Author: Matthew Williams | Banner: Matthew Williams

It came from above, far above the blue sky, in the coldest depths of outer space. It had spent a long time in the endless abyss of darkness, traveling through the cosmos to search for planets. It had only one thing it focused upon, eternally.

Hunting.

There had been many strange and dangerous creatures who were the heights of giants. Some of them were used by highly advanced alien races as weapons in their conquests of planets. Others had a simple will of their own, traveling through space to find suitable planets where they would reign terror upon all life on the celestial body.

This creature was no different from those monsters, for he too had the same desires to bring destruction for his sick pleasure. But at the same time, like any carnivorous, primal creature, he needed to hunt, to feed. He had spent weeks trespassing planets to consume those that he could detect with his superior echolocation. He had recently raided a civilization from a planet light-years away, but their puny size hardly satisfied the beast’s hunger. He needed something big, powerful, something that was worth killing to prey upon.

Then, his answer had called. The cosmic raider’s sensitive ears had picked up the sound of a roar, one that sounded like the voice of a creature around his size. Locating where the voice came from, the creature changed directions toward it. He was guided to an unfamiliar blue planet where his echolocation picked up several more roars. Knowing that this planet was rich with lifeforms, some around his size, the space devil couldn’t wait to bathe his teeth in the sweet nectar that he craved so. Blood.

On one peaceful night, on the planet known as Earth…

Site Omega, an island chain of the Isle Del Diablo that the government had used as a containment facility to imprison several mutants for future studies, was under attack. The invader from above had arrived on the island to spread his terror upon those that ran this so-called zoo for kaiju. He emitted high-frequency sound waves that caused great pain to the facility’s personnel, making their ears ring and even a few bleed. These harsh sounds also caused permanent damage to all the electronics, even disabling the force fields that prevented the monsters from escaping, along with the special collars that kept the mutants from attacking one another.

All personnel made quick contact with the government, revealing that they were being attacked by what could be best described as a colossal bat, though quite different than the one they had contained here. The creature was a living nightmare, especially to anyone suffering from Chiroptophobia. It did look just as deformed as all the other mutants that humanity had come across, but at the same time this odd bat just as much resembled an alien and a devil. The sickening skin was mostly a fleshy-red color, with a line of scales located on the chest, knees, back, and tail. The orbs within his eye sockets along with the muscular organ within his mouth bore a nuclear-green color. And the membranes of the wings were all black, decorated with veiny stripes resembling lightning bolts of a crimson hue.

The alien had overwhelmed the contained mutants, showing no mercy to them. He had bested the Giant Bat, pinning it down before clamping his jaws on the blue-winged mammal. The Giant Bat made one last screech that was quickly silenced when its neck was snapped, the body going limp and dying shortly afterward. The other mutations had fled, all of them badly injured. The mutated hummingbird had flown away, with the Shrewster trailing behind. The killer tore out chunks of the Giant Bat’s innards, having the satisfaction of tasting the delicious blood that soaked his green gums.

All surviving personnel began to evacuate as they watched with looks of fear on their faces, as the invader extended his wings to let loose a terrifying shriek that boomed through the whole aisle of Monster Island.

The invader was ready to feast upon more of the Giant Bat’s flesh, when his ears perked up at the sounds of bellows and hisses stirring. The crimson mammal turned around to see who would remain here, let alone dare themselves to interrupt his moment of feeding upon his latest kill.

Two of the facility’s breached mutants remained on the island, for they were in the middle of a brutal battle with one another. The first one, King Cobra, an enormous blue and red serpent that wasn’t given a more unique name due to his similar appearance to the biggest venomous snake in the world. And then the second one, the Crustaceous-Rex, one of the most popular monsters of the facility due to his rather bizarre appearance and for being the first creature to fight Zilla.

While the visitor had noticed the two a few minutes ago when he began to attack, even considering going after them, his attention had been brought to the Giant Bat when the winged mammal attacked him.

There had been a good reason why the military had instructed the facility managers to put up massive force fields, not only to prevent the mutants from escaping the island but to avoid the risk of having them attack each other. The incident of the S.C.A.L.E. organization attempting to free all the monsters was still fresh in many minds. Even at their colossal size, many kaiju were still just animals, following their instincts. For King Cobra and C-Rex, those instincts made them arch-rivals, determined to prove that they were the peak of the food chain. The Crustaceous Rex would not let the King Cobra be the top predator, and vice versa.

An earth-quaking thud triggered when King Cobra fell onto the hard surface after being kicked by C-Rex’s feet, causing the oversized snake to emit a pained shriek. Not wanting to go out too early on a fight that just got started, King Cobra lifted a third of his body length up, only to have it grappled by the C-Rex’s four tentacles. The oversized snake hissed when he shook his neck around to break free the slimy appendages, but they had a perfect grip on the serpent.

Crustaceous Rex heaved to have King Cobra’s back slam into the ground again so he could pin the snake down. But the snake reached out and nipped at one of the crustacean mutant’s tentacles, where his fangs pressed down on the soft, greenish-yellow flesh, forcing it to let go or else be pierced. King Cobra rose up to tower over his unfriendly neighbor, emitting a loud hiss while showing the teeth in his opened maw. C-Rex wasn’t intimidated by the frightful, sibilant sounds that the serpent made, as he wrapped his tentacles around him.

The Crustaceous Rex quickly turned his body around as his four appendages released King Cobra. The undersea mutation watched as the snake roughly skidded across the landscape, coming to a halt when he was just a few inches away from the red bat responsible for Site Omega’s containment breach. The invader got off the Giant Bat’s corpse when he ascended into the air, staying airborne as he observed the recovering King Cobra. C-Rex stomped closer to the serpent while he growled loudly, opening his segmented mouth to regurgitate tar. King Cobra ducked down to slither out of the black glob’s way, and so did the invader, leaving the liquid to coat the chewed-up carcass of the Giant Bat.

The invader grew cross when he saw this, his well-earned prize of slaughtered prey was now contaminated by filthy tar. Slaughtering the annoying bat was troublesome, to have all that hard work go to waste in a moment was infuriating. The space devil fixed his neon green eyes at the two mutations and caught their attention when he flew forth, passing by while hitting them with his stretched out wings. Both C-Rex and King Cobra shrieked when they fell to the ground, their ambusher flapping his wings to keep himself ascended, staring at the two creatures.

King Cobra rose his head and spread his hood, hissing loudly at the monster unintentionally responsible for their freedom. C-Rex then rose up, also crying out at the enormous red bat with a bellowing shriek. C-Rex knocked King Cobra aside with an unexpected swipe from his leg, bravely approaching the winged terror. The invader cried out when he prepared to attack, but the strange, yellow mutant suddenly leaped with haste to tackle the stranger. The invader screamed when he landed on his back, pinned down as he looked up at the leviathan, who opened his face-splitting maw to let loose a growl that soon turned into a shriek. The invader pulled his legs back and thrust them up, slamming his soles onto C-Rex’s underbelly to shove the mutant away.

Crustaceous Rex fell on the beach’s sand while King Cobra rose up. The giant snake stuck his tongue out before loudly hissing at the invader, then made his attack. The blood-colored alien saw the serpent springing his head forward and used his wings to hastily take flight, but with the snake’s lightning-like speed, he managed to puncture the devil’s left leg with his sharp fangs. The invader screamed while he flapped his wings as hard as he could, but King Cobra swung his head from left to right like a canine shaking a small animal caught in its jaws.

The mutated snake was about to slam his prey down on the ground, but just then, a high pitched screech came out the invader’s maw, sending three concentrated sound blasts at the serpent’s head. King Cobra’s clamped teeth immediately freed the bat as the snake shrieked in pain, swinging his head around while he felt his head aching from the powerful attack. The invader flapped his wings to back away before dive bombing to slam his taloned feet against King Cobra’s neck.

The invader bashed the serpent down, only to spring up to tackle C-Rex before he could get up. The alien raised his winged forearms and brought them down to rake his sharp claws against the sea monster’s yellow hide. The carapace on the Crustaceous Rex had prevented the space bat from caving in his flesh, with only a scratch being left on the tough shell. C-Rex roared when he bucked the bat off his back before turning around, growling as his tentacles reached out and bound the winged terror’s legs. The invader screeched when he felt the soggy appendages and began to flap his devilish-wings, but C-Rex held on tightly to prevent his enemy from taking off. The more it struggled, the tighter the tentacles squeezed.

King Cobra rose up, shrieking out loud when he slithered straight toward C-Rex. Like a spitting cobra, the reptile opened his mouth to shoot his bio-adhesive spray all over the crustacean mutation’s feet. C-Rex growled in annoyance when he felt his soles caught by his arch rival’s sticky glob again. As he tried to pull his feet up, King Cobra swiftly coiled his long body around the sea monster. The red bat was freed from the tentacles when they began to whip and constrict King Cobra. He watched as the two struggled and squirmed.

King Cobra craned his head to glare at the invader, intimidating the strange creature by spreading his hood while flicking his tongue. When the invader readied his sonic scream, King Cobra spat out another shot of the sticky substance at the bat but missed when the winged alien banked a swift maneuver to the right. C-Rex then moved his tentacle to wrap around his reptilian enemy’s neck, grumbling while he slowly tightened his constriction to choke him to death. King Cobra wheezed as he violently slammed his head down on C-Rex’s hide repeatedly, spearing the yellow carapace with his teeth.

The invader flew in to scream into the night, releasing harmful sound waves to stun the two monsters. C-Rex let go of King Cobra as he groaned in pain, hurting from the loud sound waves despite lacking hearing, letting the serpent swiftly slither away. The extraterrestrial being grumbled when he positioned the pointy tip of his tail while flying straight toward the mutant, thrusting the appendage to jab into the leviathan’s belly like a scorpion. The deep-sea invertebrate cried out, spraying ichor. Hissing frightfully, the invader grabbed onto C-Rex’s right leg, surprisingly managing to lift the mutant into the air, even ripping him out of the adhesive he was trapped in. C-Rex desperately stretched his limbs to reach for the crimson bat, but failed to do so before the mammalian space creature released him. The invader and King Cobra watched as the shrieking crustacean plummeted to the beach with a geyser of sand erupting on impact.

With C-Rex resting on the soft sands, the invader flew through the air, emitting his echolocation that caused further damage to Site Omega and the hearing of all present. King Cobra was having a minor headache from those annoying sounds, for they were about as harmful, if not more annoying than the sounds coming from that Giant Bat it had to share a home with. The invader moved quickly when he made a sharp turn, going straight toward the mutant while opening his mouth.

King Cobra used his swift reflexes to jerk his head to the left, though quick enough to avoid his throat from being chomped by the teeth of the bat, he wasn’t fast enough to avoid his hood being bitten. King Cobra hissed furiously when he felt the invader’s jaws tearing the tough cobalt-blue scales, for it was almost as painful as the bite from that iguana mutant he fought in Tokyo.

The blood-red creature growled in delight, his green tongue tasting the blood that spilled from King Cobra. It was unusual but had a very sweet taste that lightened up his mood while encouraging him to kill this creature so that he could feast upon his flesh. The invader beat the squirming King Cobra’s head with his wings, as he tried to reach out to the serpent’s cranium to end its life with one single bite.

When the invader was about to kill the largest cobra in the world, his echolocation picked up several incoming threats, causing him to get off of King Cobra and fly up. Several explosions detonated around the bat’s body, one of them set off on his right cheek, making him gasp in surprise. The US Navy has been called in about the alien bat causing a breach on Site Omega, and had sent in a fleet of jets and bombers to combat the threat, while reinforcements were on their way. The missiles had failed to inflict any noticeable damage upon their target, but instead merely caught his attention. The invader emitted an angered cackle when he extended his wings, taking off to the skies to pursue the vessels that attacked him.

The military jets soared through the skies, taking sharp turns to position themselves to face the flying devil on their tails. Three vessels steered away to separate from the group, just as the hellish-looking bat demolished the rest with a single use of his sonic scream. The invader kept the remaining trio tracked with his echolocation and began to pursue them, slowly catching up to them from behind. Unable to escape, the pilots of the jets were greeted with death when each one of their vessels were caught by the bat’s jaws.

The Crustaceous Rex began to rise from the sand it rested upon, groaning when he could feel his legs wobbling from the fall he took. The deep-sea mutant gazed up, locking his eyes at the invader tearing through the last military plane with its sharp teeth. The crimson bat detected the aquatic giant and dove down, zooming toward the sea monster, releasing another sonic shriek to stun the yellow freak before it had a chance to counter. The Crustaceous Rex flinched from the powerful sound waves as he was rammed by the devil, causing the leviathan to crash to the sands yet again. The invader made a gurgling noise when he perched on the downed C-Rex, bellowing as saliva and blood drooled out from his stained mouth. The bat from the cold depths of space lashed his claws to rip the soft exterior flesh, making his prey scream when his talons tore their way through the unprotected hide. C-Rex’s annoyance grew just as much as the alien’s, as two of the mutant’s tentacles caught the devil’s lanky legs, swiftly yanking them aside to pull the bat away from him.

The invader fell on his side, groaning when he got up, only to be knocked down again when the Crustaceous Rex swiftly recovered and swung his leg, striking at the alien’s neck. C-Rex’s split maw gurgled when he marched closer, lengthening his tentacles to wrap around the red demon’s legs before pulling them closer to him. The sea dweller rumbled with fury when he used his tendrils to slap the extraterrestrial mammal. Growing annoyed and starting to feel that this thing was mocking him, the invader lifted his head and used his echolocation abilities to bombard C-Rex with a volley of concentrated sound blasts.

Just as the invader thought he was freed from C-Rex’s loosening tendrils, King Cobra moved in to ambush. The hissing, serpentine mutation bit down on the bat’s cranium, holding on tightly as his body began to coil around. Now that his prey was trapped within his constriction, King Cobra began to squeeze the life out of him. But C-Rex, still enemies with his neighbor, intervened by wrapping his tentacles around King Cobra’s neck.

The invader coughed and wheezed for air, his lungs having difficulty taking in air with King Cobra’s constrictive body growing tighter. If that wasn’t bad enough, the pressure was starting to make his limbs grow numb. If he didn’t react soon, his bones might snap like a twig. The extraterrestrial mammal could see the snake struggling with C-Rex, tugging his head while the tentacles dragged him near the deep-sea predator. Even when tangled up, King Cobra still combated by gnashing his jaws at C-Rex’s throat.

With the two mutants occupied on killing each other, the invader drew his fading breath in, then let loose a high pitched scream that released booming sonic waves, causing any surviving buildings to collapse in a heap of rubble. They were strong enough to stun both C-Rex and King Cobra to where they released each other, the snake’s coils loosening.

The invader gasped for air, having a moment to finally catch his breath. The alien mammal’s emerald eyes leered when he gazed at the two mutants, determined to put an end to their lives. The invader fired several sound blasts at King Cobra, forcing the snake to slither away. Freed from the coils, the angered space demon flexed his numbed wings before he used them to ascend and use his sonic screeches, inflicting further harm to the two monsters. C-Rex made a panicking, whale-like cry when he couldn’t take these loud screams anymore, they were causing so much pain that not even his carapace could protect him from it. King Cobra was shrieking out of control, he swung his neck around as if the high-frequency waves had caused him to go mad.

The Crustaceous Rex looked at the shrieking devil and opened his splitting-maw. The mutant regurgitated a stream of tar that he had been wisely saving through the whole fight, successfully showering the devil’s hideous face with it. The invader coughed and gagged when he got the foul taste of the flammable liquid in his mouth and on his wings. He was forced to land, regurgitating to get the disgusting tar out of his mouth, for it was the worst thing he had ever ingested.

King Cobra slithered in front of the invader, quickly spraying the winged alien with his bio-adhesive spray. The glue-like liquid splattered all over the crimson monster’s tar-covered face, covering up his green eyes. The invader shrieked when his eyesight was stolen, but even if blinded, he still had his echolocation. And already, he picked up the thudding sounds of an approaching Crustaceous Rex, who roared angrily when he raised his right, blocky leg and swung it at the invader’s face in an uppercut fashion. The invader was knocked back as he plunged into the shallow waters of the ocean, creating a humongous splash that sent waves washing onto the beach.

C-Rex leaped into the sea, he was ready to finish off the struggling, problematic bat. Extending his tentacles, the world’s most bizarre kaiju wrapped them around the invader to prevent him from moving any further, as he began to drag it deep into the ocean. The mammalian alien was panicking, forced to fold his ears to prevent saltwater from gushing in. Unable to see and with no way to use his extraordinary echolocation powers, he blindly struggled to break out of C-Rex’s death grip. When it appeared that C-Rex was going to be the clear victor of this fight, the bat’s thrashing tail suddenly swung forth with precise aim. Bubbles spewed out of C-Rex’s opening maw when he screamed, feeling the tip of the galaxy creature’s tail skewering his exoskeleton, making a noticeable crack in it.

When Crustaceous Rex’s tendrils were pulled back to cover the injury he received, the invader used his taloned forelimbs to scrape the sticky bio-adhesive out of his eyes, allowing him to see clearly. Narrowing his eyes in a display of irritation, the invader lifted his legs to have his talons grapple C-Rex’s legs. The red mammalian monster used his powerful wings to shoot himself upward, dragging his prey with him.

King Cobra saw the ocean erupting as the invader flew up with C-Rex in the grasp of his claws, water falling off their bodies while the red terror ascended higher and higher. Crustaceous Rex extended his tendrils to reach for the wings but winced when the invader made another sonic scream. He was done playing games with the sea monster and that giant snake. Tired and hungry, he wanted to end the fight right now. Roaring in pain and terror, seeing that he was being carried several hundred meters into the air, C-Rex tried one last thing in a final attempt to survive. The yellow crustacean pulled himself to face the space bat, where his splitting mouth spat the last amount of tar at the alien’s right-wing.

The invader screamed when the glob of sticky, black substance latched onto his membrane, causing him and Crustaceous Rex to fall from the sky. King Cobra, the surviving personnel, and soldiers upon the fleet of battleships all gazed at the sky as the two giant monsters fell. Both of them still fought, C-Rex using his remaining tentacles and the invader using his sonic screams.

The two giants both plunged into the ocean, creating an enormous column that generated huge waves which washed away everything on the beach. Scores of fish were tossed about like chaff, being left to feebly flop on the land.

The reinforcement team of US Navy battleships aimed their cannons, and the helicopters locked on with their gatling guns and missiles, all forces were ready to take action should any of the two kaiju emerge. King Cobra hissed at the heavy warships when some of them aimed their turrets at him, immediately opening fire. Missiles detonated throughout the serpent’s hood, causing him to shriek in annoyance. But instead of retaliation, the giant snake instead slithered into the ocean and began to make a hasty retreat. Exhausted and feeling sore from his wounds, he decided to make his escape, so he wouldn’t be imprisoned on that island again.

As the captain ordered his people to keep firing the turrets at King Cobra, radars picked up something rising swiftly, as the invader shot out of the water, right behind most of the battleships. Before they had a chance to turn the cannons around, the blood-red bat used his sonic scream to cause severe, deafening pain to the crew of the military ships, as their radars and monitors burst into showering sparks. The helicopters were immediately destroyed by the sonic waves, the invader watching them explode into fireballs with scraps of metal and parts plummeting to the sea.

The invader was dissatisfied by this, being unable to kill C-Rex, who decided to retreat from this fight along with King Cobra. But on the bright side, this fight could perhaps be a reminder for those two that he is something they should fear, for he is a space predator that should be taken seriously by those brave or foolish enough to go up against him. Letting out a cry that boomed through the ravaged base of Site Omega, the new threat to Earth flew off to the north with incredible speeds. Jet planes took off to pursue the crimson menace, while the marine soldiers escorted survivors off the breach.

The next day…

“So you’re saying that this red bat came out of nowhere?” Nick questioned.

Major Hicks nodded to the scientist. “I’ve been told that he showed up, destroyed the generators by emitting a very loud scream, and attacked the contained mutants.”

“So are you talking as loud as in like a jump scare in those horror films?” Randy asked.

“Way louder, like something that can make you go deaf permanently,” the Major explained.

“Given that it resembles a bat, then it would make sense that its screams and even its echolocation could generate high-frequency sound waves,” theorized Nick.

“Well I’d say my destroyed facility is proof enough of your theory,” Hicks said. “It will be disastrous if that devil were to approach a populated area.”

“But do you have any guess or idea where it came from?” Monique questioned.

“Well, I did hear reports from NASA that their satellites had picked up an unidentified object falling into orbit and making a collision course toward an area close to the island.” Hicks answered.

“Then this could be a hint that our visitor is not a mutant from this planet,” Nick assumed.

“You might be right on that, my men even mentioned that the bat did look a bit alien,” the Major agreed. “Which is why I’m here, to ask for your assistance to stop this new threat, considering the many times that you and your team have dealt with mutants before.”

“Of course, we’ll gladly accept your request,” said Nick. “But one last question, did the mutants escape the island?”

“Yes, all of them have retreated, the Giant Bat was killed by the alien and C-Rex is confirmed missing,” Hicks explained. “Shame that the bat had died, I just thought of a good name for it, but I might as well give that name to the one that killed it.”

“Mind sharing that name?” Randy asked, as Major Hicks nodded and spoke it to the H.E.A.T Team.

“Bagorah.”

Winner: Bagorah

A very special thanks to dopepope for some of the assets used in this banner for the K.W.C. Be sure to follow him on DeviantART, ArtStation, and Instagram.