to the sacrifice of a brave submersible submarine captain and his plan to separate the country from the sinking tectonic plate with explosives, Japan is now safe. Unless you count Japan’s other problem. 

North American governments have joined together into a singular body in all but name, due to the flooding of both the United States’ and Canada’s capitals. Mexico City is doing okay, though. The other countries have followed suit, relocating their capitals farther inland. South America has to deal with the fact that Brazil has taken on much more water that usual, and the spread of a strange new Amazon rainforest. Africa, Eurasia, and Australia are all preoccupied with their own crises, and it seems to be going well enough.

It would be a lot easier if it weren’t for all the goddamned monsters.

As of now, the most widespread monster are the Meganula. Hardly a day goes by on any continent without hearing the buzzing of these giant dragonflies overhead. Some are derived from a species awoken from slumber by miners, while others leapt through a time portal ripped open by an experimental weapon in the early 2000’s. As they prefer breeding in an underwater environment, this new flooded Earth might as well be a paradise. There are at least seven major swarms worldwide, each ruled by a matriarch, and the matriarchs ruled by a queen, Megaguirus.

Not as numerous but equally as troublesome are a species of giant, bipedal, mutated reptiles that have made their home on North America’s east coast. Dubbed ‘Zillas’, these creatures are derived from a single member migrating to a flooded New York and laying 298 eggs. Each creature that hatched was self fertilizing, and able to lay eggs upon reaching maturity. Their burrowing instincts have made the eastern US shoreline resemble swiss cheese, and their eating habits threaten to drive fisherman in the north Atlantic out of business. Some are beginning to venture up the western coast, much to America’s dismay. A few have crossed the ocean. By now natural selection has favored individual Zillas that lay smaller clutches of eggs, as there was a population boom which resulted in many not finding enough to eat. Also, due to their ability to breed quickly, they’ve begun to adapt into new forms. The Hyper Zillas are leaner and meaner. Some can breath atomic fire.

South America has its own problems. Biollante has descended from the lower atmosphere and settled in the new Amazon gulf. Due to her influence, the Amazon rainforest has taken on a redder palette as rose-based plant life takes ahold of the rainforest. Every few kilometers a giant node resembling Biollante’s original toothy rose from has grown. The main body of Biollante is deep the in the biting, acid spitting brambles of the Amazon, and looks gnarly as hell.

Maguma roams Antartica’s fledgling forest, more confused than anything.

Across the Pacific Ocean, things are bit busier. Mothra, god beast of Infant island, has turned her back on civilization in order to protect her devoted followers and devotees. Appeals from Japan and other countries to protect them from various threats went unheard as the great moth prioritized evacuating Infant islanders to higher ground in a mass exodus as well as defending them. She’s preparing to lay an egg, which will severely weaken her and signal the end of her lifespan. 

The inhabitants of Farou and Mondo islands cling close to their giant ape god Kong, though there is strife amongst inhabitants as some switch their allegiances to the worship of the forbidden god, Gaw. 

Some of the inhabitants of Monsterland have managed to escape. Varan, perhaps sensing the need of his people, has returned to Siberia and acts as their protector and reinstated himself as deity of the area, keeping them safe from the swarms and monster attacks. Anguirus has swam his way back to mainland Asia, making occasional visits to his old buddy. Kamacuras is now highly mobile, more than happy to snack upon some hapless human or an unwary Meganula. Kumonga remains on Monsterland, where a visiting Meganula often find themselves trapped. Gorosaurus is also content to remain on the island. Baragon is MIA at the moment. Rodan has been traveling the world and has settled in northern Canada. King Caesar has made his way back to (what’s left of) Okinawa.

Many of the Earth’s secret kingdoms are in a tizzy right now. The sunken civilization of Mu has it’s god/mascot Manda back, and are now plotting to rise up and seize the surface world at its moment of weakness. Keeping a keen eye on them are Seatopian spies. Having cleared up the misunderstanding from the late seventies, Seatopia has allied itself with the surface world, cutting ties with the space roaches. Right now they are considering loaning out their god Megalon to aid the surface world, but such an act would leave them wide open to attack from their enemies.

Not far from Mu is Latitude Zero, ruled by a race of quasi-immortals. When they aren’t busy keeping the rogue soldier Malik and his mutated experiments from overrunning their civilization, they have to fend off the attacks of Dr. Hu. Doctor Shibuya Hu, daughter of the infamous mad scientist, has predictably followed in her father’s footsteps. With a base located in (what was) the northern pole, she’s heavily defended by various high tech weapons and possibly a killer satellite. She also seems to be shacked up with someone who has perfected Doctor Shinji Mafune’s kaiju controlling science, as she has Titanosaurus at her beck and call, mostly to mine Element X. Together with a new Mechani-Kong equipped for aquatic operations, Hu sends them on occasional raids on various countries, and has her eyes on the super-science of Latitude Zero. Seatopian agents at the locale report Titanosaurus and MK fighting with a giant lion with wings attached to it.

The sons of Frankenstein, the Gargantuas, have infested much of eastern Asia. They are not as numerous as Meganulons or Zillas, and they don’t often get too big, but they can be a handful due to their super-regenerating abilities. Many of them are feral beasts looking to feed themselves. These ones often take a nomadic lifestyle, or even swimming beneath the waves. A few are nice. At least one lives in the Japanese Alps, and has become the guardian of a small community of people who live in harmony with the local Yetis. The bay of Bengal has a Matango pandemic on its hands and its beginning to get serious.

In what remains of a flooded Tokyo, a red beast lurks, draining the life out of any creature in its path. The beast is actually a Destoroyah swarm, and despite many attempts to terminate it, it always returns stronger, smarter, and with a new form.

Similar to how distressed parents can upset their children, the Earth being thrown out of balance has driven Battra into a kind of frenzy. So far he hasn’t outright attacked humanity, possibly because he knows human intervention is what saved the planet. He’s been zipping around, switching between larva to moth forms back and forth, fighting anything that offends him. Right now he’s focusing on the Zillas in the expanded gulf of Mexico, but it’s no easy task due to aforementioned Zilla evolution. Though an individual Zilla will flee from a fight, they get bolder with numbers, and their idea of a fair fight is outnumbering their opponent.

The Earth’s quakes and astronomical events have unearthed hitherto unknown monsters as well. Burtannus has awoken in Peru, and moved eastward to the edge of the Amazon in order to graze upon the aberrant plant life. Her hide is as tough as Anguirus’ and is able to shrug off Biollante’s acid attack and the biting tendrils. A few months ago she was spotted with two baby Burtannuses in tow. From a large chunk of lunar rock, a winged creature christened Redmoon has emerged, sweeping the earth in search of… something. Western America has many beasties to deal with: Yellowback, Rattler, Ts-eh-GO, the Earth-Eater, and the Silver Hydra, to name a few. Boats patrolling Alaskan waters report an island that is allegedly home to ‘giant Komodo Dragons’ and a very ornery turtle mutant. Westwards, in the Bering Sea, there’s another island people claim is the home to a giant mutated dinosaur working cooperatively with a red pterosaur creature. Crisis Control Intelligence has a lot on its plate right now, but investigating these islands is on their To Do list.

In this version of Earth, the D.R.A.G.M.A.s never really flourished as well as Dr. Insley had hoped. A small population of them live in the eastern side of of the United States, but are constantly endangered by Hyper Zillas. Mexico has El Gusano and a fire bird messing things up. Europe has a mysterious island with an invisible monster to deal with, and another with murderous sirens and a chimera, not to mention the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland. Australia is the battleground between a Giant Condor and the Lord Howe Monster.

Northern Africa has giant animated sphinx statues to worry about. More worrisome is the fact that another smog monster, or a similar species, seems to have landed in western African waters and has made it way northward into the Mediterranean. Depending on who you ask, this creature is either named Hitodah or Deathla. Dagahra has clashed with it a few times. 

Space is another source of giant sized headaches for humankind. Gigan’s partially destroyed carcass is currently orbiting the Earth within the moon-dust ring, a casualty of the ‘Oh No You Don’t’ war mankind had with the invading Space Hunter Nebula M aliens and their allies the Planet X aliens with their Monster-X. It didn’t go very well for either alien party, as Earth was completely ready to unite against any space borne threat. The Xiliens cut their losses, recalled Monster-X and went home. Without Seatopians to depend on, the Nebulans also called it quits, for now.

A small troupe of Mysterians arrived on Earth waving white flags. They’ve been traveling space ever since Earth repelled them in the late fifties. They lost many members of their race to some terrible things they met in space that they really don’t want to talk about, and have returned to basically beg to be allowed to stay. The UN has decreed that as long as they play nice and share technology with the Earth’s governments, they can stay in Antartica.

Earth has at least two alien spacecraft hiding beneath the waves. One belongs to the Tachyon aliens, biding their time, sitting in a South Pacific trench. Another belongs to the Millenian alien, sitting in another trench near Japan, waiting to be uncovered. Yog the Space Amoeba seems to have returned, taking on the form of a mutated Shockirus. Reports of long transparent tentacles descending from the sky have yet to be observed.

Out from the depths of space swooped Bagorah. The giant red space bat few across the entire planet looking for prey. Earth was like an all you can eat buffet to it, and it killed and ate whatever it liked. A Zilla here, a boat of people there. It was powerful enough and fast enough to avoid destruction for a couple years. It got more that it bargained for when it ran into you-know-who and got its stupid self killed.

SpaceGodzilla lurks in high orbit. When the time is right, its plan is to descend upon the Earth, destroy all who oppose it, and turn the planet into a crystalline domain. For now, it waits.

The veil of time also harbors its dangers. The defeat of King Ghidorah in 1992 was the last of a series of time hops Futurians enacted against the past. These time travelers and their pet dragon have been menacing Japan’s past since at least 1964, even aiding the Nebulan alien’s invasion in 1972. In modern times they have a tendency to appear at the most inopportune times, unleashing their three-headed monster on unsuspecting populaces.

Earth is not completely defenseless. The United Nations Science Committee, Earth Defense Force, Crisis Control Intelligence, and G-Force have all pooled their resources in order to ensure the survival of human civilization. At their disposal are the latest in military hardware; a few Musahi-2 subs, the new upgraded Type 100 Maser Canon, several Super Xs, a handful of Super X2s, and one Super-X3. Garuda has seen its fair share of combat. Gotengo has been in action almost constantly in the last few years, and is viewed as a symbol of humankind’s determination and perseverance in an unfriendly world. It’s due for an upgrade. Moguera was built with the cooperation of the Mysterians, who are also invested in protecting their adopted planet. It spends most of its time split into the Land Moguera and Star Falcon, and only recombines into Moguera for heavy-duty-serious-business.

Mecha-King Ghidorah has been recovered from the ocean depths, and its machinery reverse engineered. It was also discovered that a rudimentary AI within MKG’s machinery that was in charge of equilibrium and limb coordination was left within the cyborg’s body when it’s pilot bailed out and returned to the future. This AI can learn at a surprising rate, and with a bit of nurturing it now has the intelligence of a seven year old child. With the majority of it’s body, including weapons, offline in a power saving mode, MKG spends its time in G-Force hanger in Japan.

One think-tank at the UNSC headquarters consider MKG’s presence evidence that there’s is a future worth fighting for, considering it was built in the year 2204. Others postulate that it may be from an alternate future, and that victory is in no way assured.

The military is not alone; in times of great need and desperation, when all seems lost, three mighty warriors often appear to turn the tides. Jet Jaguar, Zone Fighter, and Red Ronin seem to materialize out of nowhere in order to aid humankind against whatever foe threatens to overwhelm it, only to disappear again after saluting or a thumbs-up from Jet Jaguar. They’ve appeared on every continent at this point.

By far the most effective and advanced anti-calamity hardware humanity has at its disposal is Mechagodzilla, or ‘Kiryu’. Built over the skeleton of the original Godzilla killed by the Oxygen Destroyer in 1954, Kiryu stands at 55 meters and is decked out with the new Type 100 Maser cannons, enough missiles and cannons to level a small country, a synthetic diamond coated steel exterior (with bits of titanium), rocket boosters, a hand that can transform into a drill for melee combat, and as the piece de resistance, the Absolute Zero Cannon in its chest plate, able to cause even the toughest kaiju to double over in pain. Having been operated by pilot Akane Yashiro for over two decades, it’s been invaluable in Earth’s battles for dominance. Sure, it had a few bugs during its early years of operation, and takes a tremendous amount of power to fuel, but it’s worth it. Okay, fine, it goes berserk sometimes and acts like a monster, but that’s been less frequent. Relax, still worth it.

But one is not enough. Thanks to the recent discovery of another Godzilla skeleton on the ocean floor a few kilometers away from the Ryukyu islands, a second Mechagodzilla has being constructed, this time with bleeding edge technology. Nicknamed ‘Rozan’ and standing at 60 meters, this mech is far more agile than Kiryu, especially when the shoulder mounted rocket launchers are removed. It is a bit strange though. It goes berserk similar to Kiryu, but in a different way. Operating on it’s own, Rozan is seemingly much more heroic given the chance. One time it danced when it defeated King Ghidorah. It acts like it knows Jet Jaguar and Zone Fighter. Then there was that one time it flew backwards.

A third Mechagodzilla is being built, this time the construction has been outsourced to America. Nicknamed ‘Cybersaur’, it’s being formed around the corpse of the 60 meter Godzilla that first appeared in 1999 and was defeated by Kiryu and Mothra in 2003, seemingly dying from its injuries. The engineers are wary, and some will swear on their life that sometimes late at night they see the skeleton’s back spines glow an eerie glow, or hear beastly growling emanating somewhere in the machinery that isn’t the metals settling. Neither phenomena have been verified or caught on tape, so construction continues.

Cybersaur is going to have to be built quickly; nuclear subs have disappeared in the Pacific. Boaters and pilots have reported blue flashes in the ocean, and radiation levels have spiked at several locations. The world’s fears were confirmed five years ago when the Godzilla that first appeared in 1985 reemerged and made its presence known. It seems it did not perish during the tumultuous weather and earthquakes following the Gorath incident as G-Force has hoped, but was merely buried, or perhaps hibernated though the entire ordeal. Standing at an astounding 108 meters, this Godzilla has shrugged off everything the world (or space) could throw at it, laying waste to several cities and communities, feeding on atomic energy. This beast threatens to undo everything humanity had set off to achieve after a near end to their planet.

The UNSC, CCI, EDF, and G-Force all have one objective; fully wield their military might and Mechagodzilla trio to reclaim the Earth from whatever stands in their way. Destroy all monsters, if necessary. Destroy Godzilla, if possible.