Author: Christian Salabert | Banner: Christian Salabert

The citizens of Tokyo, Japan screamed in terror as the golden dragon, King Ghidorah, rained destruction down upon their helpless city. The creature’s golden gravity bolts shredded buildings by the dozen, and fires ravaged the city. The Japanese Self Defense Forces had already tried to slay the beast to no avail, and were cruelly mowed down by the creature.

Miles and miles away, the Futurians sat within their Mothership. Their leaders, Wilson and Glenchiko, watched with sadistic glee as their creation destroyed Japan’s capital. Everything was going according to plan. They grinned as the carnage unfurled on the viewscreen.

“Soon, King Ghidorah will destroy these fools, and then we shall show them how to rebuild a country!” Wilson cackled.

“But what about Godzilla?” Glenchiko asked. The newly reborn monster was on its way, and they both knew it.

“Let it come,” Wilson said. “When it arrives, King Ghidorah will crush it!”

Suddenly, the screen flickered. The image of King Ghidorah laying waste to Japan was replaced by the image of a young man, seemingly Japanese, looking back at them. He was clad in nothing but black leather, and had a cocky smile on his face.

“Hello there, future-people,” he said simply, removing a black visor that hid his eyes. “You are to recall your monster and report back to me. You are now our cattle.”

“What?” Wilson stammered. “Cattle? How dare you make demands of us!”

“Especially when we control the most powerful creature in existence!” Glenchiko added.

“We can do this the hard way or the easy way,” the young man said.

Wilson suddenly pressed a combination on the main control console. Within seconds, he had homed in on the man’s location. Then, pressing a button, he laughed. “And now you are doomed!”

The young man chuckled. “So, you think your King Ghidorah’s going to save you?” A smug grin crossed his face. “Well, let’s see how it does against the Gigan.”

In Tokyo, King Ghidorah had just received its new orders. Cackling maniacally, it began to fly towards the coordinates given. Before it could get very far, however, something smashed into it from above. The winged hydra fell from the sky, but fortunately managed to avoid an ugly crash, landing perfectly on its feet. Turning its three heads skyward, it immediately spotted its attacker.

The cyborg known as Gigan landed with a thunderous noise, shaking the surrounding area. Rearing his bird-like head back, he let out with an electronic shriek. It was unmistakably a challenge.

Back in the Futurian Mothership, Wilson barked out a new command:

“Kill it, King Ghidorah!”

Instantly, King Ghidorah opened fire with a trio of gravity bolts. The golden beams struck Gigan one-by-one, throwing sparks and knocking the creature back. In retaliation, the cyborg fired a blast of his own. A crimson energy beam sprayed forth from his visor, striking Ghidorah directly in the chest. At first, no harm seemed to be done – until a series of explosions surrounded the golden dragon, causing it to cry out from pain and confusion.

The beast immediately decided to restart its barrage of gravity bolts, causing explosions all around and on Gigan. The cyborg shrieked as the blasts struck his metallic hide again and again, causing greater damage with every hit. Desperately, Gigan fired another energy blast at the golden serpent, but before it could detonate, the creature enveloped itself with its majestic wings. The beam exploded all around, but Ghidorah was perfectly shielded from the blasts.

Gigan screamed in frustration, clanging its two scythe-arms together. He immediately stomped towards his foe, but the Futurian dragon once again opened fire with its gravity bolts. Gigan was forced back as the blasts hit him time after time. Once again, the cybernetic weapon fired his beam at Ghidorah, but the three-headed terror quickly flapped its wings and took to the sky, avoiding the attack. Before Gigan could fly after his opponent, King Ghidorah began raining gravity bolts on the cyborg.

Gigan shrieked angrily at King Ghidorah when one of the bolts struck him in the face, blinding Gigan momentarily. When he managed to regain his sight, the first thing he saw was King Ghidorah’s feet. With a mighty flying kick, Gigan was toppled, crashing backwards into a building. As Gigan thrashed around, the remains of the building came crashing down on top of him, submerging the biomechanical creature in rubble. Meanwhile, King Ghidorah landed, facing the downed cyborg. It quickly released a few short blasts from its three mouths, sending plumes of flame erupting from the debris.

A few moments of silence passed. Cautiously, King Ghidorah watched the rubble. No movements were made by Gigan. His arms and legs were still, and his tail didn’t so much as twitch. Another moment passed. That was enough for King Ghidorah. Raising its trio of heads, the golden beast cackled triumphantly into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, Gigan raised his left arm and fired a pair of grappling hooks from the base of his scythe. The attack went unseen by King Ghidorah until they wrapped around the right and center necks, and by then it was too late to do anything. The wires wrapped around the two necks so tightly that they were pressed up against each other, moving as if one, oversized neck. The left head reached down and tried to chew at the wires, but Gigan was on his feet in an instant and fired his energy blast, surrounding the three heads in bursts of red flame. King Ghidorah cried out furiously, and fired a gravity bolt from its left head.

Gigan was quick to counter this, however, and raised his right arm so it pointed straight into the air and then turned it. The gravity bolt struck the flat of the blade and was easily deflected, striking a tall building a mile away and bringing it down in a shower of flaming rubble. Gigan then fired the grappling hooks from his right scythe, wrapping them around King Ghidorah’s left leg. With his foe properly entangled, Gigan began reeling it in.

Twirling his arms around, Gigan began wrapping the wires around his scythes, effectively shortening them and bringing King Ghidorah closer. King Ghidorah shrieked angrily and fired a gravity bolt from its left head, but Gigan just ignored the blast and chirped with evil glee. The gold dragon struggled, but couldn’t break free of its bonds. Suddenly, a whirring sound filled the area – Gigan had activated his buzzsaw. King Ghidorah panicked as it realized it was being pulled towards the spinning blades. The three-headed monster screamed in defiance, but Gigan merely let out an electronic shriek and shortened the gap between the two kaiju once again.

Panicking, King Ghidorah did the first thing it thought of – using its wings as shields once again. Unfortunately, this had quite the opposite effect the dragon desired. The instant its wings came into contact with Gigan’s buzzsaw, they were shredded. Ghidorah cackled in pain as it pulled its wings away, a sight which caused Gigan to unleash a frightening, laughter-like sound. Furious that its foe dare laugh at it, King Ghidorah unleashed a gravity bolt from its left head, striking Gigan at the base of his right scythe. The lightning-like blast burned through the grappling wires, and they immediately snapped off, freeing Ghidorah’s leg.

Stopping to laugh had been a mistake for Gigan. But King Ghidorah had just made a much deadlier one.

With a mighty tug, Gigan pulled on the wire entangling King Ghidorah’s two necks. The three-headed terror stumbled forward, and Gigan effortlessly swung his scythe upwards.

King Ghidorah’s left neck hit the ground with a sickening thud. The creature’s right and central heads cried out in agony as golden blood sprayed from the open wound. The now two-headed monster began firing gravity bolts wildly, trying desperately to strike Gigan and break the bonds tying them together.

But now that he had spilled King Ghidorah’s blood, Gigan was not about to stop.

With a powerful shove, Gigan pierced King Ghidorah’s chest with his scythe. The giant blade sliced its way through the golden beast’s heart and burst out its back. Gold blood gushed from both sides, staining Gigan’s scythe. Within seconds, King Ghidorah’s cries had stopped, and soon after, so had its struggling. The two necks that were previously trying to untangle themselves were now hanging lifelessly. Gigan slid his scythe out of King Ghidorah’s dead form, allowing it to crash to the ground.

Clanging his blood-stained scythes together, Gigan reared his head back and let loose an unmistakable cry of victory. His foe was slain. His mission was complete.

Sparks erupted from Gigan as the ray struck his back. The blue beam sent Gigan toppling into his face, causing him to squawk out in surprise. The cyborg quickly returned to his feet to see who had attacked it. A large dinosaur-like creature was approaching it. The beast was charcoal grey in color, and had ivory fins on its back. A powerful tail swished behind it. The reptile bellowed a challenge.

“Oh, so there’s another one,” the young man, the Xilien Controller muttered with interest. “Gigan? Attack.”

Winner: Gigan (Universal)