Author: Michael Allen | Banner: Matt Ng

Dying rays of sunlight shone over the South American jungle as it had for countless centuries, the sense of peace in the wild as day began its transformation into night was disturbed only by the colossal red skinned reptile soaring at breakneck speeds above. Its angular mouth glistened obscenely in the yellow light with fresh blood as it finished scarfing down the remains of humans it had snatched up from the village not too far away. For a smaller Gyaos, this would have been a substantial meal, but for an adult of its size a whole village could hardly even be called an appetizer. But hunger aside, it had little to complain about. It could roost among the hundreds of trees or even a good sized mountain and there was a lake to drink from.

Powerful wings carried it forward until, much to its shock, it rammed into something. Or rather, something slammed into it.

A gust of air and frothy spit escaped the Gyaos’ maw as it dropped to the earth, trees snapping like kindling and bits of ground shot into the sky high from the weight of the beast. Giving a distorted screech as it flailed around, now more angry than surprised, the Gyaos regained its bearings, wings folded in a combative stance and crimson talons slicing into ground in anticipation. It knew it hadn’t connected with an inanimate object, at its current size few things could knock it down with such ferocity and to top it off it had been in flight.

What perplexed the red monster was the fact it couldn’t locate what had hit it! Rumbling to itself the Gyaos swiftly surveyed its surroundings, nothing but wilderness for miles around. Nothing that big could just up and vanish!

The faint sound of wings beating at high speeds drew its attention elsewhere, turning sharply to find… nothing! Another quick buzz brought its head snapping sharply to the right. The Gyaos roared when it realized it was being taunted.

Megaguirus, seemingly appearing from nowhere swooped down towards the Gyaos with a shriek of her own; the tip of her right wing connected with the Gyaos’ gut and as she expected it went down with a startled cry. Megaguirus, like all members of her species, was extremely aggressive and would fight anything whatever the size to either protect or expand territory. She’d come to this jungle in hopes of starting up a proper nest and she thought this oversized flying lizard would make for a worthy first meal for her children. Grinning to herself she flew in close, stinger lowering to skewer the intruder through. However, offense instantly transformed to evasion as the Gyaos let loose its sonic beam. The ray of yellow light pierced through the mountain top effortlessly and were it not for her speed, the Meganula Queen would have been dead right there.

It was at this time Gyaos properly laid eyes on its foe. Megaguirus was unusual looking for an insect. Rather than mandibles, she processed a toothed and disturbingly mammalian mouth, massive claws that doubled as pincers and a tail ending with a blood red stinger matching the shade of her eyes. Opting for another surprise attack, the Gyaos blinked in shock as she reached a speed so blindingly fast she simply disappeared. But still, Gyaos had not lived this long by being incompetent. Whipping around it fired its beam again, hitting only empty space.

Apparently Megaguirus wasn’t as predictable as anticipated.

Instead, she swooped in from the side, bashing her body hard into the devil bird; but unexpectedly, the reptile had prepared by keeping its talons anchored to the jungle floor and instead of collapsing, it only stumbled for several seconds. Gyaos retaliated, utilizing its wings to batter and brutalize Megaguirus’ head as she swiped and struck its face with her pincers. The ancient beasts shrieked and howled in a battle frenzy at one another as they rapidly exchanged blows and jaws snapped at throats and teeth glistened. Hissing, she drew her right arm back and swung hard, the fierce avian stumbling to the side, but to her annoyance still refused to fall. Pressing her attack she raised her claw again… Only to receive a massive swat from the Gyaos’ wing. Shrieking demonically, the Gyaos shot its beam again to successfully score a hit on Megaguirus’ cheek.

Stunned, the prehistoric insect landed hard on the ground, shocked she’d been hit this early on in a fight. But there was little time to dwell on the fact as Gyaos gripped her tightly with its feet. She thrashed wildly but it was of little use, the queen getting a face full of dirt, grass, and trees as the reptile dragged her along the ground, definitely to “repay” her for her earlier taunting. It lifted her up only to release her two seconds later to effectively send her, quite literally, head first into the side of a mountain. Rocks rained down on her carapace, seeing double as she feverishly shook her head to clear it. She could hear the Gyaos shrieking to itself with triumphant bloodlust, wings carrying it in the form of a sharp right turn back towards her.

Megaguirus rarely made use of her legs, but at a life or death moment like this, they proved to be quite useful. A quick, simple hop allowed her to avoid the slicing ray of death and rapid flapping of wings brought her back to the sky where she was at her most comfortable. The two soared at each other head on, jaws clipping millimeters away from the other’s jugular when their bodies connected. When Gyaos saw Megaguirus’ face contort into a sinister grin, it realized it had been tricked.

The sharp red stinger burrowed into Gyaos’ belly, a distorted warble of hot pain left the angular needle lined mouth as the two spun and flapped without direction, the world a splotchy blur of colors. The Gyaos locked its red eyes squarely on the grinning face of his enemy, maw wide open… But nothing happened!? The reptile’s eyes traveled to the stinger, or more accurately, the throbbing yellow light traveling into her body. The damn bug was siphoning its energy!

Giving a harsh jerk of the body, the Gyaos spun to the right and successfully dislodged the queen, her stinger glistening and dripping with the Gyaos’ unusual purple hued blood. She judged that by the way it was still flying, it wasn’t hampered by the injury. And she still had a few moments before the demon regained enough energy to use its beam. Adjusting herself she rushed it once more, her stinger cutting along the membrane of the left wing. Howling in pain the Gyaos spun out of control like a fighter jet and unceremoniously crashed into the once undisturbed surface of the lake. Waves several miles high mercilessly washed over the jungle, uprooting weaker trees and drowning any unfortunate animal in its nigh unstoppable path.

The queen loftily buzzed over the lake as waves became ripples and ripples became stillness. Surely that couldn’t have been all? She was just starting to enjoy herself!

Gyaos carefully inspected its damaged wing, carefully crouched behind some rocks lest the bug be searching for it. Flight would be slower, but not impossible. And drowning wasn’t even an issue that crossed the monster’s predatory brain, for the perfect lifeform could thrive in any environment. So it waited with malicious patience. It had the element of surprise…

Megaguirus snarled in irritation when the familiar sonic beam blasted through the water’s dark blue surface. It hadn’t come too close for comfort, but she found it was better to be safe than sorry. Hissing and without hesitation she plunged into the water that which her kind thrived in, ruby eyes scanning for any sign of possible movement and stinger poised to thrust into her prey at any given moment. As her wings carried her towards the bottom she still saw no sign of Gyaos. Bubbles erupted from her mouth as she roared at it to show itself, jeering at how she had turned the tables in her favor.

Until it suddenly lunged at her from the darkness just beyond her peripheral vision. Teeth dug ruthlessly into the side of her neck as she was forced into a sizable rock, shattering it to pieces upon impact. She deflected the Gyaos’ talons with a claw before opting to plow into its midsection in a short burst of speed. Screeching defiantly the Gyaos fired its devastating oral weapon, the insect queen instantly falling back on evasive maneuvers to avoid being sliced to bits, wincing as it grazed her back.

Both fliers broke free of the water at a staggering speed and it was at this point Megaguirus made her next move. Though she was not as aerodynamic as the Gyaos, her great speed compensated for that perfectly. Faster than Gyaos’ crimson eyes could process she performed a fast loop, and sent her stinger stabbing into Gyaos’ back.

The reptile cried out as she forced him to the ground, the earth shuddering with the titanic landing, dirt obscuring their vision as she siphoned more of its energy. Her claws gripped the Gyaos by the neck, crushing the life out of it simultaneously with a gleeful high pitched cry. Vision blurring and its throat burning the Gyaos purposefully backpedaled until Megaguirus was bashed squarely into the mountain, screaming as the stinger now protruded from its sternum. But despite this, the ancient evil persisted. Boulders and shattered stone rained upon the two battling giants and the earth trembled frightfully, far from civilization they were the only two in the entire world as far as their warring minds were concerned.

Gyaos’ agony was worsened by Megaguirus firing her stolen energy in the form of its own signature weapon, slicing through its chest. Blood oozed down its front and the bloodthirsty Meganula Queen shoved Gyaos away disdainfully. Buzzing overhead she prepared to come back around to properly finish the job, keeping it in her view at all times now she drank in the thing’s pain like the most exquisite of elixirs the planet had to offer.

Gyaos growled to itself, fixing Megaguirus with a cold stare as she came closer and closer… Bloodied and wounded, but far from dead, she waited… Now! All it required was a simple shift of its body and the stinger stabbed harmlessly into the earth, her eyes bulging when it dawned on her that it had been a trap. Red talons opened her neck in the blink of an eye, and suddenly every bit of her screamed to retreat. Wings carried her higher and higher until she was suddenly falling. Now Megaguirus was confused. Why was she falling?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw most of her right wing falling uselessly away from her moments before she greeted the earth back first. The moon was out now, so were the stars. Megaguirus had never really cared about such things until now as a sense of failing overwhelmed her. The queen had failed both herself and her kind. The Shadow of Evil loomed over her now, wings spread to their fullest extent, mouth bloody and frothing, a foot pinning her deadly stinger tipped tail to the ground, the other kept her body down. Its red eyes glowed like a demon from some unseen nightmarish Hell, and fear took her heart in its cruel and unfeeling icy grip.

For Megaguirus, this was the end. A violent end to a violent life.

Gyaos gave a triumphant screech into the night as it dug into the most rewarding meal of its existence.

Winner: Gyaos (Universal)