Author: Lucas Salabert | Banner: Christian Salabert
Blaze from the sun is what warms every plant and animal on this earth. The same can be said for kaiju.
The snoring of the dreaded beast known as Red King could be heard from miles around. Luckily, at his location, there were no humans around to hear. Tucked in with the bedrock of a mountainous region he called home, the Skull Monster rested in the glow of the light. His massive torso raised up and down- up and down- with each breath he took, happily dreaming of ripping off bat wings and taunting small pygmies.
Just then, a dot rising over the sun cast an annoying shadow over the resting tyrant. The sleepy monster raised his eyelid, barely even a foot, to stare at what had interrupted his sun bathing. With a snarl, he slowly rose to his feet, his glare filled with enough anger to fill the canyon he rested in. Still furious, he roared. To a kaiju, this roar was likely one of the most profane phrases imaginable. The tiny dot glinted against the sun, causing the saurian to blink. Determined to see this annoyance, the malicious monster pushed back the rays of the sun to catch a glimpse of this shadow. With a shocking swiftness in the blink of an eye, the dot sharply dove to the ground in front of the berserker kaiju with swoosh, a tower of dust rose up in front of him. He raised his arm to keep his eyes from being buffeted by the sandstorm. It would take almost ten minutes for the smoke and dirt to completely reside, but it had cleared enough for the ridged creature to see what the tiny dot was; the cyborg known as Gigan.
The exotic alien clashed its glistening scythes with his answer to this Earth pest’s backhanded comment and squawked a war cry. But before he could even stop roaring, Red King rushed him. The Xillien war machine was tackled into a large boulder, falling forward into a slump. His segmented tail began lashing out with its spiked tip, searching for the Skull Monster while he dug his face out of the rubble. The scaly brute reached for the thrashing tail, but the spiked tip sliced his hand. Blood spilling out, he really was a ‘Red’ King now. The alien assassain, now standing, looked his foe directly in the eyes and shot his eye beam at him. The tyrant fell back, shaking the ground. The fowl fiend moved over him, to see if in fact it had killed the obnoxious creature. Pleased with himself, he turned to leave.
Opportunity showing itself, the “dead” monster launched forward and snatched the swinging tail. The monster monarch began to yank, but the cyborg creature pulled back as he took off with a shriek. The extraterrestrial began flying through the air with the reptilian bully still holding on, the Earth kaiju screeching. With a great effort, he pulled himself up the spiked appendage of his hooked harrasser. The duo began jerking through the air, the space ninja unable to hold both their weight. So the brutal beast did the only thing he could do. He raised his right arm and brought it down on his own tail!
Ichor ran down and out of the bloody stump as the brute took a header into the dirt. Gigan flew back down to the ground next to the crying king. The merciless android turned his eye to his leaking stump and shot his cluster beam at it. The cauterized stump immediately ceased its bleeding, while the cyclopeon terror now turned back to the savage “king”. Red King had gotten up and was beating his chest, not unlike another certain King. The ridged beast bent over to grab himself the boulders scattered by the impact.. He bombarded the cyborg with the heavy rocks, but the buzzsaw beast simply sliced through them. When the tyrant went to pick up more boulders, the Xillien jumped and swung his scythe into his opponent’s chest. The wound sprayed like a hose onto his sneering beak, as the cyborg wrapped his arms around the squealing bully and started up his chest saw. Gritting his fangs, the Skull Monster inched closer towards his foe, then stomped his foot, jabbed the ruthless alien in the face with a haymaker – hard enough to turn him around – and punted him down the mountain.
The war machine tumbled all the way down for what seemed like miles, his green foe charging close behind. When his dented body finally slowed at the edge of a cliff, he looked up at the speeding tyrant, who had picked up so much speed that he could not stop. His claws dug into the dirt as he tried to slow but kept rushing on. The buzzsaw beast shrieked as the monster tripped over him and went flailing through the air, just managing to swing his blade and catch a hold of the edge. Red King swirled around in the air and hit the ground with an enormous thud. The cyclopeon cyborg climbed back up to the edge and looked down on the scene. Clouds of dust and rock rose from the spot the other monster hadlanded. When everything had cleared all that remained was a vast crater, dashed with blood, and in the very middle lay the mighty monarch himself.
Before he dared to fly down, Gigan shot down a cluster ray from his eye down into the center of the hole. The injured devil stirred, but did not move. Within seconds, the fowl fiend flew down to the hole next to his fallen adversary. The cruel creature then did something he rarely did for himself; he had a thought. Of course it was not for himself, but for his creators. Why not make use of this Earth creature to help defeat the more formidable ones? He did not know how the Xiliens would achieve this, he just knew they could. He shot out both grappling cables from his arms and wrapped them around the dazed Red King. The space monster turned and was about to fly when his arms were pulled along with the rest of him into the canyon wall.
The Lawless Monster Zone’s king had not yet been finished!
The raging berserker tore the cables from his flesh and swung the cybernetic menace back into the side of the cliff, causing a cry of pain as his shoulder shattered into hundreds of bone fragments. The bloody brute then charged headfirst into the other shoulder, pushing the metallic menace’s body further into the mountainside. Sickening cracks of enhanced ribs echoed all over the battleground. The fowl fiend again cried in agony, choking up blood. In desperation, he swung out with his good arm to prevent further damage from the insane organic. By sheer chance, he got lucky and slashed vertically through his chest. Again, the gore sprayed against his armor. The beast backed off long enough for the assassin from the stars to fly away. The monster monarch jumped to snatch at his fleeing prey but could not reach his desperate ascent. The cyclopeon cyborg flew up and out of the canyon, looked back down on the fuming beast, then flew out of sight. The tyrant stopped bouncing for a moment.
Did the alien seriously just fly off? Did this foe really just fly up and run off? Really?!
This sent Red King into fits of rage. He roared, howled, he bashed rocks into little pebbles, he broke gigantic holes into the mountain. Gigan, the supposed scourge of the galaxy, had just chickened out of a fight and left him bleeding in a hole. The mad king slowed his breathing, like a tired child after a tantrum. But then, out of the corner of his eye, the prehistoric savage caught a glint in the sky. Sure enough, there was his foe hovering, like the annoying sleep-disturber he was. But he had something in his arms. A slab of stone, almost twice his size, cut out of the mountain with his light ray. Which he sped down to crash onto his head!
With the collision of a desperately swung fist and the Mach 1 speed of the gigantic boulder, it would seem like hours before the dust would clear. It was a dusty day. But it did not take that long for both monsters to recover. The brutal beast crawled out of the shattered stones as the alien assassin floated to the ground. Gigan and Red King stood there, battered and bloody, glaring at each other. The saurian practically leaking from his cross-cuts across his chest, his left forearm useless from being shattered by the incredible boulder and his back stiff from the fall. The cyborg could no longer feel or move his left shoulder, his tail was cut off and most of his ribs were fractured in half. Both of them heaved and panted. They inched forward to each other with death stares fixated to each other.
Then they were off.
Red swung his fist at the hooked horror, but the cyborg was a learning creature. Even though he was slowed by his ribs, he ducked and as he turned, slashed his scaly thighs. The beast bent at the knees and felt the blood pour down his legs, snarling but steeling his resolve. He turned and bashed the screeching sadist in the beak, bending it back into his face. The cyclopeon creature flew back into the dirt while the isolated tyrant ran towards him. He stopped, however, when his visor shot him in the chest wounds with his cluster light ray. The monster monarch jumped back at the burning in his chest, the cross wound opened more to the point of exposing his sternum. The Xillien war machine got up and flew at the reptile, who stopped flinching and snorted before he headbutted the alien right in the stomach. Now his ribs were practically dust, the enhanced killer fell onto his fins.
The cyborg slowly sat up and judged the situation. He could not defeat Red King. He may not even have enough strength to get back home. The ancient berserker leaped at him once more, while the mechanical monster shot his cables one last time. They caught the Skull Monster by the shoulders and pulled him to the side. The cybernetic claw monster could practically saw the glowing exit sign, or whatever kaiju would see in such a case.
His dented and oil coated form rose out of the crater. It was over. He could be repaired back on the home world.
Red King tore out of the cables too late. The alien was rising out of the crater. It was over. But then he looked around the crater. Maybe…
The alien beast felt broken. No tail, no shoulder, no ribs, no dignity. He looked back down at the mighty beast. What he saw put him on edge. No… No, surely he couldn’t. But, maybe…
The Lawless Monster Zone’s terror picked up a stalagmite from one of the caves he dug. He rose it in his good arm and aimed it at his hovering target. He had one shot.
Gigan watched the spear slowly hurtle towards him. He had to hurry. The cyborg turned to pick up speed. He turned to look at how close it was.
The savage brute watched the javelin slice right through Gigan’s lone eye. The alien hovered for a moment – then fell. He hit the edge of the canyon and spun towards the Earth. He felt his heart fill full of pride.
The beast thought back to the pride he felt in the spars he had with the “space human.” But this walking weapon had been more of a challenge than that. The tenacious reptile walked to the spot where Gigan had fallen. But his walk soon turned into a grovel, then a crawl. When he had reached the war machine, he toppled over. His blood had run dry. The mighty Red King’s wounds had finally caught up with him. Both monsters lay dead at the bottom of a large crater in the middle of nowhere. No one would mourn, no kaiju would think twice about them. But that’s what the alien got for interrupting a berserker’s beauty sleep.
The tyrant looked up into the sky just one last time. He looked at the sun, felt the warmth it gave the earth. On top of his last prey, he entered the eternal slumber.
Somewhere in space, as Red King closed his eyes, so did another being. An angry being. The Xilien leader closed his eyes and sighed.
“Sir? Is something the matter?” his yes-man inquired.
The man-child thought for a moment, then rose from his seat, pushing back tears of anger.
“Know what? Screw it! I’m done! I don’t even know what the hell that thing was and it still killed my cyborg!”
The Xilien leader stormed down the hallway.
“Let’s go conquer Venus or something! They’re all a bunch of girls anyway!”
Draw: Gigan (Universal), Red King
