VS.
Arena:
Author: Birdman
Word Count: 3,687 words
Posted: March 21st, 2019
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Tanks shells and lightning-like rays exploded against the monster king’s hide as the military unleashed everything they had on him. Tanks and masers alike unleashed their destructive payloads onto Godzilla in the hopes of stopping his advance to no avail. The general public never knew why the military always kept using the same ineffective weapons against Godzilla and his equally destructive kin. They had never worked in the past, and the chances that they would work now were highly unlikely. The soldiers operating them knew this, but continued their assault regardless. All they could hope to do was hold Godzilla off until the real weaponry arrived.
Godzilla continued onwards, deeper into the heart of Sendai, ignorant to the military’s attempt to stop him. By sheer luck, a set of shells struck his eyeballs, blinding him and earning a moan of pain from the monster king. Never one to suffer attacks on him lightly, he looked down at the tanks as his scutes pulsed with nuclear power. He spewed forth his thermonuclear ray and swept it across the area, annihilating the army forces in an instant. Hundreds of soldiers cried out in horror and agony as the beam washed over them, vaporizing them and reducing their vehicles to burning husks and molten slag. As a sea of fire rose up in the heart of Sendai, Godzilla moved on, uncaring for the destruction he wrought. In the distance, his target loomed: the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, brimming with nuclear energy for him to sate his hunger with.
As Godzilla advanced through the city towards the power plant, the ground miles away began to buckle and shift. An unseen object pushed up from under the earth, pushing aside layers of dirt and concrete and knocking over buildings as it rose. Its soil cover fell away as it stepped onto the surface on four muscular legs, revealing a tan carapace lined with spikes. A spike-tipped, whip-like tail protruded from its back. Its dinosaurian head sported a crown of horns and a large, stubby nasal spike. A pair of enlarged canines stuck out of its tooth-lined jaws like the fangs of a vampire, glistening in the moonlight.
The creature let out a howl-like roar into the air. Godzilla stopped in his tracks as the sound reached his ears and he looked back, releasing his own roar to return Anguirus’ greeting. The spiked quadruped roared back and trotted over to join his life-long friend and ally. Whilst he enjoyed Anguirus’ company, Godzilla was annoyed by his fellow saurian’s arrival. The only times Anguirus went out of his way to locate him was if there was a threat to the earth that needed taking care of. That usually meant aliens. Godzilla growled in frustration. He wasn’t in the mood to fight right now. He directed a commanding roar at Anguirus, ordering him to follow and stay close. Anguirus nodded, and the two resumed Godzilla’s trek towards the power plant.
They would have reached it in good time, had something in the distance not caught Godzilla’s eye. A series of red and blue lights flashed on the ground several blocks away, surrounding a tall skyscraper. Godzilla tilted his head in curiosity, unsure what to make of this strange phenomenon. While his hunger urged him to reach the nuclear plant and feed, his interest in the flashing, colourful lights won over, and he started walking towards them, Anguirus following close behind.
As the two got closer, they were able to see what the source of the lights were. Dozens of police cars surrounded the building, their roof lights flashing to warn pedestrians to stay away. Police officers surrounded the building’s entrance, ready to enter and deal with the threat inside, but as soon as they noticed the two monsters approaching they shouted and panicked, rushing back into their cars and driving off in a hurry, leaving a very confused Godzilla and Anguirus behind. The two stared at each other for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. With the reason for his deviation now gone, Godzilla called for Anguirus to leave.
Just as he began to turn, he sensed it. There was another presence in the area, watching him. Something wrong. Something different. Something alien.
A figure stood on the building’s roof, staring up at the two mutant dinosaurs. Godzilla looked down at the strange creature, analyzing its features. Its body was humanoid, coated in blue, brown and black insect-like armor. Its arms ended in large, metallic, lobster-like claws, which it had raised parallel to its head. A v-shaped chest adorned its huge skull, which possessed only a pair of bulbous orange eyes and a large proboscis, which twitched forwards and back in a breathing motion. Godzilla had seen many alien creatures in his time, but nothing could compare to this bizarre cicada man before him. The alien continued looking at him for a moment, almost seeming to stare into Godzilla’s soul, before walking away and vanishing into the rooftop’s shadows.
Godzilla backed away from the building, a little disturbed by the strange creature. Anguirus looked up at his ally with concern and let out a whine-like sound to check if he was okay. Godzilla shook his head, clearing his thoughts of the creature, and returned Anguirus’ cry with a reassuring purr.
A huge flash of light suddenly appeared before the two, causing both reptiles to call out in alarm. They raised their arms to cover their eyes and avoid being blinded by the intense flashes. After a moment, the lights mercifully stopped. Godzilla and Anguirus lowered their arms – and cried out in surprise at the sight before them.
The alien was back, but now it was as tall as Godzilla!
The insectoid being shook its entire body, releasing eerie laugher from its hidden maw. Godzilla’s eyes narrowed: was this thing mocking him? He bellowed fiercely at the alien, refusing to let this insult pass. His dorsal fins glowing bright, Godzilla opened his mouth and fired an atomic blast. Just as the beam was going to hit, the alien suddenly slid to the side at astounding speeds, leaving a trail of after-images in its wake. Godzilla’s atomic breath harmlessly cut through the illusions and struck an apartment complex, which erupted into a fireball and collapsed. Godzilla and Anguirus both looked puzzled at this strange ability. The alien’s laughter came again from Godzilla’s right, and both creatures turned to see it shaking and broadcasting its mocking noises. Godzilla curled up his lips, barring his teeth at the strange invader as his spines glowed again. He fired another blast, only for the alien to dodge it again, effortlessly sliding to the left. Godzilla’s head tracked the creature as it moved through the streets before coming to a stop. His spines still flickering with atomic might, Godzilla roared at the alien, annoyed by its tactics. In response, the alien ceased laughing and lowered its arms, pointing them at Godzilla. Its claws opened and it fired dual blasts from its hidden cannons. The blasts struck Godzilla square in the chest, blasting open his torso. Godzilla shrieked and toppled over, flattening an office building as he fell to the ground, his chest bleeding and smoking profusely.
Anguirus watched with horror as his greatest friend and ally went down. Turning back to the alien, he howled in fury and charged towards it. He lunged at its legs, biting down on its right ankle. The alien let out a surprised sound and kicked Anguirus off, then slammed its foot into the spiked reptile’s side, knocking him over. Anguirus quickly flipped himself back onto his feet and rose onto his hind legs, lashing out with his front ones and driving the invader back. He lunged forward and aimed his jaws for the creature’s neck, missing by mere inches. The alien smashed one of its claws onto the top of Anguirus’ skull, knocking him silly. The reptile wobbled on his feet and let out a dizzy roar as he tried to keep his balance. Anguirus drunkenly thrust himself at the alien and missed entirely as it suddenly vanished with a beeping noise, leaving Anguirus to crash to the ground. The impact managed to knock Anguirus straight again and he stood up, looking from side-to-side in search of his foe. A pair of cannonball-like energy blasts struck the quadruped’s shell from out of nowhere, causing Anguirus to howl in agony and fall back down. Behind him, the alien raised his arms, laughing at Anguirus’ suffering.
A blue nuclear blast slammed into the alien’s chest, knocking it to the ground with a cry of surprise. Anguirus stood up as a familiar roar reached his ears and turned to see Godzilla standing not far away, having recovered from his earlier assault and ready for round two.
But it looked like the battle was over almost as quickly as it started. Godzilla and Anguirus walked over and peered at the alien’s unmoving body, smoke gently rising from its charred chest. Just as they were about to pronounce it dead, the alien stood up! The saurian duo yelped in alarm as the cicada-like humanoid emerged from its own corpse, its body devoid of the damage inflicted by Godzilla’s atomic ray. The alien stood to its full height as its discarded exoskeleton faded away, raising its arms and shaking its body as it laughed at Godzilla and Anguirus.
Of the two, Godzilla was the first to recover from his surprised state and charged, slamming his massive bulk into the frail-looking alien. The alien astounded Godzilla by pushing back with equal strength whilst clubbing its pincer-like hands against the mutated reptile’s head, cracking bone and knocking out teeth. Struggling through the pain, Godzilla slashed at the alien’s chest with his own claws, cutting through its armor and drawing streams of foul looking and foul smelling blood. He placed his hands on the alien and pushed, shoving it away. The alien pointed its arms, but before it could fire Anguirus came charging in, howling like a banshee, drawing the insect person’s attention away from Godzilla. The alien opened its claws and fired, but Anguirus merely ran past the ensuing explosions, reared up, spun around and slammed his tail into the alien’s legs. It fell to the ground and Anguirus pounced atop it, sinking his jaws into the alien’s shoulder and thrashing his head from side to side, sinking his fangs deeper into its flesh. Godzilla issued a roar at Anguirus and the carnivorous ankylosaur crawled off the alien fiend, keeping his jaws secured around its shoulder and holding it in place. Godzilla’s spines lit up as he opened his maw, nuclear power glowing in his throat as he looked down…
…and paused as a beeping sound and echoing laugher came from behind him.
The glow in Godzilla’s throat and around his spines died down as he spun around to see the alien standing before him, laughing and shaking at him. Godzilla tilted his head as he looked at the thing, confused as to how it could be behind and in front of him at the same time. The alien in Anguirus’ grip suddenly vanished, causing Anguirus to fall and plant his face in the ground with a surprised sound. Hearing his ally’s cry, Godzilla looked to see what the matter was. A beeping noise filled his ears and he spun around to see the other alien that had been in front of him was gone too. Godzilla growled as he looked around. What was with this thing and constantly disappearing and reappearing?
Behind him, Anguirus got to his feet, moaning softly as his jaw ached. Godzilla called out to him, having devised a plan to catch and destroy the strange thing. He and Anguirus moved together so that they stood back-to-back and scanned the darkened streets for the alien.
The alien reappeared, but it was not alone. Godzilla and Anguirus looked around in shock as dozens of illusions appeared around them, walking around in a circle and trapping them in the middle. They began to materialize into solid forms, shaking and laughing at the duo. Eventually, an entire one-creature army of the aliens surrounded the two, filling the air with their deafening, mocking noise. Godzilla and Anguirus both shook their heads violently and tried to drown out the noise as it filled their head. Blood trickled out of their ears as their ear drums threatened to rupture. As the laugher began to reach its highest point, Godzilla and Anguirus drowned it out with their own deafening, thunderous roars, screaming their defiance to the malicious creatures. They hung their heads low afterwards, their throats raw from their broadcast. Mercifully, the laughter had stopped.
That was not a good thing.
The aliens aimed their claws and opened fire, raining hundreds of destructive blasts down upon Godzillasaurus and Angilosaurus alike. Their agonized screams were drowned out by the noise of the blasts detonating their flesh, incinerating skin and muscle and, in some parts, lighting their very flesh aflame. To escape this living hell, Anguirus dug his arms into the ground and began to dig frantically. Within seconds, he had created a deep chasm and disappeared inside, abandoning Godzilla to his fate. The monster king struggled to stay conscious as he was torn apart faster than his regenerative abilities could keep up. His dorsal fins lit up as he summoned his nuclear power, trying to find a target through the smoke cloud with his blurred vision. When he could find nothing, he decided on a different approach. Instead of firing his nuclear ray, he kept his mouth shut, allowing the energy within to build up more and more. His eyes flashed with blue light as his fins grew brighter and brighter to an almost blinding degree. Unable to hold in the power anymore, Godzilla released.
A surge of nuclear energy ripped through his entire body and exploded outwards in a powerful pulse. Smoke and incoming blasts were washed away as the waver of atomic lust swept through the area. Buildings and aliens alike fell to the ground, unable to attest to Godzilla’s power. Upon hitting the ground, unbeknownst to Godzilla, the aliens vanished in flashes of light, leaving not a trace of their existence. In the aftermath, Godzilla stood alone in an empty battlefield of his own creation. He scanned the blackened landscape as his flesh knitted itself back together, looking for the mysterious creature. Or was it creatures? Godzilla wasn’t sure if the thing was able to create more of itself, or if there were multiple ones working as one to combat him.
Flashes of light and strange beeping noises came from behind him. Godzilla didn’t need to look back to know more of the aliens had appeared. They appeared on all sides, filling his vision with their ugly visage and drowning out all other noise with their menacing laugher. Roaring ferociously, Godzilla lashed out, striking an alien that had gotten too close. It made a surprised noise and fell to the ground and vanished in a flash of light. Godzilla’s eyes widened as he discovered the creature’s secret. None of them were real; they were just illusions conjured up to trick him into thinking there were more of them than there really was. With this revelation, Godzilla realized taking out the strange alien would be harder than he thought.
The aliens began to move in, some of them moving so fast they left trails of after-images in their wake. Godzilla slashed at the ones that got too close, charging his claws with his atomic power and dispelling each illusion with a single strike. Behind him, his tail whipped around like a hissing cobra, knocking away more of the illusions. Still more came. Godzilla punched, slashed, kicked and tail-slammed them frantically as they began to box him in, but with every one he destroyed, two would move in to take its place. Three of the illusions fired at the monster king, bathing him in smoke and fire. Godzilla could not understand how these fakes could fire real ammunition. He couldn’t understand how they were solid entities, either. As dozens of metal claws battered his body, Godzilla’s spines flashed. Realizing what came next, the illusions backed off, but it was far too late. Godzilla expelled his thermonuclear breath, destroying a group of the fake aliens in a burst of fire. Continuing to fire, he swung his body around in a circle, taking out more of the illusions as they tried to fire on him. By the time he’d cleared them out, a veil of dark smoke coated the area. Godzilla reared his head back and roared victoriously into the heavens. His roar quickly turned into a shriek of pain as several blasts struck him in the back. He fell to the ground, squirming in agony and roaring helplessly as he tried to get back up. Behind him, the group of the alien’s illusions laughed at the fallen reptile and closed in, claws poised to fire again.
The ground suddenly began to quake, prompting the group to pause and look around, confused. The street burst open and a pair of jaws swiftly emerged, clamping down on one of the alien’s ankles. The insect-like humanoid squirmed in agony as the jaws bit down further, drawing blood. Unable to focus, the alien’s illusions vanished in flashes of light. The alien thrashed its leg furiously and removed the jaws from its ankle, allowing the jaws to return into the earth. Not a second later, the ground rumbled again, as a ball of spikes burst out of the ground and smashed into the alien, knocking it to the ground. The ball unfurled, revealing a familiar set of arms, legs, a head and a tail. Anguirus let out several angry barks at the creature, determined to keep it away from the injured Godzilla. His retreat earlier had actually been part of Godzilla’s plan. Whilst he had distracted the aliens, Anguirus had buried underground to take them by surprise. He’d quickly learned, however, that he could only detect the vibrations from one set of footprints: the real alien. Now that he had it cornered, Anguirus planned to take it down before it could summon its illusions again.
Getting to a standing position, the alien pointed its claws at Anguirus. Before it could fire, the spiny reptile spun around and began uprooting the ground with his hind legs, kicking tons of concrete, stone, and earth at the creature, which raised its arms to try and protect itself as the barrage forced it back. Standing on his hind legs, Anguirus launched himself at the alien back-first with an echoing howl. Halfway to the alien, the creature recovered and aimed its claws at the flying reptile. Instead of explosive blasts, twin crimson beams shot out of its open claws and engulfed Anguirus’ form. The mighty dinosaur fell to the ground, frozen in a jumping position, unable to move or even think under the effect of the paralysing beams.
The sound of Anguirus hitting the ground roused Godzilla from his semi-unconscious state. Pulling himself up, the first thing he saw was Anguirus’ unmoving form at the feet of the alien, which shook with laughter as it faced the kaiju king. Bellowing in rage at Anguirus’ demise, Godzilla charged down the alien menace. As it aimed at him, he braced his legs and jumped high into the air. The alien looked up and its eyes bulged in shock as Godzilla came down like a WWE wrestler atop it, hammering it into the ground. The alien convulsed in pain as one of its claws shattered under the pressure of Godzilla’s bulk. The King of the Monsters grabbed the alien’s arms and pulled it to its feet as he did the same, then released them and spun around, slamming his tail into the humanoid cicada’s chest. The blow cracked the thing’s armor and it went flying back, crashing to the ground. The force of the landing caused the alien’s other claw to break off, leaving it weaponless and defenseless. As it shakily stood up, Godzilla’s dorsal fins flickered with light. Atomic fire burned in his eyes as bolts of energy cracked over his dorsal fins. The monster king’s immeasurable rage caused his nuclear power to skyrocket to superpowered levels. Godzilla did not hesitate to release this energy in the form of a powerful atomic blast. A stream of energy spiraled around the cone of death as it tore into the alien’s chest, which shook and writhed in pain as more and more atomic power coursed into it. Eventually, the thing could take no more, and it exploded into thousands of burning fragments that rained down across Sendai.
Godzilla stood in place as he watched the creature’s remains plummet from the sky. He panted softly, exhausted from having expelled so much energy in one go. With the alien’s destruction, its paralyzing effect on Anguirus wore off and the quadruped sprang to life, flailing his limbs wildly. After a moment of panicking, he calmed down and looked around, finding only Godzilla and several flaming chunks of… something… littering the city. Had they won?
Anguirus crawled over to Godzilla, the two exchanging roars and howls. Both were relieved that the other was okay. The two quickly looked around as a strangle noise filled the air. In the sky above, an alien vessel de-cloaked and began to ascend, trying to escape and warn its kind of the monsters that defended Earth. A blast of Godzilla’s atomic ray engulfed the ship, destroying it instantly. As Godzilla and Anguirus watched its remains fall from the sky, they noticed the lights of the Sendai Nuclear Plant had gone off. In the ensuing carnage the army had managed to shut down its reactors in the hopes of preventing Godzilla from acquiring its nuclear energy. Growling angrily at the fact he had been denied his meal, Godzilla turned and began his trek towards the ocean with Anguirus in tow. Neither of them realized they had just saved the planet from the threat of invasion by the Baltan aliens.
Spoiler:
