Godzilla Warriors 8: Zenith

Chapter 6: Snowfall

Hours later, morning dawned on Zenith. Godzilla woke up to feel Mothra shivering in his arms. He looked down to see her curled up and shaking as she snuggled close to his body.
"Mothra, are you okay?" He asked. She woke up, instantly noticing the sudden cold. She looked up in confusion as she wrapped her arms around herself. Her breath was clearly visible, and her cheeks were already turning red.
"What the... why is it so cold in here?" She asked. Godzilla didn't notice the cold himself, as his biology allowed him to adapt to whatever temperature he was in. The two got up and saw Anguirus already awake. He was also shivering, holding the cloth he was sleeping on earlier draped over his shoulders.
"Is anyone else freezing?" He asked.
"Seems like the temperature changed." Godzilla said. He removed his jacket and draped it over Mothra's shoulders, both warming and comforting her. "But I'm not sure how that's possible." Godzilla continued.
Solomon suddenly appeared from the shadows of the cave. "I'm sorry, I neglected to mention that the weather in Zenith is... strange." He said. He eyed the chimney, seeing that snowfall had come through, extinguishing the fire. "It changes each day, and it's very unpredictable." He began pushing the rock he had placed in front of the cave entrance out of the way. After it was gone, they all saw a thick layer of snow covering the ground. More snow was gently falling as well. It almost looked peaceful, despite the dire situation.
"Come on, we don't have much time. Red will find us if we sit still." Solomon said, beginning to walk out of the cave. Godzilla and the others didn't waste time and followed him. They trudged through the cold snow and ice, moving as fast as they could under the circumstances. Eventually, they came to a dense forest of dead trees. The branches were curled and deformed, and they almost resembled hands reaching out to them. This disturbed Godzilla greatly, especially due to some sort of optical illusion that somehow made the branches look as if they were moving as they swayed in the breeze.
"I'm guessing we have to go through here?" He asked, silently hoping Solomon would say no.
"Yes. It's easy to get lost in here, so I recommend you all stay together." Solomon said. "And watch out for the animals. Any of them may be Red's spies."
"There's animals in there?" Mothra asked. She was actually interested to see the different species that would have evolved in this dimension.
"There are, but not the ones you're used to." Solomon explained. "Now let's go."
As soon as he said this, he stepped into the trees. Mothra and Anguirus began to follow him, but they noticed Godzilla was lagging behind.
"Are you coming, Godzilla?" Mothra asked. She looked behind her to see Godzilla doing something with his hair.
"Yeah, just one second." He said. The others watched as he tied his hair up into what appeared to be a ponytail. Anguirus raised an eyebrow at this, while Mothra blushed. Godzilla looked at them in confusion.
"What?" He asked. He walked past them and pulled out his sword, cutting the branches in front of him as he walked.
"Why'd you tie your hair up like that?" Anguirus asked.
"I just don't want it getting caught on these branches." Godzilla shrugged. Mothra stayed behind him. She had never seen his hair like that. While he wore it shorter when he was younger, he usually just let it grow long. Seeing it up in a ponytail was a first, and Mothra liked it a lot. She thought it made him look like a badass samurai or something.
"It looks good." She said. Godzilla smirked at her.
"Thanks." He said, beginning to blush a little himself. Finally, they caught up to Solomon. When he saw Godzilla cutting the branches, he brought out his own weapons, two blades that were bent at an angle to go along his forearms.
"So you fight with a sword?" He asked.
"Yup. Ever since I was little." Godzilla half bragged as he continued to slice through the branches.
"Interesting. My sister Acacius used to fight with a sword like that." Solomon said. Remembering his sister brought back some painful memories for him, and he stopped talking for a moment. Godzilla saw this and changed the subject for his sake.
"How big is this forest anyway?" He asked.
"Very. We should be through it before the days end." Solomon said. While the two cleared a path, Mothra and Anguirus walked behind. Mothra looked around as she took in the scenery. The forest was somewhat beautiful in the strange light around them. The snow and ice on the branches above them looked like crystals hanging down from the sky. As she looked behind them, she saw that the branches that Godzilla and Solomon cut. To her surprise, she saw the branches grow back to their normal shape almost seconds after they passed. It was strange and slightly disturbing, but Mothra thought it was interesting. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted. She heard something. A whimper, like a noise a hurt animal would make. Mothra looked down towards the source of the sound and gasped as she saw a wounded animal on the ground. It almost resembled a deer, but with major differences. First of all, it didn't have a face. Its antlers were small and looked more like the branches around them. The creature didn't have hooves, but appendages that could only be described as long stumps. Its fur was also a bright neon green, but Mothra guessed this was due to the strange lighting. Despite the creature's strange appearance, she couldn't help but feel for it. She knelt down next to the animal.
"Oh, you poor thing." She said. She placed a hand underneath the animal's head to support it, and it looked up at her with its completely featureless face. The others noticed she wasn't following and stopped, turning towards her and the animal.
"What is that thing?" Godzilla asked.
"It's one of the animals that live in the forrest." Solomon explained. "Unfortunately, it looks like it's dying."
Anguirus smirked and crossed his arms. "I'd doubt that. Check this out."
As he said this, Mothra continued to comfort the animal, running a gentle hand down its neck.
"Shh shh shh, it's alright." She cooed softly. "Let me help you."
Her hand began to glow and she placed it on the animals wound, which was on its side. As soon as her hand touched the wound, the creature began to kick and thrash around in pain. Still, Mothra continued to hold it close to her.
"It's okay, you'll feel a lot better soon." She assured. Seconds later, the animal stopped thrashing. The wound began to glow and disappeared as the whimpering stopped. Mothra had healed the animal.
"...Amazing." Solomon said, his eyes wide in amazement. "You have healing powers?"
"Yep." Mothra said, helping the animal to its feet, or whatever its appendages were.
"I've never seen anything like it." Solomon continued, still amazed. He had only seen beings with the ability to destroy, never to heal. It truly amazed him. The three watched as the animal began to nuzzle Mothra's face. She giggled and began to pet its neck. Godzilla instinctively placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her away.
"Be careful, Mothra. I know you healed it, but we still have no idea what it is." He said.
"Relax, Godzilla." Solomon chuckled. "This one is perfectly safe. You can pet it of you'd like."
Mothra was about to pet it again, but right before she did, she heard another sound. This one sounded much more dangerous. It sounded like a growl. The animal seemed afraid of the noise and backed away from her. She reached out to it, but suddenly another animal jumped out of nowhere and bit the first animal on the neck. Mothra gasped and backed away as the animal was torn to shreds by this new creature. It resembled a velociraptor, but with longer arms, no tail, and a much wider mouth. It ate the first animal's flesh clean off the bone with hardly any issue. As it noticed the others staring at it, it stepped on its kill and roared at them, showing them its rows and rows of teeth. The bottom jaw split open into two pieces as it did so.
"That one isn't so safe." Solomon stated. He quickly dragged the others away and continued to walk through the forest. Mothra placed a hand on her chest to steady her breathing as Godzilla held her close to comfort her. She looked back at the beast as it continued to eat the animal she had just healed. She couldn't bear to watch any longer, and continued to walk along with the others, swallowing to keep from crying at the loss of life. But as they kept walking, Solomon began to realize that while Mothra had observed the animal, they had lost their way. The forest was huge and disorienting, and it was easy to get turned around. And the problem was doubled when the branches grew back almost as soon as they were cut.
"Damn..." He muttered to himself. As he continued to look around, he heard a rustling and cracking around him. Someone else was in the forest. And he was approaching them. Godzilla and the others didn't notice, but Solomon was able to sense a presence among them. He saw the branches move somewhere far away from them, but when he saw a glimpse of crimson armour, he knew that Red was slowly approaching them through the trees. His eyes widened.
"He found us!" Solomon shouted.
"What?" Godzilla asked. He looked around, seeing a glimpse of Red as he passed by the dense collection of trees.
"There's no time to find a way out, just run!" Solomon ordered. The others didn't argue, and ran in different directions. Solomon did the same. Godzilla didn't bother cutting the trees out of his way, and simply ran through them. He didn't care about the sharp branches cutting his arms, he was only interested in getting away from Red. However, he suddenly tripped over a massive root. Due to the speed he was running, he tumbled over a few times. He ended up on his back, eyes closed due to the pain. As he sat up off of the snow-covered ground, his eyes began to open, showing a blurry figure standing over him. His eyes adjusted soon after, and he saw the figure was Red, smirking down at him. Godzilla's eyes widened as he sat there frozen in fear. Red chuckled.
"So, you're the mighty Godzilla?" He hissed. "I was expecting more."
Before Godzilla could respond, Red snapped his fingers and the ground began to give way underneath Godzilla. Soon enough, he fell down into a massive pit.