Author: Connor Clennell | Banner: Matthew Williams

Utsuno Ikusagami looked down at the carnage below as he descended from the sky. The city was in flames, entire city blocks reduced to smoldering rubble, the corpses of those who had tried to escape the destruction flooded the streets. To Ikusagami, the city was a graveyard. Never in all his years had he seen such merciless annihilation. If he had been too late to save these people, he could at least avenge them.

A lone figure was just visible in the distance, raining destruction down on another section of the city. Although the details were hard to make out, the distinctive triple row of white maple leaf-shaped fins lining its back gave no doubt in Ikusagami’s mind on the attacker’s identity. Clenching his fists, the Sun God made his way towards Godzilla.

Meters away from engaging Godzilla, the behemoth turned to face Ikusagami, obviously having sensed his presence. The knight prepared to attack, then noticed something odd about the giant reptile. His skin was rough and cracked like the bark of the tree, his face and jaws rounded and his tail thick and worm-like. Godzilla also seemed to be pudgier than normal, and had a strange look in his extremely large eyes. Ikusagami wasn’t so sure now if this creature was actually Godzilla, or some bizarre creature attempting to intimidate him. The beast shook and waved its arms in an exaggerated manner, letting out a high-pitched shriek that sounded nothing like Godzilla’s distinctive roar.

The holy deity braced himself as the Godzilla lookalike’s fins lit up with yellow atomic energy and it unleashed a golden ray from its maw. Sparks and smoke flew from Ikusagami’s armor as the beam made contact, but the weapon was pathetic compared to the true Godzilla’s atomic ray. Ikusagami’s suspicion grew when he realized he couldn’t sense the creature’s life force. It was as if it didn’t have any…

An orange-hued ray from the forehead medallion of the Sun God and struck the doppelgänger in the chest, pushing the creature back. The Godzilla lookalike merely glared at Ikusagami as his beam pushed it back, showing no signs of discomfort at all. Deciding to observe the damage, Ikusagami cut off his ray and was greeted with a surprising sight. The flesh coating the reptile’s torso was gone, revealing silver metal that gleamed in the light from the surrounding fires. This wasn’t Godzilla at all! This was some sort of mechanical duplicate. A Mechagodzilla!

‘Godzilla’s’ form was engulfed in white flames as it shed its disguise. Ikusagami watched with amazement as the flames died down to reveal Mechagodzilla’s true form. Every part of the robot’s form seemed to be coated in weaponry. The toes, the knees, the hands, the throat: everything about the alien war machine was designed for total and utter destruction. From a brief glance Ikusagami could tell this was not the same Mechagodzilla the humans had built to defend their world. This was a harbinger of invasion.

Mechagodzilla shrieked as its arms clicked into position, aiming its hands at the gold and silver warrior. Bursts of finger-missiles left the machine’s hands and exploded against Ikusagami’s chest and legs. The Sun God barely budged under the assault. Mechagodzilla ceased its barrage to assess its opponent’s damage, but detected none. The robot remained motionless, its processors calculating as it awaited orders from its masters. The order was given. Mechagodzilla’s eyes unleashed a multi-colored energy beam. Even this failed to penetrate or even singe Ikusagami armor.

The featureless face of Ikusagami regarded the metallic imposer. As a weapon of an invading alien race, its arsenal was laughingly pathetic. Surely it could do better than this. As if reading his mind, Mechagodzilla’s hands began to rotate rapidly, swapping out its regular missiles for much more powerful ammo. Its hands stopped spinning and targeted the ground beneath Ikusagami. The warrior stumbled and tried to regain his balance as the missiles blasted apart the ground beneath him. Mechagodzilla stopped firing and let loose with its eye beams, sweeping them across Ikusagami’s feet. The Sun God toppled to the ground as the earth exploded around him.

Red eyes flashed with energy as it fired its eye beams upon Ikusagami. The hatch on its chest opened to reveal the projector for its electrical beam, which joined the assault. Mechagodzilla’s hands, mouth, knees and toes unleashed dozens of missiles, blanketing Ikusagami with bursts of smoke and flames. The all-out assault seemed to go on forever, but it actually only lasted for two minutes. Mechagodzilla finally stopped firing to assess Ikusagami’s condition. A thick black cloud obscured the knight’s form, so the robot used its external scanners to detect his position.

The valiant samurai emerged from the smokescreen, his armor covered with dirt and soot, but intact, and let loose his medallion ray before the machine could even register his presence. An artificial shriek left Mechagodzilla’s mechanical maw as the golden ray of holy power pushed it back. Its chest began to glow orange and steam began to rise from the sheer heat of the Sun God’s beam. As the beam ceased, Mechagodzilla tried to open its chest hatch, but found that it couldn’t. A system analysis revealed it had been welted shut by the heat. Ikusagami unleashed his ray again and targeted Mechagodzilla’s left elbow, locking up the arm and reducing its flexibility. A third blast reduced the reptilian doppelgänger’s right knee to molten slag. Realizing it was heavily outmatched, Mechagodzilla’s masters ordered it to retreat and return to base for repairs. The machine received the transmission and activated the rockets in the soles of its feet, preparing to take off…

Ikusagami shoulder-checked Mechagodzilla, knocking the robot backwards and forcing it to cut off its rockets as it fought to regain its equilibrium. Ikusagami smashed his fist into the chest of the Godzilla imposter, denting the virtually indestructible space metal. His other fist connected with the jaw of the robotic reptoid and shattered it, leaving it hanging loosely from its top jaw. Alarms flared within Mechagodzilla’s systems as it registered heavy internal and external damage. Its functioning sensors detected a large increase in unknown energy. Ikusagami’s form crackled with heavenly energies as he held out his right hand to summon his sword, the blade appearing in his grip in a flash of light. Mechagodzilla and his controllers barely had time to register this phenomenon before Ikusagami raised the blade and slashed it through Mechagodzilla’s neck. The machine twitched and flailed sporadically as its head toppled to the ground before falling over and erupting into a ball of fire.

The silver warrior lowered his arms to his sides as he approached the remains of Mechagodzilla. He picked up the robot’s head, examining its properties. The technology used to construct it seemed to be highly advanced; too advanced for it to be from Earth. It also seemed to be made from an unknown metal that shared similar properties to titanium. This gave Ikusagami insight into the machine’s creators. If he found technology and materials similar to that of this ‘Mechagodzilla,’ he would find its controllers.

Utsuno Ikusagami’s body pulsed with light and energy as he summoned a pair of gold, bladed wings on his back. Bending his legs the Sun God leapt into the air, beginning his search for the base of the Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens…

Winner: Utsuno Ikusagami