Chapter 7: Smoke and Mirrors

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When Godzilla finally landed, he felt hard rock beneath him. While he recovered from the pain, he heard two others land near him. It didn't take long to realize that they were Mothra and Anguirus, but when he got up, he realized he couldn't see them anywhere. They weren't in the same place. But he could hear them, so he deduced that they were most likely nearby.
"Looks like Red got us." Godzilla said."How're you all feeling?"
"I'm fine... but why didn't he attack us?" Mothra asked.
"More importantly, where did he send us?" Anguirus asked.
Godzilla looked up, only to see pure black above him. There was no hole where he fell, just pure darkness. Around him was nothing but rock. He was in some sort of underground cave. Despite the low light, he could see himself perfectly.
"This place is weird." He muttered. "What are you guys seeing?"
"Mostly just rock." Anguirus said. "I tried punching it and using my hammer, but it's not cracking."
"And I can't fly out. I think we're trapped here." Mothra added.
"You're not trapped." Solomon's voice suddenly called out. Godzilla looked around for a sign of him, but he couldn't find where his voice was coming from.
"Solomon? Did Red get you too?" He asked.
"No, I managed to get away, for now." Solomon explained. "But I know where you are, and I've been in these caves before. This is part of Red's game. They're connected by tunnels, which is why you're hearing each other."
"Oh... then how are we hearing you?" Mothra asked.
"I'm contacting you through telepathy." Solomon explained. "I can sense where you all are. I should be able to find all of you soon."
"No rush." Godzilla said sarcastically. He turned around to the centre of the cave, and raised an eyebrow as he saw a thin jet of smoke erupt from the ground. He stepped away from the smoke as it flowed into the room. As he continued to watch, the smoke began to condense and take form in front of him. It was becoming a humanoid shape. After the shape was formed, details began to form as well. Red glowing eyes shone in the head, which grew long spikes on the sides, as well as on the shoulders, forearms, and legs. A large amount of smoke billowed out behind it like a cape. Finally, two long arms of smoke flowed out from the hands, which hardened into blades of ice. Godzilla recognized the figure immediately. The smoke was mimicking Ghidorah.
"Oh, I see what's going on here." He smirked. "You're trying to get to me by impersonating my mortal enemy. Not a bad trick."
The smoke Ghidorah got into a battle stance and dragged its ice blades against each other. Bits of ice fell to the ground as the blades hissed. Godzilla had to chuckle at this.
"I gotta admit, that's actually a pretty good impersonation." He nodded. "But if you fight like Ghidorah, defeating you should be no problem."
As soon as Godzilla drew his sword again, the smoke Ghidorah ran at him, ice blades at the ready.

Godzilla wasn't the only one facing a doppelgänger. Mothra watched in utter horror as the smoke in her cave became another familiar face. It became a definite female form, and appeared to have a short skirt and pigtails hanging down from the sides of its head. When two yellow eyes began to glow in the head and the suggestion of a grin appeared on its face, Mothra knew who it was mimicking. Her eyes widened and dilated as she saw a smoke doppelgänger of Megaguirus appear in front of her. She could swear she heard the voice of Megaguirus cackle in her head.
"No... no, not her..." Mothra said as she began to back up. She and Megaguirus had a history together. Not only were they rivals for over a decade, but Megaguirus was the first person Mothra had ever intentionally killed. The event had scarred and tormented Mothra long after. She vowed to never kill again, unless forced to. Now it almost felt as if she was fighting Megaguirus' ghost.
"It... It's not really her." Mothra repeated to herself. "It's just smoke. That's all it is. I am fighting smoke."
A small blade made of ice formed in smoke Megaguirus' hand. She lunged at Mothra, who reacted by pulling out her own knife. She instinctively swung at the apparition's arm, and to her surprise, actually managed to damage it. The smoke where the blade passed through was gone, leaving what appeared to be a gap. Smoke Megaguirus seemed not to notice or care about the damage, and continued to attack Mothra. It slashed at her with the ice knife, which Mothra deflected. Despite being made of ice, it appeared to be as hard as a normal blade. Mothra kicked the apparition in the stomach, and managed to send it stumbling back. The area where her foot connected practically disappeared on the figure, and Mothra noticed this was slowing it down. Every bit of damage was slowly but surely making the smoke disappear. Rather than continue to attack with the blade, smoke Megaguirus reached out her hand, making tendrils of vapour erupt from her fingertips. Mothra slashed at the tendrils, but eventually they got the better of her. They began to flow into her mouth and down into her throat and lungs, suffocating her. She choked and gasped as more and more smoke flowed into her mouth as well as her nose. Her lungs were filled with whatever foul-tasting smoke the figure was made of. Tears filled her eyes as she fell to her knees. As she looked up at smoke Megaguirus, she noticed that it began to take on the real Megaguirus' shape more and more. Her eyes widened as she saw Megaguirus herself standing before her, smoke tendrils still coming off her fingers. Her eye was still bleeding like it was before Mothra stabbed her. Was this real? A hallucination? A vision? Mothra had no idea, but as she pondered this, Megaguirus began to cackle.
"It's been too long, Mothra." She grinned wickedly. "Too bad you're not going to live much longer."
Just as Mothra was sure her next breath would be her last, the wall of the cave broke open. Megaguirus transformed back into her smoke form, letting Mothra know that is was only a hallucination. She was relieved as she breathed in deeply, the tendrils evaporating from her breathing passages. She coughed and inhaled loudly as she saw the one who broke the wall, Solomon.
"Are you alright, Mothra?" He asked.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Mothra coughed. She looked up at smoke Megaguirus, but she saw that is was starting to look less and less like Megaguirus.
"What is that thing?" Mothra asked.
"It's one of Red's creations." Solomon explained. "They take their form from their victim's mind. Typically someone they hate or fear."
Mothra nodded. She definitely felt some sort of hatred and fear towards Megaguirus. But the smoke seemed to be having trouble choosing a form.
"It's confused and can't pick a shape seeing as there's two of us here now." Solomon explained. "Their meant for one victim at a time."
Mothra nodded again. Now was the perfect time to attack. She flew towards the apparition and  slashed at it again and again. Each slash left a gap in its form, making it move slower and slower. Eventually, the smaller pieces that were left over began to dissolve in the air. Finally, Mothra slashed the neck, and it disappeared entirely. She exhaled and smiled.
"Looks like it's finished." She said.
"Who was it taking its form from?" Solomon asked. "Someone important to you?" Mothra's smile fell.
"You could say that." She muttered.
Solomon nodded and turned to another wall. "The next tunnel is right... here!" As he said 'here', he pressed his palm against the wall, making a massive opening explode into it. Mothra covered her eyes as tiny bits of rock flew everywhere.
"It should lead to Anguirus' cave." Solomon said. "We'll find Godzilla's after. Now c'mon."
Solomon walked through the entrance, and Mothra followed behind him quickly.

Anguirus was more than a little confused by his own opponent. The smoke flowed out of the ground like the others, and formed a humanoid figure. But something was strange about it. The figure's arms were long and massive, ending in two long fingers that seemed to drag on the ground. Two large white orbs glowed in its large bulbous head. Anguirus realized it was trying to mimic someone from his memory, but he had no idea who it was.
"I... uh... I got nothing. Who are you trying to imitate again?" He asked. When the figure raised its hand and slammed it into the ground, Anguirus dodged out of the way and landed nearby. The way the figure was standing made him realize what it was.
"Wait a sec, now I recognize you!" He said. "Orga, right?"
The smoke figure said nothing, but it attacked Anguirus again, raising it's arm and jabbing it into the wall where Anguirus was standing. Again, he dodged out of the way and ducked behind the apparition, observing how its massive hand hard actually cracked the wall.
"Damn, I haven't fought Orga is years." Anguirus chuckled. "I think the last time was..."
His words caught in his throat. He remembered when he fought Orga. It would have been in 2014. He was fighting Orga, who was fighting alongside MechaGodzilla. Remembering MechaGodzilla brought back some strange memories for him. His brows furrowed and he shook his head. Strange, almost frightening memories appeared to him. For some reason, he couldn't recall what the memories were. He shook the thoughts from his mind and eyed the smoke Orga once again. The doppelgänger fought a lot like Orga, but being made of pure gas, he was a lot faster. Anguirus tried to land a solid hit on it with his hammer, but it moved so fast he couldn't manage it. He managed to hit one of the giant hands on smoke Orga's arms, it disappeared in a puff of air. This time, instead of picking up the hammer and swinging it back down, Anguirus flicked open a small hatch on the hammer's handle, and pressed a small red button underneath. This activated the steam jet on the back of the hammer, blasting smoke Orga with pure hot steam. The pressure and heat of the steam quickly blasted the apparition into nothingness. Anguirus set the hammer on the ground and rested on it. The battle was over, but the weird memories smoke Orga brought up still stuck with him. What had happened back then that made him think about these things? Then it hit him. He had completely forgotten about it until now. MechaGodzilla had killed him. If it weren't for SpaceGodzilla's alchemic life crystals, he would still be dead.
"How did I forget that?" Anguirus asked, scratching his head. Suddenly, the wall burst open, with Mothra and Solomon appearing on the other side.
"I see you've defeated your apparition." Solomon said.
Anguirus nodded. "Yeah, it was easy." He said, placing his hammer on his shoulder.
"Who did yours look like?" Mothra asked.
"You're not gonna believe this, but it was Orga." Anguirus said.
"Orga? We haven't fought him in years!" Mothra said.
"I know, that's what I said!" Anguirus chuckled.
"If you haven't fought him in so long, why did he appear to you?" Solomon asked.
"I... uh... don't know." Anguirus lied, rubbing the back of his neck. Solomon nodded, and walked to the other side of the cave.
"...Here we go." He said. As he said 'go', he again thrust his hand into the wall, blasting a hole in it. The three Kaiju walked through the newly formed tunnel, hoping to find Godzilla on the other end.

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