
Author: Patrick Alan Green | Banner: Dao Zang Moua
Something was very wrong…
A full moon gleamed overhead. A series of mysterious tremors and strong gales rocked a small village near Mount Fuji. The fearful families of the mountain ran to their homes to pray, clutching their loved ones for comfort. The wind howls violently before being drowned out by the sound of loud, booming footsteps. An eerie presence made itself known. Something supernatural had found that tiny village that night. Something rarely seen by human eyes, something… Unbelievable.
The lake demon, Varan, had appeared to curse the village with its merciless malice. The devilish creature brought with it the wrath of Mother Nature. Fierce gusts of wind nearly blew the village away. Yet it all underscored Varan’s primal fury.
On four legs, Varan crawled forward, growling and snarling as it trampled through huts with what seemed like a twinkle of glee in its eye. Its spiked tail swatted the houses behind it, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
This creature was no mere animal, but truly a living disaster. One of the many curses casted on mankind to punish them for their arrogance…
The wind died down and a thick mist suddenly rolled in, covering the village with a blanket of fog… Then the sound of large footsteps echoed across the mountain, growing louder and louder until complete silence.
Varan sniffed the air and let out a deep growl—shrouded by the dense fog, stood a monster from some bygone era. The beast stepped forward, its ferocious, yellow eyes glaring out from beneath the creature’s heavy brow, fixed on Varan with full predatory intent.
Its jaws opened wide to let out a loud reverberating roar that climbed to a chilling crescendo. There was no doubt who this ancient monster was; Godzilla had been awakened. Disturbed by the supernatural presents of Varan, now he had risen once more to rid the world from another imbalance.
Varan accepted Godzilla’s challenge. Rearing his ugly head back, the monster let out a grumbling roar as he rose to his feet and charged forward, eager to meet his enemy head on.
Godzilla had the advantage of size over his spiny foe. Grabbing the enormous spikes protruding from the back of Varan’s head, he slung the fabled lake monster through the air before driving him face first through a shrine with a thundering boom.
Varan’s spiny tail whipped back and forth, lashing Godzilla over and over until he relinquished his grasp. The ancient saurian stumbled back before catching himself. His eyes narrowed. He dropped into a defensive crouch like a prized fighter preparing for battle. He threw his head back and parted his maw, echoing a powerful bellow. There was no mistaking the seething primordial fury. Godzilla had full intent in ripping this ghoulish lizard apart with his bare hands!
Lightning flashed overhead. Rain fell in sheets, beating down the monsters’ backs in cascades.
Varan opened his jaws, flashing a mouth lined with dagger-like fangs. He spread his arms wide, revealing a thin membrane that gave him the ability to glide. He leapt forward, taking to the sky, gliding swiftly toward the mountainous predatory beast with unbelievable speed. Amidst what was left of the village, both monsters clashed.
Varan sank his fangs deep into the monster king’s throat, gallons of blood gushing forth. Godzilla howled in pain, grabbing his enemy by the arm. He slammed Varan through a series of huts, crushing them under the monster’s weight. Varan squirmed on the ground before rolling back to his feet, hissing and growling as he leapt forward, slamming into Godzilla’s massive bulk. Godzilla snapped and clawed at Varan, who in return, slashed at his eyes.
The mighty saurian towered over Varan and was significantly heavier and stronger as well, but the demon monster did not back off. Grimacing in pain, Godzilla gripped Varan’s face and charged head on, shoving him through trees big and small. Varan pushed against Godzilla’s might, but his clawed feet dragged through the dirt, unable to fight against his enemy’s power.
The spiked demon groaned in frustration before tearing himself free from Godzilla’s grasp. Varan leapt back, watching carefully as Godzilla lumbered forward. Varan let out a shrieking roar and jumped forward, driving his leathery knee hard into Godzilla’s throat!
Godzilla let out a shrill roar as he fell backward with an earth shattering crash, hacking and gagging on the ground.
Sensing victory, Varan closed in for the kill.
Godzilla’s eyes narrowed in anticipation of an attack. His nostrils flared and bared his fangs. He roared defiantly, challenging Varan. He had not come all this way to be beaten by this puny lizard.
Thunder boomed and lightning crashed, striking Godzilla’s jagged back plates like a lightning rod. Surging with electricity, his back plates, one by one, began to illuminate with a brilliant blue radiance, lighting up the night sky with a breathtaking glow.
Godzilla opened his maw wide and exhaled a gust of rippling, super-heated vapor. A spark ignited in the back of his throat and a searing blast of blue flames violently erupted from his jaws. Taking the full force of Godzilla’s powerful atomic breath, Varan was driven back, screeching in agony before collapsing, its tail twitching uncontrollably as the monster gasped for air. Unable to defend himself, Varan’s eyes widened as Godzilla climbed back to his feet, like a mountain thrusting up from the Earth.
Varan was ripe for the kill. Godzilla opened his jaws once more, but an unfamiliar cry caught his attention…
Descending from the mountaintop, an enormous, humanoid giant bellowed majestically as it tumbled off the mountainside and onto the war zone. Standing high above the village was the one referred to as “the spirit of the mountain.” Sanda had been drawn by the destruction of the village, his eyes surveying the land. Huts lay smashed, innocent families trampled to death; all this deeply enraged Sanda.
His sorrow quickly turned to fury. The brown Gargantua spun around and delivered a devastating sucker punch to Godzilla’s jaw, toppling the predatory dinosaur to the ground with a thud. Sanda quickly turned to Varan’s downed body and, without a moment’s hesitation, lifted the helpless monster up and flung him off the hillside, sending the creature careening into the rocks below.
Godzilla was already climbing back to his feet. Sanda kneeled down, uprooting a tree. He turned to face Godzilla. Lunging forward, he swung his weapon as hard as he could into Godzilla’s snout, sending the alpha predator stumbling backward. Sanda dropped the tree and rushed forward, tackling Godzilla to the ground, wrapping his powerful hands around Godzilla’s throat. The legendary monster hacked and gagged, snapping his jaws wildly as Sanda squeezed tighter, choking the monster with all his might.
Varan crawled back up the hillside. Rearing his head back, the spiny dragon let out a roar as he leapt into the air, pouncing on the hairy, brown giant’s back, digging his talon-like claws deep into the ribs of the mighty Gargantua. Sanda howled in pain as the hideous lizard sank his teeth into his shoulder, sending thick, red blood streaming down the giant’s massive, stone-like body, staining his fur. Sanda stumbled backward, slamming Varan into the side of the hill, trying to knock the flying reptile off.
Godzilla let out an aggressive roar as he climbed back to his feet and charged forward, slamming his incredible bulk into the two battling monsters with tremendous force, sending both feuding giants crashing to the ground. Varan grumbled before quickly jumping back to his feet, sneering as he leapt back into the air. Godzilla snarled as he glared at Varan circling him from above, taunting the great monster king. His tail whipped back and forth in anger. He bared his fangs, daring his enemy to fly closer.
The standoff gave Sanda a chance to recover, crawling back to his feet. The hairy giant sprinted toward Godzilla, hoping to knock him back down while he dealt with Varan.
Godzilla grimaced and quickly spun around to meet Sanda face to face. Opening his maw, he released an unexpected blast of fiery atomic breath that splashed across Sanda’s hairy chest. Shimmering blue flames blistered and scorched his skin before sending the Gargantua crashing backward, collapsing to the ground with an excruciating scream.
Varan dived at his prehistoric enemy while he had his back turned, claws bared and ready to strike. Godzilla hastily spun back around, snapping his jaws around Varan’s leg. Varan slashed at his throat, slicing through his scaly armor to the vulnerable flesh below. Varan tore himself free and clung tightly to Godzilla’s shoulder, sinking his teeth deep into the legendary monster’s gill, tearing chunks of pink flesh as his teeth gnashed tendons apart. Godzilla stumbled back from the attack, but did not fall. His jaw dropped, choking and gasping as he tried to fire off another blast of his breath, but the draconic flames sputtered and died out.
Smoke billowed from his nostrils. Blood and bile leaked from his damaged gill. Varan glided over the mountainous dinosaur, strafing him from above, keeping just out of reach of Godzilla’s slashing claws. Sharp, talon-like claws went for his eyes, but Godzilla managed to keep Varan at bay with his snapping jaws.
Sanda began to stir, weakly rising to his feet. He frantically patted his smoldering fur as he watched the two dueling reptiles snap and rip at each other with animalistic aggression.
Sanda grabbed a massive boulder and rushed toward them, rock in hand. He drove the boulder savagely into the back of Godzilla’s skull, dropping the enormous beast to the ground with a thud.
Varan let out a piercing screech and swooped down after the giant, but Sanda quickly chucked what was left of the busted boulder at Varan, knocking the reptile out of the sky like a swatted fly. The varanid nose-dived to the ground with a resonating thud. Sanda let out a furious roar as he bent over and grasped Varan’s squirming tail, swinging the monster with all his might against the mountainside, sending an avalanche of boulders topping down and burying the monster lizard in a blanket of rock and dirt, dust swallowing the area.
Sanda scowled, focusing his attention back to Godzilla, who was rising to his feet, unwilling to stay down. As Sanda and Godzilla circled each other, Varan came erupting from his rocky tomb and hastily sprung to the air, flapping his arms as he glided nimbly toward the two monsters about to face off. Sanda turned from Godzilla and jumped up, grabbing Varan by the throat, pulling him down just long enough for Godzilla to snap his powerful jaws around the flying reptile’s arm and swing Varan to the dirt like a toy.
Godzilla drove his massive foot into Varan’s chest, pinning the devilish monster to the ground. Sanda backed away, watching as Varan kicked and screamed under Godzilla’s clawed foot, desperately trying to free himself. Varan thrashed and kicked his feet into Godzilla’s stomach desperately, over and over again, until Godzilla couldn’t take it anymore. Backing off, Varan took the opportunity to crawl out of the crater he had been stomped into.
Sanda sprinted forward, delivering a powerful punch to Varan’s jaw, driving him back to the ground. Godzilla loomed over Varan, rearing his head back and snapping his jaws around the spiky lizard’s shoulder, crunching bone as he bit down. Varan kicked and scratched, screeching out in agony as he tried to tear himself free. Sanda drove his massive foot into the temple of Varan’s head over and over again without mercy, until the monster was knocked unconscious.
Godzilla released his hold of Varan and slowly turned to Sanda, who was glaring at him, eager to finish their fight. Sanda sprinted forward, locking his fists together, The Gargantua leapt into the air, driving his interlocked fists with tremendous might into Godzilla’s head, knocking the giant dinosaur down to one knee. Godzilla caught himself and swung his massive right arm, looking to slash the brown giant, but Sanda dodged and delivered a powerful left-hook, followed by a strong right-hook into Godzilla’s jaw, like a boxer swinging away with everything in him.
Godzilla lunged forward, but Sanda grabbed Godzilla around the neck and wrestled the enormous monster to the ground, pummeling his fists without letup into Godzilla’s face. Blood leaked from the corners of his jaws and nostrils. Jagged teeth broke off with every punch.
Godzilla thrashed wildly like an alligator, completely overpowering Sanda. Godzilla broke loose of Sanda’s grasp and rose back to his feet and flipped the mountain giant over his shoulder, body slamming Sanda the ground below with a booming thud that shook the whole area.
Varan’s eyes snapped open. The spiky demon rose to his feet and shook his head, poising himself. Godzilla had already taken notice and was charging forward like a cheetah in pursuit.
Varan grimaced and dropped his head, ramming his spines through his enemy’s armored chest. Sharp spines penetrated straight through his flesh, pumping cold reptilian blood onto the trees below.
Godzilla, mortally wounded, cried out in agony, before stumbling back and dropping to one knee. Blood drained like a river from his chest as he lowered his head, glaring at his wounds. Godzilla focused his attention to Varan, waiting in anticipation for the spiny demon to deliver the next attack.
Varan reared his ugly head back and let out a loud, aggressive roar that quickly turned into an awful gagging sound – Sanda appeared behind the spiky monster, wrapping his enormous, tree trunk-like arms around the demon’s scaly throat, choking the creature from behind. Wrestling the giant lizard to the ground with savage aggression, Sanda twisted Varan’s head, bearing down tremendous pressure until the vertebrae in his neck snapped with a nasty cracking sound…
Varan was no more.
The giant of the mountains tossed Varan’s lifeless corpse to the side and rose to his feet as he nervously stared down Godzilla. Sanda turned and snapped off one of Varan’s stalagmite-like spines from his back and raised it like a giant baseball bat, ready to swing away, daring Godzilla to come closer.
Godzilla mustered up all his energy and rose back to his feet, stepping forward, not willing to back down. Rivers of blood pumped from his wounds. He let out another loud resonating roar – then suddenly trembled. His mighty legs buckled under his weight and the legendary monster fell to the ground like a collapsing skyscraper, too exhausted to move.
Sanda waved his arms high in the air in triumph, bellowing out a mighty roar as he kicked Godzilla’s semiconscious body down the hill, crashing into a lake below with a massive splash. Godzilla slowly lost consciousness as his enormous body sank, disappearing under the shimmering waves.
Sanda turned to get one last look at what was left of the village, frowning. He shook his head as he limped back up the mountain, disappearing quickly among the thick trees and fog.
It was a victory for Sanda, but it didn’t feel quite like one to him.
Winner: Sanda