Match 11: By: Thomas Singleton

Covered with golden scales that wrought beauty and terror, the creature released a hideous cackle. Long, slender heads swayed back and forth. Three heads, covered with golden scales that gleamed with golden power, hung on top of three separate necks that stretched out of the beast's chest. On each head, three horns stuck out. On each side of the dragon's body, were long, bat-like wings. In each mouth, hundreds of sharp teeth poked out from the top and bottom shafts of the jaws. Red eyes blazed from each of the dragon's eyes as it observed the mysterious land.

In one dimension, the creature's counterpart had ravaged this land and claimed it as its home. But now, in this universe, the creature was superior. Standing erect at 75 meters and weighing 49,500 tons, the ground itself struggled to hold the creature's weight. Another cackle escaped its reptilian vocals and the three headed beast now claimed this world as its own.

King Ghidorah now had a place to call its own in the ever expanding universe.

But something was amidst. King Ghidorah hissed as it sensed the arrival of another. Its stench was repulsive, even from a great distance away. Flapping its mighty wings, King Ghidorah lifted its body off the ground and manipulated the gravity itself. Now flying through the skies of Planet X, King Ghidorah yearned to meet this intruder head on. If the dragon possessed the eyes of a human, all it would've been able to see was the blackness of space; however, equipped with the keen eye sight it possessed, King Ghidorah could spot a meteorite like object. Only its surface oozed with sludge and decay. King Ghidorah cackled and cleared out of its path, allowing it to descend to its planet. Striking the ground, cauldrons of smoke rose from where it had landed. Even in an environment without oxygen, the stench was still there. King Ghidorah's shared conscience wished that this thing would've landed somewhere else. But it hadn't.

With an ear shattering cackle, King Ghidorah dove from the sky and circled the extraterrestrial object. From its six prying eyes, the dragon could see sludge detaching from the sizzling space rock. At first, the sludge was only the size of the dragon's foot. But it soon grew and became larger. Whatever it was, it was alive and King Ghidorah was not the type to share its territory with another. Saliva dripped from each of King Ghidorah's jaws and surged with electrical power. A torrent of gravity beams discharged from each head and struck the sludge, covering it with sparks and bright flashes of light. But when the lights dimmed down, the sludge was still expanding and enlarging itself. King Ghidorah hissed with rage and flew to the unearthly ground. Bending all three heads down, drool dripped from King Ghidorah's carnivorous jaws as it inspected this strange organism. But to its surprise, the sludge morphed into a strange octagon shaped creature. Toxic exhaust propelled out of the creature's abdomen.

King Ghidorah howled in pain as it felt its lungs burn from the creature's exhaust. In rage, King Ghidorah wildly spat a barrage of gravity beams at the flying creature. The gravity beams washed across the creature and a shower of sparks became the result of the dragon's assault. This was no ordinarily creature. No, this was the smog monster, Hedorah. Hedorah turned and flew towards King Ghidorah, leaving a toxic trail in its wake. In this form, Hedorah was covered with decaying flesh. The flesh if exposed to light was dark brown and made up of millions of microscopic organisms. In the center of the red eyes were tiny black pupils. King Ghidorah didn't care what the beast looked like; all he wanted was it to be slain. Clenching its sharp teeth, King Ghidorah flew straight up and continued to spat his gravity beams. Only showers of sparks blocked King Ghidorah's vision of Hedorah. But like before, when the sparks died down, Hedorah was still coming; unaffected.

A scarlet laser shot out of the top of one of Hedorah's eyes and slit into King Ghidorah's hide. Golden scales were blasted away from the rest of the dragon's sizzling flesh. Bellowing screams of pain and agony escaped each of King Ghidorah's mouths. In retaliation, King Ghidorah flapped his gigantic wings and created a strong gust of wind. Like being struck by a hurricane, Hedorah was blown out of the sky and splat against the ground. King Ghidorah furiously rained down gravity beam after gravity beam, turning the entire area of where Hedorah had fallen into a light show. Now the terrain of Planet X had been spliced into dozens of smoldering craters. From all those craters, sludge oozed out and sought the other. They soon formed and Hedorah was reborn. But as King Ghidorah flew through the air, cackling with rage, Hedorah took on another form.

Neon glows quickly enveloped the edges of Hedorah's body as it grew larger and larger. Within only a few seconds, the smog monster stood larger than before. King Ghidorah's feet slammed into the planet's crust, which caused it to stir. The sight of the three-headed dragon caused Hedorah to lift its left palm up and howled a watery gurgle. Was it a sign of peace? No, to King Ghidorah there was only death. Gravity beams tore into Hedorah's body and blasted chunks of its polluted flesh off the smog monster. Another gurgle came from Hedorah, but this time something strange was happening. The skin around Hedorah's shoulder manifested and formed an opening. With a loud splat, a ball of smoking acid flew from Hedorah's shoulder and struck King Ghidorah's abdomen. King Ghidorah's eyes narrowed at his forming wound, which was sizzling with smoke and flesh. The three-headed dragon reared its jaws back and released a blistering cry. Now King Ghidorah's wings were slashing through the air and the dragon flew three times faster than the speed of sound. The dragon rammed its body against Hedorah's own and slashed its razor sharp wings through Hedorah's flesh. But just as King Ghidorah had dipped any of its body parts into Hedorah's skin, it had no choice but to pull back. Whenever it touched Hedorah, its skin would burn its own!

Anger flourished in King Ghidorah's combined conscience and the three-headed fiend fluttered his wings and leapt back. King Ghidorah spat another torrent of gravity beams, which struck Hedorah's body. Hedorah's eyes widened and a loud watery cry came from the smog monster. As King Ghidorah continued to douse Hedorah's body with its electrical beams, smoke churned from Hedorah's contaminated flesh. While Hedorah's flesh was being blown off, waves of electrical power flashed across the smog monster's body. A horrible stench, even viler than the last, filled King Ghidorah's nostrils. The stench was enough to cause King Ghidorah to cease his spree of attacks and pull back. As the three-headed beast pulled back, Hedorah raised both of its arms and released a loud, painful cry. The electrical bolts that had raided its body had stopped and now Hedorah turned its frightful gaze towards King Ghidorah. From each eye, a bolt of rippling power was released and grazed King Ghidorah's body. Golden scales ruptured off King Ghidorah's body and the three-headed beast could only cackle in agony.

Never before had King Ghidorah felt such pain and anger. No matter what it did, it couldn't injure this hideous beast! Was this newfound planet really worth it? King Ghidorah was beginning to not care anymore. Flapping its mighty wings and manipulating gravity itself, King Ghidorah hurled its magnificent body through Planet X's atmosphere and disappeared in the blackness of space. Hedorah stood and watched King Ghidorah flee. A loud, sickening laugh escaped the smog monster's contaminated throat.

It had won. Now Hedorah turned towards its new home, never knowing it was being watched by the citizens of Planet X. Inside an underground chamber, the controller of the Xilien smiled at this new beast that would become the instrument of their desire.

Winner Hedorah (Showa)