| Match 74: |
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| By: Christian Salabert |
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Nagoya was now a ghost town. The city was quiet
and dead, devoid of human life. They had long since evacuated.
An enormous flower had rooted itself atop the city's famed Nagoya
Castle. Energy gathered within the pod as it prepared to launch
its seeds into the stratosphere. Not too far away, the Legion
Queen watched over the area contently. She was about to withdraw
for now when she felt tremors underneath her. She soon saw the
disturbance as building after building collapsed, in a beeline
heading directly towards the Castle. Legion realized the flower
was in danger, but there was nothing she could do about it without
harming the symbiotic plant. The alien queen howled in rage
as the Nagoya Castle was struck next, leveling the famous structure
to the ground. Red and purple energy crackled underneath the
flower as it impacted with the earth, setting it aflame. But
that wasn't the end of the strange underground disturbance.
It headed directly for Legion, continuing to destroy buildings
as it went. Suddenly, it stopped.
Legion watched as the ground split open and out
came the armored form of the Battra larva!
Spotting his target, the armored caterpillar
immediately went on the attack, unleashing crackling Prism Bolts
from his eyes and horn. Legion instantly brought her force field
up, but it was no use against the rapid fire bolts. The energy
warped and twisted in front of Legion before exploding, causing
her to rear her head back and wail. Battra continued his assault,
firing Prism Bolt after Prism Bolt at the alien menace. The
blasts exploded against Legion's exoskeleton and send bursts
of flame erupting all around her. Legion let loose a groan as
her attacker's beams struck her, then decided it was time to
return fire. She opened her proboscis, blue energy crackling
within. A massive beam of energy thundered forth, missing Battra
but hitting the ground not too far behind him. A massive shockwave
erupted from the impact point, catching Battra within and scorching
the larva. Battra shrieked as he was thrown to the ground by
the blast, his armor badly damaged.
Legion made her way towards her downed opponent,
chirping evilly. Battra managed to pull himself upward, glaring
in fury at the intergalactic insect. He fired more blasts from
his eyes, strafing Legion's legs. He aimed his bolts up at Legion's
upper torso, and the evil queen lost several of her smaller
legs, and in the process, her force field. The Black Mothra
continued his assault, blasting at Legion as he waddled closer
and closer towards her. Not wanting her foe any closer, Legion
opened her mighty horn once again, ready to blow a hole through
the armored beast. Not wanting to risk a direct hit from the
beam, Battra aimed his Prism Bolts into her open face. The red
and purple energy blasted into her exposed energy core, throwing
off sparks and flame. Legion threw her head back, wailing in
pain, her beam cut off before it was even released. With his
foe distracted and now within reach, Battra thrust his head
forward, plunging the giant yellow horn atop his head into Legion's
chest.
The massive queen screamed as Battra's horn pierced
her exoskeleton, steam pouring from the wound. Battra shook
his head back and forth, digging his horn deeper into his foe's
torso. But just as Battra began to feel confident about the
wound he had just inflicted, the tides were suddenly turned.
For not only had Battra's horn broken into Legion's chest...
but her egg sac as well.
In an instant, thousands of Symbiotic Legion
began to emerge from their queen's torso. Traveling down Battra's
horn, they began to swamp and attack the caterpillar. Battra
realized what was happening, and began trying to dislodge his
horn from Legion's chest. He managed to break away from her,
worsening her wound in the process, but by then it was too late.
Every single one of Legion's children had left their mother
and had completely covered her assailant. Battra swung himself
wildly back and forth in an attempt to shake them from his body,
to no avail. Each time they got close to his eyes, he fired
his Prism Bolts, blasting them away, but otherwise he was helpless
to stop their assault. He could feel them eating away at his
armor, almost burrowing into it. With a crack, his horn fell
away, crashing to the ground. One of his tusks soon followed.
Before he realized it, the queen was upon him. With a mighty
shove, Legion sent the larval form of Battra toppling over onto
his side.
Legion watched, satisfied, as her brood took
care of the creature. Those who attacked the Legion would be
sure to pay with their very lives. And if her children weren't
enough to end the beast, one final blast from her beam would
no doubt finish it. She sat and waited as her soldiers continued
their work.
Battra panicked as he felt the Symbiotic Legion
continuing to destroy his armor and began to make contact with
the soft flesh within. He had no arms to swat at them and his
Prism Bolts were useless against them. He knew that if he didn't
do something quickly, they would kill him within mere moments.
Trying to block out the pain from the soldiers' assault, he
began to focus his powers. Suddenly, a crackling vortex of energy
engulfed him. Red, orange and yellow energies exploded out of
his body, transforming it into a new shape. His massive body
shrank, but new appendages emerged from the sides. The flashing
energy faded away just as quickly as it came, revealing Battra's
imago form!
Legion watched in fury as her soldiers fell from
the sky, burnt and charred beyond recognition by the power given
off by Battra's transformation. The few that had survived flew
towards him, but the Black Mothra immediately opened fire with
his Prism Beams, incinerating the last few Symbiotic Legion
and blasting their queen below. Legion cried out as Battra flapped
his wings and flew overhead, raining his violet beams down on
her head. The blasts burned deep scorch marks into Legion's
armor and blew off her remaining few legs from the sides of
her torso. Again and again Battra fired his Prism Beams, never
failing to strike Legion with each blast. The alien queen opened
her proboscis and fired her electromagnetic blast into the air,
but Battra easily avoided the beam and returned fire, sending
his Prism Beams into her face.
Circling around his foe, Battra planned his next
form of attack. Before he could implement it, however, one of
Legion's giant hind legs sprang upward, upercutting Battra in
the mandibles. As he tried to regain his wits without falling
from the sky, Legion swung her leg sideways, slamming it across
his face. Battra spiraled out of control, but miraculously managed
to stay in the air. Just as he managed to regain his composure,
he saw Legion firing her beam directly at him. He had no time
to react, the blast was already airborne. He tried to move,
but the beam punched a massive hole through his left wing. It
failed to detonate, shooting off into the afternoon sky, but
the damage was done. No longer able to stay aloft, Battra fell
to the ground, flapping his wings in an attempt to make the
landing as painless as possible. Battra cackled in frustration,
futilely flapping his wings. He was a sitting duck like this.
He looked ahead and saw Legion making her way towards him. He
fired his Prism Beams at her, taking satisfaction in watching
her recoil in pain from the blasts. Battra's satisfaction soon
turned into panic, however, when Legion bent down and thrust
her proboscis into the ground. Dirt and concrete exploded into
the air as Legion began to burrow into the street. Within seconds,
she was gone.
Battra tried to push himself up off the ground,
but his useless wing weighed him down too much. He needed to
move. He could feel the tremors underneath him as Legion traveled
underground, heading in his direction. He knew he was finished
if he couldn't move. He began to gather his power again, preparing
to revert back to his larva form. Crimson energy began to crackle
over his spiked body.
The pavement exploded as Legion's enormous torso
erupted from the ground, her head held high in the air. She
held her proboscis triumphantly into the sky.
Battra had been impaled on it.
The Black Mothra weakly shook his head side to
side, his legs twitching. Yellow blood poured from where Legion's
horn had pierced his body. Battra knew he had lost, but refused
to give in. He used his last bit of strength to fire his Prism
Beams, blowing chunks from Legion's armor. The alien queen's
beady blue eyes glared angrily at her foe, furious that it would
dare attack her even as it was dying. Putting all of her strength
into it, Legion opened her horn.
The two halves of Battra fell to the ground.
Legion surveyed the area. The flower was destroyed,
her soldiers were dead and she herself was injured from the
fight. She decided to resume her conquest in a different location.
Placing her horn against the ground once again, she burrowed
into the earth, disappearing into the soil.
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