Author: Christian Salabert | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

The news had taken the world by storm.

The genetics corporation known as BioMajor promised that it meant the end of world hunger, of ungrowable crops and barren wastelands, unable to produce food for the starving masses. Their miraculous creation was a new breed of plant that could be crossbred with countless other species, allowing them to grow in any new environment, no matter how uninhabitable. Naturally, people praised BioMajor and their newfound ability to feed the world.

The plant was called Biollante.

But not everyone shared the enthusiasm over BioMajor’s new creation. Others criticized and questioned it, concerned about what exactly they were doing and how they were doing it. The corporation had been exposed for using questionable, even unethical, methods in the past for their previous projects, and thus it was believed that they were doing the same thing once again. The most telling clue being that they gave no specifics of their new breed of plant. Not how they created it, nor how it was able to breed with essentially all other species, nothing. BioMajor hid behind the defense of corporate secrets, of course. They claimed that if they shared such information, then their competitors could breed their own Biollantes, making BioMajor’s original creation irrelevant. But with the company’s already shady history, people viewed their lack of transparency as far more suspicious than they would’ve otherwise. As increasingly more inquiries came, BioMajor became more and more aggressive in their responses.

By the time allegations of ties to Saradia came, the corporation stopped responding entirely.

For some time, BioMajor was quiet, continuing their work on Biollante in silence. But before long, they announced a big public event. Hosted in front of their corporate headquarters in Tokyo, they would finally reveal Biollante to the world, celebrating its release into the wild in various strategic locations in the upcoming weeks. Unfortunately, things did not exactly go according to plan. As soon as they unveiled their world-changing creation to the gathered crowd, the plant began to… react. What started as a large potted plant suddenly started to warp and twist and grow, bursting out of its container, sending people screaming as it began to reach out and flourish exponentially with seemingly no reason for it. Roots and vines ensnared everything… and everyone… in sight. By nightfall, the entire BioMajor HQ building was covered in vines. In forty eight hours, two whole districts had been enshrouded.

In less than a week, all of Tokyo had been overtaken by Biollante.

The Japanese Self-Defense Force retaliated, of course. They sent in soldiers armed with flamethrowers to eradicate the vines, then tanks, but they couldn’t inflict the needed amount of damage upon the thick foliage to make any progress. They tried an air strike next, but before the jets could even drop their payload, a series of vines detached from the buildings they ensnared and lashed out, knocking the fighters out of the sky. Realizing that brute force was not the answer to stopping Biollante, several of the world’s greatest minds were consulted. Yamane, Shiragami, Ijuin, Yoshizawa, Takiguchi, Yoshiwara, Kagaku… They all knew that merely removing Biollante’s vines wasn’t going to solve anything. They would have to strike at the plant’s source and destroy its roots if they were to effectively eradicate it.

Unfortunately, even as the brilliant scientists came together to formulate a plan to uproot the plant, something happened that made them realize they wouldn’t have the time to execute any strategy they came up with.

* * * * *

The disturbance in Tokyo Bay was first spotted as the water began to bubble and boil. Soon the surface began to turn red, as if blood was somehow being released into the waves. News helicopters that were already on the scene reporting on Biollante quickly turned their attention to this new phenomenon, each trying to report the story before the other. The aircraft buzzed around the blood as it increased in radius within the bay. Unfortunately, none of them were prepared for what happened next.

A massive, black length–resembling either a tentacle or a tail, with what seemed to be a haunting, skull-like “face” at the end of it–burst up from beneath the waves. It was a few hundred meters in length, towering high into the sky. The helicopters panicked as they tried to avoid the mysterious limb, but most of them weren’t fast enough. The tentacle-thing smashed through several of the choppers, leaving only one left to witness the rest plummet into the waves as burning wreckage.

After a short time, the thing began to move. It lowered itself and floated atop the water. A ways in front of it, closer to the shore, three rows of jagged, leaf-like objects pierced the surface, sending water spilling down them. They were clearly connected to something beneath them, but what exactly that was could not be seen. Whatever it was, it began to venture forward, as the three rows and initial lengthy limb began to move towards the city. They moved fast; too fast to react properly. A military vessel, which had been stationed there to help keep an eye on Biollante, found itself in their way and was badly gouged as the spikes passed directly through it. The ship was damaged, setting off its ammunition and causing the whole thing to erupt into a ball of fire.

A pained howl erupted from beneath the waves.

From underneath the burning wreckage, a hulking, monstrous form began to lift itself up from the depths of the bay. Water, wreckage, and ignited oil poured off the back of an enormous creature as it rose from beneath the surface, straightening up to an unbelievable height. For a moment, the beast simply stood there, obscured by the smoke and fire. But as it eventually stepped out of the obscuring conflagration, it revealed a hideous monster that mankind had not laid eyes upon in over half a century.

With a harrowing roar, Godzilla announced its return to Japan.

Moving its massive legs, the vaguely reptilian creature made its way towards the shore, stepping up onto the harbor, crushing the pavement beneath its clawed feet. Slowly but surely, Godzilla made its way towards the city, but quickly came upon the edge of Biollante’s vines. For a moment, the nuclear abomination paused, sensing something… familiar about the greenery. Strange thoughts and emotions began to stir within the creature’s primitive mind. Finally though, the beast pushed such things aside and advanced, crushing vines beneath its feet.

Immediately, the vegetation began to move, withdrawing and shying away from the stomping footsteps. Onward Godzilla marched, its thick legs taking it further and further into Tokyo, the vines parting like the Red Sea as the monster approached them. The monster wasn’t quite sure what was driving it on like this, what instinct it seemed to be following. It just knew that something was waiting for it in the center of the metropolis and that, whatever it was, it had to find it.

* * * * *

“Mosura…”

Upon hearing the call, the blue, gem-like eyes of the Goddess of Infant Island began to alight. Slowly, her palps and antennae began to move as the enormous insect awoke from her long slumber, life returning to her fur-covered form. Looking around, the deity known as Mothra took in her surroundings; she lay inside her temple, deep within the bowels of the island itself. Focusing and reaching out with her mind, she soon became one with the Shobijin. Within seconds, she knew why she was awake. With a sharp cry, she acknowledged her priestesses and flexed her wings, testing them. They were as strong as ever, generating powerful winds within the cave. With a strong flap, Mothra lifted herself into the air, high off her pedestal. Higher and higher she rose with every flap of her wings, approaching the open ceiling to her temple. Soon, her wings took her high into the cloudless sky of her island home, allowing her to look over her domain.

The lepidopteran goddess knew what had to be done and knew where she needed to be. It had been countless years since this particular beast had threatened the Earth, but with him on his way back, she knew she had to do everything she could to stop him. Taking a moment to sense and pinpoint her target, Mothra tilted her head upwards and gave her wings another powerful flap, the motion sending the enormous moth shooting even higher into the sky, speeding like a rocket, heading into the stratosphere.

* * * * *

Death. Swift, merciless death was on its way to Earth. And none of its people were even aware of it.

Six cold eyes stared ahead as they drew closer and closer to the blue and green planet below. The three heads the eyes belonged to let out a low, warbling sound, communicating with one another. Anchored to the same body, they could all feel the same desire. The same need. The need for destruction. For torment. To arrive on the planet and prove itself the ultimate being. And, beyond that, a more primal, practical hunger for sustenance. At any rate, the multi-headed beast knew that, whatever his needs were, the planet he was approaching could provide it all. He had been there before.

King Ghidorah would remind the Earth why it once feared him.

The shining glow of the planet began to engulf the golden dragon as he drew nearer to it. Soon, the murderous beast began to enter the Earth’s mesosphere, oxygen starting to fill his lungs. Reaching and traveling through a nearby group of Polar mesospheric clouds, the Three-Headed Monster grinned in anticipation, ready to inflict all kinds of hellish suffering onto the planet below. It didn’t matter who Ghidorah came across; this time the golden Titan would emerge victorious. Already, his mere presence was starting to warp the clouds around him, charging the air itself with electricity.

With another flap of his massive wings, the creature the humans once called Monster Zero emerged from the bottom of the clouds. With a cackle, he announced his arrival to the Earth–

–And the fact that his call was immediately answered took the Titan by surprise!

Before the ancient dragon could react, something slammed into his torso head-first, knocking the evil beast for a loop and sending him sprawling through the air. Though startled by the unexpected attack, a mere flap of his wings was able to stabilize him and correct his position. Stretching his wings out to their full size and snarling angrily with his three heads, King Ghidorah let out a cry of death at his foolish attacker!

Similarly unfurling her wings, Mothra let out a sharp cry of defiance at the King of Terror!

For a brief moment, the foul Titan was surprised to see the beast in front of him. He’d faced this creature before. The Queen. Eons ago, along with her King. He thought he’d eradicated her from existence. Narrowing his eyes, the dragon’s right head glared at her, thinking. His eyes widened with realization and he turned, cackling at his two brothers. They heard what he said and realized he was right–this wasn’t the queen, at least not the same one they faced before. She was much larger. Her colors and markings were different. Ghidorah’s center head snarled. It didn’t matter whether this was the old queen or a new one. She had still made the grave mistake of attacking the One Who is Many, and for that, she would die. More and more storm clouds began to form around the golden beast as he prepared to destroy this winged creature before him. With a piercing, unearthly cry, King Ghidorah told this strange new queen that her existence was at an end.

It wasn’t the first time an evil beast had threatened Mothra’s life. With a flap of her wings, she took off like a shot, lunging towards the invader at surprising speed. The ancient Titan had no time to react before the massive insect slammed into him once again, sending the dragon careening back through the atmosphere as she pushed against him. Though he may have been taken by surprise, Ghidorah was quick to react, reaching down with his three heads, his jaws snapping at Mothra’s face and wings. Finally latching on, he managed to pull her away and toss her aside.

Righting herself, the goddess lunged in again, striking at Ghidorah’s central face with her claws, slashing at his scaly skin. The first few scratches from the moth elicited a screech of pain and when his two outer heads came in to attack her, the buffeting winds from her wings made it hard to get near her. As its head began curling its lip in rage, Ghidorah’s middle neck began to fill and pulsate with a golden light. Like a blinding, searing uppercut, Mothra was knocked back hard from the evil Titan as a gravity beam escaped from his center head’s mouth, blasting her away. Thankfully, she recovered quickly, putting some distance between her and her foe in preparation for another potential blast.

With an angry cackle, Ghidorah did indeed fire another golden bolt at the queen. This one nearly hit its target, but Mothra was able to narrowly avoid it. Snarling in frustration, the golden serpent began to give chase, flapping his wings and soaring after the massive insect. The guardian called out towards the destroyer, as if egging him on. As the evil Titan continued after her, the colossal moth began to focus, letting her wings vibrate. Energy began to pulsate from them as they began to shed their scales, leaving a trail of them for Ghidorah to fly through.

The Devil with Three Heads began to hiss and snarl as the sizzling scales burned all around him, enraging him further. Emerging from the cloud of scales, a blast of light escaped the beast’s central mouth as he spat out another gravity beam. Rolling to the side, Mothra managed to avoid the attack, but Ghidorah quickly followed up with two more beams from his outer heads, firing them on either side of the queen and swinging them inward. She let out a cry of pain as these two blasts hit home, momentarily knocking her out of her flight path, the fur on her back singed and smoking.

Shaking her head and regaining her wits, Mothra flapped her wings and pulled herself out of free fall, nearly hitting the water but zooming across its surface instead. Following close behind, the merciless dragon let out gravity beam after gravity beam, each golden bolt piercing the ocean’s surface as Mothra swerved from side to side, sending waves and clouds of steam into the sky. Up ahead, the deity spotted an island covered in jagged mountains. Grabbing the air with her wings once again, she sent herself soaring towards the mass of land. Ghidorah was close behind, sending geysers into the air each time his beams struck the sea.

Soon Mothra reached the island’s shores, speeding ahead and flying inland. The island, known as Adonoa to humanity, was a desolate place, devoid of any real signs of life. But its rocky mountains could allow the guardian a chance to regroup, to strike out at the King of Terror once again. Lowering herself and hiding among the mountains, Mothra waited for Monster Zero to get closer. Searching for the insect, the evil dragon let his golden blasts rain down from the sky, hoping to flush her out. The terrain was torn asunder. Mountains were blown to pieces. Clouds of dirt began to blow about and mix with his storm, making it nearly impossible to spot the new queen.

Mothra, however, had a perfect vantage point of the tyrannical Titan as he made his way across the island, completely hidden from sight. She watched as Ghidorah grew unwittingly closer and closer… Springing into the air, she attacked! Speeding towards the dragon, she pierced the veil of black clouds and got up close in his three faces, distracting him with swipes from her claws as she once again began to unleash her scales from her wings. Monster Zero snarled angrily as the golden particles began to swirl and swarm around his heads, his middle throat pulsating with light. His center head opened its jaws and let out another blinding blast, this one aimed directly between his foe’s shining blue eyes. As soon as Ghidorah let the alien energy escape his mouth, Mothra flapped hard, sending herself hurling backwards and away from the dragon. The gravity beam ignited the crackling scales floating all around the Golden Terror, resulting in an explosion that engulfed the Titan’s upper torso. Dropping from the sky like a rock, Ghidorah hit the ground hard, sending a cloud of dirt high into the air as his impact shook the entire island.

The right head was the first to recover his wits, nudging and snapping at his brothers in order to stir them out of their stupor. The left and middle heads quickly recuperated and together the three of them glared up into the sky. Mothra, though still visible, had already put a good amount of distance between the two of them. Ghidorah snarled. He knew he’d be able to catch up with her, but it might take some time. Pulling himself up to his feet, dirt and rocks spilling from his burnt golden hide, the dragon spread his majestic wings and flapped, sending him up into the sky, chasing after the strange new queen who stood against him.

Down below on Adonoa, the island was left in shambles due to the two creatures’ brief yet violent clash. The land was torn and burnt. Where proud, tall mountains once stood, now only piles of rubble remained.

But they weren’t all that remained.

The destruction caused by Ghidorah and Mothra had resulted in not only the island’s terrain being decimated, but also in the unearthing and exposure of Adonoa’s many subterranean caverns. And while most of these underground pockets were empty, one cavern in particular was not. One of them was inhabited by an ancient, prehistoric beast that had lain dormant for a great many years. But now that beast was awake, thanks to the battle that had devastated its island home. As Adonoa Island’s soil began to buckle and quake, a red, reptilian form began to push its way up from underneath the ground…

* * * * *

Godzilla continued on, forcing its way through several buildings, reducing them to rubble. Its lazily swaying tail demolished multiple structures as it passed through them and the claws on its feet ripped roots that hadn’t retreated deep enough yet out of the ground. Leaving a trail of destruction behind it, Godzilla finally stopped upon coming face to face with a certain building–BioMajor HQ. Of course, the creature was completely oblivious to the identity of the structure it faced, nor did it care, but it was still capable of sensing something off about the building. Even its primitive mind could feel that it was the source of all the strange plant life that had overtaken this territory. Ultimately, however, to Godzilla, this building was no different than any other. Marching forward, the beast’s powerful legs forced the monster through the corporate headquarters, turning it into wreckage. The vines that had been wrapped around the building collapsed to the streets below.

Even though the building was gone, the colossus could still feel the strange urge. The mysterious, metaphorical siren song that had drawn the beast to this place to begin with. But although the mutant beast still felt curiosity, or at least the closest thing to curiosity its brain could muster, it also felt frustration. Whatever was calling to the monster, it could not see it, and thus there was nothing to be done about it. Ultimately, it decided to move on from this place.

But just as Godzilla’s feet began to march through the devastated remains of BioMajor, the ground began to shake. The vines that covered the city began to mobilize, lashing out and striking its black hide. The creature cried out as they lashed against its mutated flesh like whips, leaving wounds. Others began to snake around and lasso its arms and legs, tugging on its limbs. Godzilla let out a roar of confusion and defiance as it struggled to resist the tendrils’ pull. But their numbers proved too great and the atomic beast stumbled forward as they tugged.

More tendrils attacked, but unlike the previous ones, these were tipped with sharp, devastating thorns. Godzilla let out a series of pained screams as several of these thorns pierced its armor-like skin, drawing blood. The leviathan pulled and thrashed, but the vines had too firm of a grip on it. Realizing that its physical strength alone wouldn’t be enough to break free, Godzilla lifted its tail into the air and curled it towards itself, its primitive mind doing its best to concentrate. As the vines continued to stab and ensnare their prey, its dorsal spines suddenly began to alight with an ominous purple glow. The light began to travel down the back as more and more of the protrusions lit up, traveling down its tail until the very tip of the limb itself began to glow. More and more vines ensnared the reptile’s body, wrapping around its neck and snout, tying its mouth shut. As the tendrils finally started to become too much for Godzilla and began to pull its body down towards the ground, a hum filled the air as the glowing within the monster’s tail intensified.

With a shriek and a flash of light, a purple atomic beam blasted from the skeletal “mouth” on the end of Godzilla’s tail. Like a hot knife through butter, the beam burnt and sliced through countless vines in a single swipe. Immediately, the flora began to withdraw, but it was no use; they were too intricately wrapped around their target, and the creature’s beam tore through them too quickly, sending cut, burning vines falling to the street. Godzilla’s tail swept around wildly, slicing through vine and building alike, until finally enough of them had been removed that the monster was able to simply pull itself upright, with its sharp spines ripping through what few tendrils its beam had missed. Now free, Godzilla watched as the vines retreated, disappearing into the far corners of the city. The creature took a moment to breathe. The threat seemed to be gone, but it was best to wait and make sure before letting its guard down.

A golden bolt of lightning struck the street, sending sparks and flame into the air as it swept across the ground in front of Godzilla, leaving a trail of scorched pavement in its wake. The sudden blast caused the monstrous beast to rear back in surprise, very nearly toppling but managing to stay upright thanks to its tail. Craning its head back, the mutant gazed upwards to see where the bolt had come from.

Spiraling out of control, Mothra fell from the stormy sky at a nearly forty five degree angle. Her left hindwing was smoking, having suffered a hit from one of the Tyrant King’s gravity beams. As Godzilla watched, the Goddess of Infant Island’s descent was brought to a sudden and violent end as she crashed into a nearby building, smashing it into pieces, covering the insect with dust and concrete. Cackling evilly, King Ghidorah flapped his wings, stabilizing himself as he approached the ground.

Reaching out with his talons, he set foot in the plant-covered Tokyo, his claws sinking down into the pavement. Dark clouds churned overhead, the occasional bolt of lightning escaping. Thunder filled the air. Although he planned on closing in and finishing off the new queen, the dragon’s six eyes soon fell upon a new target. Their lips snarled in recognition as they glared at Godzilla. The three heads turned and faced one another, chittering to each other. As with the queen, this reptilian beast was familiar. The Rival. It had to be. But also like the queen, this rival was different. A descendant, perhaps? Either way, Ghidorah would not let it live. Springing into action, clawing the ground with his wings, Monster Zero charged forward, screeching in fury.

Godzilla showed no reaction to this new arrival, not initially perceiving it to be a threat. Unfortunately, this proved to be a mistake. It had no time to react before King Ghidorah smashed into it, sending the reptilian creature sprawling onto its back. Godzilla roared in confusion as it tried to collect its wits–why had this new beast suddenly attacked it? The black monster began swinging its tail, but Ghidorah flapped his wings and leapt into the air, avoiding the lengthy limb before crashing down onto and standing on the leviathan’s chest. The mutant squealed at the sudden weight before the dragon’s left and right heads began snapping and biting at it, their teeth gashing Godzilla’s flesh. Flexing his talons, the evil Titan sank them into his victim’s chest, eliciting a howl of pain from the creature.

As the mutated colossus raised its head to roar at its attacker, Ghidorah’s middle head responded by spitting forth a golden gravity blast. Nanoseconds before the beam hit, protective membranes closed down over Godzilla’s eyes, saving them from vaporization as the bolt hit point blank and slammed its head back down against the pavement. The unnatural creature let out a pained cry as the energy burned against its face and surged through its body, causing it to spasm. Bringing its tail forward, it slammed the powerful limb against its attacker’s back, but the alien beast barely even felt the blow as it continued to unleash its blast into Godzilla’s face. Finally, the mutant monster let its neck go limp, its head laying back against the ground. Similarly, its tail fell and lay still atop the street.

Beneath their protective membranes, Godzilla’s eyes rolled back into its head. The creature began to focus its power and gather its strength. Ghidorah noticed the lack of movement from the new rival and decided that it was either dead or too weak and injured to move. It must’ve been decidedly weaker than the old rival, but he certainly wasn’t going to complain. Raising his three heads into the sky, the Titan began to let out an elongated, unearthly cry, declaring his victory against the strange beast. Unfortunately, with his heads pointed skyward, he couldn’t see Godzilla’s mouth open, its lower jaw splitting down the middle. Generating an intense heat deep within itself, the leviathan forced it up its throat and out of its mouth, unleashing a cloud of searing hot black smoke. This smoke quickly engulfed King Ghidorah like a fog, causing the dragon to cry out in pain and confusion, looking down at the foe he thought he’d beaten.

Before the alien dragon could act further, the smoke pouring from Godzilla’s throat ignited, turning into a stream of hellish flames. He screamed as the fire washed over him, searing and charring his scales. Flapping his wings, the golden destroyer flew back, trying to put as much distance between the flame-belching beast and himself as he could. But the fire followed Ghidorah, flowing like water, and it was already starting to burn away at his wings. Desperately, the golden Titan unleashed gravity beams from all three heads, blasting Godzilla and sending it skidding backwards across the pavement, shocking the creature as it went. Flame continued to pour from the mutant’s mouth as Ghidorah’s beams sent it back, its dorsal fins cutting through the street until the monster collided with a row of buildings behind it. The impact brought them down and crushed the colossus beneath, covering it in rubble. The debris quickly ignited and burned due to the black beast’s breath, entombing it in flames.

The Three-Headed Demon narrowed his six eyes as he watched the pile of rubble burn. Godzilla’s legs and tail stuck out from underneath the debris, the latter lashing from side to side. The dragon watched as the tail’s movements began to slow. Snarling, Ghidorah prepared to close in and finish his foe off once and for all, when suddenly a purple ray shot out of the burning wreckage and struck the center of the dragon’s chest. The Titan let out a screech of pain and took a step backwards, but within seconds the purple beam had burned through his tough skin and completely pierced out his back, shooting off into the sky. He tried to back away, but the ray just kept coming, searing his flesh as it lanced through his body.

Without warning, the beam’s trajectory changed, sweeping upward and slicing through Ghidorah’s central neck, dissecting flesh and bone alike. The stormbringer’s left and right heads thrashed about violently, screaming in agony as their brother was cut up the middle, the severed, bleeding sides now hanging uselessly against his chest. As the golden dragon recoiled in untold pain, chunks of flaming concrete fell away as Godzilla pulled itself up from the rubble and onto its feet. Now standing once again, the mutant paused, surveying the matter with a seemingly blank stare. Such a fatal blow would suppress its foe’s assault, if only for the time being. And in such a state, it would be unwise to press on; but for Ghidorah, no such option was given.

A loud, sharp trill resonated from the sky above, Mothra swooping in and tackling the xanthic hydra on his back. The dragon screamed out in pain-fueled confusion as the lepidopteran clawed at the gold scales, battering him with her wings. The extraterrestrial’s two remaining heads let out their gravity beams in a panic, their crazed state causing them to miss their target entirely, allowing the blasts to displace the foundations of the skyscrapers and bring them to the ground under their immense weight.

Beating her majestic wings, Mothra began to shed her scales once again, eliciting agonized cries from the dragon as they touched and burned the exposed innards of his halved neck. Mindless with pain, the two heads reached up and bit down on the divine moth, one on her neck, the other on her abdomen. Mothra was so stunned by the sudden attack that she momentarily ceased her scale assault, allowing Ghidorah to swing his necks about and heave her through the air, sending her careening into Godzilla and knocking both creatures to the ground. The two thrashed about before managing to untangle from each other.

A quick push from her wings allowed the queen to rise into the sky, only for the leviathan’s tail to sweep in from the side, swatting her away and sending her spiraling back to the ground. Shaking her head and regaining her wits, Mothra rose into the air with another flap of her wings, hovering in place and staring back at the beast that had struck her. She had no quarrel with this creature, but if it insisted on attacking her, the Goddess of Infant Island would have no issue putting it down.

With a low growl, Godzilla took a step towards the moth.

Flapping her wings, Mothra sent herself towards the mutant creature before her. Before the moment of impact, a crackling beam of purple energy shot down from above, sweeping between the two monsters and causing them both to halt their advances.

With a cackle that reverberated throughout the sky, Rodan swooped down, his talons outstretched, ready to attack. He decided to deal with Mothra first, as she was one of the two creatures responsible for waking him from his long slumber. She tried to back away, but the new arrival was too fast, catching up with her and grabbing her back with his talons, dragging her away from Godzilla. Mothra flapped her wings, trying to break free from the pterosaur’s grip, but Rodan gave a heave with his legs, tossing her through the air.

She swerved as she tried to stabilize herself, only to catch another blast of the pteranodon’s heat ray. The moth tumbled down to the pavement and Rodan prepared to press his attack, only for another searing beam from Godzilla to fire past him. Immediately turning towards the mutation, the ancient flier sped towards it, slamming his armored chest into his foe’s face, toppling the black and red beast in a single blow. The black beast squealed weakly as it waved its tiny arms in futility as Rodan came down and landed on his foe’s chest.

He cackled angrily at this strange creature that had tried to attack him, lashing out with furious pecks from his beak. Even Godzilla’s armor-like skin wasn’t enough to stand up to multiple blows from the mutant flying reptile, a gushing cascade of blood beginning to flow. It opened its jaws, preparing to fire another blast, only for the pteranodon to beat him to it, blasting his foe point blank with another uranium heat beam. Godzilla let out a choking cry of pain as Rodan’s blast hit and seared the inside of its mouth. Before the flying reptile could continue his assault, Mothra came up from behind, snatching his neck in her claws and dragging him away.

As the holy guardian flew off with the ancient predator in her grasp, scratching and striking the pteranodon as she carried him, Godzilla lay on the ground, trying to recuperate and get itself back on its feet. Just as the monster began to move itself about with its massive tail, it was suddenly descended upon by the two-headed King Ghidorah, the sliced halves of his central neck still laying uselessly against his torso. Godzilla let out a roar, but that roar was quickly silenced as the dragon’s left neck tightly wrapped around its own and squeezed hard, before the neck’s head bit down on the back of the mutant’s skull.

At the same time, Ghidorah’s right neck wrapped around Godzilla’s left leg in a similar fashion, its jaws biting down into the ankle. His teeth in place within his prey’s flesh, the golden fiend began to drink–not blood, but energy. The sheer radioactive power coursing through the leviathan’s body changed course, surging towards the twin mouths. Soon, the energy reached his fangs and Monster Zero began to absorb the black beast’s power, his necks and heads pulsating with crimson light. Unable to open its mouth and unleash its flames, Godzilla’s dorsal fins began to glow. Raising its tail and curling it towards Ghidorah, the glow from its fins traveled down until the tip of the tail itself began to glow with the same eerie, violet light. But the extraterrestrial devil was too hungry and was absorbing too much energy. Just as quickly as the mutated monster’s fins and tail had begun to glow, their light faltered and faded, slowly going limp as he was drained by his draconic foe.

Suddenly, Ghidorah began to loosen his grip on this new rival. Untangling his necks, he held tight with his two jaws and used every ounce of strength his necks possessed, sending Godzilla rolling through the air and crashing to the ground, shattering the pavement and leveling an entire block’s worth of buildings. Taking a step back, the serpent’s two heads chittered with anticipation as he felt this newfound power surging through his veins, revitalizing him. His body momentarily supercharged, the same purple glow as Godzilla’s fins overtook his dissected middle neck, lifting both halves and bringing them together. As if welded back together by a torch, the two halves connected and healed, repairing the damage done by the photon beam. The skull was next, snapping back together flesh and bone. At last, the head’s dead eyes began to move. Began to see. Evil thoughts started to course through the skull’s fully restored brain.

King Ghidorah lifted all three of his heads high into the air and let out a monstrous scream of evil glee. He was complete once again.

Woozy, weary, and worn, Godzilla managed to lift itself back its feet, but the monster barely had any time to regain its bearings before the Three-Headed Demon took to the air and swooped in, snatching the strange rival’s chest in his talons. Smashing the leviathan down against the pavement, Ghidorah flapped his wings and began to fly along the ground, scraping his foe through the street, sending him busting through structure and plant life alike. Godzilla let out pained, frustrated cries as it tried to break free from the brutal grasp, but with building after building being broken against its head, the creature found it impossible to focus enough to charge and fire its ray. The alien cackled maliciously as he ran his foe across the pavement, causing the rival more and more anguish and leaving a trail of destruction behind them. Soon he would release his grip and drain the mutant creature of every last drop of its power and–

With a cry and a sonic boom, Rodan blasted down from the skies and struck upon Ghidorah like a meteor, wrenching him away from Godzilla and sending the Golden Terror smashing into the ground, onto the hydra’s back. With unparalleled speed and beak firmly planted in the ancient evil’s chest, the prehistoric predator carried the dragon a good distance away, a torn up, crater-like trail now leading in the opposite direction.

Withdrawing his blood-stained beak with a sickening sound, Rodan took to the air and began circling the downed Ghidorah like a vulture, hitting the dragon with blast after blast of his heat ray. Though initially dazed by the sudden attack that left him partially buried in rubble and dirt, the dragon managed to regain his wits, all six eyes staring up and zeroing in on their attacker. Snarling angrily, Ghidorah used his wings to push himself up and out of the ground, the crumbled remains of buildings falling from his scales. Swooping down from the skies, the ancient flier prepared to attack again, but this time the destroyer was ready for him.

His throats pulsating with light, the Three-Headed Monster opened his jaws and spat out a trio of gravity beams. Rodan had no time to swerve out of the way before the three energy bolts hit him like a truck, halting his advance cold and sending him careening backwards, pushing the mutant pterosaur into a skyscraper and bringing it down around him. With a shrill cry, Mothra flapped her wings, sending herself speeding towards the tyrannical beast.

Unfortunately for her, he was ready for her and reacted far faster than she was expecting, lashing out with his three mouths, clamping his jaws down on her throat, thorax, and wing. The goddess let out a howl of pain as Ghidorah swung her upwards, his necks making a full arch, before bringing her down hard and slamming her back against the pavement, dazing the deity and eliciting a groan of pain from her mandibles. Glaring down at the new queen, he snarled in disgust. Rearing back with his three heads, he began to charge his gravity beams.

A purple beam hit the golden Titan square in the chest, driving him back, causing him to fire his bolts harmlessly into the sky. Whipping his necks around in order to face the beam’s source, Ghidorah snarled at Godzilla, exposing his three sets of fangs. The intimidating display was cut short as the mutant’s long tail lashed against the trio of faces, its skull-like tip clubbing the three heads, knocking them together. Screaming in fury at the mutant reptile, the golden serpent started to move towards it, only for the black beast to bring its massive tail down on the dragon’s central head, stunning it. The left and right heads cackled furiously and lunged forward, biting down on the creature’s tail.

Godzilla cried out as Ghidorah bit into its limb, thrashing its head and tail, trying to shake the tyrant off of it. But it was unable to as the multi-headed nightmare tugged with his two heads, yanking the mutated leviathan off its feet and bringing it crashing down onto its chest, causing it to grunt in pain. Before the scarred colossus could begin lifting itself back up, the alien hurried forward, leaping over the downed Mothra and landing on Godzilla’s back. The atomic mutation groaned out, feeling its ribs start to crack as Ghidorah pushed it down against the earth. The dragon’s talons pierced the black flesh, taking care to avoid the monster’s jagged dorsal fins.

Curling its tail, Godzilla began to bring its tip towards its foe from behind, but the Three-Headed Monster sensed it approaching. His right head turned back to face the oncoming limb and fired off a gravity beam that hit the tail head-on, blowing chunks of flesh from its tip. Screaming in pain, Godzilla closed its eyes and, in an instant, over a dozen atomic rays exploded up out of its back, briefly entrapping Ghidorah in a prison made of radioactive energy. His skin charred and smoking, numerous holes blown through his wings, Monster Zero stumbled backwards, crashing down onto his back.

With a rumbling growl, the radioactive lifeform got back to its feet, its eyes zeroing in on the fallen dragon. Using his burnt wings as arms, Ghidorah pushed himself back from his foe, firing his golden bolts at Godzilla. The three beams hit as one, driving the scarred reptile back, electrifying it, giving the golden fiend enough time to get back to his feet and spread his wings. Giving them a flap, he raised a little into the air, finding it harder to achieve elevation with so many wounds in his wings. Flapping again, harder, faster, he managed to pull himself up from the ground, taking off into the sky. But this time, Monster Zero had no intention of regrouping and attacking again. This fight was proving to be more than he had bargained for. This strange, new rival was just as strong and stubborn as the one he had fought before, and he still had the new, larger queen and the fast red flier to contend with as well. But he would return. He would single these annoying creatures out and finish them off one by one and make them regret ever crossing–

Shrieking an angry cackle, Rodan came speeding up from the ground like a rocket, racing towards the unsuspecting King Ghidorah. The Golden Terror had no time to react before the mutant pteranodon hit him, snatching him with his talons. To his shock, he was hit with enough force to be driven back through the sky. The dragon’s shock quickly turned to rage, however, and his two outer heads lashed towards the crimson pterosaur, biting down on either side of his neck. Ghidorah relished the pained scream that came from his victim, only to be taken completely by surprise as his enemy faced him head-on and let out a point-blank blast of his uranium heat beam. The central head howled in fury as the blast scorched its face. His outer heads released Rodan, only for the golden dragon to rear back and lash out with his right foot, kicking the pteranodon hard and sending him spiraling back through the sky.

With a flap of his wings, the red reptile zoomed back towards his foe, pecking at Ghidorah’s heads as they snapped back at him in return. Both flying beasts were suddenly knocked back as Mothra came blasting up between them, dousing them both in a cloud of her glowing scales. With an angry cackle, Rodan let loose a burst of his heat beam at the deity, only to ignite the golden particles all around him. The resulting explosion blew the two away from each other, burning them as well as the holy insect, causing the three flying creatures to stagger in the air.

Unfortunately, as they were all focused on one another, none of them were paying attention to Godzilla down below. Focusing its energy, its dorsal fins shining with an intense purple light, the nuclear leviathan bent down and pointed its fins towards the sky, firing nearly twenty atomic beams into the stratosphere. As skilled in the air as the three monsters may have been, there were too many rays and they moved too quickly. One after the other, Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra were blasted by multiple rays and blown out of the sky, trails of smoke billowing from them as they fell back to earth.

A rumbling shook the earth as, one by one, the three monsters impacted. The two born of Earth were each momentarily knocked unconscious by the impact, but the serpent of the stars was able to pull himself to his feet, although the Titan was clearly dazed. Shaking his heads from side to side in order to clear the mental cobwebs, the dragon turned to face Godzilla. The black and red monstrosity stared right back and started heading towards Ghidorah, its long tail swaying behind it. The ebony leviathan was moving faster now, its huge legs taking each step with greater speed.

The gold wyrm snarled. This beast had hurt the One Who is Many for the last time. With a primal scream, he charged his foe. Opening and splitting its jaws, the aquatic beast thrust its head forward and unleashed another atomic ray. The violet beam hit its target directly in the chest, but this time the bat-winged beast pushed through, ignoring the burn. The mutant kept the beam flowing from its mouth, but it proved to be useless; within seconds, the evil Titan had reached his target.

Rearing back with his three heads, Ghidorah lashed out with them all at once. Godzilla couldn’t focus on defending itself as they all came at it from different directions. Simultaneously, they bit down, sinking their teeth into the back of its neck, the top of its head, and its chest. The attack happened so quickly that the beam was cut short by shock. But before it could think of firing again, Ghidorah began to absorb its energy once more. Godzilla squealed as it felt its power immediately begin to wane. Summoning its strength, another ray was expelled from its mouth, but the interstellar predator easily avoided it, keeping his necks and body well out of the way as he drained his foe. Purple energy flowed from the body down the serpentine throats, feeding the dragon, making it stronger. Already, the various burns and wounds scattered all around his body were starting to close and heal.

Godzilla’s beam started to falter, cutting out, flickering, growing less stable. It dropped in intensity and reverted into an unfocused stream of flame before giving out entirely. The monster clawed at the head of Ghidorah’s that was digging into its chest, but its small, spindly arms were useless, unable to reach the attacking head with even the tips of its claws.

Desperately, the beast tried to fire beams from its fins, but a flickering light was all it was able to conjure. Godzilla could feel its power leaving its body, its strength waning, the nuclear fire coursing through its veins extinguishing. A roar of fury and intimidation tried to leave its throat as it attempted to wrench itself free from King Ghidorah’s vampiric grip, but the reptile’s body grew weaker and weaker with each passing second. Its small arms started to droop, and even its massive tail fell limply against the broken pavement, not able to manage more than the occasional twitch. Godzilla kicked its legs, but like its tail, their movements ceased as Ghidorah drained the monster more and more of its power. Even its primitive, barely sentient brain could recognize the danger it was in… And how there was nothing it could do to stop it. The radioactive creature tried to let out one final roar of defiance, but all that came out was a barely audible mewl. Letting out one last breath, Godzilla’s beady eyes rolled up into its head as its lids closed and the beast let the darkness claim it…

As King Ghidorah continued to drink deeply the sheer nuclear power that fueled his foe, a quiet, nearly inaudible sound began to emanate. As the mutant’s consciousness slipped away, its body began to act. Began to shift. The disgusting sounds of tearing flesh and snapping bones could be heard. Monster Zero barely had time to even realize anything was happening before Godzilla’s chest tore itself open, bone and armored hide forming what looked like teeth, and reached out for the head that had been draining it. Ghidorah’s head barely had time to widen its eyes in shock before the grotesque chest-mouth engulfed it and bit down, shearing through muscle and tendon and bone, severing the neck completely with a sickening chomp.

The two remaining heads immediately released Godzilla, the killer of worlds stumbled backwards, screaming in agony at the sudden loss of his left head. Blood poured from the quivering stump, spilling out onto the ground. His right and middle heads cried out in pain and confusion at the sudden loss of their brother. Its hideous torso-mouth shut, the slit in the abomination’s chest began to heal and close, Ghidorah’s still-conscious head screaming as it was, for all intents and purposes, eaten alive. Having regained enough of its strength, Godzilla’s eyes opened and the monster reared its head back and flexed its arms, letting out a roar of triumph. A purple glow quickly overtook its fins, this time accompanied by a slight crackle of golden energy.

Splitting its jaws open and thrusting its head forward, Godzilla unleashed an atomic ray at its foe. This time, it had a golden energy bolt, one similar to Ghidorah’s own, swirling around it. The combined blast hit Monster Zero hard, knocking him clear off his feet and onto his back. The draconic Titan let out a cry of pain as he was hit with the combined power of the radioactive monster and himself. Rapidly, the god incarnate swept the atomic gravity beam across the fallen hydra, then a second time, then a third. Each time, the golden spiral grew weaker, until it had finally dissipated completely, at which point the ray ceased. But the damage had been done. Ghidorah lay on the ground, his two remaining necks and wings twitching, his body scorched by the multiple blasts.

Smoke trailing from its mouth, Godzilla took a step forward, approaching its downed opponent. Its pinprick eyes watched as its enemy tried to recuperate, attempting to ignore the pain wracking his body. Glaring up at the one who had disfigured him, all the dragon could do was manage to snarl and growl in defiance. Rolling its eyes back into its head, Godzilla opened its mouth, charging its atomic fires and preparing to incinerate its foe. But before the hideous beast could unleash its flame, the ground began to shake.

The deformed monster paused, closing its mouth as the quake continued. The streets underneath it began to crack and buckle. As the monster’s eyes darted about at the splitting pavement all around and beneath itself, the hydra wearily managed to push himself up with his wings, getting back to his feet. As the shaking grew increasingly violent, each creature realized that the ground they were standing on was rapidly becoming unstable. Its legs shaky, Godzilla tried to step away from any immediate danger. Ghidorah began to stretch his burnt wings, preparing to take to the skies.

The pavement bulged, then exploded, sending dirt and concrete into the air. A massive form burst up from beneath the earth, sending the two careening backwards in opposite directions. More of the ground gave away, splitting and sinking into itself. A series of piercing shrieks emanated from the crack deep within the earth. Numerous vines, similar to the ones that had covered the city, arose from the crevasse, waving threateningly.

Regaining their wits, Godzilla and Ghidorah managed to get back to their feet, rearing back in surprise as they laid eyes upon their attacker; a mountainous mass of plant life towering up into the sky, moving, breathing. Countless tendrils surrounded it, emerging from the plant’s sides. Topping it all off was a massive, crocodilian head with jaws to match, filled with a seemingly endless number of teeth. Two small eyes, almost entirely white, stared back at the duo of creatures. Rearing her head back, this new beast let out a long, terrifying howl.

At long last, Biollante had matured and achieved her true form.

King Ghidorah snarled, cackling in displeasure at this new arrival. If this fight had gotten out of control before, now its chaos was completely unprecedented. With a flap of his wings, he leapt from the ground and into the air, planning on leaving this place far behind him. But Biollante had no intention of letting this invader go. If he was foolish enough to step into her domain, then his death was on his own heads. Immediately, several tendrils lashed out and upward, ensnaring the dragon’s tails and legs, gripping tightly. Caught completely by surprise, he had no time to attempt a counterattack before the chimera tugged hard with her vines, bringing him back down to earth and slamming him against the pavement, dazing the golden beast.

Godzilla, meanwhile, stared blankly at the massive plant. The irradiated reptile was either seemingly unafraid of the arrival of this new beast, or its mind was too slow to recognize the threat she presented. What the reptilian creature did know was that this new being seemed to be in charge of the vines that had attacked it before. It advanced, taking a step towards her.

The bionic superbeast did not take kindly to being challenged in her own territory and sent a series of tendrils surging towards her foe. The god incarnate kept going, facing the vines head on. Several of the limbs struck hard, bursting their tips against the armored skin, spilling their sap. But more and more of them kept coming, ensnaring the monster, wrapping around its neck, arms, and legs. There was a squeal as it shook its body from side to side, trying to dislodge the tendrils that were assaulting it from all directions.

Another wave of tendrils descended on Godzilla and these had mouths. Lined with fangs, they began to bite. Though at first the creature’s tough skin protected it from the tendrils’ snapping jaws, they just kept coming, biting, chewing, wearing its hide down with the acidic sap drooling from their fangs. Soon they began to make progress. The leviathan let out a howl of pain as the tendrils’ toothy jaws started to bite through its flesh. Blood began to spill. The reptile twisted its body violently, shaking it from side to side as it tried to wrench itself away from the vines to no avail. More of them wrapped around the monster’s tail, tying it down to the ground, unable to be of any use. Godzilla let out a scream, closing its eyes as the tendrils overwhelmed it.

With a powerful burst of energy, atomic rays blasted from Godzilla’s back, slicing and incinerating the vines that dared to restrain it. Within seconds, the creature was freed and turned to face the source of the tendrils as burning chunks of them fell from its body to the street below. But while Biollante was disappointed by the loss of her vines, she was not discouraged. Lunging forward, she clamped her crocodilian jaws down around her foe’s head, tugging the black and red monster clean off its feet. So taken aback by the sudden, vicious assault, Godzilla could do nothing but scream in confusion and pain as it was lifted up, briefly shaken, and tossed like a toy, soaring through the air and crashing into a building, reducing the structure to rubble.

A sharp cry from above grabbed the chimera’s attention. Lifting her massive head upward, she spotted Mothra hovering in place. With another chirp, the deity told the plant monster to stand down. There was no need for her to get involved in this fight. Biollante snarled, sending more of her vines at the audacious insect for telling her what to do in her own domain. But before they could even get close, the Goddess of Infant Island began to flap her wings, the powerful gusts dispersing the vines and sending them scattering in all directions, some landing on and crashing against various desecrated buildings.

The artificial colossus howled in fury at the moth, who suddenly came in close to attack. With an angry cry, Mothra began to flap her wings once again, this time unleashing her golden scales against the massive beast. As soon as the scales came into contact with her flesh, Biollante cried out in pain, feeling her leaves sizzle. The floral titan shook her head from side to side, trying to dislodge the glowing particles to no avail, feeling them burn against her skin. She called more vines to help her, but they were quickly shredded by the burning scales, and those that weren’t still couldn’t get through the powerful winds generated by the guardian’s wings.

Desperate to rid herself of the bug and her burning attack, Biollante pulled something up from deep within her very core. Opening her mouth, she vomited out a gushing torrent of acidic sap, blasting up through the scale cloud and spraying her in the face, absolutely drenching the deity. Choking and sputtering, Mothra faltered and immediately began to fall from the sky. She flapped her wings as best as she could, but everything hurt. The sap burned as it ate away at not only her fur, but at her exoskeleton as well. With a pained cry, the lepidopteran crashed to the ground, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

Just as Biollante began to make her way towards the fallen moth, a purple beam pierced the side of her body and swung upwards, slicing its way out of her. Incensed, she whipped her head to the side and snarled as she found herself facing Godzilla once again. Wanting to finish it off, she charged forward, only for the reptile to attack with its powerful tail, clubbing her sideways across the face with it. The mountain of plant life staggered, ceasing her charge, only to recover immediately, snapping her jaws down on the malformed tail.

The nuclear monster cried out, shaking its head in agony as Biollante sank her teeth into its flesh. With a growl, she thrashed her head about, sinking her endless array of teeth even deeper. Blood spilled from the limb, falling from her jaws and down to the pavement below. Desperate to free itself from the plant’s toothy grip, Godzilla began to pull, straining its muscles in an attempt to wrench its tail free. The genetically engineered monster narrowed her eyes as she felt her foe try to pull away from her mouth and, furiously, bit down even harder.

Somewhere deep within the depths of its pained mind, the god incarnate knew that it had to escape the plant’s hold on it. It was barely even aware of it, but already its body had begun to prepare a defense, a way of dealing with this floral menace. With a grotesque ripping sound, Biollante tore the end of her foe’s tail clean off. Staggering backwards, an agonized howl echoed out. While it still retained most of its tail, the red, skeletal tip and a fair amount of black flesh had been torn away, hanging from Biollante’s mouth.

Blood gushed from the shredded end of Godzilla’s tail. The monster’s eyes glared at his tormentor, burning with pain and rage. But just as the plant creature was thinking she had delivered a horrible blow to her opponent, she felt the severed tail in her mouth begin to move, its flesh shifting. To her shock, the tail began to separate, to split into multiple pieces. And these pieces began to change. And move. Strands of flesh reached out, becoming arms and legs. Some of the flesh hardened and molded, turning into faces, completely featureless aside from a single hole in the middle. Before Biollante even realized what was happening, the chunk of tail she had been holding onto was gone, and nearly a dozen small, humanoid creatures were now swarming her body!

She cried out as the numerous little beasts began to attack her everywhere, biting, clawing, some of them even unleashing small jets of flame from their mouths. Crying out in pain, the massive plant shook herself back and forth in an attempt to dislodge them, but only a few of them fell from her. The others proceeded to climb as they attacked her and soon they were approaching her head. As one of the small “men” got close to her eyes, Biollante finally struck back, bringing multiple tendrils towards herself, letting them lash out and strike against her own body. Several of the human-like offshoots were struck and crushed by the vines, their bodies falling lifelessly to the ground. Feeling some of them crawling into her mouth and attempting to pull out her teeth, the chimera charged up and fired another stream of her acid sap, bathing the little creatures in the corrosive fluid, eating away at them before they fell from her jaws. One of the diminutive Godzillas, clinging to the side of its enormous foe, looked up and snarled in fury as one of Biollante’s mouth tendrils came in and attacked, biting down on it and crushing it in its fangs as a venus fly trap would its prey.

As her vines made short work of the hellish humanoids, the mutated plant turned her head and glared furiously at the atomic fiend. The black and red monster realized her attention was on it once again and prepared to defend itself, its tail still bleeding. Godzilla paused, beginning to focus its power into its throat once again. With a cackle, Rodan swooped down from the sky, now intent on attacking Biollante. As he came closer, he unleashed multiple blasts of his uranium heat beam, strafing the floral beast. Growing even more enraged as yet another trespasser into her domain made their presence known, she sent a series of tendrils into the air, which quickly lassoed the sky monster before he had a chance to maneuver out of their way. In one swift motion, Rodan’s own momentum was used to bring him closer to the ground. He was swung around like a large flail, and slammed hard into Godzilla, stunning both reptiles as they crashed to the ground. Both creatures groaned as they attempted to collect their wits.

The pteranodon was the first to recuperate and looked down at his fellow holdover from a bygone age. Rearing his head back, the mutant pterosaur prepared to start attacking with his sharp beak, only to feel a sharp pain in his back. One of the few remaining aberrant humanoids had lost its grip on Biollante, only to end up on Rodan when she caught and threw him, and now the little demon had sunk its teeth into the base of the kaiju’s neck. Crying out in pain and disbelief, he flapped his wings, lifting off from Godzilla and taking to the sky. As the reptilian humanoid continued to bite and claw at his flesh, Rodan flew higher and higher, until he suddenly initiated an aileron roll. Despite its best efforts, the small creature couldn’t hold on and went flying from the red Pteranodon, dropping through the air until it collided with a building, killing it.

Godzilla lay on the ground, mostly recovered from its collision with the prehistoric predator by now, but still wounded and bleeding. This fight was taking its toll on the beast. Even with the energy boost it had received from devouring Ghidorah’s head, it was getting tired, its power was low, and now part of its once massive tail was missing. These monsters it found itself facing… They were quite powerful. The two flying creatures had their speed. The dragon had his multiple heads and lightning bolts. The enormous plant had her countless vines. As powerful as the leviathan was, it had no way of reliably countering their…

…Something shifted inside its body, a tangible sensation. It flowed down its body length, tingles of great change.

Forcing its wounded tail against the ground, Godzilla pushed itself back up onto its feet. Closing its eyes, the hideous creature braced itself. As Biollante stood before the reptilian beast, King Ghidorah rose back to his feet behind it, putting the creature between him and the floral nightmare. They both glared at the abomination as it stood still, trying to decipher its next move. A shining purple glow began to emanate from the fins upon the tail, eventually beaming out of the wounded stump at the end like a flashlight. But this time, the light didn’t consume the spines, instead focusing on the limb itself. The tail’s flesh began to crawl and warp. The chimera of plant and animal tilted her head to the side, unsure of exactly what was happening, but staying at the ready if she needed to defend herself. The dragon’s two remaining heads saw the tail shifting and looked at one another, communicating. They decided not to let the strange rival have time to complete whatever it was doing. With a chittering cry, Monster Zero charged forward, its twin jaws agape, ready to overwhelm and pummel his opponent by any means necessary.

Accompanied by the sickening sound of tearing flesh, Godzilla’s tail split itself down the middle, ripping itself in half from its torn tip to the base at the creature’s spine. Ghidorah suddenly stopped his advance, shocked and confused by the sudden action. Seconds later, the tail halved itself again, this time horizontally, leaving the extremity in quarters that fell limply to the pavement. A cry of pain filled the city as blood spilled from its torn tail. But the ichor shortly began to slow, soon stopping completely. Flesh moved and shifted, reorganizing itself as new bones were generated. The crimson pterosaur swooped down and landed nearby, watching this bizarre sight unfold before him.

Opening its eyes, the god incarnate let out a roar of surprise at what new development had occurred. Its DNA had acted to grant it a counter to its foes’ advantages. To Ghidorah, Rodan, and Biollante’s shock and even horror, behind Godzilla arose not one, not two, but four complete new tails, all of them ending in the same red demonic face the original had sported.

With the three of them simultaneously realizing the threat that this new development posed, the trio of monsters burst into motion, each of them rocketing towards their common enemy at full speed, ready to tear into it with their jaws and talons and vines.

Among them, Monster Zero was the first to reach the creature, lashing out with his mouths and biting down on two of the tails, battering the monster with his wings. The king of the skies arrived next, getting up in the aberration’s face, attacking it with his beak. The adapting menace thrashed about, its two free tails whipping sideways, repeatedly striking Ghidorah in the chest and stomach. Eventually the dragon was forced to release his toothy grip and backed away, the golden menace shrieking in irritance.

The crimson reptile cried out as the abominable mutant bit down on Rodan’s trapezius muscle, teeth sinking into his flesh, which only worsened when the mutant shook its head from side to side. Then, with a massive heave, Rodan was finally released from the jagged bite of the nuclear leviathan, the pteranodon sent sprawling off to the side. Biollante charged in next, bringing with her a whole slew of tendrils ready to attack. Sending two of its tails towards her, Godzilla used them to push the plant’s vines aside and out of the way, then brought a third tail downward, clubbing Biollante’s snout. The blow rattled her skull and staggered the flora, stopping her advance cold.

Ghidorah stepped forward and opened his mouths, firing his gravity beams. The atomic beast growled as the twin bolts hit, sending bio-electric energy coursing through its body. With a roar, the black colossus thrust its head forward and fired off another atomic ray from its mouth, a ray that was deftly avoided. However, the ray was intended to be nothing more than a simple distraction, as two of its tails swung into action. One of them slammed down onto Ghidorah’s right head. The other swiped upwards, uppercutting the middle one. The rapid blows dazed the Two-Headed Devil, causing it to cease firing its beams and stumble backwards.

Faster than could be followed by the eye, Godzilla’s fins all started to glow and laser-like atomic rays shot out of all four of its tails. The swaying limbs began to whip back and forth, lashing the three other monsters with their powerful beams. Rodan was hit hardest, sent careening back into a building, scorch marks covering his skin. Ghidorah and Biollante were hit multiple times, but managed to push onward, ignoring the pain as both were blasted. Splitting its bottom jaw in half, Godzilla leaned forward and unleashed another atomic beam from its mouth.

Before this one could hit either of its foes, though, the dragon’s right head bit down on his target’s throat, cutting the beam off. The chimera reared her head back, then spewed out another heavy torrent of acid sap, dousing both foe and temporary ally, eliciting cries of pain as the liquid burned their flesh. The scarred abomination swung its tails around wildly, never ceasing the beams emanating from their tips. They lacerated Biollante as they hit her repeatedly. Ghidorah’s wings were cut up severely, making flight all but impossible for the golden dragon. By pure chance, two of the tails swung close enough to each other that their rays collided and united into a single beam, slicing the wyrm’s right neck off at the midway point, sending it tumbling to the street below.

The One was no longer Many. Stumbling backwards, King Ghidorah managed to keep his footing as his center head screamed out in agony at the loss of his last brother. Biollante sent a flurry of vines at the blazing nightmare, only to have them all instantly cut down by the purple beams. The two large kaiju ceased their attempts at attacking, instead simply trying to survive this new, impenetrable form of attack. To their relief, Godzilla’s tails stopped firing their rays. To their horror, the tails stopped waving about wildly and started moving as one, grouping together and aiming at a single target. The god incarnate opened its mouth once again, and together the alien and chimera suddenly found themselves staring down five blinding, ominous lights.

Searching around behind himself with his tails, Ghidorah quickly found the barely conscious Rodan and wrapped the two limbs around his neck. Quickly bringing the irradiated pterosaur around to his front, he held the avian fodder before him, acting as a living shield. Snapping out of it but unable to break free from the grasp, Rodan cackled in fury. The sudden noise and motion grabbed Godzilla’s attention and it unleashed all five of its atomic rays directly at the evil Titan. The monster of the skies was completely helpless as the cluster of beams tore through him like a hot knife through butter, his last cry being suddenly and violently cut off as they left a huge gaping hole in his torso, blood escaping from his beak. But the rays didn’t stop there, hitting Monster Zero just as hard and burning through his flesh just as easily.

Dropping Rodan’s lifeless body, Ghidorah staggered back as Godzilla’s rays cut a hole through him, bursting out his back before the dragon finally fell. Swinging its head and tails to the side, it cut through the entire city before hitting and bisecting Biollante horizontally, burning through her flesh. She briefly blacked out before resuming consciousness, her regeneration going into overdrive to repair the damage done. But the plant monster was severely wounded and even her amazing healing wasn’t fast enough to get her back to full strength quickly enough.

Godzilla’s tails stopped firing their beams once again, though the glow of the creature’s fins remained. Tilting its head down, the leviathan focused the beam from its mouth down onto the street. The beam flickered and dispersed, reverting to the monster’s radioactive fire breath. The flames spread outward at a horrifying speed and began flooding the broken streets like rushing water, covering the city with a tidal wave of fire.

The flames washed over Biollante and Ghidorah, immediately eliciting screams of agony. Being floral in nature, the former was dead as soon as the fire touched her. She thrashed about in untold pain as the flames ate away her flesh and vines and spores until nothing was left but bits of charred flesh on scorched bones. The destroyer let out a cry as the fire engulfed him. Normally he could withstand such heat, but he was too badly hurt, his strength gone, his body mutilated, and the flames too intense. They washed over every inch of him, pouring into his wounds, cooking him from the inside out. Bones and muscles burnt as internal organs sizzled and popped. Flame traveled up his lone remaining throat and burst out of his mouth, his eyes exploding as fire shot out from their sockets. Within seconds, King Ghidorah and Biollante were reduced to nothing more than fire and smoke.

After a moment, the maw of the dread lord ceased spewing flame, briefly sputtering out black smog before it stopped completely. The monster closed its mouth. Tokyo was now a literal sea of fire that would take decades to repair. Its four tails swaying about lazily behind it, Godzilla looked over the burning ruins. The mutant beast was hurt, but it had won. It would need to take time to heal and recharge, but that need would be met soon enough. Satisfied with its victory and the destruction it had wrought, it began to focus on shutting down. It would need to enter a state of hibernation to renew its strength.

A sharp cry caught the monster’s attention.

Turning around to face the source of the noise, Godzilla was stunned to see Mothra–now essentially a blinding beacon of light as her entire body, broken and burnt by acid, was now lit completely alight by the sea of flame–flapping her wings and lifting herself high into the air as the scales which ignited her drifted down. Its limited mind couldn’t comprehend that the deity was even still alive. But it didn’t matter. She was clearly holding on by a thread, her body burning just as much as the city all around them. It would be easy enough to cut that thread. Moving its tails and aiming them at the flaming moth, Godzilla prepared to blow her out of the sky.

With a thunderous noise, the cancerous kaiju unleashed all four of its tail rays at Mothra, who immediately began to twirl through the air, rolling from side to side, deftly avoiding every beam that came her way. Each blast Godzilla sent at her missed its target, exploding against the decimated pavement behind her. Her target fired over and over, but Mothra was too fast for its beams to hit. One beam at last nicked her left wing, but she barely even faltered. Enraged and frustrated, the leviathan reared its head back and let out a furious roar, letting the divine moth know that it would end her life no matter how many times she avoided its attacks.

What Godzilla didn’t know, however, was that that was exactly what the Goddess of Infant Island had in mind. With each beam she dodged, she grew closer and closer to the hideous monster that fired them. Despite the flames eating away at her body, she knew she couldn’t fail in this one final attack. She’d already failed this one city; she couldn’t let her failure spread to the rest of the world as well.

With one last chirp, Mothra slammed head-first into Godzilla’s chest. In a blinding flash of light, both creatures burst into a massive explosion, flames rising high into the sky, chunks of flesh and bone raining down in every direction. Very little of the holy one remained, her body crushed by the impact and almost completely incinerated by the blast, while pieces of the foul monster fell everywhere. Though normally this would be potentially disastrous due to the beast’s evolving, transforming nature, with Tokyo burning as severely as it was, the flames overwhelmed each lump of flesh they came into contact with, burning them until not even a hint of life remained within.

Not too far from the point of impact lay the largest remaining piece of the reptilian monster. Godzilla’s head, neck, and right shoulder were all still intact and attached. More importantly, not only were they still attached, they were still, inexplicably, alive.

The creature’s doll-like eyes lazily moved from side to side, surveying the area as best as it could with its head laying uselessly on the dirt. Shoulder muscles tensed in an effort to move an arm that was no longer there. It watched as the flames that engulfed the city slowly made their way towards it, but their heat couldn’t hurt it. Not seriously, at least. All it had to do was change. Change was how Godzilla survived. Even with so much of its body gone, the monster could still transform as it needed. Legs, perhaps? Yes, legs would be good. It needed to leave this place. Leave and heal, thus its body would do so.

But Godzilla overlooked one thing. With most of its form gone, it had no way of storing and retaining the nuclear energy it needed to function. It had barely finished thinking about growing legs when it felt its skin begin to cool and harden. Its body, or rather, what was left of it, began to enter its emergency shutdown state, used only when the beast overheated or ran out of strength. The creature thrashed its head about, realizing what was happening, but at this point it was an automatic, subconscious process, and it could do nothing to stop it, no matter what its mind wanted.

The monster let out one final roar of defiance before its remains turned gray and petrified. For all intents and purposes, Godzilla had turned to stone.

* * * * *

The news had taken the world by storm. The plant was called Biollante.

In the following weeks, several high-ranking board members at BioMajor were arrested and the company had gone bankrupt in record time, their creation’s presence blamed for drawing four other giant monsters into one of the largest cities in the world, in addition to creating one of their own with Biollante. Unintentional or not, though rumors quickly spread that it wasn’t, BioMajor had still broken too many laws than could ever be counted in a single trial.

Tokyo was completely destroyed. What few structures went untouched by Godzilla’s sea of fire were still ensnared by what remained of the mutated vines. It would likely take months to safely remove them all and make sure no remnants of the plant had taken root. It would take years to undo the damage caused and make the city inhabitable again.

In addition to repairing the damage caused in the fight, the people of Japan also had the remains of five giant monsters to remove. Most of them were at least easy to locate, as most of the titans had died in roughly the same area. The most problematic of them were Godzilla’s, as the creature had been completely blown to pieces by Mothra’s kamikaze attack, and those pieces had ended up in all corners of the city. Thanks to their various sizes, not all of the pieces were easy to locate. In fact, some of them were surprisingly small.

Not all of them were found.

While a good majority of them had been, not all the scattered bits of flesh had been burned away by the fire. Some managed to disappear into the ground. Others ended up in the harbor, making their way out to sea. Unbeknownst to humanity, a fair amount of the monster’s body had managed to escape detection. Left on their own, the various pieces eventually began to heal. They sought out whatever source of radiation they could on which to feed. Slowly but surely, they began to grow.

It was only a matter of time before Godzilla… or Godzillas… returned.

Draw: Godzilla (Reiwa), Mothra (Universal)

A very special thanks to Rampant Praetorian for the assets used in this banner for the K.W.C. Be sure to follow him on Twitter.