Chap 149: making friend
"Hey." Ichika greeted Takumi as soon as his eyes were open. He was on the ground, looking straight up at Ichika's shadows that were blocking the sun from blinding his face. "You up yet?"
"You didn't kill me?" Takumi shambles to sit up.
*clank* *clink*
With the metallic sound of something binding his arms and legs. Not just him, his other bodies are here as well, unconscious and bound just like him.
"Nah, man, I ain't like that. Already said it from the beginning." Ichika said with a calm expression, "But I did have to restrain you. Cuz, you know, last time it didn't go so well."
"Yeah, I'm sorry by the way."
"It's cool, man, not like you're the first one I met."
"You met other reincarnated individuals?"
"Yeah, I come by them a lot. Some are just chill. Some are like you, not very calm. Others....not so much."
"I see, thanks then. For not murdering me."
"No problem."
There was a long, silent pause between them; Takumi and Ichika just sat looking at one another.
"So...." Takumi started, "What were you trying to talk to me about, you know, before we started fighting?"
"I was, tryin to get you to leave peacefully, and to not mess with any of the worlds that i watch over."
"The worlds you watch over ?"
"Yeah, let me explain." Basically, Ichika is a protector of sorts on his side of the universe. Any world that is connected to Kamen Rider or any Tokusatsu shows has him monitoring.
Whether to kick out any meddling gods with his worlds, stopping universal threats, or to correct events that shouldn't happen.
"And you ?"
"Oh...I'm more like a traveler taking stuff for myself." Takumi said, a bit shy now that he heard about Ichika's purpose. He was very self-conscious about his goal.
"Could you, take these off now ?" He shakes the chain lightly, "Promise I won't try to run again."
Laughing, Ichika took off the chains. They chatted for a long time, deep into the night, the two were still talking.
"What were you doing before, this?" Ichika asked, his face wore a friendly smile.
Over a small campfire, the two men chatted as they shared a drink together.
"I was a bookstore owner, then a truck came through my door," Takumi said after taking a long sip out of his cup. "You?"
"Toy store, no truck, but instead god came through tho." Ichika said, "got no system, no boon, none of that normal reincarnator shit, i got my power the normies way."
"Which is?"
"Training, stealling and sometime...just sometimes....begging."
"Not bad." Takumi smirked, "Have any particular goal ?"
"Before, I just liked to watch how each world's story would end." He answered, "Now, I want to have my own world."
"That's a very big goal."
"Thanks."
"As for myself, I would rather just live my own life, unbothered, probably have a few wives now that I know my mom set me up."
"Shit, your mom a god?"
"Yeah, yours?"
"Nah, just normal folks. My god is just my boss."
"Also, mine talks with yours. So we're cool as long as you don't cause trouble in my worlds."
"I can agree to that." He looked into empty air, the screen of his system also showing compliance to that request.
Ichika and Takumi managed to become fast friends overnight. Both sharing their stories of themself and bonding over the little fun they have. Their conversation took place all the way into the early morning of the next day.
Standing on the sandy shore, the two otherworldly beings just watched the waves gently lapping on the shore.
"Oh, and by the way, bro."
"Yeah?"
"You still didn't kill this world Godzilla."
A floating holo-screen flickers on with some static like an old TV in front of them, projected from a small silver device stabbed into the sand.
The screen flickered, stabilizing into a live news feed.
“Breaking footage of the confrontation between the two so-called creatures. Godzilla and Ultraman—footage from low-orbit drones is coming in now.”
One of the guys, Takumi, leaned forward, eyes reflecting the shifting neon of the broadcast.
“This is World News Station. We can now confirm that the confrontation between Godzilla and Ultraman has ceased.”
The holo-screen displayed multiple news channels with the same video. Steady feed from a drone showing faint glimmer of thinning clouds, glowing embers drifting like dying stars, and a long streak of radiation cutting across the sky where the two giants had collided.
The playback resumed, zooming in and out of video resolution. Then, camera zoomed on the last frame: a burst of radiation, Godzilla’s plates glowing brilliantly, Ultraman’s silhouette bracing against the blinding flare.
A news anchor’s voice overrode the recording. “The battle concluded approximately sixteen hours ago. Ultraman’s energy signature dispersed entirely following this exchange. Godzilla’s movement ceased shortly afterward, and he began falling back toward the lower atmosphere before disintegrating into particulate ash.”
The anchor’s voice was tense—almost shaking. “Newly declassified satellite footage confirms that during the final moments of the battle, Shin Ultraman forced what experts identify as a nuclear bomb directly into Shin Godzilla’s thoracic cavity. The resulting explosion dispersed Godzilla’s mass across the upper atmosphere.”
The holo-screen replayed the recording: Ultraman grappling Godzilla mid-stratosphere, forcing something white-hot and metallic into the creature’s chest. Then, in a burst of light.
"They recorded me ?"
"Gotta hand it to the humans of this world, they are quite useful when it comes to news coverage."
The recording paused on the expanding debris cloud. But the broadcast continued, switching to a new segment with flashing red banners.
GLOBAL ALERT — REANIMATION ACTIVITY DETECTED
The anchor swallowed hard before speaking again. “Multiple nations have now reported biological disturbances matching the genetic readings of Godzilla. Thermal sensors, motion trackers, and deep-pattern AI scans all indicate that fragments of the creature have begun moving independently.”
The screen changed to shaky phone clips from around the world:
A harbor in Singapore where the water churned and a black-red mass wriggled just below the surface.
A rural field in Brazil where a chunk of Godzilla’s tissue pulsed like a beating organ before sprouting bone-like protrusions.
An alleyway in Marseille where something small, reptilian, and steaming dragged itself across the pavement before the footage abruptly cut off.
People screamed. Alarms blared. Soldiers in hazmat armor fired containment foam in frantic bursts.
Takumi’s mouth fell open. “…No way. They’re alive? Each piece is alive?"
Ichika shook his head slowly, anger creeping into his voice. “ and from what they are showing? Godzilla wasn’t destroyed. She has….multiplied.”
The news feed switched to a scientist giving an emergency briefing, her expression grim.
“Shin Godzilla’s biology is fully adaptive. Each dispersed fragment retains autonomous regenerative capability. We are now witnessing early-stage self-assembly behavior. These fragments are moving with no purpose.”
Satellite imagery replaced her—dozens of blinking red dots across the world map. Some small. Some big. And mutating fast as the eye can see.
The anchor continued. “Governments are advising civilians to shelter in place as containment teams attempt to intercept the fragments. A global state of emergency is expected to be announced within the hour.”
On the holo-screen, another clip began: a coastal town in Hokkaido. A Godzilla fragment—no bigger than a bus, but unmistakably alive—crawled out of the surf, glowing red with unstable radiation.
Children cried in the background. Sirens wailed. The camera shook violently as the creature screeched.
The broadcast cut back to the studio. The anchor looked like she’d aged ten years in minutes. “We will continue to bring updates as we receive them. Please… stay indoors.”
From the beach, two beams of light exploded into the sky.