Author: Harley Jameson | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

There was said to be a powerful and terrifying beast. A beast so horrible that it brought Japan to its knees and made it beg for mercy. Legend says that only a select few could ever defeat this creature, although their names were lost to time. This terrifying beast of legend, feared across the world, was known as Godzilla.

A man made monster, Godzilla mowed down foe after foe, some claiming that his power equated and even surpassed the gods. Nothing could stop his never-ending rampage, nothing could beat him. One would try.

There were even more ancient legends, of a dragon with bloodstained skin and a hunger for death. These two nightmares of humanity never once clashed in battle, but the ancient dragon awoke one ominios day, his mind set on such an encounter. The Yamata no Orochi was coming back.

Toyama Bay was beautiful during the winter. While it wasn’t a nightly occurrence, the firefly squid often washed up on shore, illuminating the sandy beaches with such an array of cerulean hues that the beauty of the sight couldn’t be put into words. The ocean waves rolled gently onto the cold shore as the moonless night made the blue hue even more beautiful. This peace was disturbed though, by the waves crashing down on one another more violently than the last. Soon, the ground quaked as Godzilla, bathed in the bioluminescent blue of the firefly squid, marched onto the shore.

Godzilla gave a mighty roar, his dorsal spines glowing as blue as his body. With a flash of blinding light, signature nuclear energy tore into the nearby forest, setting it ablaze and causing small explosions to rock the quiet of the night. As the King of the Monsters went further inland, engulfed in a blaze of his own making, the ground began to shake violently. Godzilla grunted in confusion, his eyes narrowing on the burning forest as it split open, swallowing trees like hell itself was opening its jaws. Flames licked the open air, and from its depth, a demonic roar echoed out. Godzilla stayed his ground, flexing his claws as he scanned the towering beast. Orochi’s eight heads roared into the night, its mind seeking only one thing: To kill Godzilla.

Jets of searing hot flames shot out of a couple of the hydra’s heads, dousing Godzilla and erecting a shriek of pain from the irradiated creature. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air while orange light of the fires illuminated the night sky. Godzilla roared in anger and discharged an overwhelming atomic ray at Orochi, causing the ground to explode as it hit the ancient evil’s body. The creature slid back a few meters from the monumental force, causing Orochi’s heads to cry in pain.

The heads quickly recovered, their vengeful glares transforming into crimson energy that sparked within their optical orbs. Bolts of red lightning shot out from each of Orochi’s eyes and maws. Godzilla screamed in agony as he was electrocuted, smoke curling from his skin. He snarled in anger and charged Orochi, getting in close and clawing at the hydra’s body, spilling its tainted blood upon charred earth. Orochi gave a wail of pain as Godzilla sank his teeth into one of the demon’s necks. Like a rabid animal, Godzilla shook his head side to side, aiming to rip out one of Orochi’s throats. Several other of Orochi’s heads grabbed Godzilla before he could complete the tear, biting down while the head being bitten bathed Godzilla’s back in flames. Moaning in anguish, Godzilla relinquished his grip to echo a roar of pain into the heavens.

Orochi tucked a few of his heads and smashed them against the saurian’s abdomen, launching Godzilla away. The Monster King soared a few hundred meters before crash landing on his back. His dorsal spines dug trenches in the sand as he skidded away from the demonic hydra. As he slowed to a crawl, Godzilla returned to his feet, sand clinging to his body as his burns already began healing. More red lightning crackled out of Orochi, slamming into Godzilla and piercing his skin, red blood splattering onto the blue shoreline. The ground thundered as Orochi advanced, using his bulk to slam into Godzilla, forcing him to the beach once more while hellish flames bathed him.

The flames gradually subsided, allowing Orochi to gaze upon Godzilla’s grevious wounds. His front skin was burnt and smoking, and Orochi cackled with malicious glee. This creature was pathetic to the mighty Orochi! He would defeat this stupid creature and the Earth would be his. Godzilla’s claws curled into fists, a snarl of pure fury echoed, attracting the heads to Godzilla’s fallen form. Even watching the saurian, they were too slow to react. Godzilla sprang up with frightening speed, launching an atomic ray at Orochi, blowing one of the heads clean off in a shower of gore. Orochi unleashed seven wails of pain, and Godzilla closed the gap between them, biting and grabbing at other heads.

Orochi had no way of stopping Godzilla without doing damage to himself, and Godzilla ripped and tore unabated, yellow blood coating the Kaiju King as he gave a bellowing roar through Orochi’s flesh. Two more draconic heads soared into the surrounding inferno and caused another loud shriek of pain to echo from Orochi. The bleeding hydra had enough of this, and fire spewed out of its five remaining heads. Godzilla’s face scored the brunt of the monumental blaze, forcing the irradiated creature to stagger back, wailing as his eyes and nose were burnt and sealed shut.

Unable to see or smell his foe, Godzilla staggered about, firing his atomic ray wildly. Not a single one touched Orochi as the dragon took to the air, firing bolts of lightning down upon their helpless foe and causing Godzilla to trip over the trench he dug earlier and fall to the ground, waving his arms wildly. Orochi gave another mocking cackle, his eyes glowing evilly as some of his heads shot lightning from their mouths and eyes, while others spat hot flames at the downed, pathetic creature. Smoke curled into the air as Godzilla wailed from the combined assault, his spines flashing blue as he tried to fire off his atomic beam, but Orochi’s continued assault shut it down.

Orochi slowly moved toward Godzilla, not letting up his relentless attacks. This pitiful creature would die shortly, by Orochi’s own doing no less! Where even mighty gods fell, Orochi would rise! What Orochi did not expect, was a sharp flash of blue which washed across his whole body. Pain, it consumed the draconic god, causing him to writhe and scream in agony. Godzilla had used his last ditch effort, his Nuclear Pulse, and from the god’s cries of agony, the saurian knew he hit his target. Godzilla’s regeneration wouldn’t heal all of this damage instantly, but a sense of satisfaction took hold of the partially blinded monster as he slowly stood up, his body still smoking in the cold, night air. Godzilla could barely see Orochi, but he knew that if this fight continued, he’d be dead. Mustering up what little energy he had left, Godzilla’s dorsal spines began flashing blue, before slowly turning red.

Orochi finally managed to right himself, the now five-headed hydra panting as he watched Godzilla charge up his Spiral Ray. At first the dragon’s eyes went wide, feeling terror for the first time in its hellish existence, but fear violently morphed into rage. No! He would not fall! Orochi roared of its defiant intent, frantically firing his lightning at Godzilla, but the monster king powered through the anguish. With a mighty roar, Godzilla fired his Spiral Ray at Orochi. Godzilla couldn’t see if his final attack hit home, but he heard Orochi’s wail of pain and the shockwave his ultimate move created, then nothing… He had won!

Godzilla panted, slumping back to the ground. It would take time to recharge his energy, but with Orochi dead, it was time he could afford as he fell into unconsciousness. Seconds turned to minutes, but an unmistakable shadow gradually loomed over Godzilla. While bloodied and now down to three heads and three legs, Orochi was far from dead, unlike his pathetic foe. Orochi had to admit Godzilla was a powerful foe, but he knew that this creature’s strength was legendary, but not unstoppable. A godlike strength drawn from others, but alone he was just as mortal as any creature. Orochi’s remaining heads poured everything they had at Godzilla’s head, waking the unconscious beast with unparalleled misery. A blood-curdling shriek consumed Toyama Bay as the continuous attacks began to take their toll, and when Orochi finally stopped, there was nothing but a charred husk where Godzilla’s head used to be.

Orochi had won, the legend of Godzilla was no more and soon Japan would suffer from a new, unending nightmare.

Winner: Orochi 

Author: Matthew Freese | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

Atop a pedestal of stone, a god watched over his kingdom. Darkness had fallen over the land, and the moon and the stars stood against it and made for a spectacle to anyone looking up.

Mothra Leo did enjoy the devotion and praise of his people, to hear their chanting and watch their elaborate displays in worship of him. Not out of a narcissistic desire, but because it made his followers happy and reminded him of all he was dedicated to protecting. It was the people of Infant Island that helped keep him from the path taken by beings like Battra.

But he enjoyed nights like this one just as much, when his followers chose to leave him alone either to sleep or to enjoy the night for themselves. For these nights gave him a chance to bask in nature’s tranquility and to look at the beautiful tapestry laid out in the sky every night.

On this night his focus was on a meteor shower. It was a beautiful display, a dynamic light show in contrast to the usual static beauty of the stars and moon. His emerald eyes suddenly focused on a large meteor, one that stood out against the rest for its size. It was big enough to where it would break through the atmosphere and strike the planet. Leo still continued staring at it, for reasons he didn’t know.

Until dread dug its talons into his mind. The meteor carried a presence within it, something chaotic and destructive. The genetic memory he inherited from his ancestors told him that only one thing could be in that rock.

Grand King Ghidorah.

The meteor was going to land near Tokyo, which meant he had to act fast if he wanted to save millions. But, could he defeat this King Ghidorah? He was powerful, easily the most powerful Mothra to ever exist, but would his power be enough? He didn’t know how powerful this King Ghidorah would be. It wasn’t the same one his mother had fought alongside Godzilla and Rodan.

Godzilla! That was it! He would need to find allies like his mother had. But, that Godzilla had disappeared, to where nobody knows. The only Godzilla that he could find quickly was… nothing like what his mother had joined forces with.

Except that both had been plunged into agony by humanity’s ignorance and made bitter and spiteful by it. And yet, his mother had convinced Godzilla to stand against a greater threat, starting him on the path to becoming one of Earth’s greatest guardians.

So, why couldn’t he do the same?

Moving his wings, he propelled himself into the air. He had to get to Tokyo, and fast. It was a quick journey, few living things being capable of moving faster than Mothra Leo. When he reached Tokyo, he was grateful to not see a city in flames.

What he did fly over on his journey was a colossal meteor embedded in the ground, crews of humans close to it and examining it. They looked up in awe at the colossus flying above them. Leo let out a call toward them, commanding them to keep away from the meteor, then kept flying. Though the people did not fully understand his cry, they understood the idea behind it. So when the meteor began to generate strange energy readings after the deity’s passing, growing by the second in intensity, many of the workers and scientists began finding excuses to keep their distance.

Leo’s target was the first thing he saw, and even in its current state, it sent shivers through him. Godzilla’s frozen body still commanded a sense of fear and wrongness. Nothing about it looked natural. Legs that looked too big for it, arms and eyes much too small for a creature of its size, and scars wracking its entire body. Not scars earned in battle, but instead the result of skin not growing as fast as the rest of the body. At the end of a tail longer than the mutant were tall figures that resembled mutated, reptilian humans desperately clawing at the air as they emerged from what almost looked like a second head with an eye and set of jaws.

This being had decimated Tokyo in a matter of moments. Even if humanity had created it, Leo still felt ashamed of himself that he had left them to deal with it on their own. There had been ample time to intervene, so he knew it was his fault for staying on Infant Island instead of venturing forth.

Godzilla had limitless potential, as he could evolve in moments what would take other lifeforms millions of years and countless generations. Under the right circumstances, he could pose a far greater threat to life on Earth than King Ghidorah. Leo could feel the King of Terror getting ready to burst from its cocoon, so now was the time to make his decision.

The frozen thing before him was an abomination, and a potential threat to all life on Earth. But it was still a living thing, and it was not evil like King Ghidorah. Like the Godzilla his mother had helped, it was a lost soul who had been relentlessly attacked by the world. How could anyone be surprised it would fight back? It needed to be shown compassion, not hatred.

Mothra Leo’s body shone brightly, before the light faded to reveal he had become thousands of shimmering moths. The swarm of divine insects flocked toward the frozen mutant, covering it with their bodies. Their lights intensified, heat building within.

Steam billowed upward from the moths, water dripping from wherever they touched. Godzilla’s eyes, still encased in ice, began to shift. They rolled in the socket to observe their surroundings, prompting Leo to back away from it. The swarm, with another shining flash, reformed into Mothra Leo.

Though Godzilla’s body hadn’t changed in appearance, it was beginning to twitch. Its back glowed a vibrant purple as the frost turned to steam, revealing the black skin and red scars beneath. The tail twisted and contorted, breaking off chunks of ice which crashed to the ground, the impact shattering them. Mothra Leo cringed as the humanoids clawing at the sky cracked apart, falling from their prison only to meet the same fate as the rest of the ice.

Tokyo’s people shuddered in horror as Godzilla roared to the heavens. Alarms blared all throughout the city, urging its people to seek shelter. The unnatural god stared at the city before it, its face an unreadable mask hiding whatever brewed within its strange mind.

Mothra Leo called to the being, a greeting. An eye shifted to look at the guardian, before turning back to look at the city. Infant Island’s deity tilted his head, unsure of how to proceed. He called again, trying to open a dialogue with the strange colossus. As if it hadn’t heard him, Godzilla stepped forward. Its spines glowed once more, fire building within its jaws. Quickly, Mothra Leo began shedding an emerald colored powder from his wings. When a stream of fire erupted from Godzilla’s open jaws, he flapped his wings, sending the cloud of green dust into the fire’s path. The nuclear flames broke apart in the powder, being condensed into glowing spears which struck nothing as they moved amongst the cloud.

This grabbed Godzilla’s attention, prompting it to turn toward Mothra Leo. It shrieked at the winged deity. This being would free it of its prison, then stop it from enacting its revenge? Did the moth seek to torture it? Leo yelled in return, revealing that the Earth was in danger. This made the mutant pause, giving the insect relief that it hadn’t just instantly attacked him. Another roar from the cancerous monster, demanding to know what this danger was.

Telepathy was a natural ability of the moth god’s lineage. He knew Godzilla’s emotions, and through this he could piece together the mutant’s intent. When this threat was dead, its wrath would be turned upon humanity once more. And upon Mothra Leo if he intervened again. It was the only option in the colossus’s mind. As the deity struggled to figure out how to proceed, his heart sank. Godzilla’s head suddenly turned to the side, telling the god that the mutant also sensed it.

The destroyer had awoken.

A colossal meteor, split open like an egg. Metal objects were scattered on the ground around the space rock, drawn there from the intense magnetic waves it had put off moments before the cocoon burst. A blob of fire rose into the sky, slowly morphing into the one shape that prompted more fear than Godzilla. Hordes of fleeing workers, scientists, and now villagers as they desperately tried to escape what was coming.

The cosmic energy solidified into a dragon coated in golden scales. Three necks like serpents waved through the air, their heads bearing intricate crowns of horns. Six crimson eyes looked upon the world with disgust, seeing the fleeing humans like humans would see a fleeing horde of cockroaches. The trio of jaws opened wide, baring their sword-like teeth. A moment later, the night was illuminated with three golden bolts of extraterrestrial power. They tore into the fleeing crowds.

In mere moments, thousands of people with their own individual lives, hopes, and beliefs became one as ash against the desolate ground.

Grand King Ghidorah’s fan-like wings carried him off of the ground, his twin tails swinging behind as he flew toward the glowing beacon that was Tokyo. He cackled, a trio of haunting shrieks that sounded unnatural and distorted.

He had come to this world millions of years ago, when he was still a juvenile. Even then, barely anything could stand before his awesome power. He had been driven away, by titans of immense power who ensured nature remained balanced. He hadn’t come back for revenge, even though he was sure he could now eradicate all who had forced him away before, and certainly would if the opportunity arose.

Another of his kind had been killed on this world. Every action and event produced disturbances at some level, no matter how small. And the death of a destroyer of worlds produced massive disturbances, even if they could only be felt by few. But, Grand King Ghidorah hadn’t come to avenge his kin, if the two had met the King of Terror would have likely killed his relative just as he did all life.

No, this was more personal. Killing a Ghidorah would give any world so much hope, and the killer would believe themselves to be a hero immortalized by legend. Hope and legend. The former was so fun to crush, and the latter was always so satisfying to prevent. One couldn’t be immortalized if no one who knew them could tell the tale.

Mothra Leo and Godzilla saw the golden hydra as soon as he entered the city. Gravity Bolts spewing from his maws ripped through buildings, ripping humanity’s structures apart and sending the cascades of rubble to the ground. The people who had been fleeing from Godzilla’s awakening were powerless, the massive crowds being perfect targets for the space demon’s power. Crimson eyes locked onto the guardian and the mutant. Grand King Ghidorah cackled once more at the sight of the two colossi. He always enjoyed obliterating the pitiful masses, but there was a certain joy to ripping into a being on the same scale as himself.

Godzilla bellowed to the encroaching foe. It would have to decide what to do with humanity and the insect later, now was the time to display its power. Stepping forward, the cancerous mutant’s power flowed through it, accompanied by the brilliant glow of its spines. A stream of nuclear fire erupted toward the golden dragon. Mothra Leo flew to the side, unwilling to immediately attack King Ghidorah head on.

The King of Terror watched the flames, but did not stop his charge. Before the flames actually touched him, a translucent barrier manifested meters above his scales. It was like the flames hit a wall, leaving Grand King Ghidorah unharmed. The geyser of atomic energy was pierced by Gravity Bolts, splitting it like stones in a river.

Godzilla’s attack stopped as the bolts ripped into its black hide, causing it to shriek in agony. Godzilla staggered back as its pain continued, until the alien energy stopped flowing. A moment afterward, Grand King Ghidorah barreled into the mutant with both feet, sending it to the ground. The golden dragon then dropped feet-first onto Godzilla’s side, earning another cry of pain from the strange beast.

Grand King Ghidorah shrieked as he was thrown forward, his back bending as Mothra Leo, clad in emerald energy, slammed into him. As the golden hydra hit the ground, the winged paragon fluttered back, revealing the now glowing underside of his thorax. The Mega Breast Cannon, a shimmering pillar of energy with power so grand it forced its user back, was unleashed from the god’s thorax. To his horror, Grand King Ghidorah’s barrier held strong, seemingly unaffected by one of his most powerful attacks.

The end of Godzilla’s tail hit the ground near the mutant’s head, and with the straining of the numerous muscles within the colossal limb, it pushed the cancerous saurian’s body up to its feet. Meanwhile, Grand King Ghidorah floated into the air, manipulating gravity to maneuver himself to face his enemies. Despite being in the middle of battle, his three faces bore hideous grins. Focusing on Mothra Leo, the first creature to hurt the King of Terror in centuries, he rushed forward with the beat of his wings. The guardian of nature turned, only for golden bolts to tear into his back. He screamed as fur and chitin burned. He dropped, digging a trench through the streets with his head.

Before Grand King Ghidorah could tear into the guardian with his teeth and claws, Godzilla swiftly turned, bringing the deformed colossus’s tail swinging through the air. The colossal limb crashed into the hydra’s chest, doubling the alien over. Before Godzilla could pull its tail back, two of Grand King Ghidorah’s necks wrapped around the appendage. As the mutant tried to pull itself free, the hydra’s third head opened its jaws, aiming its beam at Godzilla’s back. Cosmic energy ripped into the saurian’s natural venting system, tearing into the beast’s internal systems. Shrieks of agony echoed across the metropolis.

Violet energy flowed through Godzilla’s body once more, but it did not flow toward its mouth. Lightning fired from the claws on the King of Terror’s wings burned into the mutant, earning cackles from the destroyer of worlds as he tormented his foe. Blinded by his sadism, none of his three heads noticed the tip of Godzilla’s tail writhing. As if it had a mind of its own, it aimed its strange jaws toward Grand King Ghidorah’s chest, which it was practically pressed against. The cancerous saurian’s power flowed into it, illuminating the limb’s mouth.

Grand King Ghidorah shrieked when a thin, purple beam of nuclear photons tore into his pectoral, burning away scales and scorching flesh. He released his foe, subconsciously backing away to avoid the sudden, burning pain as his conscious minds tried to grasp what was happening in the split second. Once he was a few footsteps back, his barrier flared to life. The beam was reflected in multiple directions away from the invisible barrier, before fading.

A black circle marred the immaculate body of the King of Terror, smoke drifting up from the wound. Grand King Ghidorah looked at the damage while staring at his foe, who was quickly turning to face him. The third head caught Mothra Leo now airborne, having watched the dragon be forced back, the information being fed to the joint consciousness of the hydra. Grand King Ghidorah’s scales reacted to the light in potentially damaging geysers of energy, weaving the barrier that added to his already immense durability. But when the source of said energy stream was too close, the scales couldn’t react.

And now his foes knew that.

Godzilla stomped forward, trying to close the distance quickly. Mothra Leo rushed toward the hydra, his body glowing emerald once more as he prepared the Excel Dash. Bolts of lightning from Grand King Ghidorah’s wings seared into his frame before he could get far, forcing him back. Mothra Leo started flying away from Grand King Ghidorah, preparing to circle around. The King of Terror left the ground to pursue, only for Godzilla’s Ultra Atomic Ray to burn into his barrier once more. Quickly realizing his barrier couldn’t hold against the cutting beam for long, Grand King Ghidorah’s attention shifted to his grounded foe as he himself landed.

Gravity Bolts and Wing Lightning burned into Godzilla’s hide, cutting off the mutant’s attack. Grand King Ghidorah continued the attack, sending chunks of the saurian’s blackened body flying. Godzilla fell to the ground, shrieking. The King of Terror laughed. So much power within such a pathetic creature.

A gust of wind hit his back, before a large cloud of emerald colored powder drifted over the hydra’s body. His beams hit the scales, and they caught the energy and shrunk it into glowing spears of alien power. Grand King Ghidorah’s power was turned against him, his own beams blasting his torso. He screamed, and the cry was further tortured when the scales started paralyzing his muscles. Summoning his willpower, the dragon beat his wings, dispersing the scales with his own gust of wind.

Mothra Leo fired blue bolts of lightning into the ground behind his foe. A colossal pillar of azure energy burst from the ground, obliterating the concrete and cars in its path. More pillars like the first quickly erupted, moving in a line forward. The third pillar hit Grand King Ghidorah, throwing the demon into the air as his feet and legs burned.

Godzilla pushed itself to its feet, just in time to watch the screaming Grand King Ghidorah crash into the ground before it. Face down, the King of Terror groaned. He began to lift himself into the air, only for Godzilla’s massive right foot to come down on his center neck. This pinned the demon to the ground, leaving it to thrash madly. The saurian’s other foot came down on another of the demon’s necks, its tail coming down on the third.

As the cancerous mutant twisted its right foot to further the pain on Grand King Ghidorah’s center neck, Mothra Leo landed on the hydra. Jade Bolts from his wings and Cross Heat lasers from his forehead burned into Grand King Ghidorah’s back, further intensifying the flailing. He looked up to Godzilla, then let out a shriek. He believed the fight to be nearing its end, and he didn’t know how much of an opportunity he’d have to speak after it was done. The mutant looked down upon the god. It let out a roar, a statement of defiance. If that was the case, then the moth would perish along with humanity. Both stared at each other, still continuing to attack their shared foe. Leo let out another cry, begging Godzilla to reconsider, as he did not want to harm the mutant. This made the saurian pause, completely unaware of how to proceed.

Grand King Ghidorah’s wings reared up, before digging their claws into the ground. Straining them, he pushed his body up. Mothra Leo flew into the air, crying out in shock as he watched this. Godzilla staggered, trying to keep its hold on the dragon. The head pinned by the mutant’s tail freed itself, before biting down onto the tail’s tip.

Godzilla fell back when a Gravity Beam tore into the tail’s mouth. It screamed as the bolt ripped through the limb, splitting the “head” in half. A chunk of the tail flew off as the beam tore through it, leaving a gaping hole from the tail’s tip to about halfway up the limb. Grand King Ghidorah forced himself into the air, screaming madly as he left the ground.

Before Mothra Leo could react, the King of Terror lunged toward him with a bellowing roar. Grand King Ghidorah’s outer heads bit down on Leo’s wings, punching through the soft membrane with their teeth. They flailed, ripping into the wings further as the center head lunged for a bite at the guardian’s face. The deity barely shifted his head enough to avoid the bite, then did it again to avoid another. Grand King Ghidorah’s center head reared back, then was thrust forward in an attempt to rip the god’s brains out.

Three thin beams of emerald energy came from the trio of gems on Mothra Leo’s forehead, searing into Ghidorah’s center tongue. Saliva boiled as the tongue was severed, forcing the demon to relinquish his grip on the insect. All three heads screamed, sending the damaged organ into a free fall. Mothra Leo caught himself in the air, then looked up.

Grand King Ghidorah was still.

Godzilla pushed itself up, quickly adapting to the horrid pain that flared through its tail whenever it moved the limb. Suddenly, a dome formed around the mutant. It was a disturbing thing, a sickly yellow construct that looked like a tumor. Godzilla prodded at it, only to recoil as the dome’s interior was like acid.

Mothra Leo panicked as he looked down at his ally’s predicament. His vision went blurry when a golden foot slammed into the top of his head, sending him into a spinning plummet. Two jaws clamped onto his body a second later, crushing chitin and spilling yellow blood. Still disoriented from the kick, the god was powerless as Grand King Ghidorah lifted him above the demon’s three heads. The hydra’s center head thrust its antlers into Mothra Leo’s abdomen, forcing a cry of agony from him as blood spewed from the wound.

If the guardian could look at his foe’s eyes, he would see them opened as wide as they could possibly be. Grand King Ghidorah’s whole body shook with laughter, only making the moth’s pain worse as it shook the blades spearing into him. The King of Terror ripped his horns free, and relinquished his grip on Mothra Leo’s body. Refusing to give the moth a moment not filled with new agony, Grand King Ghidorah unleashed his Gravity Beams on the falling insect, hastening the fall.

Mothra Leo’s body slammed into the ground, forming a crater. Grand King Ghidorah’s feet crashed against the guardian’s wings, further damaging them and the ground beneath. The god screamed in agony, which became a tortured squeal after a stomp to his back.

Godzilla watched on, still able to see the torture clearly despite the barrier between it and the rest of the world. This vile wall tampered with its natural radar, and the golden hydra’s own barrier meant the mutant could do little to stop this savagery from here. It stepped forward, pressing its body against the acidic dome. The construct fought against it, burning its weakened skin. It stomped forward, so slowly. The lack of speed only made this worse, mentally and physically.

It needed to know. Why did the guardian not want to hurt it? Why did the guardian not want to fight against the cancerous aberration once he would no longer need it? Why did the insect care for the ones who had hurt Godzilla? Mothra Leo was nothing like anything it had encountered before, and it needed to know why.

Within the creature’s body, its immensely complex DNA began to change. Evolving.

Grand King Ghidorah danced upon Mothra Leo’s wings, cackling madly. Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the hydra’s feet touched gravel. Thousands of moths fluttered through the air around him. Racing upward before he could roast them with Gravity Beams, which instead blasted apart the streets, they reformed into Mothra Leo. Flapping his battered wings, every beat filling his body with pain, emerald scales flew forth from him and surrounded Grand King Ghidorah. The powder made the dragon seize once more as it tried to paralyze him, but the hatred filling the golden dragon allowed him to force his way through it.

Grand King Ghidorah’s center head clamped its jaws around one of Mothra Leo’s legs, ripping through the limb and severing it in a gout of ichor. Even if he couldn’t taste it, the feeling of the blood coating him and sliding down his throat filled the King of Terror with pleasure. Grand King Ghidorah’s other two heads bit down on Mothra Leo, before throwing him to the ground.

This time, the guardian could only flail as he tried to force himself into the air. Grand King Ghidorah raised his foot into the air, ready to bring it down on Mothra Leo’s skull. The ground shook, a series of rhythmic thuds echoing throughout the pavement. One of the space dragon’s heads moved to see the cause of the commotion, only for what it saw to shock Grand King Ghidorah.

Godzilla running, its legs having thinned and being filled with toned muscle. The feet had shifted as well, having flattened and becoming thicker with muscle to better carry the rushing saurian. Each step was more graceful than the last, as if the being was actively learning how to run as it did so. The mutant opened its maw, before firing a thin, violet ray of destruction once more. Grand King Ghidorah had been dumbfounded by the sight of his changed foe, his three minds in one trying to figure out how the being had changed so quickly. When the beam burned into his barrier, his stupor was broken.

And hatred took back control.

Gravity Beams escaped the dragon’s three mouths, colliding with the Ultra Atomic Ray. Their combined power began forcing the photon beam back, prompting Godzilla to stop and focus all attention to the clash. The twin energies deadlocked in the middle, their point of contact forming a surging sphere of violet and gold.

Grand King Ghidorah’s body began to glow brightly, as suddenly the orb raced toward Godzilla. The Gravity Beams intensified in their luminescence, the King of Terror’s full power now flowing into them. The mutant was powerless to stop this, the full power of both titans rushing toward it.

Tokyo shook as waves of force rippled out from the blast. Every window for miles shattered. Buildings bent and broke, unable to withstand the grandiose power. The streets beneath the warring kaiju were thrown into the air, before being incinerated. Thousands of people not disintegrated or pulverized became deaf in a moment.

Godzilla disappeared in the blast. Mothra Leo was picked up by the shockwaves, hurtling through the air as he screamed, silent compared to the roaring of the disaster. Even Grand King Ghidorah struggled to stay on his feet, the forces pushing him back, leaving his feet to rip through the ground as he fought to stay earthbound.

Silence came soon after. Smoke filled the air, hiding the devastation. Vile scents mingled amidst the carnage, leaving a pungent odor over all. Screams echoed across the landscape, so minuscule in the grand scale of it all. The golden hydra reveled in it, basking in the fruits of his dark labor.

No matter how often he caused chaos and destruction, his joy in it never faded. Many falsely believed the King of Terror committed these atrocities out of bitterness or hatred, that it was all the result of a void in his own heart. This couldn’t be further from the truth. This is what fulfilled him. If the meaning of life was the pursuit of happiness, then Grand King Ghidorah had succeeded.

Through the smoke moved a swarm of glowing moths, trying to stay hidden. Grand King Ghidorah could sense life regardless of visibility, so their effort was pointless. This same sixth sense showed him another life form still clinging to life despite everything inflicted upon it. But this did not anger the hydra, for he never liked it when his enemies died out of his sight.

He began walking. He did not need to rush, instead taking the time to further bask in the desolation of the area. Occasionally he would take time to crush or obliterate civilians, just to feel them disappear.

Mothra Leo reformed over a massive pile of rubble. He sent forth wind, knocking enough of it loose to reveal parts of Godzilla’s body beneath. Descending, the guardian grabbed the mutant’s head, before flapping his wings to try and rise. Mothra Leo strained, his depleted strength making this an arduous task. To his relief, Godzilla’s eyes opened, and the saurian began to push itself up with its tail. The limb had mostly healed, but the “head” at the end of the appendage was still split in half.

The god nearly wept when he got a better look at Godzilla’s physical state. The cancerous mutant’s arms were gone, seemingly incinerated. Its lower jaw could no longer close and was always split in two, having been nearly blasted off by the explosion. Scars were now wide open, and horrid burns joined them in deforming Godzilla’s body. The spines on its back were cracked open, looking ready to crumble away at any moment.

Mothra Leo, once he was sure the saurian could stand, released his grip. Floating near the mutant, the god apologized. For dragging the creature into this battle, and for being unable to better stand against the golden dragon’s fury.

Godzilla looked at the moth, baffled. If the guardian wasn’t speaking directly into its mind, bypassing any barriers of language and making all meaning clear, it would have had no idea what an apology even was.

The mutant’s life had been a short one, filled with confusion and suffering. Its first memories upon dragging itself onto the land were screaming and fleeing creatures all around it, loud noises coming from every direction. Nobody had shown it anything resembling what the guardian showed it, which made the cancerous beast’s subsequent, agonizing transformations even worse. It was left to fend for itself, in a world that hated it, fearing even its own body. And then they started attacking it, eventually causing it pain.

Godzilla had, in some way, been relieved when it had been frozen solid.

Tears would have dropped from Mothra Leo’s eyes if they could have. From knowing the pain this poor creature had gone through, from realizing that this situation had been unavoidable, and from how hopeless this battle seemed. Even now, he knew Grand King Ghidorah was slowly making his way toward them, sensing the vile presence encroaching. Some light shined through the darkness of his dread when the mutant thanked him, for caring about the creature. For showing the wretched beast, rejected by the world, there was more to existence than pain and hatred.

Mothra Leo whispered to the saurian once more, reassuring it that as long as he lived, Godzilla would never have to face the world alone. Loneliness was crushing, a feeling the god didn’t want anything to feel, much less a creature whose only crime was being unnatural.

Grand King Ghidorah arrived, staring at the two who had caused him such tribulation. Mothra Leo turned, he and Godzilla meeting the triple gaze. Surrounded by destruction, Grand King Ghidorah howled to the heavens.

The insect god shrouded himself in emerald energy, charging straight toward the destroyer of life. A trio of alien rays struck him head on, throwing his now unconscious body back. His fur scorched, eyes dimmed, he crashed to the ground behind Godzilla. Life still stirred in him, but it was faint.

Godzilla charged its atomic ray, but Grand King Ghidorah closed the distance between them too quickly. The dragon’s center neck looped around the upper and lower jaws of the cancerous biped, slamming the jaws shut. The atomic energy was redirected, flowing into its tail. Swinging the appendage around, Godzilla slammed its tail into the hydra’s side, aiming the split tip toward the dragon’s back. Grand King Ghidorah had been ready for this, and his two tails shot toward his foe’s tail. They wrapped around it, holding it and forcing its deadly payload away. The beam soared into the city, carving through the bases of buildings.

Swinging his right head like a club, Grand King Ghidorah assailed his foe’s face and neck. The horns scraped against the damaged hide, the force behind the strikes denting and ripping at the skin. The left head bit at Godzilla’s torso, ripping away chunks of flesh and occasionally blasting at it with a Gravity Bolt. The saurian’s blood was bitter and boiling, but to the space demon, it was like a sweet nectar just because he knew its shedding caused suffering.

Godzilla tried to shake itself free, bumping against Grand King Ghidorah in an attempt to topple it. But the King of Terror was unmoved, and continued to overpower the saurian. The mutant knew it couldn’t last much longer, with power running low and its body being assailed by such horrendous power.

At the brink of death, its body began to change once more.

The mutant’s body grew hot, its back glowing once more. Grand King Ghidorah was not deterred; space had shown him both extremes of temperature. Did it think to repel him with heat?

But this shift in temperature wasn’t the adaption, merely a side-effect. From where Godzilla’s arms had once been, vital fluids geysered forth. The skin burst open, bones forcing themselves out into the air. Cracking into place, they began to take the shape of long arms tipped with clawed hands. Grand King Ghidorah’s left head bit at one of the growing appendages, his teeth cracking the bone. Muscle and flesh began to form onto the limbs, allowing Godzilla to move them. They grabbed the head, pulling it away from them.

The mutant’s new arms were thin, barely larger than their bones. But they were long, longer than Ghidorah’s necks. They cradled one of Grand King Ghidorah’s heads, and before it could thrash itself free, their thumb’s claws came down upon his eyes. The crimson orbs were ripped into with ease, spraying fluid as a third of Grand King Ghidorah’s vision went dark.

Godzilla scraped its claws against the hydra as he backed away, relinquishing his grip on the mutant due to the agony. The claws peeled away scales, but lacked the muscle to draw blood from the demon’s body. Godzilla fired its atomic breath at the dragon’s center head, but the demon’s necks swayed to dodge the beam, before blasting the mutant back with their beams. Even though one head could not see, it could still rely on the other two minds to communicate their surroundings to it.

The ground shook as the mutant crashed against it, groaning even after the alien power assailing it ceased. Rolling onto its stomach, Godzilla shakily pushed itself back to its feet. A sharp shriek of a laugh echoed, which the mutant soon realized was because it had been thrown next to Mothra Leo’s body.

Grand King Ghidorah’s body glowed gold once more, his final attack being conjured. Godzilla panicked, using whatever strength it had left to get in between Mothra Leo and the encroaching doom. The only thing that had shown the deformed creature things beyond pain, hatred, and fear. A being that, even though it had only known him for a brief, difficult time, had given it something to care about beyond itself. It wanted to know more about his ways, to be able to enjoy life after so much agony.

It had found a friend, a light in a seemingly endless darkness.

A golden lance illuminated the night as it was driven into Godzilla’s lower back. The cancerous beast screeched to the heavens, knowing the pain it had inflicted with its own beam. Scutes caught in the beam’s path were erased, as flesh and bone were blasted away and vaporized. Seconds felt like years as Godzilla tried to draw upon the last wells of its strength to endure. Any moment now, it expected the pillar of energy to burst from its stomach.

It stared at Mothra Leo. Even in this pain, it felt twinges of something else. It was a strange feeling, but a pleasant one at the same time. It was protecting another being, one who had shown it compassion. One who had shown it a new way to live. Something clicked within its mind, why the deity acted that way he did. Godzilla realized that there was a joy in protecting others, to save lives and act as a light in this dark world.

As the mutant’s mind raced, as did its ever changing DNA. It was rapidly trying to increase the body’s resistance to the energy, but it was a losing race that only bought it more time. It tried to adapt a way to escape the beam, but the conscious will of Godzilla was too strong for that.

Somewhere within the immense complexity of Godzilla’s genetic code, something changed. Bathed in the cosmic power of Grand King Ghidorah’s signature weapon, the portion of the DNA responsible for absorbing radiation adjusted itself. Its capacity to absorb energy expanded, for this was a type of radiation. Very different from nuclear radiation, but still radiation.

Godzilla’s back glowed purple once more, but this time, golden energy intermingled with it. Its posture became more natural, the pain induced thrashing lessening quickly. The mutant’s tail moved, pointing itself toward Grand King Ghidorah. It began mending itself, the “head” reforming after having been split in two. The King of Terror did not cease firing, refusing to acknowledge what was becoming obvious.

From the tail’s mouth came forth a beam of immense power, a thin, violet ray encircled by spirals of gold lightning. The combined nuclear and cosmic power ripped through Grand King Ghidorah’s right knee, causing the dragon to cease firing. He stumbled, horrid pain shooting through his body, before he caught himself with his gravity manipulation.

The leg was useless, the entire kneecap obliterated. Burns spread throughout the entire limb, painting the once golden appendage black. Mournful cries echoed from Grand King Ghidorah’s jaws, his focus fully on the grievous wound. Until his attention was snatched by a brilliant glow. Looking up, the King of Terror could only recoil.

Godzilla stepped forward, its full body glowing like a star. Wounds were mending themselves, the new surplus of energy filling the unnatural god granting it the power to do so. Its regeneration took energy, and in situations like what it had just come out of, wounds would have to fester to conserve power. But not now. It stared into the King of Terror’s eyes, watching as the dragon’s collective mind raced to figure a way out.

There was none.

The saurian’s jaws opened, filling with the same power that had come forth from its tail. Grand King Ghidorah folded his wings in front of him, lowering his heads. An unfamiliar feeling was seizing his heart, sending shivers throughout his form. The fear he had inflicted on so many now came back upon him.

Godzilla braced itself, the protective covering slipping over its eyes. The Ultra Atomic Ray, adorned with spirals of extraterrestrial energy, was unleashed, banishing the surrounding darkness for a time. Grand King Ghidorah’s shields did nothing, the beam punching through the translucent barrier and his wings like they didn’t even exist. Raking its beam all across its foe, the mutated god poured every drop of power it could into this righteous vengeance.

Finally, Godzilla centered its head, before looking straight up. The beam lit up the night sky, outshining the stars for the brief moment before it ceased firing. Grand King Ghidorah’s center neck dropped, the right and left halves going in opposite directions.

Blackened bones and boiled organs were exposed to the air by gaping wounds. His beautiful wings had been sheared apart and off, the countless shreds shriveled by the intense heat. Burnt flesh and muscle clung to what should have been a carcass. The remaining two heads weakly flailed, alive more through spite than anything else.

Godzilla wanted to finish the King of Terror off, but he could barely move. The mutated deity was on the verge of entering a coma, the same state it had entered after first firing its atomic ray.

Mothra Leo landed on his friend’s head. Awoken by the intensity of the final attack, the guardian stared at the body of the destroyer of worlds. Firing two azure bolts into the ground before them, Mothra Leo used the last bits of his remaining power to unleash another Sparkling Pyre Road. The pillars of divine power erupted forth, before eventually consuming Grand King Ghidorah.

When the attack faded, all that was left was ash.

And Mothra Leo slept. A more natural rest, not the kind inflicted by heavy damage, but one born of exhaustion. Godzilla’s eyes closed as well, as it did the same. Not an unnatural coma, but the kind of rest that all living things did.

It felt good, especially warmed by Mothra Leo’s presence.

The sun rose on the two slumbering giants, and hung in the sky for quite a while before they awoke. The guardian began to fly, only to stagger in midair. Not even sleep was enough to keep him from falling, the full scope of his injuries catching up to him, but the mighty insect pressed on. The air vibrated from Godzilla’s footsteps as the mutation gave pursuit, unleashing a screech of solidarity with the guardian of Earth.

With a new lease on life, the mutant dove into the ocean. Mothra Leo told his friend where to go to find Infant Island, and so that was the course Godzilla took. As the pair disappeared into the horizon, cheers began to sound off across Tokyo. Humanity would still be uneasy in the presence of this Godzilla, that would likely never change, but an ally of Mothra was still an ally of humanity.

The god of Infant Island chuckled to himself as he flew, thinking of the looks on Moll’s and Lora’s faces when they saw his newest ally.

Winner: Godzilla (Reiwa), Mothra Leo

Author: Joshua Reynolds | Banner: Joshua Reynolds

Such arrogance. Humanity’s reckless violation of the natural world brought about their very downfall. Stirring in the darkness of ancient labyrinths, nightmare creatures awoke as the planet died. From nuclear weapons, global warming, over population and deforestation, mankind created the perfect environment for them. The point of no return came and went within days of their awakening. Every time one was brought down, it seemed as if two more took its place. New nests were located every hour. Within two months, entire continents went dark. Within a year, humanity had lost. Every major city had become a feeding frenzy. At a cost of billions, the human race had lost its place at the top of the food chain. Packed highways became smorgasbords. Towns had become buffets. Everything alive was on the menu.

The Gyaos had won.

What little remained of humanity hid in small pockets. They rarely ventured outside, choosing to live in the darkness of caves and underground dwellings, feeding on mushrooms and subterranean insects. Mankind was reduced to an endangered species of animal…

But like the humans creating the call that summoned the Gyaos, the Gyaos made the call that attracted something else. Their overpopulating, coupled with their size, made the Earth stand out like a beacon of water in the dry desert that was the cosmos. In a universe ruled by the laws of nature, survival of the fittest was key. It hadn’t eaten in months. Its stomach routinely growled, desiring food. It flew the cosmos on outstretched, crimson wings. A green tongue licked its needle-like teeth, coating them in slobber. Enlarged ears could hear something in the distance. It was days away, but the sound was loud.

The beast’s emerald eyes widened. This was it. This was the meal it was clamoring for. Its huge wings flapped once more, picking up speed. It soared through the vacuum of space like a shark does the water. It had no way of telling how much time passed before the image of the blue planet appeared on the horizon. It didn’t care. All it cared about was the delicious sounds being made by the Gyaos…

Mount Everest, the highest point on God’s green Earth, was now her nest. The largest and oldest of the Gyaos swarm used it as a turret, looking down upon the world. She knew food was growing scarce. In a matter of months, if not weeks, there wouldn’t be enough living things left and her kind would start to turn on each other. She would wait here until that time came. Being the largest, no Gyaos would dare challenge her, let alone attack her. She didn’t care for the cold and snow of this region, but she was used to it. She survived the darkness for eons, since the fall of Atlantis. Her body was accustomed to the environment of death. When the nightmare was over and she fed on the last of her brethren, she would retreat back into the abyss in which it came. Then she would hibernate for countless millennia, until the Earth recovered and the next civilization would create an appropriate environment and food source for the Gyaos to survive.

The Gyaos closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She was tired. The natural time to hibernate was approaching. But she desired one last meal. If she couldn’t find any humans to devour, she would simply have to make do for an entrée of her own kind. The monstrous, bat-like thing stood on the top of the mountain and expanded her wings. She prepared to take flight for a hunt.

But then she stopped. Something pierced the night sky. It was the cry of a Gyaos, but a Gyaos in agony. The larger one traced the starry sky with her cruel eyes, trying to find the source. Then, a yellow beam shot through the heavens. It was quickly cut short. But in that brief second of light, the Gyaos saw the outline of something else. It was another winged giant. It was just as big as she was…

But how?

This Gyaos was eons old. She had survived through the tests of time to become this big. No other Gyaos alive could reach this size yet. Then another sound came. It was this thing’s roar. No, it was a screech. Like nails being dragged down a chalk board. The Gyaos snarled. This wasn’t a Gyaos…

Indeed, what had invaded the Gyaos’ home was an interstellar predator. While the Gyaos had become the apex predators of the planet Earth, Bagorah was the apex predator of the Milky Way galaxy…

The Gyaos stood tall and outstretched her wings again. Her large mouth released a scream, a sort of challenge, to the newcomer. High above, Bagorah’s emerald eyes looked down. Its tongue licked its chops again as bits and pieces of the smaller Gyaos fell from between its teeth and talons. The space bat turned in the air and flew down, jaws wide and talons outstretched. It shrieked aloud…

The battle would begin now…

The Gyaos braced herself. The air between her teeth-lined muzzle warped. A whistle-like noise came from her throat before the sonic cutter fired. The beam pierced the air, illuminating Everest. Bagorah cackled, swerving to the side, but Gyaos chased the monster with the beam, eventually clipping the tip of its tail. The bat hissed, spiraling downward. The Gyaos shrieked, ceasing her beam and hopping into the darkened sky. Bagorah missed, its claws digging into the rock and snow where its victim once stood.

The bat’s head turned, eyes narrowing. The Gyaos’ talons came down, scratching at its crimson forehead. Trenches of green ichor began to flow across its face. The shadow of evil pushed downward, trying to overpower the invader. Bagorah gave way, bending its knees but bracing its body with its wings. Its mouth opened as wide as it could, seemingly unhinging like a snake’s. A horrible noise erupted from its gullet, warping the air. The snow around them began to vibrate. Waves began to roll across the Gyaos’ flesh as she dropped head and limbs twitching.

Bagorah lifted a foot and brought it down on the Gyaos’ back, digging its sickle-like claws into the soft, brown flesh. The beast shrieked in agony, quickly thrashing about as the claws raked across her spine. Bagorah’s head came down, jaws spread wide. Needle-like teeth sunk into the Gyaos’ neck, drawing more of its delicious blood. The bat fed like a baby, sucking the blood from its victim’s neck. The Gyaos’ eyes began to roll. Its head went limp and jaws slack…

Bagorah gorged, sucking the precious life fluid from its victim. However, the sound of more Gyaos suddenly rang. The bat dropped its quarry and looked up into the starry night. Its eyes narrowed, spotting several smaller Gyaos swooping in. Like the larger, they were starting to degenerate into cannibalism until sensing the newcomer. Bagorah stood upon the largest, wings spread wide. With a single movement, it was airborne to meet the oncoming, smaller Gyaos.

Several sonic beams fired in perfect unison. The space bat managed to avoid several, but three hit their mark, clipping its wings and mid-section. Bagorah released a cry of pain, but kept flying forward. Two smaller Gyaos were first. One was caught in its massive talons, the second’s head in its mouth. The Gyaos caught in Bagorah’s eagle-like claws was crushed into pulp. The other screamed as it was held in place, the teeth stabbed into its chest, back and shoulders. The living embodiment of evil struggled, screaming in absolute horror as Bagorah’s head thrashed side to side, turning its teeth into saws. Its jaws continued to chomp like a frenzied shark until, finally, its entire top section was carved from its body. The lower half fell limp, falling to the base of Everest with a trail of gore following. The top half vanished down Bagorah’s throat, only acting like the appetizer to the meal it longed for.

Several of the smaller creatures watched this grisly show unfold. They turned around, choosing to die of starvation than be devoured alive like they did humanity. Some of the larger ones moved forward, not afraid of Bagorah’s blood soaked mouth and talons. A larger, fifty-meter Gyaos descended onto Bagorah’s back from above. It pushed down, trying to drive the space bat back onto the mountain. More Gyaos followed, swarming the crimson predator. Their heads shot down, biting and gnawing at the apex predator’s flesh.

They hit the side of Everest like a meteor. A titanic boom was followed by a colossal avalanche. The top of the mountain came down with a mind of its own. The warring predators were swallowed up by the snow and rock, covering them entirely. But that snow quickly began to turn a mixture of green and purple ooze as their bloods mixed. The icy dust had no time to clear before the snow exploded into the air. Bagorah stood tall, shaking its body in an attempt to rid itself of the piranha-like things clinging to him. Its head came down, biting into the wing of a Gyaos and easily sawing it off. But another Gyaos came down on it. Bagorah flailed about, perhaps it had targeted the wrong planet.

Stumbling back into a cliff face, Bagorah was pinned. There were too many of the Gyaos clinging to its body to attempt to fly. Torrents of green blood were flowing from numerous wounds. Bagorah’s eyes spun in their sockets. Its jaw spread apart, popping at the joints to open as wide as the muscles and bones could possibly allow. A low rumble came from within the depths of its crimson form. The air warped between its teeth and a terrible scream erupted from the core of its being. Instantly, the Gyaos’ clinging to its body dropped to the snow. Their bodies thrashed and wings gripped the sides of their heads. Their eyes bulged in their sockets and jaws gurgled saliva. Half-digested remains of other Gyaos began to erupt from their mouths as the horrible, sonic screams caused them to violently vomit.

Bagorah hissed, ceasing its attack for but a brief moment to catch its breath. The predator snarled, looking upon the ground in which the Gyaos lay twitching in puddles of their own fluid. Its head lowered and mouth opened wide again, this time launching thunderous, drum-like sounds. The snow began to vibrate as the sound focused on the fallen Gyaos, pushing them downward. Their bodies began to flatten outward, their fragile bones snapping and breaking from the thunderous booms of the waves of sound…

Even when the last of the Gyaos that had swarmed it was killed, Bagorah continued to beat them with its sound waves. Some of the Gyaos hit directly by the blasts were crushed nearly paper thin, their skin popping like blisters and bones turning to dust. After several grueling moments, Bagorah’s jaws snapped shut. It snorted and stepped forward. Its body leaned down, biting one of its victim’s legs and tearing it off in haste. This was the type of meal it longed for…

Suddenly, it fell forward. Bagorah’s face was pinned in the ribcage of one of the Gyaos carcasses. The largest of the Gyaos was back, now angrier than ever before. She held Bagorah’s head in the guts of her brethren, trying to smother the life out of it. The powerful predator thrashed, but the largest Gyaos was too heavy as she stood on top of its shoulders.

Bagorah’s lengthy tail came up like a tendril, wrapping around the Gyaos’ neck. It pulled, yanking the shadow of evil off of itself. Bagorah quickly released and rolled onto its side. Its mouth parted, launching more of its booming soundwaves. The Gyaos took flight, dodging the visible, circular blasts of noise coming from the crimson beast. The Gyaos shrieked, closing in again with talons outstretched. Bagorah’s mouth shot up, biting the clawed toes. The needle-like teeth cut through the foot at an angle, severing its digits with a sickening gush of blood and snapping bones. The toes vanished down the bat’s throat as its large jaws tried biting again, but the Gyaos moved her wounded foot at the last second. Her other leg came down, scratching at its opponent’s eyes in an attempt to blind it.

Flapping wildly, Bagorah took to the air with Gyaos trying to slash its face. The winged monstrosities gripped each other by their talons and outstretched wings. They spiraled about as they continued to lose and gain altitude every passing second. A ball of screeching horror, flailing limbs, snapping jaws and flapping wings, the monsters orbited the top of Everest. After several rotations that rained a mixture of green and purple ooze onto the mountain, the giants plummeted. Bagorah landed on top of the Gyaos, pinning her wings to rock with its own, talon-like hands. The Gyaos shrieked and the air around her mouth warped.

Before it could fire, Bagorah’s mouth shot down at lightning speed, biting the lower jaw of the creature. The teeth sunk into the insides of Gyaos’ mouth and, with a single motion, tore off its bottom jaw. The Gyaos’ cries of agony quickly became gurgles as her own blood flooded her throat and lungs. The living nightmare continued to thrash and struggle, trying to break free in order to continue her eons of life. However, Bagorah merely dropped the jaw from its own and parted its mouth. At point blank, a high-pitched scream erupted from its gullet once more. Her head was forced down as the snow vibrated into the air around it. The Gyaos tried to cry, but it was unable to. Even if her lungs weren’t flooded, the sound would have been driven right back down into her mouth. The Gyaos’ ears began to bleed. Her eyes bulged, tears of purple ooze coming from the corners. She continued to struggle for almost a minute as the sound ramped up the pressure on her skull until she could take no more…

The Gyaos’ head shattered like glass, spilling her brains across the snow. Instantly, the Gyaos’ struggling ended and her body went limp. Bagorah released its hold, shaking its head from side to side. Now it could eat in peace. And if this was the largest of this species, the rest would quickly follow its path directly into its hungry stomach.

In the endless reaches of the cosmos, the Gyaos believed they were the biggest fish. Today, they learned there is always a bigger fish…

Winner: Bagorah

 

Author: Thomas Fairchild | Banner: Thomas Fairchild

An otherworldly threat descends upon the Earth and only a beast of legend possesses the power to stop it. Who will win in this clash of titans: King of the Monsters or Queen of the Swarm?

Author: Kristian Zatkoff | Banner: Dao Zang Moua

Several buildings were blasted into pieces when a rainbow-colored ray detonated upon them. Mechagodzilla let out a loud shriek as he struck a pose with his left arm out in front of him, quickly shifting his hand into a horizontal position before unleashing hell on earth with his Revolver Finger Missiles. Entire streets and buildings were uprooted and blown into tiny pieces like glass as the missiles dug a good distance underground and exploded right under the streets of London.

Moguera landed some distance away, setting the city ablaze with its arm lasers. Mechagodzilla activated its boosters, ready to take off to the next target when something hit it from behind, knocking it headfirst into a burning building. Zone Fighter let out a shout announcing his arrival.

Their match could now begin!

Moguera’s treads roared to life as the mighty robot ran over several buildings, wood and bricks splintering in the air and raining down as deadly projectiles as people tried to get out of the machines path. Zone Fighter lifted up the still grounded Mechagodzilla and began to spin around in circles faster and faster before throwing the huge chunk of space titanium into Moguera. Mechagodzilla merely deflected off of the robot’s chest, Moguera didn’t even slow down.

The Meteor Man had no time to get out of the way and could only brace for the worst as Moguera slammed into the giant alien warrior. Zone Fighter immediately entered a dazed like state, confused where he lay. It took him a moment to figure out that he was on his back, looking up at the sky. Moguera must have ran over me, he thought. As he got up, he noticed he had no other injuries save for the tread tracks on his body. Thankfully he only blacked out for a sec-

Mechagodzilla burst from Zone Fighter’s side, screeching in surprise as his right finger launched forward, stabbing the Meteor Man’s gut. Zone cried out in agony, falling forward with his arms covering his abdomen while Mechagodzilla simply watched. With another opening, Mechagodzilla took advantage of Zone Fighter’s status and karate chopped Zone in the neck followed up with a kick to the ribs. Zone stumbled down the cities’ streets but managed to keep his footing. Mechagodzilla lashed out again with another stab but Zone dodged the blow, grabbing the machine monster by the arm and throwing him down atop a street overflowing with vehicles.

Zone Fighter staggered back, taking a moment to catch his breath. Mechagodzilla’s down, now where is-

From behind Moguera fired its chest laser, but Zone Fighter jumped up into the sky, twisting his body around in midair before kicking Moguera in the face causing him to stagger back. Thunderous blows continued to rain upon Moguera until Mechagodzilla roared a shriek at Zone Fighter. Zone Fighter threw a final punch across Moguera’s face, sending it careening into a building as he shifted his attention to the nearby mechanical abomination. Standing amongst the flames of a burning London, it looked like, for lack of a better term, a Terminator Godzilla and Zone was targeted for termination. Zone Fighter ran toward him only to be blasted in the back by Moguera’s arm lasers. Zone Fighter yelled a pained cry and turned around only to have Mechagodzilla’s eye beams rip into his back, unleashing a fountain of blood. Zone Fighter fell to the ground and before he knew it, Mechagodzilla was already standing above him. Mechagodzilla delivered a kick that sent Zone Fighter flying, before he could hit the ground, Zone Fighter activated his flight and regained his equilibrium, landing on his feet. He bolted toward Mechagodzilla who’s hands spun around before the mech unleashed his Finger Missiles. Zone Fighter was hit by several missiles, engulfing him in fire, but the Meteor Man ran undeterred and fired off twin blasts of his Arrow Stream beams, glancing the arms of the mechanical Godzilla and making him stagger back. Mechagodzilla raised his head, screeching a mechanical roar, before unleashing his eye beams but Zone had already dropped down on his back, his momentum making him slide along the ground at high speeds, his feet kicking the robots’ own feet from under him. Mechagodzilla smashed into the city streets as Zone slid by.

Moguera’s treads roared to life again as the tank of an anti-kaiju weapon charged forward. He couldn’t let his ally fall. His programming wouldn’t allow it.

Zone Fighter kicked Mechagodzilla down with an ax kick as the machine was just about to arise, then delivered a second kick sending Mechagodzilla sliding along the ground right under Moguera who tripped over his ally and fell over face first into a nearby structure. Mechagodzilla got up just in time to dodge Zone Fighter’s fist strikes and counter with his own. The back of Mechagodzilla’s hand swung outward, knocking Zone Fighter backward and allowing the mechanical being to continue a physical barrage upon the Meteor Man. Zone Fighter tried in vain to block the attacks when he heard something he prayed was just his imagination. It took him less than a second to find out it wasn’t. Mechagodzilla’s boosters roared to life as the machine took to the sky and in that instant Moguera drove forward with its drill spinning. Sparks flew the instant the spinning tool of death made contact with Zone Fighter’s face plate.

Zone Fighter tried to throw the bulky machine off of him, but it was proving to be heavier than he expected. To his horror, he felt the pain of a million burning stars as the drill found its way into one of his eyes. The world he existed in was no stranger to his screams, but it never heard him in such a horrific state. Zone finally managed to push Moguera away and stumbled around with one hand over his damaged eye socket. Blood was ripping from the hand covering it. When he looked at the river nearby, the Meteor Man saw that where his eye used to be was now nothing but a dark empty space, blood and other fluids leaking out of the socket.

Moguera’s arm ports opened up and fired twin Spiral Grenade Missiles. Zone dodged the first but was blindsided by the second one, the blast sending him soaring to the other side of the river. Mechagodzilla took to the skies and began to rain down eye lasers and finger missiles on the Meteor Man. Zone Fighter summoned his energy and fired a thin blue laser from the crest on his head. The Meteor Proton Beam tore into Mechagodzilla’s metal body as if it was butter being sliced by a hot knife. The Mecha almost lost control but at the last second straightened himself out and landed on his feet. Moguera landed next to Mechagodzilla, their combined sight shifting onto Zone Fighter. Ports across both parted to reveal missiles, bulbs and other weapons. Zone watched the pair prepare an unparalleled barrage.

It was exactly what the Meteor Man needed.

The killing machines unleashed their entire arsenals. Zone’s hands were glowing before he vanished in the smoke from the ensuing barrage. For a whole minute the machines unleashed eye beams, chest lasers, missiles and several other projectiles with a seemingly endless supply. London shook from the endless assault, building collapsing from the immense tremors. As the machine’s finally subsided their onslaught, the wind swept the smoke away only for both machines to see in place of Zone Fighter was a Zone-Barrier. A mighty yell echoed across the city, Zone Fighter burst into the air and brought his right hand down upon Moguera’s face. The robot careened into the nearby river, helpless to help his ally as the Meteor Man spun and delivered a crippling knee strike upon Mechagodzilla’s abdomen. Metal cracked, bending inward. Mechagodzilla stumbled back but managed to keep his footing. A port opened on his chest and a jagged yellow beam lashed outward.

Zone cried out as the searing hot beam tore into his body. The river exploded behind him, Moguera’s form rushing out, his drill spinning wildly as he charged forward but Zone kicked Moguera with all his might, causing it to crash into Mechagodzilla head first. Mechagodzilla let out a metallic scream in frustration.

Mechagodzilla was just a machine; however, thanks to a powerful A.I., he had become somewhat sentient to the point where it falsely believed itself to be alive. With this came the replication of rage, pride, agony and other animal like emotions and responses, creating the illusion of pain in its programming, trying to intimidate kaiju with shrieks, posing before drawing out his finger missiles, taking orders to kill kaiju like Godzilla and eliminating foes however he saw fit. Because of this, he had become more than a machine unlike his partner, Moguera.

Like a real living breathing kaiju, Mechagodzilla did not wait for Moguera to cease using his drill. Instead, he gritted his metal teeth, bracing himself for the nonexistent pain as grabbed Moguera with his right hand, pushing him off and used his left hand to grab the drill. Sparks flew but soon enough the drill stopped. Letting its emotions overtake any thought process, he ripped the drill off his partners face and threw it right at Zone Fighter. The Meteor Man would have easily dodged it if it weren’t for Mechagodzilla’s eye beams hitting the drill at the last second, speeding it up. The drill pierced the Meteor Man’s chest, missing his heart by mere inches. Zone fell to his knees, the anguish of the impact overtaking him. He coughed up blood but because of his metal face plate it had nowhere to go.

Time slowed for Zone Fighter with his attention so focused on his new wound he was unaware that Moguera had separated into the two mechs that formed its body, Land Moguera and Star Falcon. Zone felt a sense of fear as he gazed up at the robotic doppelganger of Godzilla. Mechagodzilla was staring at him the same way many living kaiju had stared at him in the heat of combat. He wondered. Could it be? Indeed, he recognized the emotion he knew all too well thanks to the Garoga aliens who destroyed his homeworld: hate.

The fires in London had nearly died down, there was so little left to burn. With a rush of adrenaline, Zone Fighter burst forth and traded blows with Mechagodzilla. Every step the alien warrior took sent ash and burning amber high into the sky. Mechagodzilla delivered a powerful side chop into Zone’s neck, but Zone Fighter responded in kind with a powerful kick to Mechagodzilla’s chest. Mechagodzilla reached out with his arms, ready to crush Zone Fighter, but the blue hero grabbed both arms and before Mechagodzilla could react, he kicked the mighty machine sending him stumbling back. This gave Zone Fighter an idea, while still holding on to the arms he jumped up and used Mechagodzilla’s body as leverage. Mechagodzilla thrashed all about trying to dislodge the hero but he held on tight. Step by step, Zone Fighter’s feet got closer and closer to Mechagodzilla’s head. The machine’s chest plate opened up, but Zone Fighter lashed out with a kick to the chest port, slamming it shut. Now with one foot on Mechagodzilla’s neck and the arms being restrained by him, Zone began to push with his feet with all his might. Mechagodzilla’s arms and neck groaned under the strain. At this rate, even if his head wasn’t torn off, his arms would be. Mechagodzilla screeched in rage, he needed to act!

Mechagodzilla discharged his eye beams, scorching Zone Fighter’s armor, but Zone refused to give up. Suddenly twin energy rays from above joined in with Mechagodzilla’s eye beams. The Star Falcon was circling above, joining his comrade in arms, yet Zone Fighter refused to relinquish his hold.

Mechagodzilla’s head and arms were almost torn off when suddenly the Star Falcon crashed into Zone Fighter’s side. Zone Fighter lost his grip as he was sent flying. The alien warrior landed right on top of the Big Ben, disappearing into an inferno from Mechagodzilla’s finger missiles. Zone Fighter eventually bolted out of the blaze, but he didn’t get very far as he fell into one of the tunnels the Land Moguera had excavated during the battle. Zone Fighter desperately tried to climb out of the hole, fear coursing through him merely for him to silence those feelings. I shouldn’t be afraid of these two, he thought. They’re just-

Mechagodzilla landed right in front of Zone Fighter and smashed his foot against Zone’s face, planting the Meteor Man back in the hole.

Was this karma? Did he deserve this for how much pain he put monsters through before killing them?

Zone Fighter flew upward merely for a spiral grenade to detonate across his backside as he exited the hole, sending Zone Fight flying right to Mechagodzilla who smacked him out of the air.

It’s true he had made many kaiju suffer before killing them when he could have just finished them off, but saving humanity more than made up for that. Didn’t it?

Mechagodzilla’s right foot smashed atop the back of the Meteor Man’s head, planting his face firmly into London’s charred pavement.

This was karma. He knew it. He despised the Garoga for destroying his planet so much he had let that hate consume him, allowing it to spread to his actions without ever realizing it. Even against Mechagodzilla, a machine, he was trying to tear it limb from limb because he knew that somewhere, amongst all the wires and programs, was a sentient being that he could make suffer, to feel the anguish he wanted the Garoga to suffer. He had become the very beings he despised.

Mechagodzilla’s foot crashed down once more upon Zone’s head, up-heaving pavement from the force.

No more. He would destroy the Garoga, not as an act of revenge but as an act of justice for every civilization they wronged, to protect those that could still be protected Instead of toying with them, he would end them with haste, not out of hate but as an act of mercy.

Mechagodzilla removed his foot, allowing Zone Fighter to turn his gaze and match Mechagodzilla’s unflinching stare with his own.

It was time to stop fooling around.

No way I’m going to lose to you bots, Zone thought.

Mechagodzilla mocked the alien warrior with a menacing mechanical roar and launched another kick but Zone Fighter caught his foot and threw him down onto the ground. Zone Fighter struck several poses as he summoned energy then took to the sky. Flying above the city of London, the mighty alien warrior screamed a few words to represent the power he now possessed.

“Double Anti-Missile Might!”

A bright flash of light announced the appearance of his missile bracelets and the sound of thunder marked their discharge. Destructive kaiju killing missiles rained down upon the two machines. They tried to find cover but every structure under the storm either exploded or became engulfed in an intense blaze. When his gauntlets ran dry, Zone Fighter landed upon the now hellish landscape, seeing how much damage he had caused to his opponents.

The two machines looked like they had walked through a hail storm from hell, gigantic holes and dents lining their metal frames.

Mechagodzilla was enraged! A mechanical roar signified his fury before he discharged his entire arsenal. Every ounce of firepower he possessed fired toward Zone Fighter in one, final hellish barrage. Lasers, missiles, bolts, fire; it all clouded the air. In the seconds before the assault struck him, Zone Fighter stood his ground, determined and unafraid.

Several of the energy rays tore into Zone Fighter, charring the weakened armor, but the Finger Missiles seemed to be drawn to his bracelets as if being pulled by giant magnets. As Mechagodzilla’s barrage subsided, Moguera moved next to his ally, opening his central dish and Spiral Grenade Missile ports to finish off Zone Fighter. With an array of sparks, Moguera first fired its chest laser, falling into Zone Fighter’s trap.

Zone Fighter barely managed to put up his Hyper-Barrier in time, redirecting the focused beam back toward the robotic pair. A cloud of smoke overtook Mechagodzilla and Moguera, their vision temporarily obscured. Little did they know Zone Fighter had jumped over them in the ensuing chaos and was now behind them.

With a heroic cry, Zone Fighter fired off countless stolen Finger Missiles at the two robots. One barrage tore into Moguera, blasting chunks of his armor off until a lucky missile connected with a Spiral Grenade. In a blinding flash, Moguera vanished, the ensuing inferno ensuring nothing was left of the war machine. The second barrage aimed squarely at Mechagodzilla, demolishing the alien robot’s frame. Mechagodzilla’s jaw fell off, his eyes shattered, great holes punched through his body as if were hit by a meteor shower. A final missile made its way through Mechagodzilla’s metallic cranium, blasting it clean off. With all the Finger Missiles depleted, Zone Fighter let loose a sigh of relief. Through a great cloud of fire and smoke, he watched Mechagodzilla and Moguera vanish into the blaze.

He did it! He had won.

Zone Fighter stood tall, nodding in appreciation for the lesson he learned fighting the pair. Now he just needed to exit-

A thin white beam pierced through the smoke, ending his celebration as it struck the center of his chest. Zone Fighter stumbled backward and careened into a set of burning structures behind him. The Meteor Man’s gaze looked up to see the headless form of Mechagodzilla standing in a sea of fire, a glass dome where his head used to be….

Hikaru opened both his eyes, staring at a white ceiling with a sense of defeat coursing through him. A repetitive music track gradually forced him to arise to stare at his TV, a game over screen staring back at him. Hikaru pulled himself upon his couch and turned to see his sister standing in the middle of the living room, looking at him with a look of bewilderment.

“How did I do?” Hikaru asked.

“Horrible,” Hotaru’s responded, clutching her forehead with disdain. Hikaru merely rolled his eyes, grabbing a nearby controller. “Brother, I really wish you could play games like normal people.”

“It’s not a game, it’s training!” Hikaru retorted. “Besides, I nearly won. Even learned a few things!”

“Would father approve of you jumping into our TV set and fighting fictional monsters?”

“I’m getting stronger!”

“You look like you were hit by a bus brother,” Hotaru snickered. “If you need to train then train with one of the kaiju at Monsterland”.

“Machines don’t hold back,” Hikaru responded as he selected a character merely for his sister to grab a controller and sat beside him. With a cocky grin, Hotaru selected her own character. “Neither will I.”

Each pressed ready, watching their monsters appear on the TV but before the countdown could begin, their phones vibrated, attracting their attentions. Hotaru let out a long, annoyed breath while Hikaru switched the input of the television and turned on a news station which showcased unparalleled destruction.

Flames burned across the city of Osaka, metallic roars echoing across the skyline as Mechagodzilla walked down the city streets.

“Try not to lose this time,” Hotaru noted with a touch of sincerity as her brother stood upright.

Hikaru struck his signature pose and shouted, “Zone Fight Power!” Alien armor materialized across his body, but before he made another action, his gaze shifted to his sister. His hand extended, handing her his controller before he stated, “I won’t be long. Why don’t you get some training in while I’m gone? You’ll need it.”

Without any further hesitation, Hikaru jumped into the TV and materialized instantly above Osaka in his giant form. From the high altitude he noticed the alien machine and the wake of destruction from its rampage. This time he wouldn’t fool around. Mechagodzilla would find no victory in their duel. It would not be an easy battle, this Hikaru was certain of as he felt a feeling of dread grow within his stomach.

For if he were to lose his life here, there would be no continues.

Winner: Mechagodzilla (Showa)

 

Author: Joseph Steinard Jr. | Banner: Tyler Trieschock

A large spherical object approaches Earth from the deeper recesses of space, the reflective surface showing the blue and green of the planet as it descended. Three trapezoid ships flew toward the sphere from Earth’s atmosphere, with the large globe opening three ports. Turning around, the three vessels backed up and latched onto the ports in a showcase of glimmering light. Unified once more, the alien craft stood idly by, waiting for further commands.

The sphere was, in actuality, a mothership for an alien race known as the Xiliens; a humanoid race that was much like humanity. At least, in appearance. Their true selves differed vastly from their weak, human suits. To survive on Earth, they needed to cultivate humanity for their mitochondria. With their necessary supplies of sustenance running dry, it necessitated action to do what must be done. With that, they captured and enslaved some of Earth’s monsters as a means of blackmailing; if they did not cooperate, the monsters would be sent to attack their cities. Though it mattered little if they complied or not. They would be subject to the superior race soon enough.

Inside the mothership stood their young controller, X. A dark trench coat drapes over his black vestments all the way down to his boots. He also sported a pair of slick, thin shades like the rest of the Xiliens on the ship. He stood with his hands behind his back, smirking at the screen before him. In front of him was a screen showing him the kaiju that they’ve taken, all of which were injected with a DNA compound known as M-Base. With the M-Base, the Xiliens could control any living being, even kaiju.

The monsters stood in cages inside the mothership, no longer being in control of themselves, now slaves to the Xiliens. There were nine different kaiju; eight of them had belonged to the Earth, while one belonged to the Xiliens: Gigan, a cyborg kaiju with blue armor, blades for hands, and a red visor. The monsters that the aliens had acquired included the spiky dinosaur Anguirus, the giant lobster Ebirah, the mantid Kamacuras, the spider Kumonga, the golem protector King Caesar, the sea dragon Manda, the pterosaur Rodan, and the mutated iguana Zilla. All of these monsters could devastate any city that the Xiliens put them in, now they would have to be patient. X turned to his men, who were working the controls of the mothership.

“Are we ready to arrive on Earth now?” he asked, smirking at the crew as they pressed the buttons on the controls.

“The preparations have been made; we should be there momentarily.”

“Carry on then!” X exclaimed before he turned back to the screen.

He could hardly wait until he could ravage this planet, for now he would just watch his pets in their cages. Some were clearly better than others, he knew that Kamacuras wouldn’t stand a chance against any other kaiju, but he needed all the monsters he could get his hands on. He watched them all sit and stand in their confined areas; they would remain like this until he had given them an order. To a normal person, seeing these creatures motionless would have triggered unnerving emotions, but not X. These monsters were mere pawns, tools to help him achieve his goals.

“Sir.”

X turned to his crew, locating the one who caught his attention. After a few seconds, one of them cleared his throat and stood.

“We have arrived on Earth.”

“Excellent. What city are we in?” X replied, his smile growing larger.

“We are in Hong Kong, but… there’s something that you need to see.” The Xilien nervously told his superior.

X raised a brow at this, his smile lowering into a frown.

“Put it on the screen then!” The Xilien Controller ordered. “It can’t be that bad compared to what we’re about to do to this cattle infested world,” he said as he turned to face the screen once more.

The image of the kaiju in their cages faded and turned to show what was happening in the city that they were in. The city of Hong Kong was already destroyed, few buildings were visible, but most of the land was covered in debris and fire. Not a single living being was visible. X looked at the city in shock. Not because of the wreckage; they would have done that anyway, but because someone or something had gotten there before them.

“What could have done this?” X asked as he turned to face his crew.

The same crew member who told him they arrived nervously looked at his screen, terrified at what he was looking at.

“H-him.” The Xilien pointed at the screen in front of his leader.

The image of Hong Kong zoomed in on some of the remaining buildings, showing a giant draconic monster with blood red eyes, horns sprouting out of the side of its head and snout; making it look like a demon, light from the fire reflected off the armor on the front side of the monster’s body; protecting its brown skin underneath, its long tail smacked a building; knocking the top off and letting it crash down to the ground. The demonic monster reared its head back and let out its terrifying roar to the heavens. The Xiliens watched in horror as the kaiju advanced toward the remains of the city, knowing full well what it was. X stared at it, eyes widened.

“It…. It’s…. B-Bagan.” X mumbled as he kept watching the behemoth destroy the group of buildings in front of it.

The crew members anxiously stared at their leader, waiting for him to give an order. They all heard stories of Bagan, but none of them ever encountered him. It was said that he used to be a forest guardian, but had fallen and turned to a life of evil. Nobody knew how he turned evil, all they knew is that he seeked the destruction of the human race, or any foolish enough to stand in its way.

“Sir….” One Xilien finally spoke up. “What… What do we do?”

The alien wiped sweat off his brow, waiting for his superior to answer. X kept his back to the crew, now cupping his chin and watching the screen, thinking as he saw Bagan attacking more of the city. The Xilien Controller gasped as he thought of an idea.

“I say…” He finally spoke as he looked back at his crew. “We send out all of our monsters to fight Bagan.”

X turned to face his fellow Xiliens who looked at each other then back at their leader, almost taken a back at this plan. They had just gotten these kaiju and now they would be fighting one of the most powerful monsters of all? Seconds passed before someone questioned this order.

“But sir…. Why? We could just take the monsters and go, conquer some other world with human life,” the crew member asked, standing up and staring his leader in the eye.

X chuckled as he heard this, beginning to pace in front of the crew.

“Well you see, not only is this the only planet that we’ve invaded that has these humans, but we could trick them into thinking that we came to save them from Bagan. Then when we kill him, we’ll be considered heroes and we can bring those foolish enough to believe such a thing to Planet X to harvest.”

X then stopped walking and turned to face his crew, waiting for a reply.

The same crew member who questioned him gulped before responding.

“But sir, what if he kills them all?”

“Then they could tire Bagan out while we wait for Monster X to arrive. This demon may have a reputation, but he is still a monster of Earth. Monster X possesses no such flaw.”

The crew members thought for a few moments, some whispering to one another as their leader waited. Finally they came to a decision, the Xilien who questioned X turned to face his leader.

“We will go through with this plan sir!” he said with up most confidence.

“As if you ever had a choice,” X mockingly commented aloud, “now, release the monsters!”

The Xilien Controller turned around to face the screen once more, pointing at the demonic kaiju turning yet another group of buildings into a sea of fire. The three ships on the bottom of the mothership detached and made their way toward Bagan, carrying seven of the kaiju inside them. A panel on the mothership slid open before Gigan flew out with his arms bent toward his torso and legs and tail stretched back, seeing his target and quickly advancing toward him.

“I hope they can kill it,” a crew member mumbled as he watched the ships and Gigan getting closer to Bagan.

*****

Bagan crushed a building with his hand, causing it to collapse down into itself. The beast felt like laughing as he decimated the worthless object. He was about to backhand another one when he heard a noise from behind him. He turned to see that there were three triangular objects flying toward him along with some sort of cyborg monster. He decided to let them come; he would destroy them as soon as they got there. It wouldn’t make a difference if they opened fire on him. It would be like the pathetic military who tried to get rid of him earlier. This would be easy, another one-sided slaughter.

The ships kept afloat some hundred of meters away from Bagan. Gigan landed next to them, staring the destroyer of this city in the eye. A beam of light shined out of the crooked tip of the ships, and then suddenly three monsters spun out of the light. One was a dinosaur like creature with spikes on its back and a short horn on its snout; another was a giant humanoid golem with Shisa-like features on its face and paws; the last was a brown, bipedal pterodactyl with three horns on its head. From another ship, three more monsters appeared; one was a green praying mantis; another was an emerald green serpent with horns on its head and tiny arms; the last was a grey lizard like creature with dorsal fins on its back, reminding Bagan of a foe he had fought before. The last ship brought two kaiju; one was a yellow and brown spider; the other a red lobster with one claw bigger than the other.

The ships quickly turned around and raced toward the mothership, the demonic monster eyed the giant sphere. It was not of Earth, but did it matter compared to his power? He would annihilate it after he was through with this pathetic looking group of creatures.

The monsters stared at Bagan for a while, growling at him as they waited for him to make a move. Bagan had already planned how he would kill them so he was just waiting for them to attack. Through with the others waiting, Zilla roared at his foe before going into a full sprint toward him. Bagan scoffed as he saw this lizard try to attack him. Time to teach these slaves to the aliens what they dared to challenge.

Bagan let Zilla run a few meters in front of him before white hot plasma appeared in his mouth and shot toward the monster approaching him. Zilla jumped up, avoiding the beam and trying to pounce on the demon. Predictable. Bagan quickly turned around and hit the overgrown iguana with his tail, catching his opponent off guard and sending him into the ground a mile away from him, screaming with pain. Unlike the last blast, Bagan shot a concentrated breath of his plasma beam at the monster, this time hitting his mark as the white beam caused an explosion around him.

Bagan chuckled as he turned to face the other monsters, not even caring to see the dead body of Zilla. That pitiful thing was of no concern to him.

*****

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” X yelled as he stomped on the floor. “That damn lizard is too frail… UGH!”

The other Xiliens gulped as they watched the fiery grave of Zilla and their leader throwing a tantrum. X suddenly stopped and made a decision himself.

“I’ll summon Monster X now. He’ll be here in an hour, so they better hold this son of a bitch off until then!” he said before looking at the screen again. “If we’re lucky.”

*****

The small army of monsters roared at the creature in front of them, finally deciding to attack. Rodan and Gigan took to the skies as the others charged toward Bagan, both of them firing their signature beams at the demonic kaiju. Gigan’s Cluster Light Ray struck Bagan in the face, the explosions blinding his opponent for a brief time. Rodan’s uranium heat beam hit his chest, the purple beam not even denting Bagan’s strong armor. The dragon regained his vision, just in time to receive a roundhouse kick to the face by King Caesar. The golem landed beside him and delivered a punch to Bagan’s face, breaking a few of the demon’s teeth. Bagan tried to slash Caesar with his claws, but the golem proved to be too quick for him as he back flipped out of the way. The demonic kaiju growled in annoyance, but another monster interfered. Kamacuras swooped behind his target to hack and slash his back with his razor sharp claws, merely creating sparks it the wake of the attack. Bagan tried to reach behind him to grab the overgrown bug, but all of a sudden, Anguirus threw himself at the Super Monster, his spiky hide scratching his chest and face.

Anguirus pushed himself off of his enemy and landed in front of him. Roaring at the dragon, Anguirus leapt at him, biting his neck with his sharp tusks and clawing at his shoulders and chest. Bagan grabbed the dinosaur by the throat, ignoring his wounds. He was about to strangle the spiny kaiju before Ebirah, having scaled along Bagan’s back with his legs, bashed his head with his large claw, causing the dragon to let go of Anguirus. The sea monster was about to hit Bagan once more, but the Super Monster quickly turned around and grabbed hold of Ebirah, swinging him around and dislodging Kamacuras in the process. With his great strength, Bagan tossed Ebirah into Kamacuras, the praying mantis screeching in pain as his ally slammed into him. As Kamacuras recuperated and buzzed off, Ebirah regained his bearings and charged at the giant dragon. The lobster once more climbed onto Bagan and began to hit the dragon in the back with his claws. Taking his larger claw, he shoved it into the demon’s back as hard as he could, stabbing him deep between Bagan’s armor plating.

Bagan roared out as the sea monster’s claw was embedded into his backside, he reached back and grabbed the limb, twisting it and pulling Ebirah off, sending the lobster flying back. Manda now slithered his way to his target, hissing as he moved closer to the dragon. Once he was close to him, the serpent leapt at him, biting his face and wrapping his body around the Super Monster, attempting to squeeze the life out of him. Bagan tried to shoot Manda in the face with his plasma breath, but the snake like monster swiftly dodged, now wrapping the dragon’s mouth, blocking his only projectile weapon. Or so he thought.

Bagan’s horns lit up as energy crackled over them, seconds later his Diamond Storm came down from the sky, slicing Manda’s skin as well as his own. The serpent yelled out in pain as he quickly let his opponent go, sliding off the dragon and slithering away as the shards pierced his body. The Diamond Storm stopped, both Bagan and Manda were bleeding from their new wounds. However, Bagan’s injuries healed in seconds, as if he was never hurt. Manda bled extensively, breathing heavily as he struggled to slither back into battle. His body ached from each movement, dirt and ashes got into his new wounds, hurting him even more. Bagan regained his breathing and turned around to see a nearly dying Manda attempting to attack him. Normally, he would let his victims die slowly and painfully, but this time he would put this pitiful monster out of its misery. Energy crackled over the protrusions on his back as the lit up. Bagan curled his upper lip white hot plasma made its way up his throat and through his mouth. Shooting it toward Manda’s head, the emerald serpent’s head explodes on impact, instantly killing the sea dragon.

Manda’s body went limp after his head was destroyed. Kumonga quickly ran toward the dragon on his eight legs, but at the same time keeping his distance. When he was at a good enough range, he shot his web at Bagan, showering the Super Monster in the sticky webbing. Bagan growled in annoyance as the spider tried to cover him in web, the dragon slashed the webbing and tried to blast Kumonga with his plasma breath. The spider swiftly jumped out of the way, letting the beam hit the ground, replacing what would have been the arachnid’s smoldering corpse with an eruption of dirt, smoke, and fire. As soon as Kumonga landed, he sprayed Bagan once more, covering most of his back in web. Seeing what Kumonga was doing, Rodan, Kamacuras, and Gigan swooped from the sky while King Caesar, Anguirus, and Ebirah charged at the beast to keep him busy.

The six kaiju collided with the Super Monster, causing him to fall over with their combined strength. Bagan roared out as he was continually sprayed with web, struggling to get up as the web started covering his body, eventually encasing him in web. The dragon tried to claw his way out, but the web was too thick. Kumonga hurriedly scurried toward his fallen adversary, his eight legs going as fast as they could take it. The yellow and brown spider reached his prey, chittering as he got on top of him, readying his stinger. He went down on the dragon, injecting him with the toxins. Bagan roared in pain as he was stabbed by his opponent’s stinger.

In a fit of rage, the Super Monster shot his plasma breath, destroying the part of the web around it before moving his head and incinerating the rest of it. Kumonga quickly jumped out of the way, dodging Bagan’s plasma breath once more. Bagan got back to his feet, the toxins made his vision blurry and body weak. He could regenerate from this poison, but it would take a while. Luckily he could still fight. King Caesar, Gigan, and Rodan took this opportunity to attack.

King Caesar sent an earth shattering kick to the back of Bagan’s head, Gigan landed beside the dragon and immediately began battering him with his scythes, Rodan kept to the skies, shooting his Uranium Heat Beam at the Super Monster. Bagan smacked Caesar with his tail before punching Gigan in the chest then he grabbed the cyborg’s arm and tossed him at Ebirah. Gigan quickly got up and motioned his aquatic ally to help him. The two monsters ran toward their target, both of them hitting the dragon in the abdomen with the flats of their weapon like hands before Ebirah head-butted Bagan, in the stomach, causing him to stagger back. Kamacuras also joined in on the beat down, swiftly landing on Bagan’s head and stabbing his eyes, the dragon roared in pain as he was blinded. He grabbed the mantis’ scythe like claws and pulled them out, then flinging Kamacuras elsewhere.

Bagan’s eyes quickly regenerated, but the effects of the toxins were still there, he felt Rodan’s beam hitting his back, burning his flesh before it healed up. King Caesar punched the Super Monster’s face repeatedly, breaking more of his teeth before getting pushed down by Bagan’s arm, the golem quickly got back up and sent a kick into the Super Monster’s abdomen, causing him to growl in pain. Anguirus curled into a ball and began to roll toward Bagan, gaining more momentum before hitting the dragon in the backside, nearly causing him to fall over. Kumonga started shooting web at Bagan again, already covering most of his back. The demonic dragon finally had enough of this.

His horns lit up as energy danced around them, seconds later his Diamond Storm came down on the monsters attacking him, shredding most of their bodies. Some were luckier than others; Anguirus curled up in a ball to protect himself from the star shaped projectiles though he knew it wouldn’t last too long. Kamacuras, Gigan, and Rodan flew and avoided the storm thanks to their speed. Others weren’t so lucky. Kumonga screeched in pain as the small energy projectiles cut through his body, cutting some of his legs off. King Caesar went down to one knee and tried to endure the pain even though his skin had been punctured. Ebirah’s shell protected him for a moment, but soon the energy diamonds cut through it and stabbed the soft flesh inside, causing him to shriek in agony. Bagan chuckled as he watched his opponents in pain. The Diamond Storm started to die down as the Super Monster stepped forward, finding the closest kaiju to him.

Kumonga.

The pathetic spider had most of his legs cut off, he tried to shoot more web at him, but the dragon had gotten there before the spider could web him up again.

Bagan lifted his foot up and brought it down on Kumonga’s head, forever turning his purple eyes dark.

The dragon wiped the chunks of Kumonga’s guts off his foot, the spider’s legs twitched slightly as Bagan turned around to see his adversaries recovering. The toxins in his body had finally been destroyed by his regeneration. He was about to blast the monsters when suddenly he felt his shoulder quickly get cut. The Super Monster roared in pain before looking to see who sliced him. He heard familiar chirp before getting his shoulder cut once more.

Gigan landed in front of the dragon, roaring before slashing him with his scythes. Bagan growled as the cyborg cut into his body. Thankfully he regenerated from his assault and then delivered a firm kick to Gigan’s leg. The cyborg chirped in pain, the kick could have broken his leg. Bagan tried to punch the avian-like cyborg, but Gigan glided back, shooting his Cluster Light Ray at the Super Monster’s face. The mini explosions caused Bagan to stagger back. Gigan took this opportunity by pointing his arm at his opponent, shooting his cables at him. One chain went around his throat and the other wrapped around his horns, both hook-tips burrowing into Bagan’s flesh and armor.

Gigan then did the same with his other arm, this time the cables wrapped around his torso and arms, trapping the Super Monster. Gigan chuckled as he watched Bagan struggle. The internal cable reels within his scythes began to pull the thick wires in. Although met with initial resistance, it wasn’t long before the lines had Bagan dragging by his feet. Bagan growled in annoyance as he was dragged closer and closer to his opponent, hearing the whirl of the cyborg’s buzz-saw, he kept struggling more. The dragon was almost to Gigan, the buzzsaw becoming more of a threat by the second.

Bagan finally managed to get his hand out of the cables, grabbing them and ripping them off, breaking them. Gigan shrieked as his plan failed. In anger, the cyborg attempted to wrap his arms around the Super Monster and cut his abdomen with his buzz-saw, but unfortunately Bagan knew what he was doing. The dragon looked at Gigan’s left scythe and blasted it with his plasma breath, melting it from the heat. Gigan shrieked as his claw was melted off, he tried hitting Bagan with his other claw. The dragon caught it, ignoring the blade cutting through his hand, and firmly grasps the cyborg’s arm before pulling at it, ripping it off and tossing it aside.

Gigan shrieked once more and decided to retreat, but just as he got off the ground, the dragon grabbed his head, squeezing it. The cyborg couldn’t even yell out in pain. His head crushed as Bagan let go of it, pieces of Gigan’s head and shards of glass fell off as his body fell limp.

Kamacuras decided it was his turn to attack, screeching as he flew toward the dragon at fast speeds, once he got closer to him, Bagan quickly turned around and blasted him with his plasma breath. The praying mantis shrieked in agony as the blast enveloped his body, quickly incinerating him, his fiery remains fell to the ground as Bagan roared in defiance.

*****

X yelled once more as he saw not one, but two of his monsters be killed by this demon. The crew members nervously watched both the screen and their leader throwing a fit.

“Monster X should arrive in thirty minutes or so, but my monsters KEEP DYING!” The Xilien Controller yelled as he jumped up and down. “UUUUUGGGGGGHHHH!”

The crew didn’t know what was worse; their monsters getting killed or their leader’s child-like temper.

“Get Gigan and repair him, we might need him again!” X ordered.

*****

Bagan started walking toward his opponents, Rodan shot the dragon with his Uranium Heat Beam as he flew around him, the dragon tried blasting the pterodactyl out of the sky, but he was too fast and quickly avoided his opponent’s plasma breath, retaliating with his own beam, hitting Bagan in the back. The Super Monster looked in front of him and saw King Caesar, Ebirah, and Anguirus charging at him.

Bagan readied himself as he felt fire coming up his throat, the dragon opened his mouth and released his Plasma Breath at his opponents. King Caesar moved in front of the blast. Bagan thought he was stupid running into the same beam that killed three of his allies only to be proven wrong as the golden shisa absorbed his Plasma Breath into his right eye and shot it out his left, redirecting the beam back at the dragon and hitting him square in his chest. Bagan growled in pain, bringing him to one knee. He made a mental note not to shoot Caesar with his Plasma Breath again.

The golem jumped up into the air and stuck his foot out, kicking the dragon in the face as he landed. Bagan fell over as King Caesar stood back up, the dragon felt blood escaping his nose as he hit the ground. As soon as Bagan was down, the golem instantly started assaulting him. Caesar jumped into the air and did a front flip before landing on the dragon’s stomach, causing Bagan to cough up blood. The golem started clawing at his chest, trying to rip off his almost broken armor.

The Super Monster tried to cut King Caesar with his sharp claws, but his head was now suddenly getting clobbered by a pair of lobster claws. Ebirah continually battered Bagan’s head with his strong claws, breaking more of his teeth and denting the nasal horn. Anguirus sank his teeth into the dragon’s shoulder, using his claws to tear at Bagan’s arm trying to rip it off. Bagan roared as he clenched his free hand into a fist, lifting it up and collide it with Anguirus’ face. The dinosaur barked in pain and staggered back. The dragon then grabbed Ebirah by the face with both of his hands and used him as a weapon, batting Anguirus in the face and Caesar in back, forcing him to fall onto Bagan’s body before being kicked off.

The two monsters fell back as they were hit by their ally. The lobster screeched as he struggled to get out of the dragon’s grasp. As Bagan got up, he decided what to do with this aquatic weakling. Grabbing Ebirah’s head with one hand and his tail with the other, licking his lips, he brought his head down and bit the over sized lobster’s back. Eliciting an agonizing shriek from Ebirah, his shell was easily broken into, weakened from both the earlier Diamond Storm assault and the dragon’s brute strength. Bagan spat out chunks of shell from his mouth and instantly brought his head back down and began devouring the lobster’s soft innards. Taking a big bite and swallowing, then following up with another and another, enjoying the taste. His broken, blue blood soaked teeth cutting through the crustacean plates and guts.

Ebirah helplessly tried to hit the dragon with his claws, but it was pointless. His struggles eventually stopped as Bagan kept eating his insides.

Rodan squint his eyes and spots the dragon putting the dead, half-eaten Ebirah down. Roaring at his target before fire like energy crackled over the horns on his head and a purple beam shot out of his beak, hitting Bagan in the head. The Super Monster growled in annoyance and once again tried to shoot the pterosaur down, but failed as Rodan flew under his opponent’s Plasma Breath. The pterodactyl shot his Uranium Heat Beam again as he flew by the dragon, hitting him in the back. Bagan roared as the beam seared his back, though that was quickly healed.

King Caesar finally got up from the ground and roared at his foe, Anguirus rose and also roared at the dragon. Caesar roared at Rodan while motioning with his hands. Understanding, the pterodactyl shot his Uranium Heat Beam at his ally. The golem absorbed the blast through his eye and looked at Bagan before shooting the purple beam at the dragon through his other eye, hitting him in the face. The Super Monster staggered back and shook his head. Through the corner of his eye, he saw one of the ships that brought these monsters teleporting something into it before flying away. Bagan paid no attention to it; he had more important things to take care of.

The demonic dragon roared at his opponents as his horns once again lit up, energy dancing around them before star-like energy projectiles rained from the sky. His foes screamed in pain as they were hit with his Diamond Storm once more. Rodan tried avoiding the projectiles again, but eventually one hit the pterodactyl in the back, eliciting a shriek. He lost control and spun down to the ground before crashing, shaking the earth. King Caesar ignored the pain, running toward Bagan and jumping, bringing his knee up and hitting him in the face, breaking his jaw.

The Super Monster roared in pain as his Diamond Storm ended, as he fixed his dangling jaw, Caesar jumped into the air and landed on Bagan’s back while grabbing the dragon’s neck with his strong forearms. Bagan roared as he tried to get the golem off of him, he tried to grab his arms to pull him off, but his grip was too strong. King Caesar squeezed the dragon’s throat harder, causing him to gag. Anguirus charged toward the duo, lowering his head, he jumped up and head-butted Bagan in the chest, breaking his armor and causing the dragon to fall once more after Caesar finally released his grip and jumped off.

Bagan grabbed the golem’s leg as he landed, tripping him as he got back up, Anguirus tried to attack his opponent once more, but was swatted away by his tail, sending the ankylosaur flying. The dragon looked down at the fallen King Caesar before stepping on his back, causing the golem to roar in pain. Bagan’s wing like protrusions on his back lit up as plasma raced up his throat, the demonic kaiju opened his mouth, a bright white glow shined inside it. Bagan was about to blast Caesar with his Plasma Breath… until green energy blasted him in the side of the face!

Bagan roared in pain as he lifted his foot and put it on the ground, letting King Caesar go. The Super Monster looked around to see where that blast came from, suddenly something jumped onto his back, clawing and biting at his skin. Bagan roared once again as his back was assaulted, reaching behind him, he grabbed a scaly arm and threw it to the ground, causing a chunk of flesh to tear off with the assailant. The dragon turned his head and saw who dared attack him now.

It was Zilla.

*****

X stared at the screen in confusion.

“How…. How did he survive?!” He demanded the crew as they scanned the area to see anything that could have granted the reptilian kaiju survival.

“Here, sir.” One of the crew members brought up where Zilla was last seen.

In the spot where the mutated iguana had been thought to be dead was a hole, one big enough for the kaiju to fit through.

“He must have dug out of there before Bagan shot his Plasma Breath,” the crew member theorized.

“Hmm… That’s interesting, but I have one tiny question,” X said before turning around to face his fellow Xilien. “Why didn’t he show up earlier?!”

The Controller turned back to the screen after yelling at the crew member, watching Zilla get up with King Caesar, Rodan, and Anguirus following suit.

“This should be good.”

*****

Rodan got to his feet, looking around to find his allies and his target. After scanning the area with his eyes, he finally saw Anguirus a short distance away from him, getting up and turning his head in the direction of the pterodactyl. The spiky dinosaur walked toward him before honking and motioning his head back, Rodan looked at the direction he was motioning toward, seeing Bagan and King Caesar with Zilla.

Rodan shook his head in confusion; he had thought the mutant reptilian was dead. Anguirus barked once more, the pterodactyl cackled back, flapping his wings a few times before flying above his spiky friend, lowering himself, he gripped Anguirus’ shell. Flapping his wings again, he picked up speed and aimed toward their target.

Bagan backhanded Zilla from his shoulder, sending the lizard flying into the ground. King Caesar grabbed the horn on the right side of the dragon’s head, pulling down and punching him in the blood red eye. Bagan growled in annoyance as he repeated this three more times before the Super Monster punched the golem in the face, making him lose his grip and spin away. Bagan then turned around and smacked Caesar in the back with his tail, sending him crashing to the ground. Zilla rose from the ashy ground and jumped toward Bagan, trying to bite the demon’s throat, but the dragon grabbed his throat before he got there.

Bagan was about to choke the radioactive iguana before receiving a kick to the back of the head, the hit feeling like a cannon ball hitting a wall, causing him to let go of his opponent. The Super Monster shook his head before seeing King Caesar’s fist hit his face, Bagan growled with irritation as he was punched in the face, only to have the golem jump up and kick him in the side of the face. Caesar roared at Zilla, motioning with his hands.

Zilla’s back spines glowed green as he shot his Atomic Ray at his ally’s face, letting the golem absorb the beam in his right eye before shooting it out of his left eye toward Bagan, hitting him in the face, burning his nostrils. The dragon shook his head and roared at the two kaiju in front of him, walking forward before punching the golem in the face then in the gut, the latter who collapsed from the force. Bagan turned to face Zilla and charged with his head down. The mutant had been caught off guard by this approach, giving the dragon ample time to slam Zilla in the chest with a headbutt and scoop him up with his horns, throwing him behind him like a rhino.

Zilla soared through the air and crashed into King Caesar, who was struggling to rise to his feet.

Bagan stared at his two fallen enemies. The protrusions on his back lit up, his mouth opened with a bright, white glow coming up his throat. The Super Monster was about to claim two more lives until a hard and spiky object landed on his back, forcing Bagan to shoot his Plasma Beam prematurely. He fell forward as the blast shot at the ground, sending him backward, falling to the ground on his back with an earth shaking thud.

He heard the familiar roars of Anguirus and Rodan before feeling the heat of the pterodactyl’s Uranium Heat Beam hitting his body, each burning strike only fueling his rage. The dragon was about to get up before he was brought back down by Anguirus, who instantly began biting and clawing at him. The spiky dinosaur pulled off a chunk of the armor on Bagan’s chest before tossing it away and going back to trying to mutilate the dragon.

Bagan roared in pain as Anguirus bit and clawed into his chest. Seeing such a mortal inflict this much pain disgusted him, his rage burning more. The demonic dragon grabbed the spiky dinosaur by the throat. Anguirus barked at his target as he began to scratch his arm, trying to get out of his grasp. Bagan gripped the dinosaur’s crown with his free hand and brought his other hand up, grabbing Anguirus’ mouth. The demon beast twisted his head with the resound of a sickening snap.

Anguirus’ body went limp, his arms stopped trying to scratch Bagan and fell to his side. The dragon pushed the carcass off of him, letting the dead body fall on its side. With a mighty heave, Bagan got up, standing in front of the now recovered King Caesar and Zilla, who now stood glaring at him. Without any second thoughts, Zilla leapt at the Super Monster, biting his neck as he clawed at his face.

Bagan began beating the mutated lizard’s back, but Zilla toughed through the pain, sinking his teeth deeper into the dragon’s throat and made rows of scratches on his face. Bagan roared in pain as his blood spilled into the mutant’s mouth, he quickly lowered his head and bit Zilla’s neck in return, making the overgrown iguana roar in pain.

Bagan shook his head fast, as if he were a bulldog and Zilla was a chew toy, then the dragon threw him to the ground, making the mutant lizard flop like a fish as he landed. Bagan slowly walked up to his fallen adversary, watching him struggle to breathe as blood poured out of his neck. Zilla looked up at the dragon as he tried to breathe. Bagan grinned in amusement. He raised his hand up and watched the mutated iguana flinch. Chuckling, the demonic dragon brought his hand down, his claws slashing Zilla’s throat, slitting it.

The mutant lizard’s body twitched as blood spurted out of his throat like a sprinkler, his head lowered to the ground and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Bagan scoffed as he turned away from the dead body of Zilla, only to be greeted by King Caesar’s fist hitting him in the face and Rodan’s Uranium Heat Beam hitting his head. The dragon stumbled back as he was attacked, shaking his head before being struck by another barrage of purple beams, one after the other. King Caesar helped his ally by punching and kicking Bagan’s exposed chest, each hit from the golem him feel like his lungs were going to burst. Groaning in pain, the dragon punched Caesar back, hitting him square in the face, causing him to be dazed for a bit.

Bagan then took King Caesar’s head and brought it down on his knee before tossing him away, the golem roaring in pain from the beating. The dragon then grabbed the back King Caesar and kicked him in the stomach before picking him up, holding the golem in the air. Bagan scanned the skies to see Rodan flying toward him, preparing to fire another Uranium Heat Beam. The dragon beast knew he had one shot at this and so he took it.

Bagan began to spin around with King Caesar in his hands, the dragon held Caesar on his shoulder with one hand. When the time was right, he stopped and hurled the golem into the air, heading toward his flying ally. King Caesar roared out as he was thrown, spinning in the air. The protrusions on Bagan’s back once again lit up before white hot plasma shot out of his maw, hitting King Caesar in the back as he collided with Rodan, causing the pterodactyl to shriek in agony. But the two continued to scream as the dragon’s Plasma Breath sent them flying into the air, scorching King Caesar’s air and charring Rodan’s wings.

Bagan continued putting more energy into the beam until the two kaiju were out of sight. The dragon ceased his Plasma Breath as he tried finding the bodies of his opponents in the sky, but they had gone too far. Bagan took a few deep breaths, He had used a lot of his energy during this battle, more than he would like to admit. He would have to rest soon. The dragon reared his head and roared in victory. He had killed all nine kaiju in only an hour. Some were easier than others, but at the end of the day, he was victorious.

Now onto the mothership.

*****

X was stomping his feet and yelling at the screen as he saw the last of his monsters be launched into the sky. He wanted to hit something so badly. The Xilien Controller was about to take out his gun and shoot randomly around the room before he looked at the screen again, seeing Bagan walking toward them.

“Oh no…” X said before turning to the crew, who were all trying not to panic.

“What do we do now sir?” one of them asked.

“I… I don’t know… If Monster X doesn’t get here-” X said before being interrupted.

“Sir, look at the sky!”

X scanned the sky, seeing a meteorite quickly approaching Earth, the surface heating up from the ozone layer.

“Yes! He’s here!” X yelled as he saw the meteor making its way to the surface.

*****

Bagan walked toward his new target. He wanted to blast it out of the sky with his Plasma Breath, but then he decided to turn his head back, looking over his shoulder.

An object was approaching Earth.

The dragon turned his full body around to see that it was a meteor coming toward him. He braced himself as his wing-like protrusions on his back lit up, white hot plasma quickly slithered up his throat. The white fire danced through his closed maw as the dragon aimed his head at the approaching space rock before opening his mouth, letting his Plasma Breath flow.

The white beam raced toward the meteor, causing the clouds to split apart as the plasma went through them. Bagan’s Plasma Breath hit the meteor, the white flames covering the surface of it as the dragon tried to destroy the space rock, putting more power into his beam. The meteor kept going through the beam like a truck going through a spider web. It trudged through the white beam as it got closer and closer to Earth’s surface.

Bagan wouldn’t stop, planting his feet firmly into the ground. He put even more energy into his Plasma Breath, the white beam still not doing much to the meteor as it got closer and closer each second. Bagan then realized what it was going to crash into – him.

The meteor smashed into the ground as it finally made it on Earth, causing a humongous crater in the ground. The cascading hellfire burned everything within it, even if it was all temporarily.

In the middle of the hole stood Bagan, slowly regaining his sight from the bright light as he shook the ashes off of him. The broken bones in his body locked back into place. Exposed wounds closed up as the dragon scanned the area. He realized that he was now in a hole caused by the meteor that hit him.

Was that all?

He knew that surely there had to be more. He just survived a meteor crashing into him. What else was there? Then Bagan heard a low, guttural growl coming from behind him.

The dragon turned around to see a figure floating down to the ground. It had bone like armor covering its body, a forked tail swaying from side to side. It had three heads, one on each shoulder; all three heads had glowing, blood red eyes, the central head having two black horns. It roared an almost bone chilling roar, sounding like a sinister growl.

Bagan roared back, the horrid sound not fazing the skeletal creature. Neither kaiju feared the other, but they knew one thing: this was going to be a hell of a battle. The two monsters charged at each other, fists raised as they approached the other.

Both monsters punched the other in the face at the same time. Monster X stumbled back from the impact of Bagan’s punch, shaking his head. On the other hand, Bagan’s head faced away from his opponent before slowly looking back at him, his head cracking as he looked at his growling adversary.

Monster X quickly jumped toward the dragon and turned around, letting his tail whip Bagan in the face, blood trickling down newly made scratch marks on his cheek before they healed as the skeletal monster landed beside the demonic dragon. Monster X sent a flurry of punches into Bagan’s side, each hit sounding like a gun going off, causing him to growl in pain. The dragon backhanded the skeletal kaiju, causing him to stumble back.

Bagan sent a punch to Monster X’s chest, making him growl in pain before sending a kick to the dragon’s exposed chest, still in the process of recovery. The demonic monster screamed as his ribs were broken, though they were repaired quickly, the pain was still there.

Monster X reached for and grabbed Bagan’s two horns on the side of his head and, in conjecture with his levitation, brought his knee up while pulling the Super Monster’s head down, hitting him in the face with his knee. The skeletal kaiju repeated this multiple times before Bagan charged forward and lifted his head up. Monster X lost his grip, careening through the air before crashing into the side of the crater, landing on his back and knocking the breath out of the skeletal monster’s lungs.

The protrusions on Bagan’s back lit up before shooting his Plasma Breath at his fallen opponent. With no time to catch his breath, Monster X quickly rolled out of the way, dodging the beam before jumping up and landing on the other side of the crater. All four of the skeletal beast’s eyes flickered with a golden hue before firing his Gravity Beams at the draconic beast as he turned around. The gold beams hit Bagan in the chest and arms, sending blood gushing into the sky as the demon roared out in pain.

Bagan put his hand to his chest as the wound quickly healed up. The dragon glared at his opponent before Monster X charged toward Bagan once again, jumping up. The skeletal monster was about to kick the Super Monster in the face, but Bagan grabbed his leg in the air and slammed him down on the ground, once again knocking the breath out of Monster X, the dragon let go of his leg before getting on top of the skeletal kaiju. Bagan brought his fist up then brought it down on Monster X’s face, he then did the same with his other fist, then repeating the process as the bony armored kaiju slashed at the dragon, drawing blood across his arms and chest.

*****

X glared at the screen, knowing Monster X might not win if the battle continued.

“Is Gigan ready to send back into battle?!” the Xilien Controller insisted as he turned around.

“They have finished his repairs, but I’m not sure if he’ll be alright to fight,” one of the crew members answered.

“If the repairs are finished then he’s ready, now send him out there!” X ordered as his fellow Xilien nodded.

X took a deep sigh as he turned back to the screen to see Bagan continually pummeling his kaiju’s face.

“Come on, Monster X…” He mouthed anxiously as he saw Gigan fly out of the mothership.

******

Bagan kept punching Monster X’s face, almost taking a sick pleasure as he hit him over and over, creating small cracks in the armor on the skeletal monster’s face. Monster X kept slashing at the dragon’s body, each time he swiped his claws, he cut deeper, though the cuts healed as quick as they were made. The protrusions on Bagan’s back lit up once more, the dragon was about to end this once and for all.

Until multiple tiny explosions hit his back.

Bagan roared in pain as his back was punctured by the explosions, turning his head to see what attacked him only to be greeted by a kick in the eye, the point on the foot stabbed into the dragon’s blood red eye, causing Bagan to howl in pain as his assailant quickly dislodged his foot from the dragon’s eye hole. Bagan fell on his side as his eye regenerated; he then heard a familiar screech.

The demon growled as he got up and saw Monster X had also gotten back to his feet, now next to a revived Gigan, who had gotten a new head and replaced his scythes for chainsaws. The cyborg turned to the skeletal kaiju, chirping at him as he raised one of his chainsaw hands; Monster X nodded and raised his hand before lightly hitting the flat of Gigan’s chainsaw. The two nodded at each other before putting their arms down and turning to face their opponent.

Bagan roared at them before they roared back at him. Gigan revved up his chainsaws and Monster X cracked his knuckles.

The protrusions on the dragon’s back lit up once more before white hot plasma shot out of his mouth. The duo jumped out of the way, both of them moving to different sides of Bagan. Monster X quickly shot his Gravity Beams at the dragon while Gigan shot his Cluster Light Ray, both shooting Bagan on both sides. The demon roared out in pain as the golden bolts pierced his side while the red laser exploded on his other.

Bagan’s horns glowed as energy danced around them. Knowing what this meant, Gigan flew toward with his arm out, the chainsaw buzzing as he flew by the dragon’s head. With one swift move, the cyborg landed beside Monster X, his back turned away from Bagan. The dragon’s horn slid off his snout as Gigan turned back around.

Bagan roared in anger as he realized his horn was gone, staring daggers at the cyborg. He would destroy the bird like cyborg soon enough. Gigan once again flew toward the dragon, revving his chainsaws again, he cut Bagan’s arm as he passed by. Monster X also ran toward the demon before jumping up and kicking him in the side of the face. Bagan growled with frustration as the two continuously attacked him. As Monster X landed, the dragon shot his Plasma Breath out of his mouth again. The duo dodged once more and moved in to attack again.

Gigan slashed at Bagan with his chainsaws while Monster X punched and kicked the demon multiple times in the back and sides. Bagan punched the cyborg in the chest, sending Gigan stumbling back, the dragon then turned his head toward Monster X and fired his Plasma Breath at the skeletal kaiju, hitting him square in the face and sending him skidding back.

As Bagan turned to face Monster X, his tail whipped Gigan’s torso, sending the cyborg crashing down on his side, screeching as he tried to get up. The dragon fired more of his Plasma Breath at the skeletal monster before Monster X quickly dodged, running out of the way in time. The bony monster’s eyes flicker a golden color before firing his Gravity Beams at the demonic dragon, hitting him in the chest again. Bagan roared in pain as his chest was once again ruptured.

Gigan got up and screeched at the Super Monster, slamming his chainsaws into the ground in front of him and activating them, allowing him to quickly move toward Bagan. The powerful dragon turned to see his opponent charging at him. The dragon moved aside to dodge the cyborg, but Gigan had one little trick. As the alien moved past Bagan, the tip of his lithe tail curved and latched onto his neck, the pointed piece in the middle stabbing his throat.

Bagan gurgled as his throat was stabbed, but that wasn’t all. Gigan kept going, causing the dragon to fall, the cyborg dragging him the ground as he moved. Ash and dirt got in his eyes as he was dragged, blinding him. The Super Monster grabbed Gigan’s metallic tail and fired his Plasma Breath randomly. The beam hit the Cyborg’s tail and shredded it, separating it from the main body.

Gigan stopped and took his chainsaws out of the ground before turning to see Bagan taking half of his tail off of his neck, the hole in his throat closing up after taking the tip out. The cyborg shot his Cluster Light Ray at his fallen adversary, the tiny explosions hitting his face and chest, causing a fire to engulf his chest. The dragon roared in pain as he tried putting the fires out.

The cyborg chuckled as he slowly walked toward his weakened opponent, his chainsaws revving as he got closer. When he got to Bagan, he raised on of his arms up, eager to bring it down on the dragon’s throat. Suddenly, Bagan threw the piece of Gigan’s own tail in the face. The cyborg shrieked in pain as he stumbled back, the flats of his chainsaws covering the damages. His visor had been cracked, reducing his sight drastically.

Bagan got up, the fire in his chest ceasing. Gigan put his arms down just in time for white hot plasma to shoot directly at his face, causing his head to explode on impact. The cyborg’s decapitated body took a few small steps forward before falling on his back.

As Bagan turned away from Gigan’s dead body, something flew into him. The dragon’s side was pelted by punches as he was once again dragged across the battlefield, he hit the thing’s back to get it to let go. The thing threw Bagan to the ground and landed on the other side of the fallen dragon. Bagan groggily got back to his feet to face whatever monster tried to attack him now. To his surprise, it was Monster X again, but now he had dark wings on his back.

Monster X let out a low growl as he lowered his body, his wings growing larger. Power surged through his body as his limbs grew, now turning a golden shade. His body also grew in size as the two heads on his shoulders sprouted up along with his central head. His forked tail now split into two. His roar now sounded like a mix of a wheezy yell and maniacal laughter.

Monster X was now nearly the same height as Bagan, his three heads roaring into the heavens before looking at the dragon in front of him, all six of his eyes glaring at him. Bagan roared back at the golden dragon. He knew this was still just Monster X, but it felt different, more powerful, like something he fought before.

A Ghidorah.

The wing like protrusions on Bagan’s back lit up, white hot plasma traveled up his throat before he opened his mouth and shot his Plasma Breath out of his maw and at Keizer Ghidorah’s chest. The four-legged dragon didn’t even flinch at the blast. The demon looked at the Ghidorah in confusion before firing his Plasma Breath at him once again, and once again it failed to hurt the beast.

Keizer Ghidorah roared again, this time it sounded like he was laughing at Bagan. The demonic monster wouldn’t stand for this, he would not be mocked. Bagan closed his hands into fists and charged at his opponent, the Ghidorah let him get close to him. The Super Monster punched Keizer Ghidorah as he slammed his body into him, his fists hit the dragon multiple times, rivaling that of several large explosions.

The Ghidorah was not phased.

Golden light appeared in Keizer Ghidorah’s mouths, all three heads looked at Bagan before firing three Gravity Beams at him. The golden beams sent the demon back, he tried to fight it, but it was no use, the power of the attack pushed him to the ground. Bagan roared in pain as the electricity surged through his body, it felt like he was going to explode. The three-headed monster ceased his Gravity Beams.

Bagan breathed heavily as the beams stopped, he weakly got up and roared at his opponent once more. He took a few steps forward and turned, making his tail smack Keizer Ghidorah’s right head. The head hit the neck of the middle head, cackling as it shook and glared at the beast in front of him.

Bagan quickly shot his Plasma Breath at the Ghidorah, hitting the neck of the left head, causing it to roar in pain. The Super Monster had enough of this, he would kill this Ghidorah now.

All of a sudden, Keizer Ghidorah bent his legs and flapped his wings before jumping into the air, the monster in front of him widened his eyes as he watched the dragon fly into him, Bagan braced himself, but he couldn’t withstand getting pushed down by the Ghidorah’s front legs. He fell on his back with an earth shaking thud, the Super Monster growled as he turned to his side.

Bagan was about to get up when Keizer Ghidorah flew back and shot his Gravity Beams at the demonic again. Bagan roared in pain as the beams once again hit him, but after a moment the beams moved around him before lifting him in the air. The Super Monster roared in confusion before the beams moved him forward, toward the Ghidorah.

Keizer Ghidorah’s Gravity Beams went back to his mouths, taking his adversary with them. The golden beast bit down on Bagan, the left head taking his throat, the central head biting his stomach, and the right head sinking its teeth into his leg. All three heads’ teeth glowed a golden color, blue light traveled throughout his body. Bagan roared in pain as the golden dragon absorbed his energy.

The Super Monster tried slashing the Ghidorah’s neck and kicking his side, but it was no use. Golden energy went throughout his body, hurting Bagan and draining him of his life force, the grey dragon tried to shoot his Plasma Breath at the golden dragon, but the fire dwindled as it went up his throat. Bagan could barely keep his eyes open, his arms went limp as he stopped struggling.

The mighty Bagan finally met his match.

Bagan finally closed his eyes as his skin shriveled up like mud on a hot day. The Super Monster stopped breathing as the last of his energy was consumed by Keizer Ghidorah. The golden dragon let go of the lifeless husk. All three of his heads looked up at the sky and roared in victory. He then looked back down at Bagan’s lifeless body and shot his Gravity Beams at it, destroying the remains of the once powerful beast.

*****

X jumped up and down as he looked at the screen, seeing his monster destroy the remains of Bagan. The crew behind him clapped, for after a long, tenuous battle, they finally achieved victory.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Hahahaha! Yes!” X celebrated before he turned to his crew.

“Now sir?” one crew member asked.

“Now we speak to the people of Earth. Bring Monster- Keizer Ghidorah to the ship!” X ordered before turning back to the screen. “It’s about time we get on the winning side of things.”

Winner: Monster X

Author: Connor Clennell | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

Terror and chaos had engulfed the island nation of Japan. Promises made to them had been falsified to gain their trust in matters that required their resources, and their efforts were rewarded with betrayal and destruction.

Hours ago, people from the far future of 2204 had arrived in the present time of 1992, bringing claims of their country’s extermination by the hands of Godzilla, and asked for the knowledge that the select few in this era had on the monster king’s origins in order to prevent his creation. Through their joined efforts, they travelled further back in time and displaced the creature that would become Godzilla, erasing the atomic menace from history. But the celebration of their victory distracted the modern humans from the Futurians’ true intentions…

Although Godzilla does attack Japan in the future, the country is able to recover and grow into a corrupt super power that decimates the global economy. By preventing Godzilla from being born, the Futurians had the opportunity to create their own monster in his place, to serve their goal of decimating Japan and weakening the empire of the future.

“The power of your armies is worthless against our own weapon, Prime Minister,” Chuck Wilson announced with pride over his video link to the Japanese government. “Surrender all governing power to us now and we will spare your country and people.”

With a furious scowl, Commander Takaki Aso turned to the Prime Minister. “Sir, I cannot condone negotiating with terrorists, regardless where and when they come from!” he expressed.

“I am content with this no more than you are, Commander,” replied Prime Minister Hayashida, wiping sweat from his brow with a soaked cloth. It truly pained him to see his beloved nation brought so low, but the ability to do anything about it was out of their hands. “Godzilla was the only real hope of stopping that monster. Without him, we have no real options.”

“Surely, there must!” Aso argued. “My men and I would do whatever it takes to serve our country before we submit to the likes of people like him!”

He pointed at the screen, directly at Wilson, which brought a frown onto the burgundy-haired man’s face. His scowl made even the hardened commander flinch and sweat nervously.

“It would appear that you need further convincing,” he stated with the hint of a smirk. “I shall convene with you all again when I feel you are truly ready to surrender.”

With that, the video call was terminated, sending the cabinet room in chaos as they squabbled over their response to the issued and coming threats. In the seat of the MOTHER, Wilson leaned back into his chair and tapped the armrest, attracting the attention of a technician on a nearby control panel.

“Order King Ghidorah to attack again. Leave nothing untouched.”

*****

The city still burned from the last attack hours ago. The wreckage of the military’s efforts to protect the capital occupied the streets, blocking off escape routes for the scores of people still within. Crowds were spread across the maze of buildings, led by soldiers and citizens with extensive knowledge of Fukuoka’s routes. There was little hope left for many of the survivors, who despite it all, had begun to wish for Godzilla’s presence instead, for at least he did not attack buildings and people out of spite and malice. But this new creature was far worse than the king of the monsters ever was.

The wind began to pick up, tossing scraps of metal across the tarmac and blowing weaker people off their feet. The crowds scrambled to aid them while also speeding up their retreat, as their military escorts trained their weapons skyward. But they knew that nothing could stop King Ghidorah.

The cackles of the golden dragon boomed around the city as it flew high above. Its scales glistened in the sunlight, betraying its destructive nature as its three heads scanned the ruined city. Each beat of its massive wings sent cars flying and unsound buildings toppling into the streets. King Ghidorah screeched evilly at the joyous carnage as it added to the destructive with blasts of its lightning-like Gravity Beams, tearing apart steel and concrete alike and burying the populated streets under rubble.

From the ground and sky, rockets, bullets and masers were unloaded upon the dragon, but no weapon in the Japanese’s arsenal was capable of breaking its golden scales. At best, the weapons were an irritation to the golden hydra, dragging its attention to the tanks and fighters jets that would defy it. Blasts of golden lightning swiftly removed the opposition, spreading their remains across the streets before it cackled again. To continue its attack, King Ghidorah descended to the streets, generating a powerful tremor with its landing and sending people scattering like the insects they were against the colossal dragon.

Within the chaos, a lone man watched the destruction unfold with anger in his gaze. From his rooftop spot, he had a full view of the golden monster in all its vileness. The man, whose appearance did not match his true origins, was familiar with tales of a three-headed destroyer of worlds, with manes and scales of gold and calls like that of a warning bell. Although this King Ghidorah was not the same as the creature from the legends, it seemed well on the path to filling its legacy. Shin Hayata refused to allow that future to happen, and raised the Beta Capsule with the vow to bring King Ghidorah to its end.

As he pressed the button on his device, flashing light consumed the rooftop. The phenomenon caught the attention of the hydra, which halted its attack to stare at the unusual lightshow. From the radiance, a shape quickly began to take form and solidify, taking the dragon off-guard. It took a step back, its three heads staring at each other in council as the figure took shape.

A metallic silver body reflected the glow of surrounding fires, broken by patterns of crimson adorning the chest, arms, hips and knees. Bulbous eyes glowed with yellow brightness, and a circular gem shone blue on the humanoid being’s chest.

Though this was its first encounter with the entity, King Ghidorah was consumed with an overwhelming hatred of it, greater than anything it had experienced before. It almost seemed genetic in a way, but the golden dragon did not dwell on the mystery for long. Already, it had made a vow to destroy the challenger before it had even received the order.

*****

“Ultraman!” Commander Aso gasped in shock.

The cabinet room was filled with discussion by the warrior of light’s appearance. The Prime Minister released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and sagged back into his chair.

“Our prayers have been answered,” he said. “If anyone is going to save us now, it will be him.”

Aso was quick to object. “Don’t be so assured, Prime Minister. You forget that Ultraman had been defeated in the past.”

“Have you no faith, Takaki?” Hayashida asked. The elderly man could tell that the commander would have preferred if it were his soldiers fighting King Ghidorah right now, even if such an act would be one of suicide.

The hardened officer scoffed and turned his attention to the image of Ultraman on the screen. Although his pride would not let him admit it, he held onto the hope that Japan’s oldest defender brought. The only thing any of them could do now was wait and pray.

*****

“Damn it!” Wilson slammed his fist against the arm of his command chair, snarling in anger. “Of all times for Ultraman to return to Earth!”

“Did we not account for the possibility of his appearance,” Grenchiko reminded his seething partner. “The records implied that he was active in this decade, but did not specify when.”

“We still didn’t anticipate that he would show up,” Wilson snapped back. “He could ruin everything that we have accomplished! Years of planning ruined in an instant!”

“Have you no faith, Wilson?”

The violet-clad man seemed to calm at his compatriot’s words, his angry features melting away as he examined the situation anew. “You’re right, my friend. I am being too cautious about this,” he told Grenchiko. “We engineered the Dorats so that they would create a monster that would be Godzilla’s superior, and I have no doubt we succeeded in that.”

Grenchiko nodded his head in agreement. “Ultraman will stand no chance before our monster,” he stated, “and Japan will remember this as the second time the hero dies.”

“Yes,” Wilson agreed and laughed, before pressing a button on his control panel to issue a command directly to their creation.

“Kill him, King Ghidorah!”

*****

As the order came through its three brains, the terrible hydra screeched at Ultraman. As the warrior made to charge, King Ghidorah spat Gravity Beams from its three maws that lanced across his body. The golden assault pushed Ultraman back, making him cry out as sparks and smoke covered his front from each strike of the crackling beams. He rolled to the side, taking cover behind an emptied skyscraper that had yet to feel the golden terror’s wrath. Turning its firepower onto the structure, the barrage tore out chunks of its infrastructure at a rapid rate, but the building wouldn’t fall. With an irritated chorus of screeches, King Ghidorah flapped its wings and took to the air to gain an aerial advantage.

“Shuwatch!”

Ultraman launched into the sky as Ghidorah flew into range, slamming into the hydra’s gut. The impact kicked the breath from its lungs, leaving the golden terror momentarily defenceless as it was tackled to the broken streets. Resting atop the dragon’s chest to pin it, Ultraman chopped at its writhing, snapping heads and necks, easily fighting off their attempts to bite and ensnare him. Each head shrieked with anger with its inability to break the alien giant’s offence, but their combined mind came up with another strategy. Behind Ultraman, the three-headed mutation’s clubbed tails raised up like cobras before striking, slamming into the back of Earth’s defender and knocking him into the range of its necks with a surprised cry. Upon landing, Ultraman was quicker than ever to right and defend himself as King Ghidorah’s three heads glared. His hands lashed out, wrapping around the middle neck and wringing as the head screeched in alarm. Furthering his assault, he began to smash the constrained head against the pavement, slowly beating it into unconsciousness before its companions came to its rescue. The outer heads clamped their jaws onto Ultraman’s shoulders, pulling the M78 denizen off and tossing him aside hard.

It took several beats of its wings before King Ghidorah was able to stand upright. It took a few more to left the draconic titan off the ground so it could bring its heels down on the floored Ultraman. The hero of light noticed the three-headed monster coming, though, and rolled out of the impact zone before the dragon’s feet could find their mark. Quickly, he flipped himself onto his feet before planting a kick on the freshly landed hydra’s chest, causing King Ghidorah to stumble backward slightly. Unsatisfied with his results, Ultraman dropped low for a sweeping kick, but the golden dragon’s thick leg stopped his swooping limb and refused to topple. The alien guardian was left in close range of the hydra with little time to prepare a proper attack before it countered, and resorted to head-butting King Ghidorah square in the gut. The strike made it hiss and stumble, but the Futurian terror was far from fazed. It tucked its heads low before swinging them up in an arc, catching Ultraman in the chest with its crowns of horns and throwing him across the district to the ground.

As Ultraman recovered, the golden monster taunted him with shrieks of laughter. The warrior of light tightened his fists as he drowned out the mocking sounds from his mind. His focus was diverted to his energy stores, which were channelled to his hands as they met across his chest. With his Colour Timer between them, Ultraman focused his Specium energies around his right hand, before making a tossing motion with it and discharging a churning energy disc. The Ultra Slash cut through the air with lightning speed, but King Ghidorah’s quick reflexes outclassed it. The mutant dragon enveloped its body with its colossal wings, forming a golden shield before the jagged projectile, which barely cut into the hydra’s hide before it shattered, to Ultraman’s shock. The Ultra warrior was not stunned for long and cuffed his wrists, firing his Specium Ray at King Ghidorah’s wing barrier, but little more than a shower of sparks was produced as it was fired upon the dragon for several seconds. As the attack ceased, the three-headed monster unfurled its wings and cackled as its three heads fired their own deadly beams. However, Ultraman managed to trace the outline of a rectangle in the space before him, forming an Ultra Barrier to halt the lightning-like rays just in time. Unlike King Ghidorah’s barrier, the Gravity Beams were also reflected back, striking the three-headed terror and bathing its scales in flames, causing it to call out in pain and confusion. From across the battlefield, Ultraman glared with animosity. Two could play the game that Ghidorah had started, but he could play it better.

The hero leapt up as the smoke cleared and King Ghidorah fired again, initially striking the ground where he had stood before moving his assault upward in pursuit of the airborne warrior. Bolts of golden energy streaked across the sky, but Ultraman’s amazing speed in the air made it impossible for any of the beams to land their mark. Instead of gaining distance, the silver-and-red giant began to circle the Futurian dragon, forcing it to constantly turn in order to keep a lock on him. Faster and faster he flew, forcing King Ghidorah to spin around on the spot in its attempts to keep up. With each rotation, the three-headed monster began to grow more and more disoriented, barely able to stay standing before it eventually had to stop. Its three heads drooped and groaned as it wavered on the spot, fighting off the rising nausea. With the golden terror distracted, Ultraman came from behind and planted a flying kick on King Ghidorah’s back that sent the monster crashing down with a chorus of warbled screeches. He moved back to its twitching tails and bent down to grab the appendages firmly, using them to hoist the hydra’s seventy thousand mass in the air. As it reached the peak of its ascent, Ultraman pulled the golden monster back down to smash it against the pavement, forming a crater in the street. He repeated the action again, using momentum and King Ghidorah’s own weight to hammer it against the ground in bone-shaking blows.

With each impact, the Three-headed dragon regained a part of its consciousness. It took several strikes, but the left head eventually recovered enough clarity to counterattack, twisting around and spitting a Gravity Beam into Ultraman’s face as he lifted the dragon again. The alien warrior dropped his adversary and fell to the ground, clutching his aching face and rolling in agony. Now freed, King Ghidorah struggled to its feet as its other heads shook out of their daze. It spun to target Ultraman, discharging its crackling beams at the wounded warrior, only for him to roll out of the way in the last seconds. With his gained momentum, the humanoid defender sprang back up and adopted his signature battle stance as he glared at King Ghidorah’s snarling visages.

Both circled each other slowly, sizing the other up and analysing them for weaknesses. At the same moment, they leaped into the air, but King Ghidorah was quick to gain the altitude advantage with the aid of its powerful legs and gigantic wings. As Ultraman looked up with seconds to counteract, the three-headed dragon dove at him, slamming all three of its skulls into the champion’s chest. The applied force threw the warrior of light back with a cry of pain, crashing into a scorched skyscraper and demolishing it in an instant. A cloud of ash and smoke was kicked up, consuming the form of Ultraman as King Ghidorah cackled from above.

*****

Whispers carried around the cabinet room as the gathered members communed with each other. The atmosphere of hope that had formed was quickly fading as they continued to observe the battle.

“Ultraman is losing!” a minister exclaimed. “It won’t be long before King Ghidorah kills him!”

Looks of despair fell on the faces of those who agreed with him.

“Impossible!” another shouted, gaining murmurs of approval from the other members who refused to believe. “Ultraman has come out on top in far more perilous situations. There is still time for the tables to turn!”

The room exploded into arguments over how to proceed, with one half stating to prepare for surrender, and the other protesting to wait and give Ultraman a chance. Amidst the political chaos, the main screen flicked on to present the smiling figures of Wilson and Grenchiko, bringing silence to the chamber as they all turned to look.

“Are you happy with where you have placed your faith, Prime Minister?” Wilson asked. “Your cabinet is divided and squabbling like children over the outcome of a battle that is already confirmed.”

“Your overconfidence will be the end of you, Wilson,” Hayashida snapped at the Futurian. “Ultraman has already proven to be a match for King Ghidorah. The chance of his victory-“

The two future men barked out laughter at the older man’s display, cutting him off mid-sentence.

“What a pathetic act of misbelief,” Grenchiko stated. “I think I will enjoy seeing that confidence wash away.”

*****

Groaning, Ultraman pulled himself from the rubble and clutched his head. The beeping of his Colour Timer warned of the time he had left, but he ignored it in favour of locating his opponent. As the shroud began to clear, he could hear King Ghidorah’s sinister calls as it spotted him. The Ultra’s eyes turned to the darkened sky as the golden hydra plummeted toward his position, shimmering in the light of sunbeams. Its feet raised up to deliver a crushing dropkick, but Ultraman dropped back as the winged monster came into range and slammed into the tarmac, missing its target by mere inches. Before the dragon could refocus, he tackled it, wrapping his arms around its chest and pushing it across the landscape. King Ghidorah’s talons tore up the streets as it fought to break free, beating its wings against the surrounding buildings as the line began to grow narrower. At last, a tall office complex blocked the path, which Ultraman shoved the golden terror into to temporarily immobilise it. The Futurian terror was stunned from the impact, leaving it open as Ultraman slammed his feet into its chest in a powerful dropkick, kicking King Ghidorah straight through the structure and partially burying it in the remains.

After returning to his feet, Ultraman strode toward the pinned mutation. As he came into range, the golden terror’s tails suddenly lashed out, catching the hero off-guard as they swung into him. The spiked extremities struck the warrior from M78 on the right side of his face and ribs, knocking him to the side and forcing him to take a knee. King Ghidorah forced itself up, wrapping its outer heads around the nearby buildings to act as leverage to pull it faster. With all of its gazes on Ultraman, the draconic titan began to beat its wings rapidly, kicking up turbulent winds that hammered the landscape and forced the hero of light back. Ultraman dug his heels into the ground and covered his face with his forearms as he tried to hold out against the artificial whirlwind, taking a step forward whenever he dared. Ultimately, with nothing for his feet to securely grip, the giant was blown down and sent tumbling down the street. As the winds ceased, he started to push himself up, but golden bolts of power rained down across his form, driving shouts of agony from the starlight warrior.

Smoke and fire surrounded the guardian of Earth as the barrage came to a halt. Despite the pain consuming his body and the increasing chorus of his Colour Timer, Ultraman was reluctant to give up the fight. Pulling his fists close to his body, he channelled his energy between the two limbs as trails of emerald particles before thrusting his right arm forward and launching the collected power as a swirling beam. It had not even closed half the distance to the winged hydra before King Ghidorah took to the air, leaping out of the Ultra-Attack Ray’s path and letting out its signature, malicious cries to draw the warrior of light’s attention. All three heads fires their Gravity Beams in unison, striking Ultraman squarely in the gut and forcing a scream of uttermost torment from him as a tremendous explosion threw the Ultra to the ground. His fingers weakly grasped at the disturbed concrete and earth as he fought to stand, but King Ghidorah would have none of it. The golden dragon dropped from the sky atop Ultraman, driving its feet into the warrior’s back and pressing him into the street, gaining a pained yelp as its foe’s back was crushed beneath its immense weight. It then lifted into the air and came back down, cracking Ultraman’s bones with the impact before repeating the action again.

*****

The government of Japan could look at the screen in horror as they watched King Ghidorah smash Ultraman over and over. In the top corner of the screen, the two Futurians grinned in delight, relishing in the horrible scene.

“Your ‘hero’ has failed you,” Wilson announced with praised in his voice. “This game has been amusing, but it had delayed us enough. It’s time to make your decision, Prime Minister.”

Hayashida gulped nervously as sweat ran down his face. So much pressure was on him at this moment that would decide the future of his country, but none of the options available were favourable, and time was short. He would have to make a choice, or it would be made for him. Either way, history would be sure to remember him for this, but not as he would have hoped.

“Perhaps we can sweeten the deal?” Grenchiko offered. “If you submit control to us now, we may consider sparing Ultraman’s life as well.”

Wilson snapped to face his green-suited ally with a disapproving expression. Words began to form on his lips, but he stopped himself after considering the option and grinned. He had said they might spare him.

“No!”

The shout made heads turn in shock. Hayashida, Grenchiko and Wilson all blinked in surprise at the word that came from Commander Aso’s lips.

“I won’t yield to this terrorist bullying for a second more!” he almost bellowed, filling the room with his booming voice as he continued. “I have given my blood, sweat and tears to protect this country. As did my father, and his father before him, and all those that have served and ever will!”

Aso glared at the tiny visages of the future men on the screen with a burning passion in his eyes that seemed out of character for the toughened officer.

“Ultraman would never allow us to sacrifice our freedom for him, and I shan’t permit it either. You cannot have Japan!”

Like many of his age, he had been born recently enough to experience the misfortunes of war. His father was a captain in the military, who served and fell in the Second World War to protect the men under his command from American forces. Though he had been too young to understand at the time, he was inspired by the stories told of him and chose to follow in his footsteps.

Yet a second source of inspiration came from the time of Ultraman’s first duty on Earth. In the span of that year, the hero’s tales and acts of bravery were often recalled in news broadcasts, which won over the praise of the Japanese people. But it was the younger generation who were inspired the most. The aged commander, though far from a child in that year, was drawn by Ultraman’s power and honour. A mortal god in his eyes that chose safety over security. Although Aso had grown and hardened in times since, a part of him still looked to the warrior of light and his kin with admiration.

Returning his focus to the main image, he clenched his fist and raised it in his own form of prayer to the defender of light.

“Stand up, Ultraman!”

*****

Though far from the meeting, the words seemed to give Ultraman strength. As Ghidorah leapt up, the giant’s body began to dissolve from the head down and vanish into waves of atoms. King Ghidorah slammed into the ground and trembled from the unexpected landing. After catching itself, the dragon’s heads searched for their missing foe.

In the sky above, Ultraman began to reform. Particles congregated to assemble the humanoid from the head downward as his rebuilding shape plummeted downward at high speeds. His descent caught the golden terror’s attention as the teleportation process completed, driving his reformed foot into the dragon’s chest to stagger it. As King Ghidorah screeched and shook its heads, Ultraman reached down to hold the three-headed monster’s legs and pulled back, jerking the limbs off the ground and sending the hydra attached toppling onto its back.

The dragon cackled and beat its wings against the enclosing buildings as Ultraman leapt atop its chest, pinning it to the ground. Each of the golden monster’s head took their go at trying to bite the dual-coloured giant, but their enemy’s swift reflexes made sure that every punch and chop found their mark and deflected the snapping maws. From behind the guardian, King Ghidorah’s tails rose and lashed out, slamming into Ultraman’s back. The warrior lurched forward, but was quick to recover and turned to focus his efforts on the swaying appendages as well. Like the hydra’s heads, he was able to keep the tails at bay, but with five limbs to deal with, it was a struggle to keep up. With each passing second and successful hit, more of Ultraman’s precious light drained away. The force of his blows grew weaker and his reflexes started to slow as the gaggle of snapping limbs began to overwhelm his tiring body.

At last, King Ghidorah’s middle head broke through the defence, snapping its jaws around Ultraman’s throat. The alien gasped as the head pushed him down and he seized it at its base as he tried to pull it off, but the dragon’s grip was not to be broken. Lifting the immobilised hero up, King Ghidorah’s other limbs lifted the titanic hydra from its crater. Now standing upright again, its other heads secured Ultraman by the arms as the center one released its hold to adjust itself, coiling around the warrior’s neck and squeezing tightly. Crimson eyes narrowed in delight as they watched their prey gasp for air fruitlessly.

The rhythm and pitch of the Colour Timer grew as the last of the custodian’s power was choked out of him. For Ultraman, it was mere seconds before the warning light stopped completely and he would never rise again. Time was running out…

*****

Wilson and Grenchiko’s faces were awash with pride as they watched their creation with pride.

“Was there ever any doubt in King Ghidorah’s abilities?” Grenchiko said to the silenced council.

Wilson laughed at their cowardice. “I was certainly wrong to,” he admitted to his colleague before turning back to the screen. “And you were wrong to have any faith at all. There is no hope left for your country. No escape from our iron grasp. Once Ghidorah is finished, I will have it burn Fukouka and Toyko to the ground for your defiance.”

“No!” Hayashida pleaded.

“Yes!” the burgundy-haired American yelled back. At this point, he was drunk on power and pride, revelling in the victory yet to come. Meeting the eyes of the horrified Prime Minster, he activated the communication circuit to Ghidorah to issue the final command that would break him.

“Finish him!”

*****

King Ghidorah barely registered the order as it continued to strangle the life out of Ultraman. The fight from the giant was waning rapidly as his chest timer reached its crescendo.

Even if it was not focused on its mission, the golden monster would have failed to spot another man watching it from afar. The city itself was abandoned at this point, but he had not stayed or entered. He just seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Like Shin Hataya before him, Dan Moroboshi’s form betrayed his true status as one from the Land of Light. Unlike his brother-in-arms, he chose to take the form of a human than bond with one, which granted him more freedom in the activities as his other identity.

He watched the conflict from afar with the intention to act. King Ghidorah and the Futurians may have sought to crush the country’s hope, but in their hubris had not considered what the concept could bring.

Allies.

Digging into his coat pocket, Dan retrieved the Ultra Eye and placed it to his face, unleashing the power of his true form as spirals of light flashed in the mask’s sockets. Energy spread outward and grew in size, morphing into the same humanoid shape as Ultraman. Red skins with patterns of silver, segmented protectors and a protruding, metallic crest was the difference between the new Ultra and his comrade, but both his eyes and the green gem in his forehead shone with the same determination and desire for justice.

“Dyuwah!”

The sound rang out, catching Ultraman’s ears as he weakly turned as best as he could to look at the newcomer.

“Seven?”

*****

“Seven!” Hayashida gasped.

“Seven!” Aso expressed the same amount of surprise as his superior.

*****

“Seven?” Grenchiko exclaimed.

“Seven, Seven, Seven!” Wilson smashed his fist against the control panel as he screamed each word in fury. “Can’t the fates let us have this victory?”

Grenchiko would have tried to console his partner, but with the other M78 warrior’s arrival, even he had doubts in King Ghidorah’s might.

*****

The golden dragon in question widened his eyes at the newcomer, but did not stop throttling its target. Bringing his hands to the Eye Slugger, Ultraseven launched the blade from his head at King Ghidorah’s central head. It struck true, cutting into the hydra’s cranium and forcing the neck to unwind from Ultraman’s throat with a pained screech. The Eye Slugger continued on its path upward before a psychokinetic command from Ultraseven made it dive back to the ground and curve so as to smash into King Ghidorah’s sternum. Stunned from the blow, the golden terror relinquished its hold on Ultraman and allowed the warrior to slip to the ground as it backed away as the Eye Slugger returned to Seven’s head.

“Don’t move, I’ve got you,” Ultraseven reassured his ally as he slipped an arm under their own and hoisted them back to their feet.

“T-thank you, Seven.” Although his throat was bruised and his energy sapped, Ultraman still acknowledge his gratitude to his fellow Ultra. He slumped in their hold as he tried to stand, but Ultraseven managed to catch and support the tired guardian.

“You are in no condition to fight, but I have no time to evacuate you,” he explained. “For now, allow me to lend you some of my energy.”

His palm came over his Beam Lamp, summoning his stored energy through the gem to his arm before launching a glowing stream of light from his extended hand to Ultraman’s Colour Timer. Almost instantly, the warning jingle cut off and it shone a solid, healthy blue once more. The veteran felt his body fill with strength again, numbing the pain and strain previously upon him. Flexing his muscles, Ultraman stood tall on his own and nodded in thanks to Ultraseven.

Across from them, King Ghidorah had recovered its senses. Its three heads switched from one warrior to the other, unsure on which to pick. Foreign commands were uploaded into its consciousness, identifying the pair as its targets and to destroy them both. Ultraman and Ultraseven turned their attention to the three-headed dragon as it spread its wings and cackled promises of death. Both heroes took their unique battle poses, showing no fear to the three-headed mutant.

King Ghidorah’s flailing heads launched Gravity Beams in all directions, carving up the landscape and igniting flames and sparks around the duo, who covered their faces as they tried to defend themselves from the onslaught. Briefly, the golden dragon halted its attack to take off into the air, only to resume the barrage from above, driving the two Ultra Brothers apart from one another. As the beam storm came to an end, King Ghidorah raised its feet as it descended toward Ultraseven, delivering a powerful flying kick to the recovering guardian, knocking him back along the streets. From the side, Ghidorah’s right head spotted the charging Ultraman and it lifted off the ground once more. It spun in the air like a disc, smacking Ultraman and Ultraseven with its skulls and the tips of its tails and staggering them.

With the ground shaking as it landed, the hydra turned its focus onto Ultraman and rushed forward, heads shrieking like demons from hell. As the three maws began to lunge, the warrior of light shook out of his gaze and lifted a leg, kicking the golden monster in the chest and halting its charge. He continued by leaping up, delivering a flying kick to the same spot and causing King Ghidorah to stumble. The mutant’s outer hands dove at his throat, only to be caught by their own in the champion’s hands and smashed against the center head as it tried the same attack. Dizzily, King Ghidorah wobbled backward with its necks wavering drunkenly, where its tails were caught by the waiting Ultraseven.

Pulling hard, he yanked the dragon off its feet, sending its three heads and colossal body crashing into the ravaged streets. As it struggled to break free, Ultraman joined his brother-in-arms and took hold of the right tail, while Ultraseven shifted his grip to the left one. Together, they heaved King Ghidorah up, not just into the air, but swung the golden terror over their heads and smashed its back into the ground, driving a symphony of pained cries from the Futurian creation. In its helpless state, it resorted to flapping its enormous wings, generating powerful gusts that blinded the two warriors and forced them away. As King Ghidorah beat its wings harder, it managed to reach its feet and keep up the raging winds, adding bursts of golden lightning that assaulted the Ultra Brothers.

Rolling to different sides, the duo escaped the range of the crackling beams. Standing up first, Ultraseven caught the golden hydra’s attention as he drew his arm across his chest, firing the Emerium Ray from his head lamp. King Ghidorah instantly drew its wings around itself, allowing the beam to strike and ignite sparks against its armoured scales.

The crimson giant dropped his arm as he examined the diminutive effect his attack had. As King Ghidorah revealed itself, Ultraman came to his friend’s side.

“The outer scales are impenetrable. Our attacks can’t damage King Ghidorah while its wings surround it.”

Ultraseven seemed to consider his companion’s words as he examined the three-headed monster closer. King Ghidorah seemed to take its time, cackling and beating its wings in an attempt to intimidate its rivals.

“Immune to energy attacks, at least,” Ultraseven finally expressed his findings. He looked to Ultraman, who quickly caught onto the implied hint and nodded, agreeing to the untold plan.

In union, the pair thrust their arms forward, Ultraman resting the flat of his right hand atop his left and Ultraseven pressing his palms together to fire the Slash Ray and Ultra Spiral Beam respectively. Both attacks blasted King Ghidorah’s sternum, earning screeches of pain from the hydra. As it began to retreat, Seven swung his hands rapidly in the golden terror’s direction, launching Shuriken Rays from his fingers at its heads and necks with expert precision. Bursts of sparks and fire erupted across King Ghidorah’s upper half, forcing its heads down to its chest to protection and engulfing them in its wings, as anticipated by the M78 warriors.

Ultraseven took the Eye Slugger from his head and held it out before him. Securing the weapon in the air with his Ultra Psychokinesis, he stepped back as Ultraman performed the motions for the Ultra Slash. The crimson defender pulled his hands to one side, imparting psychic power into them as his silver counterpart pulled his arm back. Together, their limbs shot forward and discharged their collected energy at the frozen Eye Slugger, imparting it with both constructs and hurling it in their enemy’s direction. Both the Ultra Slash and Eye Slugger spun as one tool of destruction, propelled by Seven’s psychic burst at the unaware dragon and cutting through its glimmering scales like a sword through butter. In the span of seconds, King Ghidorah was overwhelmed with agony as the combined cutter tore through its wings, then sliced through the base of its center head and finally decapitated the neck at the base before shooting off into the sky behind. As the torn wings spread open, the Futurian dragon’s head and neck fell away in two sections and crashed to the earth, spilling blood across the landscape.

Its remaining heads cackled with torment and rage at the limb’s loss. Gravity Beams tore out from their throats at the galactic guardians, but Ultraman raised his barrier to block the attack while his comrade awaited his weapon’s return. As the spinning blade returned, Ultraseven leapt into the air and caught the Eye Slugger, reattaching it before dropping his extended fingers across his Beam Lamp to discharge an Emerium Ray. The emerald struck the stump of the center neck, cauterising the wound and bringing an end to the Gravity Beam assault as the remaining heads convulsed in agony.

Ultraseven dropped to the ground before his ally and sprinted toward the two-headed giant before Ultraman had even lowered his barrier. His red fists hammered against King Ghidorah’s ribcage one after the other, giving no hesitation in his assault and no chance for the hydra to react. As Ultraman arrived, he dropped to a knee and flattened his back, giving the other custodian a pedestal to leap off and dispense a pair of chops to the terror’s craniums, stunning them. Upon his landing, he rolled forward as Seven followed and leapt, extending his legs as his crimson comrade landed atop his feet and compelled him at King Ghidorah. The impact knocked the golden terror from its feet, crashing to the ground and shrieking for assistance.

The warriors of light secured each of the dual-headed mutation’s tails and heaved, lifting King Ghidorah into the air and starting to spin. For the dragon, its world became a blur of colours as the pair swung it around and faster, building momentum before finally, they released its tails and let the golden monster fly off into the sky. King Ghidorah was easy able to take control of its flight, flipping around and using its torn, but still usable wings to steer it back around. But it had gained too much distance, and its damaged body couldn’t muster the speed to close the space.

In desperation, it spat out its golden beams, each striking Ultraman and Ultraseven’s crossed arms with minimal effect against their psychokinetically-buffed defence. Both heroes spread their arms to knock the bolts aside before raising them again into unique stances. Ultraman’s hands cuffed at the wrists to form a cross, while Ultraseven rested his right elbow on the back of his left hand. Together, they fired their signature finishers at the airborne hydra, which instantly began to turn. Although King Ghidorah managed to start its new flight toward the ocean, it was still struck by the respective blasts of the Specium Ray and Wide Shot. The mutilated creature’s chest was blown open by the impact and instantly cauterised, leaving its organs charred and dangling from what ribs remained intact. Desperately, it continued to flee, ignoring the great agony and weakness spread through its body with every second.

Once it crossed into the open ocean, its movements finally began to cease. Ultraman and Ultraseven watched as the dragon managed to reach a surprising distance once to sea before it plummeted like a rock and smashed into the water’s surface. The ocean quickly swallowed King Ghidorah’s body, dragging it down into the dark depths as its blood pooled at the surface.

Only the crackling fires could be heard for the briefest moment after the dragon’s demise. At last, the brothers-in-arms turned to each other in silence and raised an arm. Ultraman and Ultraseven shook hands in victory, congratulating their efforts and bravery in the continued protection of Earth.

*****

The air in the meeting chamber was the most positive it had been in years as party leaders and ministers cheered and hollered in joy. Only the Prime Minister and Commander did not participate out of age and maturity, but let their glee know through warm smiles.

“Do you see, Takaki? Hayashida asked. “This is why we must always have faith in our protectors.”

“With all due respect, Prime Minister,” the commander countered, “it is not wise to place our faith in outside forces, no matter our opinion on them.”

“I would not imagine you would talk so negatively of Ultraman, considering your outburst earlier.”

The reminder made Aso’s face flush with embarrassment. “Do not mistake my words for criticism,” he explained. “But Ultraman’s people will not protect us forever. At some point, we will have to take on that responsibility.”

“Perhaps,” the Prime Minister agreed. “But that thought should be investigated another time. For now, enjoy the moment. I’m sure those media vultures demanding information on today’s events will ruin eventually.”

*****

Wilson slumped into his chair with an expression of shock frozen on his features. It was simply too much for the man to comprehend.

“King Ghidorah… has lost.”

Grenchiko looked over the shoulder of an operator as they rapidly pulled up readings, with one section of data catching his interest. “The microwave impulses are still being received,” he gasped. “King Ghidorah is still alive!”

“And trapped at the bottom of the sea,” Wilson reminded him. “Even if we could recover it, there is no guarantee it would survive in its correct condition.”

There was simply nothing to be down. Their resources had been drained by the travel to this time, with only enough left to return them to their time of origin. Within hours, the Japanese military would be here to take them prisoner and take the stolen technology for themselves, no doubt. They couldn’t do anything with what they had.

Unless they got more.

The idea came to Wilson, bringing a devious grin back on his lips. “Boot up MOTHER. Take us back to the twenty-second century.”

Grenchiko looked at his partner in shock. “What?” he gasped. “We can’t go back! What about Emmy?”

“Forget her,” he told him. “She was too soft for the work we were doing anyway. We have to go back if we are to save the mission.”

“But it’s suicide! You know the consequences for messing with time travel, we’d be executed on the spot!”

“Have you no faith, my friend?” Wilson asked, which seemed to silence Grenchiko’s protests. He waved his hand, giving the go-ahead for his order, and the bridge crew immediately set to work. There was a time and place for everything, and for them, it lay back where it all started.

Island 8JO.

Winner: Ultraman, Ultraseven

 

Author: Matthew Williams | Banner: Matthew Williams

Akira Yuki sighed as he smoked his cigarette, exhaling smoke one last time as he put it in the ash tray before he put on his Moguera pilot uniform. Once again, he, along with Koji Shinjo and Kiyoshi Sato, were assigned to a new mission by G-Force to pilot Moguera, but this mission was different this time. In Okinawa, it was being terrorized by Baragon, who once again escaped the Monster Island containment facility. Meanwhile, the UNSC Moon Base made contact with the GDF to inform them that they ran out of fuel for the Moonlight SY-3, and they would unable to return to earth. Because of this, and with Kiryu and Mechagodzilla still in repair from previous missions, Moguera was directed to separate into its two vehicle forms so that each one could handle the situation. With Land Moguera sent to Okinawa to handle Baragon, the Star Falcon was deployed to the moon to deliver the fuel.

Yuki sat down on his pilot seat next to Sato and Shinjo, gripping on the controller. “You two ready to go on your own?” he questioned aloud.

“Yes sir,” Shinjo replied positively.

Yuki then nodded to the two. “Okay, this fight that you’re about to go in might be difficult since you’re only using Land Moguera.”

“Baragon shouldn’t be that much of a problem,” Sato said with a hint of worry in his voice.

“He shouldn’t, but I wouldn’t get too cocky. He might not be powerful, but he could be a bit unpredictable at times.” Yuki assured the two. “Trust me, that burrowing bastard escaped Monster Island more times than any monsters!”

“Okay, we get it,” Shinjo affirmed.

The hatch of Moguera’s repair room slowly opened, letting sunlight shine down upon the giant mech. The boosters underneath Moguera’s feet flared up, allowing the machine to lift off like a rocket ship. Yuki got up and headed to the elevator that led him to the Star Falcon pilot room. The elevator stopped within a minute as Yuki entered the pilot room. He noticed the room was filled with containers containing the fuel for the Moonlight SY-3, as well as a space suit to wear to breathe in space. Yuki slipped on the spacesuit and headed to his seat, careful not to knock the containers that were strapped together.

“Okay, in. Ready for the separation,” Yuki communicated to Sato and Shinjo.

“Land Moguera and Star Falcon separation will be engaged within sixty seconds!” Sato began the countdown.

The mid-flight Moguera moved its arms forward while the head was pulled within the opening upper-half of the metallic body. After that the, the body of the machine split in half. The circular area of where the Plasma Maser Cannon in the upper body started to open, revealing a huge drill instead while the body shifted to look like a tank. The lower body of Moguera also started to shift its form, with a pair of airplane wings extending from its alloy-infused thighs, two cannons merging out of the blue knees and the pilot cockpit extending in the front center of the ship.

“Separation is complete, Land Moguera and Star Falcon are ready to roll!” Sato declared.

“Good luck you two. Try not to get yourselves killed, huh!” Yuki communicated as he controlled the Star Falcon to fly high into the skies.

“Copy that,” Shinjo bided to Yuki, controlling the now hovering tank-like part of Moguera to Okinawa to fend off Baragon.

Flying through the stratosphere within a few minutes, the Star Falcon exited Earth’s orbit, soaring through zero gravity while its normal flight speed of Mach .24 shifted to space travel speeds of Mach 35.3. Yuki’s eyes gazed upon the stars that shined beautifully amongst the cosmos. While it was a sight to behold, it didn’t seem to amuse the pilot that much. But looking at it reminded him the time when he camped out at Birth Island, trying to kill Godzilla to avenge his best friend, Colonel Goro Gondo. Yuki shook his head to forget about it, he didn’t want to think about it too deep and open old wounds, not after he saved humanity from Spacegodzilla. Thankfully, his mind shifted when he received a message from the UNSC Moon Base.

“Yuki, can you hear me?” said Captain Katsuo Yamabe from the transmitter.

“Yes, I can hear you clearly,” Yuki responded. “And I’m heading toward the UNSC Moon Base to deliver the fuel for the Moonlight SY-3.”

“That’s good to hear, just find the base and land there. We’ll be able to take care of refueling the ship,” Captain Yamabe assured.

“Alright, I’ll get there as fast as possible so I can get back to Okinawa and help my crew defend Okinawa from Baragon,” Yuki responded while he controlled the Star Falcon to enter the moon’s orbit.

As Yamabe sighed in relief now that the fuel was being delivered, one of the Moon Base personnel rushed to him in a panic. “Captain! An unidentified object is heading toward the moon!” He warned to Yamabe.

“What?!” Yamabe headed to the radar that was showing something approaching to the base.

A round sphere of light was homing in straight toward the moon, moving at the speed of a meteorite falling straight toward the Earth’s orbit. Yuki easily spotted the object and tried to warn Yamabe, but it was too late. Within seconds, the glowing orb object plummet to the ground a few miles away from the Moon Base, causing chunks of the moon’s surface to erupt and float away in the zero gravity environment. The impact of the unidentified object had enough force to shake the moon’s surface. All of the personnel of the UNSC Moon Base felt it.

“Was that perhaps a meteorite?” One of the personnel questioned.

“I’d hope so,” Yamabe worried. “Bring up one of our security drones.”

As the personnel made the monitor changed the radar screen to the viewing of the drone’s camera, the screen showed a huge crater engulfed in floating chunks of the ground. Within the center of the crater lied a giant sphere that gave away a blue light, giving everyone the idea that whatever the unidentified object was definitely was not a meteorite. The Star Falcon flew around the crashed area, while the transmitter has picked up a message from the Moon Base.

“Yuki, do you copy?” said Yamabe.

“Copy that. And before you say anything, yes, I saw the collision,” Yuki answered.

“Can you describe what the object looked like from up there?” The Captain of the Moonlight SY-3 questioned.

“It didn’t look like a meteorite, it looked like a sphere made out of light,” Yuki described the best he could. “Awaiting orders.”

“Hold your fire for now,” Yamabe ordered, unsure if the unidentified object was either a hostile or peaceful entity.

Within a minute, the light faded away as a bellowing snarl echoed in this silent astronomical body. Loud stomps fell silent as a huge reptilian creature stepped out of the crater, looking around his surroundings of the moon. The creature’s body had some similarities of a theropod dinosaur, being bipedal and having two small arms. Its body was covered in thick scales while the back from head to tail was covered in spikes. The face had two small fangs and one eyelid lower than the other, giving it a deranged and psychotic look.

Captain Yamabe and the personnel watched as the unrecognizable creature let loose a shrilling cry as it noticed their base.

“Isn’t that suppose to be Bemular?!” said Captain Yamabe.

“That’s the creature that Ultraman fought, right?” one of the personnel questioned.

“Yes, but…” Yamabe wondered with a puzzled look. “Didn’t he kill Bemular back in 1966?”

Bemular let out another shriek of aggression. This was not the same creature that escaped the Monster Graveyard and flew through the cosmos, where it landed in Earth and was slain by the warrior of light named Ultraman. Nor was this Bemular the second one that escaped and tried to hide on an unknown deserted planet, only to be slain by another Ultra Warrior. It was its own creature, but like the Bemulars of the past, it too was pursued by Ultraman throughout the cold depths of space, easily tiring the bipedal reptile. It needed to rest. Once he did, he would take flight to attack Earth and resume the first and second Bemular’s task to bring destruction upon humanity.

Murderous eyes gazed over the human base, widening as he thought of destruction.

While his energy reserves replenished, he could show humanity a demonstration of the destruction he would bring to their civilizations. The UNSC Moon Base would therefore need to be reduced to ash, and with this goal, Bemular slowly marched toward the Moon Base.

Yuki watched Bemular heading toward to the UNSC Moon Base, turning on his transmitter to speak to the captain. “Permission to open fire, sir?”

“Permission granted. You may open fire as long as you keep Bemular away. Try your best not to damage the fuel for my ship!” Captain Yamabe ordered.

“Affirmative!” Yuki responded as he flew toward Bemular. “Dual Maser Vulcan Cannons, fire!”

The Star Falcon’s Dual Maser Vulcan Cannons fired rapidly like an assault rifle, directly striking the back of Bemular’s spiked head, sparks flying off as the surprised creature shrieked silently. Bemular looked up to see the blue and silver ship flying past him, turning around to deliver another barrage of the twin laser cannons. Blue flames grew from the recovering Bemular’s snarling maw, where he spewed the pale blue flames out as it formed into a ranged weapon. Yuki grunted as his body felt the blue beam making contact with the Star Falcon, but thanks to the ship’s synthetic diamond layer armor, it was able to tank through the Pale Heat Ray while staying in airborne.

“Is that all you got?” Yuki spoke to himself, mocking Bemular as he unleashed a rapid barrage of the Maser Vulcan Cannons directly at the monster’s face.

Bemular shrieked as it staggered backward, stepping away from the UNSC Base. Yuki controlled the Star Falcon to keep on firing its weapon at the monster, desperately trying to kill it, or at least make it retreat, despite the cannons doing little damage to it. But Bemular held no desire to turn tail and run. The space monster shrieked as loud as it could before it curled into a ball and entered its Spherical Change state. The sapphire globe began to hover before it burst at great speeds, avoiding the Star Falcon’s next barrage of rapid firing lasers. Bemular flew away while Star Falcon pursued it, firing its Duel Maser Vulcan Cannons at it. The rapid fired lasers did very little to harm or even slow down Bemular, as if they had no effect on him. Yuki gritted his teeth a little, annoyed that the monster suddenly decided to play unfair as well as fly away like a coward.

“Come on you cowardly bastard!” Yuki shouted at himself while trying to shoot the monster down.

Suddenly, the sphere of Bemular went up and let the Star Falcon pass underneath, as it then rammed the ship’s right wing, causing it to spiral out of control. Sparks crackled inside the Star Falcon as Yuki tried to regain control of the spinning craft that was going toward the UNSC Moon Base. He managed to get the ship straight align just in time before it touched the moon’s surface. The belly of the Star Falcon roughly scraped against the ground, only to slowly come to a halt, just a few distances away from making contact with the moon base. The engines slowly shut down when Yuki got out of his pilot seat and checked the fuel containers if there was any leaking. Thankfully, none of them were damaged. Yuki sighed in relief and frustration now that the Star Falcon was grounded with a kaiju now walking toward it.

Captain Yamabe watched in disbelief as Bemular approached to the crashed ship. “No! This can’t be happening!” He shouted as he banged his fist on the desk, now that he and everyone in this facility were doomed to face Bemular’s wrath.

But just as Bemular was ready to destroy the Star Falcon with his Pale Heat Wave, a nearby presence caught the space monster’s attention. Bemular look up, to see a mighty butterfly flying toward him. The insect was much larger then Bemular, mostly because of its enormous wingspan that easily dwarfed the reptile. Both the wings and its body were adorned with beautiful color patterns of white, red, orange and yellow, with black stripes to boot. The antennas dangled above the two bulbous eyes while the moth’s mandibles opened, emitting a silent chirp. Yuki look up at the window to see the arriving moth while Captain Yamabe and the others watched from the monitor.

“Mothra?” Yamabe spoke. He felt that hope had arrived, knowing that Mothra was a deity that had risked her life protecting mankind and all life on Earth for generations. “Have you come here to save us?”

Mothra looked down and emitted a calm gentle chirp at Bemular, giving him a chance to leave this natural satellite so she wouldn’t have to use her powers to stop him. Bemular let loose an aggressive shriek toward the moth. He had no intentions of arriving to Earth to come in peace, nor would he listen to this non-threatening monster that was trying to be a pacifist to him. Instead, he would fight it. But little did the ignorant monster know, he was challenging the goddess of Infant Island, who had fought many monsters that sought to invade or destroy humanity such as Gigan, Battra, King Ghidorah, and even Godzilla. Mothra was disappointed that she couldn’t convince Bemular not to fight, but she was not willing to let anyone threaten the safety of the Earth.

As the two giants began to battle, Captain Yamabe formulated an idea as he turned on the transmitter. “Yuki, do you copy?”

“I hear ya!” Yuki bemoaned. “But I’m not doing so good. The generator of the Star Falcon was damaged upon the collision. The fuel canisters are at least in good condition.”

“Okay, just stay there and we will get over there with engineers to help you out,” Captain Yamabe affirmed.

“Good, and you better hurry. Things aren’t looking good with those two fighting to the death.” Yuki spoke as he saw Mothra avoiding Bemular when he swung his head.

“We will, just hang in there,” Yamabe then turned the transmitter off.

Yuki sighed when Yamabe disconnected from communication and then tried to change the feed to the Land Moguera. It was a long shot, but an effort worth putting into despite the distance. “Shinjo, Sato, do you copy?”

By a miracle, he made contact. “Yes sir!” Sato replied from the other end. “Were you able to get the fuel to the moon base?”

“Unfortunately, no. We were attacked by a spiky freak they called Bemular. Tried to divert its attention, but it damaged the generator and brought the Star Falcon down,” Yuki stated, irritated by the recent slew of events.”Luckily, there are engineers coming to fix it the ship. Oh yeah, and Mothra is defending the base from that space monster.”

“Damn, well hopefully they can fix it in time. Because right now, we’re engaged with Baragon,” Shinjo explained.

“Don’t forget to put a ring on it,” Yuki sarcastically retorted. He heard his teammates snort at the remark. “I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can, so just hang in there,” Yuki said as he prepared to disconnect the transmitter and readied to disembark.

“Yes sir!” Both Shinjo and Sato replied as the Land Moguera fired its Auto-Tracking Laser Cannons at Baragon. Then, all communications ceased.

Mothra made her next move by firing several beams from her antennas. Bemular shrieked as he felt the lasers hitting him, causing sparks to fly off his body. Mothra kept on firing at her enemy while she flew closer to him. She then ceased firing her antenna beams and struck the reptile with her wings. Bemular released several angry shrieks that went unheard, irritated by all this. Then his hands caught Mothra’s right wing, but his small arms’ poor strength were easily outmatched by the power of Mothra when it was pulled away with enough force to make the space monster’s hands slip. Staggering forward, Bemular turned his head to ram it into Mothra’s side. A painful chirp emitted from the deity’s mandible when she felt her opponent’s spiked head raking her fluffy dorsal. Mothra released her golden pollen-like scales from her wings onto Bemular, and it rained down the monster’s deranged face.

In the midst of the battle between the destructive reptile and the guardian moth, Captain Yamabe and a group of ten personnel exited the UNSC Moon Base in their astronaut suits. They slowly headed toward the crashed Star Falcon.

Bemular let out an annoyed screech, but accidentally inhaled some of the scales, sneezing the golden pollen out of his nostrils. Mothra’s six arms grabbed the distracted lizard and let loose a conductive touch, shocking him like a taser gun. Bemular shrieked loudly when he slammed his head down on Mothra’s forehead, bringing the moth down. Bemular cackled in gleeful tone when he lifted his foot and brought it down on Mothra’s back, pressing it down on her fluffy back. Enjoying this moment of torturing the pinned deity, Bemular started to stomp on the defenseless Mothra’s head to squish it into a pulp. Mothra’s mandibles opened to release silent cries of agony from the crippling blows, but unlike her opponent’s perception, she was far from helpless.

With her blue bulbous eyes shining with a divine glow, the protector of Infant Island’s wings discharged electrical volts. Lightning cascaded around the installer beast, overwhelming Bemular with bursts of godly power. The reptile fell on the ground, shrieking as he felt the electrical shocks making his body shiver.

Yuki heard a knock coming from the outside of the airlock emergency exit door. With a hearty heave, Yuki pushed the airlock door open, letting Captain Yamabe and a group of personnel in.

“Nice of all of you to finally show up!” Yuki commented.

“If it weren’t for Mothra showing up, we would have been done for by that monster,” Captain Yamabe retorted.

Yuki motioned to the Captain to follow him. “The fuel is just right there, waiting to be delivered to your base.”

“Good. I brought in several engineers who will fix the generator of the Star Falcon. So mind helping us out on bringing the fuel back to the base while they fix your ship?” Yamabe requested.

“Not like I have any better things to do.”

The fuel containers were carefully escorted out of the Star Falcon, meanwhile Bemular spun around to whip Mothra’s face with his small tail. The moth shook her head after the tail slapped her face, but when she looked up, Bemular turned around to face and grab her antennas. Bemular cackled when he tried to tear them off cleanly, but his foolish tactic didn’t work out when the antennas fired lasers at his chest up close. Mothra’s wings carried her to a higher altitude as they discharged a barrage of lightning bolts at the injured Bemular. Snarling in anger by the pain he was feeling, the recovering Bemular’s mouth begin to glow once again as he shot out his Pale Heat Ray directly at Mothra. The unexpected attack struck the moth deity square in the chest, letting out a painful, but silent, screech. Though this particular beam wasn’t as powerful compared to Godzilla’s Atomic Ray, it did deliver serious burns to the deity.

To make matters worse, since she was in space, Mothra’s reflective scales would likely drift aimlessly and wouldn’t be able to counter Bemular’s Pale Heat Ray attack efficiently. Now she would need to be more careful with the space monster.

Bemular’s mouth shot out another Pale Heat Ray blast at the deity’s wing. Mothra managed to barely avoid the beam in time and responded by firing her antenna beams. Bemular stepped back when he felt the beams hitting his leg, shrieking loudly. Mothra then flew toward Bemular, ramming the spiked fiend’s scale covered chest. In tandem with the impact, bolts of lightning burst from the god’s wings for an extremely close barrage forcing Bemular to cry out in pain and frustration. Bemular wanted to slaughter this bug for attacking him and not giving him a chance destroy the human base. All this to avoid the Ultra Warriors, and now a new problem took its place.

Yuki and Captain Yamabe returned to the Star Falcon to collect the last of the fuel containers as they watched Bemular morphed back to his Spherical Change state and become airborne once more. “Once we get this fuel in the Moonlight SY-3, we’re gonna help you, Mothra,” Yamabe muttered to himself.

Mothra and the spherical form of Bemular flew around the lunar rock, occasionally colliding into each other as sparks flew out of their bodies upon contact. Mothra tried everything that she had, firing her antenna beams when pursuing or flying toward the sphere and zapping it with her lightning from her wings. Bemular could feel the pain from the protector’s attacks, but the blue sphere that encased him helped him endure it.

Bemular zoomed after Mothra.

Mothra flew after the shield-like orb.

As soon as Mothra was about to collide with the beast, Bemular suddenly went underneath the guardian and propelled itself upward. A unparalleled shockwave launched Mothra spaceward as energy seared her body.

From a distance, Yuki, Captain Yamabe and the rest of the UNSC personnel noticed the pained Mothra as she spun uncontrollably in space. With that taken care of, Bemular flew back to the moon.

“LET’S HURRY!” shouted Captain Yamabe as he, Yuki, and the personnel carried the fuel containers to the UNSC Moon Base. Inside the Star Falcon, one of the Engineers could see Bemular’s sphere form landing, just two miles away from the base.

“How’s the generator?!” he shouted.

“I need just a few more minutes to get this thing fixed!” The other engineer shouted as he concentrated on fixing the damaged generator.

“There’s no time! Get that generator fixed before he-” the engineer was interrupted when he saw the orb make contact with the surface of the moon. Bemular reverted back to his true form and let out a silent shriek. “Oh god…”

Meanwhile, in the air lock entrance of the UNSC Base, Yuki grunted as he placed the fuel container down on the floor. “There, that’s the last of the fuel containers.”

“Good job! Now hurry and get back to the Star Falcon! We will refuel the Moonlight SY-3!”

Yuki nodded as he exited the airlock, heading back to the Star Falcon, hoping it would be enough to put this space demon down once and for all

Mothra regained control as she gazed down at Bemular, the creature slowly approaching the UNSC Base. She was about to fly after the space monster, but something else caught her attention…

Mothra’s rounded compound eyes caught a glimpse of an approaching icy meteorite heading toward the moon, moving at breakneck speeds. Fearing that the space rock might destroy the moon base upon collision, Mothra bravely flew toward the homing meteorite. Flashing in a beautiful shimmering light, Mothra crashed headfirst into the meteorite to shatter it into pieces.

But upon contact of the icy cold chunk of space rock, she felt the disturbed presence of what laid within. Mothra passed by the shattered rock as something else came out of it, aimed straight at the moon.

As Bemular closed in on the crashed Star Falcon, Yuki looked up the towering space lizard that was charging up another Pale Heat Ray. Yuki hurried his way into the Star Falcon’s airlock. But just as Bemular was ready to unleash his blue beam to destroy the ship, the unidentified being that came out of the destroyed meteorite collided with the moon. The impact alone caught Bemular’s attention and halted his attack.

The spiked reptile looked back to see the source of this newfound disturbance. He grew annoyed at the constant interruptions, and soon noticed it was another bipedal reptilian creature much like himself. While it was smaller than the green theropod-like space monster, this new blue monster with a craggy-like back had much longer and larger arms than Bemular’s. The appearance of the creature’s head seemed to resemble a cross of a rhinoceros with the long yellow nasal horn located on its forehead and an alligator due to the narrow reptilian snout and jaws covered in sharp teeth. The new creature, known as Goliath, raised his huge hands while swinging its long reptilian tail, silently growling at Bemular with aggression.

Fuming with anger and frustration, Bemular let loose his Pale Heat Ray at Goliath’s feet. The blue titan shrieked as he grabbed his sole that had been shot by the beam. He would make sure that Bemular would pay for that. Goliath’s nasal horn let loose electrical discharges as a lightning bolt struck Bemular, detonating explosions around the space monster.

Yuki sighed in relief, fortunate to have made it to the downed vessel without being blown away by the nearby lightning. Yuki headed toward the engineers, noticing Bemular and the new creature engaging head-on in battle.

“Yuki! It’s good to see you made it in one piece!” said the engineer, smiling to see him still alive.

Yuki didn’t smile back, seemingly more caring about whether or not the generator was fixed or not. “Were you able to repair the Star Falcon?”

“Just need a few more minutes and she’ll be fixed in no time.” The engineer gladly told to Yuki.

Bemular’s tiny claws raked across the tough hide of Goliath’s neck. The brutish monster used his strong muscles to bring the ganglier reptile down on the moon’s surface. Goliath lifted his shot sole and slammed it down on Bemular’s head, sharing him the pain that he still felt on his burnt foot. Bemular rolled his body out of the way before Goliath stomped on him once again, and look up to fire another Pale Heat Ray. Goliath screeched when he felt it burn him, this time directly on the belly. Goliath clenched his fists and slammed them at the recovering Bemular’s insane looking face. The knuckles of the blue demon impacted the face of the space monster. Blood snorted out of the slugged nostrils as Bemular went berserk and grabbed Goliath with his small arms. When Bemular sank his teeth deep into Goliath’s neck, the biped crocodile’s horn crackled as his body let loose an electrical discharge, shocking Bemular’s body as he staggered back, tripping and falling onto his spiked back.

Bemular landed next to the Star Falcon, which startled everyone inside it. Goliath’s yellow horn crackled as the brute was about to finish Bemular off with a single lightning bolt. But suddenly, Mothra flew in the action and quickly fired her antenna rays at Goliath’s chest, knocking him down on the ground. Yuki watched from the pilot window to see Mothra’s six arms grabbing Bemular and carried him away from the Star Falcon, dropping him in the middle of a lunar crater by the light pull of the moon’s gravity.

“Generator is fixed, she’s ready to go!” One of the engineers shouted as he and his fellow crewmates disembarked, returning to the moon base.

Yuki looked back and nodded. “Good, now head back to the base as fast as you can. I’ll handle those space brutes.”

The sounds of the Star Falcon began to emit once more as the ship got off the ground, ready take on the invaders of the moon once again. The Star Falcon soared next to the flying Mothra, ready to aid her in this battle. Goliath got up on his feet as he put up his clenching fists, letting out a battle cry to punish the moth.

“Let’s go, Mothra!” Yuki yelled, ready to give Goliath and Bemular hell.

The Dual Maser Vulcan Cannons unleashed a rapid fire of lasers at Goliath’s chest while Mothra’s antennas shot dozens of lasers. The titan tried to tank through the lasers that blasted his tough hide, while his nasal horn discharged an electrical volt at his two attackers. Yuki quickly steered the Star Falcon out of the way while Mothra dodged the lightning. But then, Goliath leapt and grabbed Mothra’s wings, the goddess of peace could only screech in the void when Goliath’s hands begin tearing away her wings, trying to disable her ability to fly.

“Oh no you don’t!” Yuki shouted as he steered the Star Falcon, rapidly firing at Goliath’s right wrist with the Vulcan Cannons and unleashed another barrage on the left wrist.

Goliath released his grip and shrieked, shaking his hands that were coated in smoke. Thankfully with her wings still intact, Mothra fired her antenna beams at the horned monster again while keeping herself away from him. But Goliath refused to let the moth get away. He leapt and grabbed Mothra’s abdomen, bringing her down on the dusty surface once again. Growling in fury, Goliath’s long arms lifted his tightening fists to crush the deity’s head.

Suddenly a barrage of powerful missiles struck Goliath’s craggy back, causing him to rub his back. Yuki looked to see where the missiles came from and saw the Moonlight SY-3 passing by Goliath. It was easy to assume that Captain Yamabe and his crew refueled the ship just in time to join in the fight.

The Star Falcon joined with the Moonlight SY-3 to open fire upon Goliath. The blue space monster shrieked when he felt one of the missiles detonating when it made contact with his face, almost damaging the beast’s nasal horn. Goliath hunched down and shielded the horn with his hands, seemingly to protect it while he endured the lasers and missiles that bombarded his colossal body. As the battleships passed by, Goliath’s hands release the yellow pointed weapon and fired electricity. Star Falcon flew out of the way while the bolt barely made contact with the SY-3. Goliath’s hand covered the horn when Star Falcon steered and fired its duel maser cannon at him, blocking the lasers from making contact to the source of his electrical powers.

Bemular slowly climbed out of the lunar crater, his psychotic wide eyes narrowed at Star Falcon and the Moonlight SY-3. Wounded, tired, and enraged, Bemular wanted to bring destruction upon his enemies for not letting him rest on this lifeless lunar rock. Seeing Mothra lying down, still alive, she would be the first for Bemular to show no mercy. Bemular’s body was encased into his sapphire spherical form again and flew toward the recovering Mothra, the moth’s wings quickly pulled her away from the homing ball.

“You again…” Yuki glared at the sphere that showed the silhouette of the curled up Bemular within. “Captain, permission to attack Bemular.”

“Permission granted, we’ll take care of the other kaiju from here.” Captain Yamabe responded.

Yuki turned the Star Falcon to face the space monster that managed crash the ship. “Ready for round two?” he uttered.

Bemular once again flew away while the Star Falcon continued to fire its Vulcan Cannons. Goliath took notice and shot the Moguera segment with its lightning horn. Yuki grunted as he felt the lightning struck the right side of the Star Falcon, causing sparks to fly out. But Yuki kept his focus on Bemular. He wasn’t going let that damn reptile get away for damaging the Star Falcon.

“Now’s our chance to open fire on that horn!” Captain Yamabe commanded.

The Moonlight SY-3 opened fired a missile directly at the distracted Goliath’s face, engulfing his head in a fireball. Goliath groaned weakly as he felt the blast searing his nasal horn, burned marks could be seen on it as the space behemoth slowly fell flat on his chest.

“Target is down!” One of the SY-3 crewmembers spoke.

“Now let’s open fire on our last target, Bemular.”

As the Moonlight SY-3 flew away to assist Yuki, Mothra slowly descended to the wounded Goliath. She looked down upon the space beast, who groaned weakly. The goddess of Infant Island thought about him for a moment. She could tell that Goliath was no invader, at least compared to the likes of Bemular. He was destructive, territorial even, but only a beast as part of the greater natural cosmos, no different than Earth’s own monsters. He just simply showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps there was room to reason?

Mothra calmly descended in front of Goliath up close, her six arms gently touching the surface of the moon. Goliath growled weakly, but was unable to move an inch due to the writhing pain he was experiencing from his damaged horn. The only thing he could do was growl aggressively, but even then that was not enough to remotely frighten the sacred deity. Mothra’s sweet blue compound eyes stared into Goliath’s eyes, her antennae glowed brightly as sparkling scales came out to make contact with the monster’s body. The moth goddess began to calmly communicate with Goliath via telepathy, telling him to fight with her just this once, and she promised to take him to a different planet somewhere within the cosmos where he could live peacefully. Goliath didn’t want to help this peaceful moth since, part of him being too stubborn to assist anyone. But the promise of an isolated world sounded nice to him.

He pondered, then finally came to a conclusion. Goliath accepted Mothra’s request.

Mothra’s scales started soothing the pain that the space monster was having, allowing him to slowly get up on his feet. Restored and feeling renewed, Goliath’s fists pounded on his chest before shrieking out a bellowing cry, even if it went unheard.

“Captain! Bemular is homing on us!” shouted one of the SY-3 crew.

Bemular’s travel ball suddenly stopped, and then sped up once it gained enough distance. In a burst of speed, the sphere zoomed toward the pursuing Moonlight SY-3. Yuki’s Star Falcon tried to halt Bemular, but not even the Maser Vulcan lasers could stop the space monster’s defensive sphere. It seemed hopeless for the Moonlight SY-3, who were unable to steer out of the way in time. Suddenly, Mothra and Goliath both fired their beam weapons at the blue globe, ceasing it as Bemular’s body spun around in the zero gravity space. Yamabe and Yuki watched Mothra flying in and grabbing Bemular’s flailing body, carrying him back to the moon toward Goliath before letting go. Goliath delivered an electrically charged punch directly at the spiked reptile’s chest, causing it to spit out blood.

Yamabe watched Mothra and Goliath teaming up to take down Bemular, not expecting the blue menace to suddenly start to side with him, Yuki, and Mothra. “Lock on to Bemular,” he ordered.

One of the pilots directed the Moonlight SY-3 at Bemular, who was being pummeled by Goliath’s electrifying fists and blasted by Mothra’s antenna rays. “Target: Bemular, locked on!”

Captain Yamabe nodded as he gave away his final order. “Fire the freezer missiles!”

The Moonlight SY-3’s cannons fired its freezer missile directly at Bemular’s scaly hide. The beaten lizard groaned as it began to feel his body freezing up from the inside out. Bemular’s theropod body was encased into a thick layer of solid ice almost instantly, showing no signs of movement.

Yuki smirked at the sight, charging all of the Star Falcon’s power into a single shot. Showing no sympathy, Yuki did the honors of ending Bemular’s life by firing the Star Falcon’s Dual Maser Vulcan Cannons at the monster’s frozen head that still made its signature, lunatic expression. The concentrated laser easily smashed through Bemular’s solidified head into shattered chunks of ice.

The crew of the Moonlight SY-3 cheered over their victory, now that the UNSC Moon Base was safe. Mothra watched the frozen, headless Bemular drift off into the void, ashamed that she couldn’t convince him like she did with Goliath. Hopefully, his death was quick and painless. Looking at the grunting Goliath, Mothra gently grabbed and lifted the horned alligator, carrying him to the far depths of space, as she promised to take Goliath to a planet where he could live peacefully. Yuki watched Mothra fly away, lighting up his cigarette as he inhaled then exhaled a puff of smoke out of his mouth. Should he ever meet her again, he would help her out if she was battling another threat. With a flash from his screens, Yuki glanced away from the god and looked upon the Captain of the Moonlight SY-3.

“Hey, thanks for defending the UNSC Moon Base. Sorry if this stalled your time to get back to Okinawa.”

“It’s alright,” Yuki replied. “Your base was just as important as the city. Without you up here, it’d be hell ensuring Earth’s monsters stay put on Monster Island.”

“Right, well it was nice to have you help us out, so we hope you make it to Okinawa before something bad happens.”

“It was pleasure to help you out, Captain,” Yuki thanked before he tried to communicate with Shinjo and Sato. “Shinjo, Sato, do you copy?”

Loud destructive sounds followed by the Land Moguera firing all of its weapons, as Shinjo responded panicky “Yuki! Where in the hell are you?! We need you back at Okinawa, we’re under attack by a new threat!”

“What?! What’s attacking you right now?!” Yuki questioned.

“It’s a giant cactus ball that’s rolling at a great amount of speed! Look, just get the Star Falcon over here to see and believe!” Shinjo described before hanging up.

A low sigh echoed from Yuki within his ship before a slight smirk of excitement formed across his face. Without a moment of hesitation, Yuki piloted the Star Falcon toward Earth, ready to face whatever new threat endangered Okinawa.

Winner: Moguera (Heisei), Mothra (Heisei), Goliath

 

 

Author: Connor Clennell | Banner: Matthew Williams

Mothra sat atop her rock pedestal, listening to the soothing songs of the Cosmos. In this world of constant war and bloodshed even a goddess needed time away from her fellow monsters. Perhaps this time she would be able to get some actual rest without interruption.

Mothra’s head suddenly snapped up in attention. She could feel a disturbance on the normally peaceful shores of her island home. There was an intruder in her domain.

The Cosmos watched as the lepidopteron deity screeched and took to the air, flying out of her temple and toward the beach. There was no sign of another monster when Mothra arrived, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She was sure she had sensed something – perhaps she was mistaken? Mothra was just about to leave when the ground burst open below her. The giant moth was caught by surprise and quickly ascended, avoiding the boxy jaws of her attacker. Mothra circled around to identify who or what she was dealing with, and for the briefest of moments thought she was looking at Godzilla.

Zilla looked up at Mothra, barring his teeth and directing a threatening hiss at the insect. He’d been wandering the waters of the Pacific for some time now, looking for new territory to claim as his own. Infant Island looked to be the perfect place to settle down on, but the mutant iguana hadn’t expected the island to already have an owner. Still, his opponent didn’t look that tough, and he wasn’t going to be intimidated so easily. He was also starving after his long voyage, and while insect wasn’t his preferred meal, Zilla wasn’t a fussy eater when it came to food.

Mothra began the battle, firing golden energy beams from her antennae upon Zilla. The mutant screamed out in pain as they tore into his hide, unable to do anything to stop Mothra’s assault. Mercifully, the beams stopped coming, only for Mothra to ram into Zilla, knocking him to the floor and clawing him with her many legs. Amidst the pain, Zilla lashed out with his hand and struck Mothra on the chest. Now it was her turn to experience pain as the lizard’s sharp claws sliced through her armour-less skin. Green blood stained the ground and Zilla’s claws as the great moth ascended out of the mutant’s reach. Zilla was quickly back on his feet and leapt at the rapidly ascending Mothra. The lepidopteran’s wings began beating faster, not only increasing her rate of altitude but creating fierce gusts of winds that swept the iguana away.

Zilla landed skilfully on all fours and quickly began digging away at the sand beneath him. Mothra quickly realized the lizard’s strategy and fired off another set of energy beams. Both beams struck the ground, just missing Zilla’s tail as he disappeared down a tunnel of his own making. Mothra fired beam after beam down the hole, illuminating the dark cavern with each blast. When the reptile refused to emerge, Mothra cautiously moved closer, inspecting the hole Zilla had made. A challenging chirp left her mandibles that echoed down the dark passage, hoping to gain some reaction from the Godzilla copycat. After a few moments, Zilla did not emerge, and Mothra decided that the beast had either retreated, was unconscious or dead. Content with her victory, Mothra began her ascent.

The surface of the beach exploded beneath Mothra. Zilla leapt out of the forming dust cloud, jaws wide open. Taken by surprise, Mothra quickly slammed her wings against the mutant iguana’s skull, dazing him long enough for her to escape. A frustrated moan left Zilla’s maw as he turned around to enter his tunnel, but Mothra wasn’t prepared to let him go so easily. He had defiled her home and he would pay the price for his actions. Swooping in low, the moth deity grabbed hold of the retreating lizard’s tail, dragging him kicking and screaming out of his would-be escape route. Mothra continued to drag Zilla across the ground, away from the beach and further inland. Zilla clawed at the ground as he was carried along, desperately trying to gain grip on the ground, but the speed and strength of his captor made the task impossible. Switching tactics, Zilla twisted himself around and let loose a blast of highly pressurised flammable gas from his maw. The pressure of the wind blast knocked Mothra off-balance, forcing her to release Zilla as she tried to correct her flight path.

Zilla looked up at Mothra, unsure of what to do next. Not possessing any ranged capabilities put him at a disadvantage and he knew it. Perhaps this fight wasn’t such a good idea after all. His fears were confirmed as Mothra began raining down antennae beams from above, blasting apart Zilla’s hide and the ground around him. Almost immediately, Zilla turned and fled, Mothra continuing to fire after him as she pursued. Now on the move, Zilla easily outran the great moth, outpacing the rail of destruction forming behind him. If the giant iguana wanted to have a chance of winning or retreating, he needed to find some cover, and fast. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a large mountain in the distance. That would do.

Zilla changed direction in an instant, sprinting toward the mountain before Mothra had a chance to follow. The irradiated iguana quickly dug into the mountainside, creating his own escape tunnel within mere seconds and burrowed deeper inside the mountain. Eventually, Zilla’s claws slashed through thin air as he broke his way into a large cavern. Zilla couldn’t hear Mothra anymore, but knew he was far from safe when he noticed the huge, gaping hole in the roof that allowed sunlight to illuminate the cave. With some time to formulate a new plan of attack, the mutation began looking around the cavern for potential hiding spots or escape routes in case the giant moth found her way in. Ancient man-made structures were carved out of and into the cavern walls, which were coated with paintings of Mothra. Zilla cocked his head in confusion, wondering what the nature of this place was. In the centre of the room was a large pedestal, carved out of rock like everything else in the cave. Zilla paid it no attention, instead focusing on the large, multi-colored sphere tucked to the side. Zilla cautiously crept closer, almost crushing the Cosmos underfoot as he approached the object. It looked like an egg, but Zilla was unsure. It looked too big to be one. The thing was almost as large as he was. Cautiously, he sniffed the sphere, immediately recognizing the scent of Mothra on it. Suddenly, the sphere moved, earning a shriek of surprise from the reptile. It was an egg. Mothra’s egg! Zilla had accidently dug his way into her temple. Panic filled the mutant’s mind as he envisioned all the possible deaths Mothra would provide if she discovered him in here. He quickly leapt atop Mothra’s pedestal and then jumped up toward the skylight.

Mothra rapidly approached the entrance to her cave temple, infuriated that she had let Zilla slip away so easily. While she couldn’t see Zilla, she could still sense the lizard and right now she could sense him inside her temple. She wasn’t about to let the mutation defile her home in such a way, and could only hope Zilla hadn’t had a chance to harm the Cosmos or her unborn child just yet. Just as she was about to enter, Zilla leapt out of the shadows. Both made a surprised sound, not expecting to encounter one another. Zilla crashed into the great moth, sending both tumbling down the mountainside, and when they stopped at the bottom, Mothra found herself pinned underneath Zilla. The spawn of atomic tests quickly took advantage of the situation, slashing and biting at the pinned insect’s thorax and wings. Zilla clamped his jaws around one of Mothra’s legs, causing the goddess to cry out in pain as he tore the appendage from her body and spat it out. The reptile’s claws, perfectly designed to dig through rock with ease, cut through Mothra’s fragile wings like a knife through warm butter. Mothra began to panic as her life force began to fade.

Zilla slashed at the deity’s chest once more, but was caught off-guard as Mothra’s two front legs grabbed his arm and began discharging energy into the limb. The mutant iguana roared in pain as Mothra’s holy energy scorched his arm, smoke rising off his skin as it burned. Pulling his arm free of her grasp, Zilla leapt off Mothra, nursing his injury. With a few strong flaps of her wings, Mothra took flight once more. Despite the damage Zilla had done to them, her tattered wings were still capable of providing lift. Mothra began to flap her wings faster, creating a small windstorm that knocked Zilla to the ground. Golden energy beams ravaged the mutant’s fallen form, drawing a pained moan with every strike. Mothra began to shed reflective scales and electricity from her wings, adding to the onslaught. By the time she ceased her barrage, Zilla’s body and the ground surrounding him was almost completely stained black. Chunks of skin had been vaporised, revealing patches of raw red flesh, and the stench of roasted flesh hung in the air. A weak groan escaped Zilla’s mouth as he weakly stood back up. Mothra had been more powerful than he’d anticipated, and now he’d not only lost his future home and meal, but almost lost his life as well. The mutant could only hope the lepidopteran deity would be merciful enough to let him leave.

But Mothra wasn’t finished with him yet.

Flying in closer, the mighty insect grasped Zilla by his head and began pumping energy into the mutant iguana’s skull. Exhausted from his ordeal, Zilla’s last reserves of energy were used to fuel his screams of agony as Mothra’s energy coursed through his brain. Mothra refused to let go even as the lizard fell to the ground, convulsing in agony. The irradiated reptile’s struggles quickly became weaker and weaker, until eventually they stopped altogether as Zilla went limp. Mothra released the lizard’s blackened head, observing the damage. The great lepidopteran’s attack had reduced Zilla brain to molten flesh, which was now oozing out of the mutation’s empty eye sockets, his eyes having been vaporised sometime during the discharge. The reptile looked dead, but Mothra fired a pair of energy beams that struck Zilla’s forehead just to be sure. The beast’s resemblance to Godzilla made her wary that it might share the same regenerative properties as the atomic saurian. Zilla didn’t respond, sending a wave of relief through the deity’s body. Her island and her egg were safe.

As she turned to return to her temple, Mothra sensed another disturbance. Something much, much stronger than Zilla was approaching, and fast. The mighty moth spun around to face her challenger. The shimmering form of Mechagodzilla slowly descended, touching down not too far away. The alien war machine let out a high-pitched screech from its maw, rotating its missile-tipped hands as it awaited the command to attack. Jikiro landed alongside the mechanical duplicate of Godzilla, the ground cracking open upon its touchdown, announcing its arrival with its own mechanical roar. They were here to exterminate Mothra and her offspring with extreme prejudice and raise Infant Island to the ground. Mothra gazed at the two automatons with worry. She had spent a lot of energy during her battle with Zilla and had sustained heavy damage herself. She wasn’t sure if she had the strength left to fend off her attackers. But she knew she had to. Not just for her life, but for the life of the Cosmos and her unborn child. As long as she could fight, Mothra would never give up.

With a challenging cry, Mothra charged Mechagodzilla and Jikiro as the two fired off their missiles and energy blasts, ready to defend her home and family to the last breath…

Winner: Mothra (Heisei)

Author: Landon Soto | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

Weeks had passed since the battle with King Ghidorah, the world blissfully unaware of the fact that it had been saved from the unknown threat. The unlikely duo that drove away the golden dragon had gone their own separate ways. They had unfinished business, after all.

—

Goroshima Island; where it all began. The sun warmed the island as cool waves crashed against its shore. A familiar cream colored beast marched along the shore. Daigoro, the plush juvenile monster, stopped and stretched, feeling the warm sun rays on his soft skin.

Daigoro listened to the waves as they crashed against the rocks. But the serenity was brought to an abrupt halt as he heard powerful footsteps slowly getting louder. The pudgy monster turned to face the source, not surprised by who was making them. In the distance, a bulky blue behemoth lumbered over the hills and onto the beach, growling in anticipation.

Goliath, the blue star monster flexed his large hands. He had been waiting for this moment; no unnecessary distractions, or unwanted third wheels, just him and Daigoro, ready to settle the score once and for all.

Daigoro trudged up to Goliath, nodding his head. He knew how much this meant to the blue giant and he didn’t want to disappoint. The bumpy hippo monster stretched out his paw for a friendly handshake, but Goliath snarled and swatted it away. A bit disheartened, Daigoro respected Goliath’s choice; the two didn’t waste another moment. Backing up, they stared each other down, waiting for the other to strike.

Goliath, unable to contain himself, leapt forward, arms stretched out, wanting to pummel that irritating face of Daigoro’s. Daigoro easily sidestepped and rammed his left fist into Goliath’s gut, knocking the air out of the blue brute. The big blue space monster growled and elbowed Daigoro in the temple, staggering the plushy monster hero.

The blue space monster swiftly turned and clubbed Daigoro’s head with his large fists, easily knocking over the younger fighter. Daigoro grunted and picked himself up, just in time to dodge two blue fists slamming into the sand, Goliath roared and turned again, swiping the beach with his tail, sand shooting into the air.

Daigoro covered his eyes to try and block out the sand, which only left him open for another blue fist to strike his arms. The young hippo monster skid backward, putting down his arms, he charged at the blue rhino-like beast, jumping forward with his legs and landing a drop kick to Goliath’s head, toppling the horned monster.

Seizing the opening, Daigoro leapt onto Goliath’s chest and began battering his face with clenched fists. Goliath roared in pain as each fist collided with his face, every strike felt like being pelted with boulders. Unknown to Daigoro, a blue tail smacked into his bumpy back, knocking him forward. Goliath immediately bit into Daigoro’s squishy stomach, forcing the hippo hero to squeal in pain. Feeling more pressure being applied by the second, Daigoro made his right hand look like scissors and poked Goliath in the eyes, receiving a howl of pain. The pained Goliath released his bite.

Daigoro hopped off his blue foe, checking his stomach. Just a few teeth imprints, but the pain still radiated. Goliath snarled as he rolled onto his stomach and got up. His nasal horn crackled with energy as he turned to face Daigoro. The hippo monster knew what was coming.

A bolt of lightning fired from the yellow nasal horn, striking the ground in front of Daigoro, forcing sand to shoot into the sky. Daigoro yelped in pain as another lightning bolt struck his toes, the plush hippo monster grunted and began rubbing his stomach, causing it to glow red.

Goliath snarled, grabbing a seaside rock and hurling it at Daigoro. Unfazed, Daigoro closed his eyes and threw forth his right fist, causing the rock to shatter upon impact. Pieces of debris flew everywhere. Goliath grunted in shock but was instantly reminded of the fires dancing in Daigoro’s mouth as flames spewed forth. Goliath raised his chunky arms and tried to withstand the heat.

The sand in the surrounding area slowly turned to glass as the flames raged on. Goliath roared as he was pushed back, his skin started to peel and blister. Daigoro stopped his assault and charged up to Goliath. The blue beast tried to swat Daigoro, but the smaller cream colored juvenile easily evaded each lazy swing. Daigoro rammed his shoulder into Goliath’s chest forcing the blue brute to stagger back. Daigoro reached for Goliath’s ankles and forcefully pulled on them, causing the star monster to shriek in surprise as his back slammed against the warm beach.

Daigoro smirked and clutched Goliath’s tail; he slowly spun in place, dragging the blue behemoth around and slowly raised him up before finally letting go. Goliath groaned as he soared through the air, slamming into a rocky cliffside. The star monster spat out blood-soaked sand before propping himself up.

Daigoro hopped up and down before jumping forward again, his fists outstretched. But before he could strike, he was hit head on with a lightning bolt, immediately dropping him to the ground. The chubby juvenile squirmed as he tried to fight back, clutching the sand as he struggled, but Goliath was already upon him. Stopping the lightning bolt, Goliath jumped into the air, laying himself out and letting gravity do the deed. The plush juvenile turned onto his back, eyes widening as he saw Goliath drop back down. The stellar monster body slammed Daigoro, easily knocking the wind out of him.

Before Daigoro could get enough air, two blue meaty hands grasped his neck and began pumping him with electricity. Daigoro silently suffered as his body ached and twitched, foam spilled from his mouth as he choked on his spit.

Goliath relished the sight of his opponent’s agony, unaware of the red glow beneath him.

Sure enough, Goliath felt his hand get sweaty, making it easier for Daigoro to push them away. Goliath was surprised by the sudden resistance, but immediately understood what was happening as flames erupted from Daigoro’s maw. Boiling spit and searing foam flying everywhere forced Goliath off the tubby child monster, fumbling backward but still maintained some footing.

Goliath stared in awe as Daigoro coughed and wheezed, struggling to stand. His neck was raw, tears ran down his face, but he put up his fists and groggily charged the stellar monster. Goliath roared and charged as well. Goliath spun around and tried to whip Daigoro, but the heroic monster grabbed yanked it again, but Goliath was ready. His horned crackled with energy before his body flashed a bright blue. Daigoro immediately let go as he felt electricity surge through him again. He dropped to one knee, but was determined to not fall.

Goliath slowly turned and chuckled. His victory was almost at hand. However, Daigoro wasn’t out of the count yet. With all his remaining strength, Daigoro leapt forward again. Goliath raised his right arm in response to block the punch, but Daigoro wasn’t going for the punch. The whiskered juvenile put his power into one finger and swiped down on Goliath’s arm, the blue stellar monster suddenly howled in pain as he felt his bone crack, staggering backward as he tried to regain his composure.

Goliath stared daggers into Daigoro. What kept him going? Surely, any other monster would crumble from his awesome power. Goliath grunted; he felt something different, a smidge of respect for his opponent. The blue brute shook his head and prepared his electrical horn again, ready to give Daigoro a swift end. But Daigoro clenched his fists as the air warped around him, flames escaping his mouth.

Goliath snarled, he wasn’t about to make that same mistake twice. Goliath fired his lightning bolt, forcing the hippo monster to preemptively fire his heat ray. The two beams collided, struggling for dominance. Goliath poured every ounce of energy he could muster into the attack. Daigoro, although his legs were wobbly, remembered the cheers of the children. They gave him the confidence to defeat Goliath before, and he didn’t want to let them down this time. He remembered his father Mr. Saito, every other person who believed in him, and even his mother, who he vaguely remembered.

The young monster squeezed every last ounce of fire power he had; Goliath poured every last drop of energy into his lightning bolt. Before either knew it, a flash of white light engulfed them both. As the light faded, two forms were left standing. Daigoro, the orphan turned hero; Goliath, the space monster, blinded by revenge. Both stood tall, before Goliath tipped over. His body met with the beaches warm embrace. Daigoro fell to one knee. It took minutes, though it felt like hours, before Daigoro tried to stand using a nearby rock as a crutch.

Daigoro stood tall, raising his fist in air, like the wrestlers on the image box Mr. Saito showed him once. Slowly regaining his bearings, he knew he had won. He had made everyone proud, even if they weren’t here to see it.

The plush juvenile was exhausted, hungry, and hurting. He looked over to Goliath, who was breathing heavily, barely conscious. Daigoro limped toward the blue brute, who groggily looked at him, before looking away. Daigoro cracked a smile and stretched out his hand again. Goliath stared back, and strained to lift his left arm, holding onto Daigoro’s hand. Daigoro grunted as Goliath fumbled to stand, but he managed. Once standing, the two stared each other down. Then Goliath turned and lumbered away, wanting to rest.

He admitted defeat. He knew Daigoro could finish him off if he truly desired. The star monster hung his head in shame as he left the beach. The space monster was about to march over the hills, before feeling a pair of arms wrapped around him, stunned, the blue brute gazed down, seeing Daigoro give him a hug. He didn’t quite understand it, but he knew it was a sign of good sportsmanship.

Goliath grunted and shooed the child away, barking at the cream colored hippo monster, not to get too chummy just because he bested him in battle. Daigoro nodded his head. He knew Goliath wouldn’t change in a day, but it was a start. Their rivalry was still ongoing, and they would continue to better themselves.

As Goliath disappeared over the hills, Daigoro went back to his old resting spot, sitting down and appreciating the ocean view. Him and Goliath would clash again one day, but hopefully not for a long while. For now they would rest and enjoy the well earned peace and quiet.

As Daigoro, prepared to lay back and relax, his stomach growled something fierce. That was definitely something he couldn’t defeat. Oh well, he could go for lunch right about now anyways.

Winner: Daigoro