Author Declan Coughlin | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski

High above the clouds, a creature flew through the sky. It carried a colossal body, adorned in a bright shade of green. In the front, it held a powerful jaw and two short, but lethal claws. It was no wonder the beast was greatly aerodynamic, for its tail was shaped strangely close to the rudder of a plane. Its true name was rarely spoken, but civilizations throughout the years gave it many different names. The Hydra, the Midgard Serpent, the Rainbow Snake, Wadjet, but its real name was one that struck both fear and wonder into those who heard it.

Rayquaza.

The modern people had classified him as a “Pokémon,” a strange form of creature not unlike the Earth’s own fauna. Some were the size of a common squirrel, while others towered over entire fields. However, Rayquaza was recognized as one of the most powerful, belonging to a class only shared by creatures of legendary status much like himself.

But the world had plenty of other mighty creatures, some even matching the gods in power: Kaiju.

The legendary Pokémon flew silently through the sky, on the lookout for any dangers to the world below. After flying for approximately an hour, the dragon got ready to depart to his resting place after not detecting anything, until he suddenly sensed something strange. Not knowing if what he sensed was a threat, he decided to check just to be safe. And so, the colossal flier turned his body towards the location of Tokyo. Upon arriving, the Pokémon was shocked. The city was currently under attack, crumbling buildings fusing with crushed and mangled bodies to create a sight which made even the godly serpent gag. Rayquaza narrowed his eyes in fury. Whatever caused this destruction needed to be stopped. He bellowed a mighty call that echoed throughout the destroyed metropolis, demanding the interloper show its face.

It responded.

A low growl reached Rayquaza’s ears as he turned towards the source of the sound. His eyes widened as he saw it. Its body was long and green, carrying a powerful set of teeth and two short, stubby arms. His eyes expanded in disbelief at the revelation before him.

This creature looked just like him.

Likewise, Manda was just as stunned as his opposer. Was this another one of his kind? He thought back to thousands of years ago, when the red mist covered the oceans. There had been more creatures just like him, but they had all been killed. Nonetheless, if this imposter wished to destroy him, he would not allow it. Manda roared a challenge out to the Pokémon, one that Rayquaza quickly obliged. The guardian quickly flew forwards towards his enemy, opening his mouth and unleashing an orange beam, which quickly separated into five small energy balls. Manda cried out in pain as the Draco Meteor struck his body and the surrounding area, throwing dust and debris skyhigh. Before he could retaliate, Rayquaza tackled the ancient snake, attempting to bite down onto his opponent’s jugular. The archfiend began thrashing around furiously, swinging his tail into his attacker’s side. After roughly three or four swings, Rayquaza released his grip, floating backwards while glaring at his imposter, deep in thought. It seemed his opponent’s skin was tough to pierce, like an organic suit of armor.

But armor can only take so much damage before being pierced.

Rayquaza once again opened his maw, now filled with dark energy, before spitting out a Hyper Beam. The ray quickly sent Manda flying through the metropolis, throwing him into a still intact skyscraper. Manda screamed in agony as the dark energy assaulted his body before feeling shards of glass and other material hitting his scaly body. Before he could attempt to crawl out of the wreckage, the rest of the building collapsed onto him, burying the serpent in thousands of tons of debris.

Across from the now collapsed building, Rayquaza waited for the dust to clear before declaring his adversary dead. After about a minute of watching, the Pokémon roared to the heavens, deeming his enemy no longer part of this world. Just as he began to turn away however, the debris erupted upwards, throwing stone, glass, and dirt into the sky. Manda rose out of his presumed grave, howling in fury before grabbing an extra large piece of debris with his jaws and hurling it at Rayquaza. The mythical being turned around quickly only to feel the projectile slam into his snout, Rayquaza howling in horrendous pain from the improvised weapon.

Taking advantage of the opportunity presented, Manda quickly lunged towards his lookalike, wrapping around his body before sinking his jaws into the legendary dragon’s back. Rayquaza began to scream as the god of Mu felt warm blood running down his throat, earning a growl of pleasure from the naga. But the Pokémon wasn’t as helpless and he had believed, as he twisted his arm enough to reach Manda’s face. Before the serpent could reply, Rayquaza slashed his claws across one of Manda’s eyes, sending a torrent of blood onto his emerald skin and rewarding him with a howl of agony. Manda quickly uncoiled from his “twin” while bellowing to the skies, desperately hoping for relief from his newfound pain.

Rayquaza, not obliging, pointed his long tail at him. The ophidian briefly stared in confusion with his one good eye, before being utterly blown away by a powerful gust of wind. The Twister sent him blasting into an oil refinery, creating a tremendous explosion which was barely heard over Manda’s hellish screams. Rayquaza ended the tornado attack as he stared at the gargantuan flames. He didn’t want to risk another surprise attack, and so he continued to watch on.
It turned out he had reason to be cautious.

Blasting out of the fires like a demon from hell, Manda howled once more as his entire body was engulfed in flames. But even with his burning suffering, the jade colored reptile wouldn’t rest until he destroyed his copy.

Once more wrapping around Rayquaza, Manda began to squeeze, trying to crush his opponent the best he could with his flaming body. Rayquaza began to shriek as the flames of his adversary began to burn throughout his body, boiling scales and skin as he desperately thrashed around to attempt to free himself. The god’s eyes began to darken as he struggled to stay conscious, but suddenly he had an idea. If his opponent was using fire, he could just extinguish it with one attack. But would it work? This creature so far hadn’t shown any obvious weaknesses like other Pokémon, but he had to try.

Manda, beginning to get cocky, slowly began inching his fiery visage towards his burning prey, getting ready to rip off his jaws. Surprisingly, Rayquaza also straightened his head to look directly towards his soon to be killer, a look of confidence on his face even as his body continued to burn. Manda, both surprised and enraged at his assertive nature, lunged forwards, already picturing the copycat’s blood painting the streets.

Rayquaza grinned: perfect!

Just as Manda’s jaws opened to take a bite out of the godly snake, Rayquaza’s mouth also opened, only his maw was aligned with a crackling blue glow. Manda, seeing this, desperately tried to back away from his victim, quickly unwrapping his coils from Rayquaza’s body. But it was too late. A blue beam of chilling energy struck directly inside of Manda’s open maw, traveling through his entire body. The fires covering Manda’s body began to extinguish in bursts of steam. Manda squealed as he felt his colossal length begin to freeze, but it immediately turned into a dying yelp as he quickly started to become frozen, his olive skin turning into a shade of cold blue. Finally, after his entire body had been frozen, gravity took hold of the kaiju’s body, sending it to the ground where it promptly shattered, ice shards showering the destroyed streets of Tokyo.

For a moment, Rayquaza took the time to catch his breath, still feeling his skin burning from Manda’s last resort before turning to look at the ruined city. While he wasn’t quick enough to stop the metropolis from being destroyed, he had at least avenged those who were killed from the serpents’ rampage. Suddenly, he saw several survivors crawling out of self-made shelters and other hiding spots, which were used to keep protected during the monster’s duel. They saw the shattered body of Manda, as well as the gleaming body of Rayquaza, and began to cheer, happy that they had been saved.

Rayquaza, for the first time in what felt like forever, smiled inwardly to himself, proud to have given these people a sense of hope in this dark time. Letting out one last bellow to the surviving citizens, the legendary Pokémon quickly took to the skies, going to places unknown to rest until the world needed his power once again.

Winner: Rayquaza