Authors: Matthew Freese & Jolene Steinard | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

She stole a glance at the screen, watching the news briefly. Not like it told her anything new, it had been focused on the same two things for the past three days. Not that Akane could blame the people in charge of the stations, one was the biggest event in decades, the other being a constantly developing situation that put millions at risk. But, did they have to put such blame on the GDF at the same time?

The human brain was built to remember significant, usually traumatic, events better than it did the mundane. Akane could attest to this, with multiple events in her life as an example, and the moment this had all unfolded was as clear as a photograph in her mind’s eye.

Instead of standing in a boring, almost featureless waiting room, she sat in the pilot’s seat of Kiryu. Before her lay the complex controls of the anti-kaiju machine, which would make most people’s heads spin just looking at it, but she knew them like the back of her hand.

The cybernetic dragon stood in a ruined city block, at his side the towering machine Moguera. Opposite them, Godzilla roared and stomped the ground. His long, jagged spines flashed blue, just before he opened his jaws and unleashed a stream of nuclear power. Moguera and Kiryu flew in opposite directions, leaving the atomic ray to strike nothing but rubble.

The king of the monsters was looking haggard, burns covering his form and his own blood coating him. His battle with the two mechs was taking a toll on him, yet he refused to back down. Kiryu rushed in, jet thrusters blazing at maximum power, but Godzilla reacted in time and intercepted the mech with his tail. The cyborg was sent flying away, smashing through several buildings. Yet, soon he was back on his feet, Akane pushing down the controls to return him back into the combat zone with her target.

“When is this damn thing gonna retreat?” Akane yelled, activating the wrist mounted lasers on Kiryu and spraying the monster king with bolts of energy. He growled in outrage, before spraying another beam of energy, which Kiryu barely maneuvered around.

“I’ll do you one better,” Yuki, the main pilot of Moguera, boasted. Before Akane could question what that meant, there was the sound of a heavy missile being released from its chamber. The rushing of a jet rang out, before a tremendous explosion turned Godzilla’s thigh into a gore-filled crater.

He dropped like a stone with a terrible scream, revealing Moguera standing behind him, one arm extended forward and opened at the end. Akane gasped in shock, eyes growing wide.

Kiryu shuddered strangely…

Akane quickly activated her communications. “What are you doing? You can’t just kill him, what about all the times he’s protected us?”

“With these things, we don’t need Godzilla to save our asses.” Moguera’s opened arm angled itself toward the nuclear leviathan’s head.

“You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“Excuse me, I know exactly what I’m doing, which is fulfilling the orders of the bosses.” This took the air out of Akane as she suddenly had other questions, none pleasant. “Yes, they didn’t tell you, this mission was never about driving the big guy away. You’d have never gone for it.” That last statement dripped with venom.

The whirring of Kiryu’s internal machinery seemed to grow louder, the volume steadily rising…

From Moguera’s arm came a colossal missile tipped with a drill, the Spiral Grenade. Suddenly, the cockpit of the cyborg went dark. His pilot was expecting to wake up in her bed, covered in sweat from a nightmare. That was all this had to be, a nightmare.

Godzilla’s head disappeared in a roaring blast, scattering bone and brain matter in all directions.

And the smoke was forced apart when Kiryu, eyes shining scarlet, raced toward his former ally. Moguera’s eyes glowed and rapidly discharged bolts of plasma, but the metal dragon swiftly dodged them, his azure rockets at full blast.

“Akane, what’s going on in there, respond!” The mechanical Godzilla tackled Moguera in the side at Mach speeds, sending the mech crashing to the ground several hundred meters away.

“I can’t stop this, I’m so sorry!” She replied, tears flowing down her face.

The killer of the King of the Monsters was flat on its front. Kiryu was quickly upon it, foot placed on its back. Akane begged and pleaded with the beast within her mecha, averting her eyes. But it did no good, as he unsheathed a blade from one of his wrists before thrusting it down into the neck of the other machine, carving a dent into the steel.

Akane could hear her fellow pilots panicking. “Activate thrusters, get us out of here!”

Swiftly, the other hand came down, transforming in the process. A rapidly spinning drill crashed point first into one of the thruster ports, ripping into the thinner metal with ease. Opening its maw, a quick burst of yellow maser energy tore into another thruster, damaging it in a burst of smoke and sparks.

The lone pilot shut off her communications, realizing her prison had heard it and reacted accordingly.

Moguera began to move forward, but not nearly fast enough to dislodge Kiryu. His drill came down upon the wound in the metal on the neck, spraying sparks and shredded steel like confetti. In a matter of seconds, it had dug in deep, before the berserk machine pulled it out.

Akane opened her eyes, seeing the opened chamber containing Moguera’s pilots, looking up at her mech with utter terror. Their backs were to her, and quickly they began to try and escape, undoing their seat belts frantically. But it did no good.

She had already closed her eyes the instant she saw the golden glow of the maser cannon in Kiryu’s mouth.

She opened her eyes when she heard the sound of the screen before her change. Instead of the carnage just in front of Kiryu, it was a message, white text upon a black background. The mech was totally still, leaving things crystal clear.

“Leave while you still can. Do not try to convince me, I will refuse no matter what you say.”

So, she left, exiting through a hatch where she was soon rescued. Kiryu remained still the whole time, until she was finally out of his sight. Then, he marched up to the nearest intact building, pulverized it with his metallic claws, and began a rampage that still raged on.

Godzilla had been slain, but Kiryu sought to take his place.

She was back in the waiting room with the opening of the door, drawing her into reality once more. “Miss Yashiro, the mission briefing is about to begin,” stated the man, prompting her to stand up.

“Lead the way,” she replied.

There were, of course, issues when she had gotten back to headquarters. Demands as to why she had not been let in on the true plan of that mission. The answer she got was simple, yet still made her blood boil. The “head-honchos,” as Yuki has often called them, thought she was too attached to Kiryu to kill Godzilla. Clearly, they had been right on that, but wrong on almost everything else about the pilot.

“Mainly, that this was a good idea at all!” she had yelled at them, earning heads hung in shame from the leading committee.

But, she had only one request. On the technical level, it was a simple one. Let her be part of the crew to destroy Kiryu.

“How can we be sure you will go through with it?” barked a gruff, elderly general, his eyes narrowing as if it would let him see through any lies she told.

“Kiryu is your, for lack of a better term, friend, after all,” replied one of his colleagues, taking on a more even tone.

Akane’s response was clear. “You can depend on me to destroy Kiryu because he is my friend. This is the best mercy I can provide him…” her voice dipped down in volume and vigor as she finished the statement.

Back in the present, Akane took her seat in the briefing room. Three other people sat near her, another woman and two men. She recognized the men, Sho Kuroki and Kazumi Aoki. The former, the head pilot of the Super X3, a man who long ago had sworn to destroy Godzilla due to the leviathan killing his best friend. The latter, an eccentric man who tinkered with odd gadgets and carried a strange fascination for pterodactyls. Yet at the same time, he was the one G-Force had handpicked to pilot the anti-kaiju weapon Garuda, and it was he who had come up with the brilliant plan to combine Garuda with Mechagodzilla to form Super Mechagodzilla. So, odd, but there seemed to be a method to his madness that worked out to be brilliance.

But the woman, Akane did not know. She had long, blonde hair, and a look that betrayed no emotion. The former pilot of Kiryu greeted the unknown woman, “Hey, name’s Akane. I guess we’re gonna be on the same mission today?”

The blonde-haired woman replied, stone faced, “Yes.”

Kazuma was quick to interject. “Don’t worry about Katherine, you’re not exactly gonna get riveting conversation from an android.”

“One will not get a riveting conversation out of you either, Aoki,” Katherine replied, still lacking emotion. This only made Aoki cringe harder at the jab.

Akane remained silent, baffled at the revelation. An android? She had heard tales of androids being alongside the Futurians, but one at the GDF now was so strange to hear.

Sho Kuroki very bluntly replied, “They salvaged tech from the Futurians, I guess making an android is harder than making a giant mech, who knows? Now quiet, they tasked me with explaining the mission because most of the GDF’s personnel who would usually do this are too busy covering our organization’s ass because one of our mechs went apeshit.”

“Are you qualified to do that?” Kazuma questioned.

“Usually, no. But when the mission is to just hop in Super Mechagodzilla and blast Kiryu until he stops moving, yes.”

“That’s our plan!?” Akane exclaimed, eyes wide at how little forethought was being put into such a vital mission. Before she could go any further, Sho spoke again.

“I fully agree, but there’s not much else to do. Kiryu doesn’t have a second brain or any sort of other easily exploitable weakpoint to use against him here. We’ll have to think on our feet for this one.”

“Our very slow, clunky feet.” Akane made no effort to hide her disdain of Kiryu’s fellow Mechagodzilla. “Is this seriously the only weapon we have against Kiryu? The Mechagodzilla G-Force built?”

Kazuma cut in swiftly. “Hey, there have actually been upgrades to Mechagodzilla’s maneuverability, his walking and melee combat have been improved.”

“Oh, so we can clumsily swat at Kiryu as he runs circles around us and rips us apart.”

“That’s the spirit!” Sho sarcastically replied. “Come on, it’s either the weaponized fridge or we wait another three weeks for Moguera to get fixed. Let’s go, people!”

With that, they got up, and began to make their way toward the crews dedicated to prepping them and the fighting machine for deployment. As this occurred, the GDF’s PR teams quickly commanded footage be captured of this and broadcast out, letting the people they served and protected know that their heroes were arriving to fix their own mistakes.

***

Far away, a set of eyes watched this news, glaring with absolute spite. He sat deep underground, surrounded by advanced technology and subordinates rushing back and forth like ants in a colony at his command.

“Pathetic wretches!” He snarled, wrinkled forehead creasing and rustling the black fur that framed his head. “Being forced to destroy one of their own weapons just because it turned against them. How can they dare to call themselves anything other than worthless fools?”

He turned his chair, gazing upon the towering construct through a glass window. Once, a weapon of his kind had turned against them, driven by such useless human desires. It had cost the former leader his life. No more would the Black Hole Aliens trust anything that was or had once been human.

“Mugal… you shall be avenged. And what better way to do so than by showing our Mechagodzilla’s dominance over those of humankind.” Standing up, the ape-like humanoid bellowed a command, instantly setting his servants upon the task. “Prepare Mechagodzilla to be released! By the end of the day, only one war machine in our most hated foe’s image shall be left standing!”

***

Alarms blared as the walking fortress’ jets flared to life as the hatch above it opened. Back in the GDF base, similar protocols activated as the defense mecha began to arise. The Garuda exited through its own specialized departure point, ready to fly alongside its fellow asset until the time came for their fusion. And standing amongst smoking ruins, roaring to the heavens with a booming roar interlaced with digital feedback, Kiryu continued his rampage unopposed.

Within the Mechagodzilla fighting for humanity, the three pilots received an alarm that another machine was heading toward them.

“The alien Mechagodzilla?” said Kuroki. “Those bastards sure know how to pick the worst possible time.”

A speaker released the voice of Kazuma into the cockpit, for he currently sat within the Garuda atop Mechagodzilla’s shoulders, turning it into Super Mechagodzilla. “What should we do, engage Kiryu or the other Mechagodzilla first?”

Akane was quick to speak. “Kiryu will attack it just as much as he’ll attack us, if not more so. Our best bet’s a free for all, in the hopes they’ll wear each other out.”

“I don’t know if we can risk that, two enemies at once?” Sho Kuroki replied.

Their android compatriot chipped in. “I agree with Akane’s assessment, the probability of being able to defeat Kiryu after a battle with the Black Hole Aliens’ Mechagodzilla is low unless we were to go back for repairs in between.”

“Alright,” Kazuma replied. “Let’s hope they don’t double team us. I’m willing to trust Akane’s judgement on how Kiryu will respond.”

“Akane, are you totally sure Kiryu won’t just buddy up with the Black Hole Aliens?” Kuroki asked her directly. “I think we can all agree that we’d rather let Kiryu cause more destruction while we get repaired than have the two of them work together and rip us apart.”

“Captain, Kiryu may be against humankind right now, but above all else he still fights for this planet. No amount of rage will make him ally with them.”

Sho sighed, rubbing his temple. “I hope you’re right. For all our sakes, I hope you’re right.”

****

“Sir Rikal, are you certain you want to do this?” Questioned one of the alien scientists. “Mechagodzilla’s AI should be enough, or if you do not wish to leave it up to that, we may have a team control him.”

“Hosuke,” rang the voice of the commander, “I value your input. But an AI is too random, and a crew on a large panel of buttons is not focused enough. Our foes are a machine piloted from within by a coordinated, small team, and a wild beast’s soul wearing a shell of steel and weaponry.”

“This machinery is expensive and, much more importantly, untested my lord!” Hosuke replied, his black fur waving with the frantic shaking of his head. “Even though it is based on the successful cybernetic implants within Kats—“

The sudden shouting of his superior made the scientist recoil. “Never say that name in my presence!” Rikal nearly bellowed, his fists balling up. With flared nostrils and narrowed eyes, voice now calmer yet dripping with hatred, he spoke. “I will don the control equipment. You will not convince me otherwise, I have passed the simulations better than any other. Even if this machinery somehow explodes with me inside it, then I shall be thrilled that I endured such a catastrophe for the good of our people.”

Hosuke stepped out of his superior’s way, revealing the rig consisting of machinery designed to enclose the head, limbs, and body. “Then go ahead my lord.”

The ape-like extraterrestrial was soon within the device, witnessing the world through a new lens. He flew over the landscape, moving at intense speeds that few could hope to match. Numerous sensors informed him of what his eyes could not see, while his vision itself was filled with readings of the surroundings that normal vision would never pick up. As a brief test, he spun the machine’s head a few times, a process triggered by thinking of it. The world was blurry in the transition, but it was something he soon adjusted to.

It was like he was Mechagodzilla. His movements were its movements, his thoughts deployed missiles to blast apart the earth beneath and released beams of energy to scorch all he surveyed.

Sensors revealed to him that his current target, “Super” Mechagodzilla was still heading straight toward Kiryu, despite Rikal knowing full well humanity should know about his presence by now.

“Hosuke, what do you make of this?” He questioned, sending a signal back to the Black Hole Aliens’ base.

The scientist’s voice was relayed to him, as if he heard it within his very mind. “Perhaps they hope to win through chaos, a free for all to destroy both their foes.”

Rikal merely laughed within the system connecting him to the war machine. “Then I shall crush both at once! Humanity shall witness with trembling breaths and pounding hearts as I stand atop their champions’ corpses!”

Hosuke, making sure that his comm was turned off, sighed to himself. “You hubristic fool. You are your father’s son, let us just hope you don’t follow that path to its conclusion. A third Mechagodzilla nearly bankrupted us, a fourth would be impossible.”

****

Kiryu sensed their approach. His former ally, which bore more firepower than him but at the cost of mobility. A construct of alien steel, partially designed to be disguised as one of his relatives. He doubted they would join forces, which meant he would gain the benefit of them attacking each other in addition to himself. He would need to be constantly on the move, dodging powerful assaults that could tear through his steel form with ease if he let them.

Basking in the sunlight, letting it fall upon his modified back-spines to fuel himself, Kiryu awaited their arrival. Somehow, he knew the one light left in his bleak existence was currently coming toward him to kill him. She was too headstrong to sit back and watch this take place. Could he destroy Super Mechagodzilla with Akane on it?

What was even his end goal? Did he have one? No, actually taking a moment to remain still, the dragon of bone and steel realized he knew not what he was trying to accomplish. The GDF had taken the life of Godzilla, the last of his kind. Kiryu was now the last of the Gojirasaurs and those related to them, and he was merely a soul tethered to a skeleton puppeted around by machinery.

Kiryu was torn between fighting and just letting the beams and missiles reduce him to dust in the wind. But, that would be a pathetic end. The GDF needed to pay for this atrocity and for the cruelty of pulling him back into the mortal realm and entombing him for their sake.

The ghost in the shell would tear Super Mechagodzilla apart, hope that Akane survived, and then turn his previously blind fury upon the GDF until the organization was slaughtered. The rest of humankind would weep for their fallen protectors, but if they had wanted to avoid this, the GDF would have refrained from killing the guardians already in place. But then what of Kiryu, once his targets were gone?

He would tear himself apart, freeing his soul and leaving behind a pile of shredded metal and bone dust.

Minutes passed, and it all began to fall into place…

Out of one corner of Kiryu’s vision, he saw Super Mechagodzilla approach. The other was occupied by the alien Mechagodzilla. Two synthetic roars echoed across the ruined cityscape, and the mixture of cybernetic and organic noise rang out in reply.

Kilometers away, the two machines landed. For a few seconds, the three surveyed one another, bracing themselves.

There were no more thoughts needed from any party. It was all clear as crystal despite the lack of communication, the three would fight until one remained standing. The finer intricacies of pride, loyalty to one’s own kind, and other such things were pointless.

Now was the time to kill or be killed.

The alien Mechagodzilla thrust its arms forward, its fingers shooting forth from the hands with streams of fire and smoke trailing them. One set was aimed at Kiryu, the other toward Super Mechagodzilla. The cyborg’s thrusters activated, launching him straight up into the air.

“Mega Buster, sweep it in front of us, now!” Kuroki shouted, and at the command, the man-made superweapon opened its artificial jaws. A cluster of varying colors flashed within its maw, and it released a glowing beam of rainbow-hued light. The mecha’s neck swiveled to send the Mega Buster washing over the missiles mid-flight, detonating them before they could strike.

Kiryu, the ground where he had been standing a moment ago bursting up in a cluster of rising smoke and dust, rushed toward his alien foe. He knew full well what this thing was, and more importantly who it served. The Black Hole Aliens would warp and twist the Earth to their desires if they won, and most importantly to Kiryu, that meant they would kill off all the monsters they could not subjugate.

Mothra had tried to free him of this torturous existence long ago, and even though he had arisen from the ocean years after that fateful battle to return to aiding humanity and the Earth, the fact that she had cared was enough to earn his admiration. He would let nothing destroy her and her lineage.

The cybernetic dragon landed before the alien superweapon, his claws bared and already lashing out. They dragged across the alien steel, attempting to break through. Space Titanium proved durable enough to withstand the assault with no issue, allowing the hand of the purging machine to swing in a chop at Kiryu’s chest. The resounding clang of metal clashing rang out, then again when the construct of steel and bone crashed a punch into Mechagodzilla’s face.

They traded blows for a few seconds, filling the air with their conflict’s sounds as each tried to find a weak spot on the other. The brief struggle was interrupted by streams of solid blue energy crashing into both machines, staggering them. They turned their heads to see the other Mechagodzilla soaring through the air, the Garuda attached to its back firing its cannons. It descended slightly, its eyes discharging yellow beams. The two were pushed further back as the mobile fortress swept its eye rays over them.

The inside of Kiryu’s mouth glowed gold as Mechagodzilla’s eyes shined. Bolts of what resembled lightning soared from the cyborg’s mouth as rainbow beams raced forth from the alien robot’s gaze. The Twin Maser Cannon and Space Beams crashed into Super Mechagodzilla’s torso, casting out sparks and smoke, yet failing to do much else. The GDF mech cut off power to its rockets, its feet crashing to the ground as countless hydraulics worked to keep the machine from tearing itself apart.

“What say we show these two our best weapon right out the gate?” Kazuma inquired of his copilots.

“No!” Akane quickly replied. “If we miss with it, they’ll never shoot their beams at us again. We need to be careful, wait until the right time.”

The monotone voice of Berger soon followed. “I concur, past research indicates these two are intelligent enough to potentially realize the connection to our resistance to heat-based weaponry and the Plasma Grenade. As well, we can afford to risk the wait, as one full-powered Plasma Grenade to either target should be enough to cripple it.”

“Everyone get ready!” Sho cut them off, “We got inbound!”

Kiryu closed the distance with a quick rush, claws swinging. They grinded against the smooth metal, seeking to puncture and find something vital. The opening of Super Mechagodzilla’s mouth was enough to alert the metallic dragon to side step, avoiding the Mega Buster that scorched the earth in its path. With the dodge Kiryu thrust a leg up, crashing it against his foe’s side. The reverberations of the attack rattled into the cockpit, putting the two organic pilots on edge.

“Let’s see if this improved mobility thing was actually anything worthwhile,” Sho said as he activated several switches and buttons. On cue, the arm of the bulky war-machine swung around sluggishly, bashing into Kiryu’s face and forcing him to stumble away. Another series of rapid inputs, and one leg of the mechanical behemoth slowly rose up, before lashing forth to crash the sole into the cyborg’s stomach.

Kiryu’s feet skid across the ground as he tried to find traction, only to suddenly find himself screaming in pain as explosions ripped across his back, sending shards of torn metal flying. The cyborg whipped around, sending his tail crashing into Super Mechagodzilla’s side and forcing it back a step, to reveal the alien Mechagodzilla preparing another round of missiles. Opening his jaws, Kiryu released another Twin Maser Cannon, and against this foe, it proved much more effective as the extraterrestrial menace let loose an artificial cry and stumbled away. Smoke rose off of now dented metal.

Rikal winced as he was alerted to the damages. Not because they were severe, instead they were rather minimal, but just because he was still getting used to it all. Simulations could not fully prepare one for the real thing, he supposed. He groaned when a voice chimed into his consciousness.

“My lord, is all well?” Hosuke asked.

“Yes, now remain quiet! I must focus,” he snapped at his subordinate.

And indeed he did need to focus, for Kiryu’s rockets flared to life, sending the cyborg flying backward as he leaned away from the alien. They carried him over Super Mechagodzilla’s head, staggering the GDF mech further as Kiryu’s tail slammed into the cranium of the human-piloted weapon. Rikal quickly took advantage of the disorientation of his foe, and fired a salvo of missiles from one hand as well as his machine’s knees into the artificial guardian. A digitized roar echoed out as the explosions blossomed off its form, pushing it further back as it stumbled.

“Status report, Berger, now!” Kuroki demanded as sparks erupted from a wall in the cockpit.

Her response was quick and measured. “Damage to synthetic diamond armor and steel alloy on stomach and legs. Not critical damage, but I would highly recommend doing whatever we can to avoid more missiles in the future. However, the heat from the blasts seems to have charged the Plasma Grenade’s reserves further.”

“That’s good at least,” Akane replied, more just trying to find something positive about the situation than anything else. Then she had a great idea to make things more positive. “If this thing wants to take us on in a range war, let’s show it one!” There was no disagreement from the rest of her crew as they prepped weapons.

From the GDF mech’s eyes, yellow laser cannons. The mouth, the flashing cluster of colors known as the Mega Buster. The twin cannons emerging from the Garuda on its back, tilted to point forward over the shoulders, blue High Power Maser cannons shot forth. And just beneath them, on the actual guardian’s shoulders, ports discharged glowing Paralyzer Missiles.

The alien Mechagodzilla’s head began rapidly spinning in place as soon as the first glowing of the charging weapons had begun, instantly recognizing what was coming. The barrage of immense weaponry shot forth from the artificial guardian, but was blocked by a cylindrical shield of azure that formed around the purging machine’s body. It was obscured in smoke and sparks as they pounded against the barrier.

“Cease Paralyzer Missiles, continue with the beams! That shield has to break eventually!”

Rikal could, much to his fear, attest to this. The remaining endurance of his shield was swiftly dwindling, he doubted it would take even a minute for it to break under such an assault. And once it did, not even Space Titanium would be able to hold under such firepower for long. Already, his mind was racing to come up with how to proceed, numerous plans rising and falling as he weighed them under the pressure.

He needed to execute none of them when, not even thirty seconds into the assault on his barrier, Kiryu crashed into Super Mechagodzilla’s side at high speeds, sending the artificial guardian falling to its side. The five rays it fired very briefly tore apart some ruined buildings behind the alien machine before the piloted colossus ceased power to them.

Kiryu clawed at his fellow human-crafted mech like a rabid animal, sending sparks flying as he tried to dig his sharp fingers into the joints. The cockpit of Super Mechagodzilla jostled with each strike, the pilots trying to come up with a plan to rid themselves of the beast in steel skin.

Daggers unsheathed themselves from the cyborg’s wrists, which he then used to slash at his former ally’s chest. Kiryu had never actually fought alongside his fellow duplicate leviathan, so he was not overtly familiar with it.

Beams erupted from the GDF mech’s eyes, trying to strike Kiryu. He reared back, avoiding it, before slamming the blades into his foe’s side, parting the steel slightly to leave a dent. A Mega Buster attempted to strike the cyborg, but it was easily evaded due to Kiryu still straddling his foe’s side.

“Garuda, detach!” Sho demanded through a speaker, then turned to his other co-pilots and commanded, “Maximize thrusters!”

The twin cannons over the machine’s shoulders swiveled to point upward, drawing the attention of Kiryu as he tore through metal and synthetic diamond. One of his blades had finally pierced beyond the metal, the tip leaving a tiny puncture into the wiring beneath. With a hissing of machinery, the Garuda detached, rockets flaring to life on its underside as it entered the air. Kiryu reared up, opening his mouth as he tracked the fleeing ship. Beneath him, Super Mechagodzilla shifted as its own thrusters roared to life, lifting it off the ground slightly.

A storm of missiles and lasers struck both giants, sending Kiryu falling off as the human Mechagodzilla was forced back to the ground. Explosions blossomed over both as the alien Mechagodzilla unleashed its weaponry in an all out assault, assailing both. It let out an artificial shriek, which managed to rise above the cacophony. The screams of its two foes also rang out, Kiryu attempting to rise but failing as missiles tore off chunks of armor. Metal and diamond shards flew off the man-made Mechagodzilla’s body, the pilots feeling the effects as sparks erupted from panels and walls.

Akane yelled, “Use the Plasma Grenade now, we can’t risk too much more!”

Sho did not need more convincing. “Fire!”

The front of the machine’s torso shined blue, before the orb located in its belly shined with yellow light. Mechagodzilla skid across the ground as it discharged a colossal stream of gold plasma, the force behind it moving even its colossal weight. Rikal shouted in horror as he cut off power to his weapons, swiftly trying to shift his weight to avoid the destruction approaching him at immense speed.

Space Titanium peeled back as machinery was incinerated. The Plasma Grenade tore into the alien war machine’s tail, going between its legs. The whole machine shuddered from the forces rippling into it, being forced back a massive distance. By the time the GDF mech’s strongest attack faded, a colossal, molten gash had been carved into the underside of the alien weapon’s tail. Glowing steel dripped from it, sizzling on the ground.

The GDF’s guardian attempted to get to its feet, only for a smoking Kiryu to barrel into it once more, one arm reared back to plunge its dagger into a crater in the metal. There was a horrendous screeching as it tore through. The blade surged to life with electricity, flowing into Mechagodzilla’s innards. The machine spasmed as it let out a garbled screech.

Twin beams of blue maser energy crashed against Kiryu’s face and arm, sending the cyborg toppling over as the steel was torn asunder. The human-controlled Mechagodzilla’s rockets flared to life to push itself back to being upright, then twirled to face the cyborg. The Garuda descended, locking back into place and forming Super Mechagodzilla once more.

Kiryu pushed himself to his feet, blade still extended. The cybernetic monster lifted himself off of the ground, rockets aiding him as he lunged at Super Mechagodzilla, his arm pulled back to prepare to strike the GDF’s weapon.

That was until a rainbow colored beam struck the back of Kiryu’s head, sending the cyborg flying past the humans’ Mechagodzilla and into a pile of rubble submerging his head in the wreckage.

The aliens’ Mechagodzilla was far from out of this fight even with the severe damage to its tail. The Black Hole Aliens would never give up to a rampaging cyborg or a clumsy man-made robot. Rikal would make damn sure of that.

Super Mechagodzilla looked from Kiryu to the other mecha, eyes surging with power before yellow eye-beams flew toward the alien Mechagodzilla, nearly hitting the mechanical terror as its own rockets sprang to life, lifting it off the ground just in time to avoid the deadly lasers.

The alien Mechagodzilla’s rockets drove it toward the GDF duo, extending its hands toward the ground before unleashing missiles from its fingers, letting them shower its opponents as the alien creation passed by.

Super Mechagodzilla used its rockets to move backward several hundred meters away, avoiding the missile barrage. Though Kiryu was not as lucky, letting out a shriek as dozens of explosions assaulted his mechanical body.

The cyborg pushed himself up from what would be his tomb if he didn’t move, multiple metal dorsal spines falling off as Kiryu had gotten to his feet. The ruby red eyes looked at the sheets of steel on the ground, a rage filled growl echoed from his throat as the cyborg glared at his own fallen dorsal spines.

This had reminded him of that day. The day that Godzilla had died. Kiryu remembered when he gave up his missile pack to launch at the nuclear saurian’s back and let it explode. The sight of Godzilla’s back erupting into a geyser of blood and the flesh raining down on the ground would stick in the spirit’s memory until the day this body had been slain. Kiryu could still see the blood soaked dorsal spines laying on the ground just like his own at this very moment.

The mechanical monstrosity slammed his tail on the ground and reared his head up, bellowing out a synthesized roar before scanning the area for something to smash.

Kiryu’s call was answered by a metal fist smashing into his jaw through the smoke. The metal dragon screeched in pain as he was sent stumbling back, some teeth breaking from the impact. The GDF’s Mechagodzilla had come back to fight Kiryu, though the enraged robotic ghost had noticed that the cannons on humanity’s defender were missing. That could make it slightly easier to tear into this Mechagodzilla.

The alien Mechagodzilla flew through the dark sky, ready to send another round of missiles at its fellow robotic doppelgangers. The Simian who controlled the metal beast cackled in delight as he neared his opportunity to destroy the two Mechagodzillas and take the world as his own.

His Mechagodzilla nearly got to attack before two blue blasts of maser energy struck its back.

The mechanical menace shrieked before turning to face what it thought was Super Mechagodzilla.

Instead, what the alien creation saw was the Garuda warship flying through the sky to attack Mechagodzilla. Rikal chuckled in amusement.

A tiny ship could never take down the mighty Mechagodzilla. The humans would pay for their stupidity by losing the weapon that could upgrade their very own Mechagodzilla.

The mechanical beast shrieked a challenge at the vessel before flying forward, rainbow beams shooting forth from its yellow eyes. The Garuda maneuvered around the deadly lasers, shooting its own in retaliation. The alien Mechagodzilla quickly dodged, putting an arm to the side to fire off a round of missiles at the ship as it took a drastic right turn.

The Garuda tried its best to dodge the projectiles, managing to let four of the five missiles go past. The fifth was literally a thorn in the side, hitting the ship right under the side of its strong armor, smoke and sparks flying out as a hole was now formed. Kazumi grunted as the Garuda rocked from the explosion, checking for damages on the screen. Not enough to keep him out of the fight, but it would be best to stick with Mechagodzilla to avoid too much damage.

“Heading back to you!” The engineer announced to the crew as he steered the ship toward the mech, getting Kiryu in his sights so he could fire upon the raging spirit as the Garuda began to go back to the battlefield at full speed.

Twin rainbow colored lasers grazed the top of the ship, sending more sparks to shoot into the air from the impact.

The Simian Mechagodzilla wasn’t going to allow him to make the trek back. Rikal knew that this pathetic ship only made the humans’ mech more powerful, it would be better to make things easier by destroying this thing here and now before their Mechagodzilla became more of a problem.

The mechanical alien weapon screeched before firing off more eye lasers toward the Garuda, missing from the expert flight skills of its pilot, making the ship spin around the destructive beams. Kazumi groaned as the alien Mechagodzilla kept pursuing him, deciding to try a new strategy to get it off his back.

The Garuda flew through the air, evading a few more lasers before flying straight up. The alien mech continued its pursuit, bringing an arm up before firing missiles straight up. Though it proved fruitless, barely missing the vessel before it quickly made a turn midair.

“Take this you son of a bitch,” Kazumi growled, shooting twin maser blasts out of the Garuda’s cannons, blasting the alien Mechagodzilla in the side. The pilot didn’t give up on his attack as he fired three more times, destroying any missiles that were shot at him in an attempt to slow him down.

The Garuda started flying back toward the humans’ Mechagodzilla as the mechanical alien weapon staggered in the air, the blasts scorching through its armor. Holes in the Space Titanium had started to show, wires sparking from the Simian Mechagodzilla’s shoulder, chest, and leg.

The alien superweapon turned back to the battle. Rikal didn’t want to let up, he wouldn’t be made a fool by some human who was just good at flying a vehicle. He would destroy both him and the human’s attempt at replicating what his species had done.

The human Mechagodzilla stumbled back as Kiryu slashed at it with its sharp metal claws, creating three long marks across its shiny chest. The soul of the first Godzilla growled before bringing both of its hands together, quickly swinging its combined fists at the GDF weapon’s head, causing it to fall on its side, dirt flying upward as it crashed.

Kiryu glared at the fallen mech, drawing its electric blade out as the humans’ Mechagodzilla attempted to get up. The vengeful spirit wouldn’t allow this, it was already feeling the effects of this fight take a toll. Energy surged in the blade before Kiryu raised it in the air, bringing it down to puncture the mechanical defender’s side, letting the electricity swiftly pour into the hole.

The GDF’s Mechagodzilla’s limbs uselessly waved about as the electricity surged inside of it, making the crew inside scramble to stop Kiryu. What the mechanical beast didn’t think was that he was in a prime spot for an attack.

Before the man-made mech’s insides could be obliterated, a rainbow colored beam shot out of its mouth and into Kiryu’s face, blasting the mechanical monstrosity away, its blade quickly extracting from the hole in the humans’ Mechagodzilla’s side.

Kiryu shook its head as the power from the beam retracted, smoke seeping from its head from the assault. The mechanical beast’s left eye started to fade in and out as small bits of metal fell from its face, revealing some hard bone and wires.

Jets fired up from the human’s Mechagodzilla’s backside, aiding the mech get back on its feet. Sparks and oil leaked out of the wound in Mechagodzilla’s side. It would have to be repaired after the battle, if the crew survived this encounter.

Kiryu growled at the GDF’s tool as it trudged back to battle the mechanical defender. The Godzilla spirit opened its maw, yellow energy crackling as it was about to fire its Twin Maser Cannons. The attack was preemptively stopped by the humans’ Mechagodzilla firing its pair of eye beams directly at Kiryu’s chest, causing the mechanical menace to stagger back.

“Garuda returning,” Kazumi reported as the crew watched the ship fly toward the battle. Kiryu roared at the small vehicle as it was flying in to reattach itself to the heroic mech, letting out its yellow masers to try and strike it down. The Garuda quickly dodged before firing its own blue lasers at the enraged spirit, causing an eruption of dirt as the attack missed.

The flying GDF vehicle didn’t come alone, however. Not long after the Garuda began moving toward its mech to latch on to it, an array of rainbow colored beams splashed the field, bombarding both Mechagodzillas and sending sparks flying as the attack hit its targets.

Steam rolled off of Kiryu and the humans’ Mechagodzilla as the alien Mechagodzilla joined them, parting the clouds as it shrieked in defiance. This battle would go to the Simians. No human or ghost would prevent this.

The Garuda quickly approached its destination, cannons on both sides of the mech’s head before the body lowered down to latch on to the back. Power to the jets seized as Super Mechagodzilla was now formed.

The alien weapon screeched once more, flying directly at the pair.

Kiryu and Super Mechagodzilla both readied their weapons. Yellow energy glowed in the vengeful spirit’s mouth while a multiple colored light shone in the GDF’s weapon’s maw. It all just depended on who was quicker.

Both the Twin Maser Cannons and Mega Buster fired upon the Simian creation, both blasts shooting the alien Mechagodzilla’s shoulders, causing scorch marks and a few holes to show through the burns.

The alien Mechagodzilla felt itself going down, but it would not go down alone. The mechanical terror quickly shot off bursts of its array of weapons as it flew by the two mechs. Rainbow beams shot Kiryu until it roared in pain as it fell over to the might of the powerful lasers. Missiles and electric blasts bombarded Super Mechagodzilla until it had eventually fallen to the force of the explosions.

Finally, the Simian Mechagodzilla had crashed right in the middle of the mechanical beasts, sending a cloud of dirt and debris flying up, covering the battlefield.

All three mechanical behemoths got to their feet, looking back and forth at their two foes. Damaged, sparks spraying forth from gashes in metal armor, all knew this could not go on for too much longer. Rikal, the soul of the first Godzilla, and the crew of Super Mechagodzilla all felt themselves grow tense.

This ended now.

Kiryu and Mechagodzilla charged toward Super Mechagodzilla, never taking their eyes off each other. The two both knew their human-serving counterpart had them outmatched at a distance, but up close was an entirely different matter. Crashing their shoulders into the bulky robot, sending it staggering back as the crew was shaken in their seats, the more agile machines swung punches toward each other.

The alien war-machine stepped forward, aiming a chop at the cyborg’s neck, only for Kiryu to duck beneath it and bash the top of his head against Mechagodzilla’s chest. The original duplicate of the monster king was forced back a step, but soon retaliated with a kick to the thighs of the cybernetic dragon.

Super Mechagodzilla stomped forward, swinging its blocky fists at its enemies. Kiryu stepped out of the way with expert grace, while Mechagodzilla was nearly shoved off its feet. Throwing its own hands out, the conqueror’s weapon unleashed another volley of missiles at both its foes, giving itself plenty of room as the two were forced away.

Blue streams of Maser energy were joined by thin, yellow streaks of light as the combined fighting machine retaliated, tearing off space titanium plating. The alien Mechagodzilla’s full focus went to Super Mechagodzilla, more missiles and beams being unleashed from both as the two went all out.

The rainbow-colored Space Beams clashed with the Garuda’s laser cannons, throwing wild strands of energy in all directions. Paralyzer Missiles detonated against the Space Finger Missiles in mid-flight, filling the air with a cluster of explosions as the two assaults fought for dominance to reach their respective target. The clashing machines were scourged by the remnants that managed to creep through and connect.

Kiryu stood back, watching and waiting. If he drew their attention now, all of that firepower would be directed at him. Even if he was not battle-damaged, he would be reduced to ash in the wind by such an attack.

The chest panel of Mechagodzilla flipped down, as the Plasma Grenade’s port opened. Rikal’s mind filled with panic as the sensors revealed this. The Cross Attack Ray was powerful, but it would be worthless in a struggle against that attack.

Cutting off all other weapons, the alien war-machine’s rockets flared to life and sent it careening into the air. The tsunami of human weaponry that surged toward it barely missed, though the legs of the extraterrestrial colossus were carved into and left with glowing streaks embedded in. The lightning bolt-esque ray shot out from the ruby on Mechagodzilla’s chest, shredding off one of the Garuda’s cannons with a blast.

Kazuma was jostled in his seat, pain stinging him as the seatbelt dug into his suit.

“Aoki, you good?” Sho’s voice filled the Garuda’s cockpit, concern underlying the terse statement.

“Yeah, rattled, but still good. Gonna take more than that to bring me down.”

“Then let’s meet this bastard in the air.”

Super Mechagodzilla’s thrusters activated as Mechagodzilla continued raining down missiles and eye rays, the GDF machine looking up and replying with its own eye rays. The Garuda’s remaining cannon tilted up, adding its maser to the attack.

The two had been too focused on each other to notice Kiryu had also taken flight, until the cyborg returned to the fight by slamming into Mechagodzilla’s back, propelled to hundreds of miles per hour by his rockets. The alien war-machine was hurled into the rising GDF mech, sending both crashing to the ashen earth.

“Fire Plasma Grenade, now!” Sho managed to shout despite the chaos, stirring his crew into action.

Rikal detected the gathering energy as the front of his foe glowed, giving him the moment he needed to push the machine off the combined defender mech’s front. The Plasma Grenade fired, tearing a chunk out of the alien war-robot’s side.

“Incoming!” Akane shouted as she noticed from one of the scanners Kiryu’s approach, the cyborg rocketing down with an arm drawn back, blade extended. She swiftly activated the Laser Cannons, sending the eye-beams raking across the dragon’s metallic armor.

Kiryu cried out as his flight path was thrown off, sending him careening into the dirt below, twin trenches carved into his metallic hide.

Super Mechagodzilla lifted itself to its feet. The pilots braced themselves to finish off their foes, ignoring the blaring alarms echoing with signals of the damage wracking their metallic warrior.

They were forced to look at them when they grew even more intense with the explosion at their side, the alien Mechagodzilla having fired missiles into Super Mechagodzilla’s side. The combined mech staggered away, shards of metal torn out by the impact. Another strike from behind, as the already recovered Kiryu started slamming punches into his former ally, only made things worse. The alien Mechagodzilla closed the distance, severing the Garuda’s other cannon with a shot of its Space Beams before also beginning to slam its fists against the GDF machine.

Kiryu soared into the air with a flare from his rockets, stomping down on the top of Super Mechagodzilla’s skull. The two glass eyes were fractured, the glow in them dimming as flakes of the material fell away. Landing next to its alien counterpart, Kiryu joined it and unleashed a flurry of physical blows to the machine’s swiftly crumpling torso.

The Paralyzer Missiles came forth in streams once more, forcing the two opposing mechs back a step. Fighting past the detonations crashing against them, both duplicates of the monster king unleashed their respective beams, blasting through the flying bombs and piercing into the shoulder ports they emerged from.

The explosions of the shoulders fully shattered the eyes, the lower jaw cracking. Super Mechagodzilla’s stomach port opened, but before anything could begin charging, Kiryu hand shot forth, shifting into a drill. It tore through the weapon, causing a detonation that began to split metal all throughout the abdomen of the defense weapon.

Sparks erupted from every wall of the cockpit as the pilots panicked and scrambled to do anything to fight back, the alarms only growing more dire. Akane just found herself reflecting on her life as Sho shouted commands that would accomplish nothing.

The cyborg withdrew his drill, which was also chipping apart and coated in burns, then changed it into a badly damaged hand. Mechagodzilla extended a hand, tearing a massive hole in Super Mechagodzilla with a quick volley of missiles. With a gaping wound in its stomach, the combined mech fell to the ground, motionless.

Kiryu and Mechagodzilla walked up to it, staring down for a moment.

Suddenly, their arms clashed between them, their gazes locking onto each other as they tried to physically overpower the other. It seemed they both had similar ideas. Finishing off the GDF machine would be too great of a risk when the other could deliver a sneak attack and take the final victory.

Breaking away from each other, Kiryu thrust up his arms and opened fire with his Rail Guns, aiming them at the damaged armor of the alien machine’s body. Mechagodzilla returned fire with his knee missiles, tearing away metal and revealing wiring beneath the cyborg’s legs.

The two charged, slamming punches into the other’s chest, forcing both to stagger back.

***

Undoing her seat belt, Katherine grabbed hold of her seat to keep herself from falling onto the wall now beneath her. She scanned the cockpit, before speaking. “Sho, Akane, are you both still conscious?”

“Yes, hurt as hell, but yes,” came Sho’s response.

“Same here,” replied Akane, before swiftly contacting Kazuma. “You good, pterodactyl guy?”

No response.

“Shit!” she spat. “They must have knocked him out.”

Sho groaned, rubbing his temple. “I assume from the fact that we’re not dead that those two are busy trying to kill each other now. That’s good, I suppose.”

“Sir, I am so sorry, I would have never thought—”

“Don’t apologize,” Sho cut off Akane. “You were mostly right, we all just didn’t account for the fact that this thing’s firepower could make the two put aside their hatred of each other for the moment it would take them to beat this tin can up.” He paused for a moment. “Katherine, you mind trying to get the cockpit working again, so we can try and salvage this with whatever didn’t get destroyed?”

“Already on it, captain,” came the measured response from the darkness, the blonde android using her advanced physical capabilities to maneuver through the sideways chamber to access the necessary machinery.

“Can she really fix this?” Akane questioned, unsure of just about everything regarding androids.

“Yes, I should be able to. I have the schematics of Super Mechagodzilla downloaded into my hard drive, so any issues present I should be able to fix with the tools inside the repair case in case of a technical issue. Besides, both it and I are built from scavenged Futurian technology.”

“Should?”

***

Kiryu threw the alien Mechagodzilla to the ground, stomping down on its chest. Straddling the alien machine’s stomach, the cyborg began bashing away at the war machine’s cranium, cracking metallic teeth in the process. The chest panel of the conqueror robot opened once more, before it hoisted its upper body up. The Cross Attack Ray shot forth, blazing into Kiryu’s torso and burning another hole into it, sending the cyborg falling backward. Having been torn into by both of his foe’s chest beams made Kiryu’s teeth grind.

As Kiryu got to his feet, metal and wiring fell from his stomach where the beam had connected, revealing the white of a rib beneath. The extraterrestrial destroyer was back up as well, swinging a hard strike across the cybernetic dragon’s face and sending him staggering away. Mechagodzilla’s hands rotated as Rikal pointed them toward Kiryu, intent on delivering a killing blow. This motion swapped out the standard missiles on the hand for a far deadlier set.

The cyborg’s rockets ignited once more, their fuel growing dangerously low as Kiryu surged forward once more. The Revolving Finger Missiles detached and flew, carrying five times the power of the typical missiles. The ghost in a metal shell unleashed his Maser ray and detonated one in mid air, generating a massive explosion as the beam continued and raked down the length of Mechagodzilla’s arm.

The electricity of the stream lashed out, washing over the already loaded missiles on the alien robot’s hand, its instant reload for once serving as a harm. In a flash of steel and smoke, the hand was gone.

***

Rikal yelled in anguish, his own hand feeling like it had been scorched. It was not a mere placebo effect, the machinery encircling the hand had suddenly grown immensely hot for a brief moment before shutting down. Smoke rose from it, the filtration technology of the control chamber keeping the warlord from suffocating.

“My lord!” He heard Hosuke shout. “Retreat and get—“

“Silence, or I will have you sentenced for treason! A true warrior welcomes pain, and a true patriot lives for the chance to suffer for their devotion!”

***

Kiryu landed just before his target, ignoring the colossal wound in his own side from where one of the empowered missiles had struck. Metal felt no pain, and the soul within had already known what it was like to have one’s very flesh and organs be dissolved away from the bone.

The Cross Attack Ray’s hatch opened once more, but Kiryu was prepared, his damaged hand swinging forth as it transformed into the drill. The ruby was shattered by the spinning point, the energy spraying out wildly until it caused a small explosion. Smoke rose from the firing mechanism as Mechagodzilla back pedaled.

Rikal let loose a war cry befitting a berserker as he charged forward, hand of the conqueror’s tool swinging in a chop toward Kiryu’s face. It cracked an eye, but the cyborg merely replied by grabbing the hand before igniting his thrusters. A quick burst lifted him off his feet and spun him around, Mechagodzilla in tow before he released and sent the alien mech flying away. The space titanium construct bounced across the ground until it finally came to a stop.

The spirit inhabiting a war-machine began to charge his energy, the spines running down his back glowing as the beam in his mouth sparked to life. The alien warrior of steel got to its feet, channeling power to its eyes. The Twin Maser Cannon collided with the Space Beams, forming a brilliant light show as the conflicting energies collided. Once, the extraterrestrial Mechagodzilla had almost been destroyed by its eye rays colliding with another beam, but modifications and upgrades to the design ensured it could hold on during a contest like this. Neither beam budged as they struggled against the other, urging both parties to surge further power.

***

The room was filled with red light once more, a dim luminance that still required one to squint their eyes to see inside. Sho did not care at all about the lack of brightness, responding to the shift with a confident laugh.

“Katherine, you’re a miracle worker!” He congratulated the android as she got back into her seat, attaching her seatbelt as if she didn’t sit sideways.

“Wires were knocked loose by the explosions on each of the unit’s shoulders, rendering the cockpit useless. They were simple to reattach, though I must warn that we are dangerously low on power regardless,” she rattled off, showing no outward reaction to the compliment. It was not that she did not care about it, such things were simply deemed too unimportant to address in a situation like this.

“So, finish this quickly. Gotcha,” Sho replied, before speaking to Akane, “Any ideas?”

The pilot pondered this for a moment, before giving an answer. “First, can you get us back upright? Being completely sideways is starting to hurt my neck.” As the mech’s thrusters slowly hummed to life, on the minimum power needed to get them airborne, Akane continued. “The G-Crushers would be our best bet if we can get them in a hole on both of them.”

“Katherine, thoughts?” Sho questioned the artificial human, clearly trusting her judgement.

“Both Mechagodzilla and Kiryu are badly damaged, landing the weapons should not be an issue. The electricity should at least deal heavy damage to both, even if the weapon’s original intent involved nothing relating to other machines.”

“And Kiryu’s original purpose wasn’t to go haywire and have the old G’s soul in him. Let’s do this!” The captain replied with gusto.

***

Super Mechagodzilla shuddered as it landed on its feet. Despite the damaged eyes, the pilots within could still see the world. They soon discovered their two rivals, stuck in place as they tried to overwhelm the other.

“Perfect!”

Lifting its arms to point them toward the two, the artificial guardian shot hooks attached to cables from its wrists. They soared through the air, unwavering as the distance closed. They landed with perfect accuracy into holes on their sides, shredding into wiring and embedding themselves into metal. With the flip of a switch, intense electricity coursed through the steel cables, flowing down into the two machines in a matter of seconds.

Kiryu and Mechagodzilla tried to deal with the G-Crushers, but were too focused on keeping the reverse tug-of-war from going toward them, leaving them wide open when the shock came. The beam struggle spasmed and dissolved as both thrashed and shook. Garbled screams of artificial agony tore from their speakers, glitching and warping.

Rikal felt like he was being shocked. The control machinery had not been built with failure in account, that much was becoming clear. He struggled, trying to get his working hand in the right position to sever the cables with a volley of projectiles, but he would never get the chance.

The alien Mechagodzilla was a walking munitions factory. Missiles were generated inside and supplied to the various firing ports via chains, ensuring it would never be short on ammo. But a munitions factory only needed one spark in the wrong place to send the entire thing sky high.

Electricity designed to burst Godzilla’s secondary brain ignited an internal missile, starting a swift but brutal chain reaction as Mechagodzilla was consumed in a colossal explosion. Space Titanium shards flew in all directions, a burst of shrapnel which found itself embedded in anything nearby. The G-Crusher anchor was obliterated in the explosion, Kiryu being consumed by the wall of smoke that rushed out.

***

Rikal let loose a throat-tearing scream of purest agony, before falling unconscious. The machinery around him exploded with sparks and smoke, lacerating and burning his limp body.

“Get him out of there, now!” Hosuke yelled to his subordinates, who immediately rushed to pry open the door of the chamber to free their commander.

***

“Both G-Crushers severed, sir!” Akane revealed.

“One of the pieces of shrapnel must have severed the one attached to Kiryu. Can we get any sign of that thing, is it still active?!”

With a digitized roar that sounded like the roar of the original Godzilla run through so many filters it became almost unrecognizable, Kiryu flew out from the smoke, rockets on their last usage as the flames dimmed further with each moment. Space titanium daggers were embedded into its armor, sending more metal and artificial innards falling away to reveal the bone beneath.

“Fire, Fire!” Sho commanded, activating everything he could on the control panel before him.

“We can’t, all we have left is the Mega-Buster and we need to gather more power for it!”

Kiryu’s rockets shut down, sending his body careening into his earlier version. The combined mech held, feet dragging through the ash. Super Mechagodzilla pulled back a fist, crashing it into the cyborg’s skull. Metal was torn away with a hellacious screech, revealing the skull beneath. Kiryu’s wrist blade shot up, driving itself into the joint of the GDF mech’s arm. The dagger cracked down its length as the arm was then grabbed and torn off by the dragon’s other hand.

Tossing it aside, Kiryu turned in place, slamming his tail into the demolished stomach of his foe, revealing a vast cluster of wiring and machinery as the steel was sheared away. Super Mechagodzilla’s foot shot up as fast as it could, tearing into Kiryu’s ruined torso. More ribs were revealed, the bottom set alongside the edge of the sternum.

The cyborg’s drill spun to life, tearing itself apart with each spin. He thrust it into the guardian’s newest wound, shredding apart the innards. The drill exploded inside, ruining Super Mechagodzilla’s inner workings further with the shards of steel flying around within.

Akane, Sho, and even Katherine panicked as their mech fell backward, the legs rendered useless. A cloud of ash and soot flew up, enshrouding the GDF warrior as Kiryu stepped forward. He walked to his foe’s side, wrist blade primed and ready. He rose it high, ready to bury it inside the cockpit and end their lives now.

But, the arm did not fall.

Akane was inside. The one light of his dark existence, the human he had chosen to spare. To kill her would haunt his spirit into the beyond. But he needed to destroy it, to ensure the GDF could not defeat him! Yet he could not thrust his arm down, no matter how hard his mind demanded it to do so.

***

He emerged from the waters of the Tokyo Bay, igniting the old memories of when he was still alive. Taking a step onto dry land, he watched and waited as tanks and jets rolled out to meet him, holding fire until he displayed aggression. Despite the red glow of his eyes, he bore no intention to destroy.

As a display of fealty, he shut down, sending his water-logged body falling limply to the ground. When the teams of people eventually entered the cyborg’s form, eventually reaching the cockpit, they found a message upon the screen.

***

“I can’t believe he returned!” Akane stated in disbelief as she gazed up at the colossus in the hanger bay.

“Guess the ocean was just too boring for him, huh?” Replied a man who’s name Kiryu did not know. “Can’t blame him, I guess, and if he wants to keep helping us, who am I to turn him away?”

The pilot stepped forward, placing a hand on the metal of his foot. “You were supposed to rest, to pass on. What happened?”

She… cared about him. Did not merely respond to his return with joy at a weapon, but with concern of his refusal to have the rest he had sought for.

“Well, they said they found a message on his main screen when they got inside.” The man continued. “It said, ‘I refuse to lay down and rot once more. You wish to make me a warrior, and so I shall do so, to avoid the prison of my mind which torments me with visions of a life I can no longer have.’”

Akane just turned back to Kiryu, looking up with an expression of mixed emotion that, even from his lofty vantage point, the cyborg knew was filled with pain and sorrow.

***

The only person to care for him was now his foe. What did revenge accomplish? Had he not learned this lesson long ago, that it was nothing more than a worthless source of anguish and misery and only led to a hollow heart? He waged war with his last friend in the world for the sake of avenging a race long dead.

***

Akane just stared at him, speechless. She held the switch to tilt Super Mechagodzilla’s head toward Kiryu, cringing at the grinding of metal as it did so. The cyborg continued to remain motionless, arm held high to deliver a killing blow that would never come. Her finger landed on the button to fire the Mega-Buster, but she could not press it. Tears began to well up and drop from her eyes. She knew what she had to do, but she could not find the strength to do so.

A hand touched her shoulder, making her jump slightly until she realized it was Katherine. “I know this must be heartbreaking, but it must be done,” the artificial human said in a surprisingly sweet and calm tone.

“I take it that Sho got knocked out?” Akane asked, deflecting the subject for a moment. She received a nod in reply, then steeled herself. At any point, the android could have just pushed it for her, but Katherine just kept her hand on Akane’s shoulder in support.

This was something she needed to do, no one else.

Swallowing, then wiping a hand across her face to dry the falling tears, Akane pressed the button.

Super Mechagodzilla’s lower jaw creaked open, nearly falling off its hinge. The rainbow-colored ray shot out, crashing into the base of Kiryu’s skull. Metal was shredded and bone was cracked and blackened. The Mega Buster continued washing over its target, soon destroying the very skull itself.

***

He watched them play in the luscious fields, his offspring alongside those of the rest of the herd. The sun shone overhead, casting warm light over all on the island, the waters surrounding them twinkling beautifully. Their calls and chirps brought joy to his reptilian heart, as did the presence of his mate. The mother of his offspring nuzzled against him, and he did so in return. All was well.

There was a sound, a great blast.

The herd of colossal, bipedal reptiles, dinosaurs from an age long forgotten, turned around to see a rising smoke cloud in the distance. It was massive, even from so far away. Their spines clattered as they scrambled to get closer to try and get a better look, but he stayed back. All he knew was that if that had been closer to them, the results on the herd could have been catastrophic. They could have all been killed, including his children and mate!

The thought of losing them, of a life they were no longer part of, sent chills down his body. He held his family tighter, then began to move back toward the nests. Keeping them close made the fear in his heart dwindle, bringing him peace in the here and now instead of being lost in fearful hypotheticals.

***

Kiryu, now decapitated, collapsed. His long life, which often felt like an eternity, was at an end.

Akane broke down crying, letting rivers of tears flow down her cheeks as it all sank in. Katherine knew she could do little to comfort her in such dire distress, this was once more something Akane would need to get through on her own. The android was confident she could. The pilot was no stranger to loss and anguish, and every time she would rise back up and continue going. This would be no different at the end of the day. With that, the artificial human moved to contact help, to recover the body of Super Mechagodzilla.

***

“I failed, I am worthless, I am nothing, I—” Rikal silently moaned.

“Give him another dose of sedatives, he does not need to be conscious until his mind’s recovered,” Hosuke commanded a medical expert.

The pure white walls of the room and of the bed contrasted with the black-furred patient, who writhed and twisted as he was put under by the tube of liquid flowing into his bloodstream.

Hosuke breathed in deeply, trying to collect himself and remain calm.

He failed.

“Goddamnit!” He shouted, bashing a fist against the wall. “Another Mechagodzilla destroyed by these fucking humans! Seventy-three thousand tons worth of Space Titanium, isotopes, and explosives all gone in an instant because of beings who haven’t even left their star system!”

The doctors and nurses in the room shrank back at the outburst. They tried to focus on Rikal, ensuring he was not awakened by this.

“I am taking control now, Rikal. You can kick and scream at me all you want when you wake up, but this is fruitless,” he said to the comatose body with rage dripping off each word. “I am taking our race and finding a world without civilization so that we do not go extinct trying to avenge your moronic father. This world is not worth it, I do not care if admitting that is a disservice to our race.”

Hosuke stormed out of the room, still breathing heavily. “If you were not my nephew, I’d have had them put poison in those goddamn IVs…” He whispered to himself.

***

Akane leaned on the railing of the platform, overlooking a colossus of a headless skeleton, metal and wires intertwined all around it. Crews worked to sever the steel plating, cutting wires and pulling forth the inner workings.

“How are you holding up?” Sho spoke, approaching from behind and standing next to the lieutenant. One of his arms was in a sling, a patch on the side of his head revealing where he had been struck when the final impact knocked him from his seat.

“Shouldn’t you be in a hospital bed?” Akane quipped, getting a chuckle from her fellow pilot.

“Too boring. I’ve been hit worse, I’ll be fine.”

There was a moment of silence, the only noise being the industrial grinding of metal shearing away metal, before Akane spoke again. “I’ll be fine too… I’m no stranger to loss, I suppose.”

Sho tried to think of something to say, but could not. He was used to having to speak to people who had lost a comrade in battle, or needing to speak to the recently widowed, but never had he spoken with someone who had been forced to kill said comrade.

“We’ll always be here for you. I wish I could say more, but you’ll always have people to support you.” Was what he eventually decided on saying. “Losing a best friend is like losing a family member, I know that firsthand.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Another moment of tense, dreadful silence. Sho didn’t like silence, even though he could tell the mood was lifting slightly. “Kazuma’s doing fine too, by the way. Bit banged up, but not even as bad off as me. He’s probably already tormenting some poor nurse with pterodactyl facts.” He laughed, getting some laughter from Akane as well.

“I assume Katherine’s fine as well?”

“Yeah, she’s probably in sleep mode somewhere getting the dents buffed out. She could have fallen out of her seat like me and not cared.”

Akane looked back at Kiryu’s remains, as they pulled a colossal generator out from the machine’s chest. More silence followed. “At least he’s at peace. That’s all I can ask for.”

Kuroki nodded, before turning away. The GDF had been weakened and forever changed, but it was still here. Still here to protect humanity, from the threats that descended from the stars or ascended from the depths of the earth.

He stole a glance back at Kiryu’s corpse.

They also defended humanity from itself, it seemed.

Winner: Mechagodzilla (Heisei)