Author: Landon Soto  | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

An old fashioned town hidden in the jungles of Japan, claimed to be one of the last few existing places that had an almost direct link to the gods, would have their faith finally tested.

A young brother and sister duo playfully ran far beyond the town limits; they wanted to know what lay beyond the dense trees and fog. They ran, farther until they reached a shore. White sandy beaches and gorgeous waves playfully washed against the shore, the midday sun offered its warmth.

The kids played in the sand for a couple of minutes, before the water in the distance began to bubble and churn. A very familiar sound filled the air, a sound the children usually heard at night on rare occasions.

A large, spiky, brownish-red crustacean poked its head out of the water. Beady red eyes on stalks scoured the area, its eyes caught sight of the siblings. The creature began to slowly make its way toward the children.

This was the creature that they heard on certain nights. Its cry echoed across the land, but it always disappeared quickly. Now this giant crustacean was actively seeking them out. It would take a few minutes, but they could follow the path home, and warn everyone about the monster!

*****

Two men guarding the main town entrance were alarmed to see the two kids come from out the jungle. The children pleaded with them to help warn the town, although skeptic at first, believing it to be a practical joke, they too heard the sound of the creature.

Immediately, people were urged to hide in their bunkers that protected them from intense storms, the sound of the sea beast grew louder and louder as time passed. One man, an elder, swiftly made his way up the side of a small hill, there he spotted the beast. Ganimes.

The creature was searching, it didn’t need to rush, and food would come soon. The old man, taken aback, swiftly made his way to a shrine that had a sun symbol painted on it. The man put his hand on the symbol and began to mutter. The symbol in the wooden shrine began to glow a bright golden light.

Gray clouds rolled in, rain poured down onto the settlement, Ganimes was here. The mutant crustacean searched eagerly, unable to find any sign of the people. The monster was close to demolishing the whole town, but it stopped, it felt the presence of another being.

A pillar of light struck the ground behind Ganimes, ripping a large hole open in the gray clouds, exposing the blue sky. The sudden brightness caught the attention of the crustacean, mesmerized by the sight. A silhouette formed as the light faded, revealed to be the legendary warrior, Utsuno Ikusagami!

Light bounced off the silver and gold armor of Utsuno Ikusagami, the golden wings on his back shimmered in the sunlight. Ganimes screeched as it raised its terrible claws, charging the shining warrior. Utsuno Ikusagami easily stopped Ganimes, his metal hands gripped the claws of the monster, the silver and gold guardian easily hurled the crustacean overhead, Ganimes landed far from the village, trees flattened under its spiked carapace, mud shot into the air.

Ganimes screeched in shock as the monster propped itself upward, trying its luck again, the crustacean charged once more. Utsuno turned around to face the creature and stood his ground. Ganimes lunged at the sun god and spewed a bubbly blob that splashed against the helmet of Utsuno Ikusagami.

Utsuno Ikusagami let out a low grumbling noise as he clutched his face. Ganimes soon slammed into the god, the attack forced the sun warrior to stumble, Ganimes shrieked in pleasure as Utsuno fell to one knee, still clutching the front of his helmet.

Ganimes screeched, ready to tear apart the hero of the sun. The crustacean menace charged once more, oblivious to Utsuno Ikusagami’s right arm, suspiciously placed behind his back.

Ganimes raised both his claws, ready to batter and beat the god. Perhaps there was a delectable meat inside that shell of his. However, Utsuno had other plans. The shining warrior immediately rose to both feet and swung his right arm upward, the sword of Karasai in his hand! Ganimes was stunned, but its mind was soon flooded with pain as the blade cut both pincers off cleanly, spurts of blue blood sprayed from both stumps as exposed crab meat met the breeze.

Ganimes cried out in pain, the sun warrior had successfully baited the crustacean, humoring it before getting serious. Utsuno switched the sword to his left hand and punched the crustacean square in the head, blue blood trickled down its spiky face. The crustacean stumbled about, letting out a low screech.

Normally Utsuno wouldn’t be so violent toward an animal, even the giant ones; however, he knew the truth. As soon as he arrived, he felt the malice that emanated from the creature, the host inside was extraterrestrial. Yes, this beast was not like the large blue allosaurus, giant primate ‘god’, Kong, or even Godzilla.

This hostile alien, Yog, took a harmless creature from mother Earth, and mutated it beyond recognition. He could see the countless people this thing had already slaughtered, solely to carry out its own twisted, sinister plot. This vile intruder had gone too far, now it had to answer to him.

The golden medallion on Utsuno Ikusagami’s helmet shined bright as particles of sunlight were absorbed into it. The Yog creature lifted its head seeing the bright light, the last thing it would ever see.

A large beam of light fired from the medallion and collided with Ganimes, its body violently exploded, the exoskeleton immediately charred, and the Yog virus was instantly vaporized. The beam stopped and allowed the dust to settle.

A large circle of scorched Earth took the place Ganimes was standing before. Utsuno Ikusagami turned and saw the old man on the hill waving; the sun god gave his old friend thumbs up before fading into millions and millions of sun particles, floating back to the heavens above.

The siblings who encountered Ganimes, stared in awe as they caught a short glimpse of the legendary Utsuno Ikusagami, the warrior who saved their lives, and stopped the dreaded sea monster.

Winner: Utsuno Ikusagami