Author: Harley Jameson | Banner: Vincent Rodger
Lipiah sat in quiet contentment at his desk, watching as his students for the class began to file in one after another. Young and old, he could see the insignia of the Defence Force on more than a couple of them. Even their youngest recruit to the Ultra Brothers was in attendance for this class, Mebius waving at Lipiah who gave a respectful nod back. As much as he enjoyed working for the Defence Force and alongside his brothers, it was in the classroom that Lipiah now felt the most at ease. He supposed he would have to thank 80 one of these days for suggesting the career path to him.
There was a true joy he found in teaching, especially once he realized that despite the immense research and numerous, numerous fights with them… the study and understanding of kaiju was something that seemed underexplored beyond a pure military sense. Indeed, it was their human allies across the stars that opened Lipiah’s eyes to the idea of teaching a whole class about the strange, dangerous creatures known as ‘Kaiju’ to any who were willing to listen and learn.
The final students shuffled in just before class was about to start, and he mentally took roll call. Pleased to see no empty seats and missing students, he stood up from his desk and cleared his throat. “Good afternoon everyone. I’m glad to see all of you here today, I understand that I left the last session on a bit of a cliffhanger.” Walking over to the front of the class, he kept his hands behind his back. “And I’d like to start today with a question for you all: What is a soul?”
The classroom went quiet. Lipiah watched as his students looked at one another, some confused, some nervous. “Anyone? There’s no wrong answers.” Hesitantly, one of them raised their hand and Lipiah nodded at them. “Go ahead.”
“A soul is…” She began, pausing as she struggled to find the words. “Your essence, I guess. It’s what gives you being.”
Lipiah nodded thoughtfully. “Alright, anyone else?” There was silence. Even Mebius looked unsure and kept his hand down. Shrugging a little, Lipiah began to pace. “The truth is: No one’s really sure. Both the Defence Force and the Civilian Researchers all agree that the soul exists in some capacity, we have no idea what it truly is. Is it your essence? Is it your consciousness? Is your soul something you can live without? Will your soul live on once your body has passed?”
With a wave of his hands, the screen in front of the class lit up. “Most academics know that the answer to that last question is ‘yes’, at least if you’re a monster.” The screen changed to show a picture of the Monster Graveyard. “I don’t have to remind any of you what this location is. While true that there are some living beings who call the Graveyard home, a vast majority of the inhabitants are the spirits of monsters or various alien beings who have, in some shape or form, passed on. The mere existence of this hollowed ground baffled scientists when it was first discovered, and to this day it’s sparked countless theological, philosophical, and even military discussions.”
The screen changed again, that to a monster well known to Lipiah. Bemular. “Certain creatures are even capable of escaping the graveyard entirely, such as the monster Bemular here. It was in fact, Bemular’s escape from his final resting place that led to first contact with our people to the people of Earth.” It was strange that in terms of his people’s own long, long lives that the relationship with humanity was in the blink of their eyes. And yet, it had seemed as if humanity had been by their side the entire time.
“I bring up humans in this discussion because they too have asked and wondered about the existence of a soul. Many human cultures have different ideas of what the afterlife consists of, and the idea of spirits wandering the earth has been deeply entrenched in their public consciousness. The mere question of what a soul is and what sort of agency it possesses might be a tall order, but it is vital to understanding the existence of two of the most powerful kaiju to ever live.”
The screen changed again and there were murmurs from the students at the two hulking images before them. One most of them recognized was Tyrant. The body parts of identifiable monsters such as Red King, Alien Icarus, and Seagorath made up only part of the components of the terrifying chimera kaiju. Even in a still image, it was still a disturbing sight to see such a fusion of various kaiju into one being.
The other pictured kaiju was the one everyone was talking to each other about, however. With a slightly stooped appearance and unnervingly white eyes, there was no mistaking the visage of none other than Godzilla to any other kaiju. The King of the Monsters, perhaps the most famous kaiju to ever exist both on Earth and now in the stars. Stories and rumors of Godzilla’s numerous, numerous feats and battles had turned him into a being of mythic proportions on the same level as Zetton or Belial.
“I thought Godzilla was still alive?” One of his students asked in confusion. “And… I’m pretty sure Godzilla doesn’t look like the one in the picture.”
“You would be correct on both accounts. Godzilla is in fact still alive and well down on Earth. This creature, while unmistakably Godzilla in terms of form and ability.. is unique. This is a Godzilla that has been resurrected or possessed by thousands upon thousands of human souls. This Godzilla has in fact, died once already.” The screen changed again to show various news clippings depicting Godzilla’s battle against the Guardian Monsters. “In 2001, this Godzilla made his first appearance to attack Japan and was repelled by the combined efforts of benevolent monsters dubbed “Guardian Monsters” and humanity.”
“Is that King Ghidorah!?” One of his students squawked.
Lipiah chuckled and nodded. “It is indeed. In a strange turn of events, ancient humans had managed to capture and purify to an extent one of the dreaded King Ghidorah species. Although he’s now deceased, what you all are looking at is perhaps the only benevolent Ghidorah ever recorded in history.” He shook his head a bit. “That however, is not the subject of today’s class.”
Mebius raised his hand and Lipiah nodded at him. “You said this Godzilla died once already,” he said, and all eyes were now on the youngest Ultra Brother. “Why did he come back a second time?”
“Good question, Mebius. I’d like all of you to think that over and see if you can come up with an answer while I set up the videos for today.” Sitting back down at his desk, Lipiah pulled up the video files he wanted to share with them all and listened to the sounds of conversation taking over the room. He was confident that they would be able to come up with the reason for this Godzilla’s terrifying return.
Once everything was in place, Lipiah stood up and clapped his hands for silence. “Well? Anyone want to take a guess?” Hands shot up and Lipiah scanned the room before pointing to an older male near the back. “Go ahead.”
“It’s because of Tyrant, right?” He said, not sounding confident in himself. “I mean, well, humanity in particular seems to have a strange and special relationship with kaiju, right? If Tyrant is the result of monster souls merging together.. then would it make sense that the monster made of human souls would feel attracted to it in some way?”
Lipiah clapped his hands happily. “You’re exactly right, that’s the current speculation on why we think these two creatures met in battle. Indeed, Humanity and Kaiju do have a strange relationship that even our own species lacks. More than a few human and M78 artists have noted the supposed poetry of the two creatures finally facing one another. The monster made of human souls reacting to the presence of the chimera made of monster souls.. or perhaps vice versa. Whatever the reason is, it seemed almost inevitable that in some way or form, Godzilla and Tyrant would meet in battle. And that’s the video I’m going to share with you all today, footage of the two monster’s climactic duel.”
The lights turned off with a wave of Lipiah’s hand and he sat down at his desk, enlarging the video so it took up the entire screen and hit play.
The city had been successfully abandoned by the time Godzilla had made landfall. Black smoke was already curling into the air as the revived King of the Monsters surveyed the area. Aside from the fires spreading across the city and the distant sound of sirens, not a soul would be seen.
Except, ironically, the mass of souls that had attracted Godzilla’s attention. Rampaging through the now deserted city, Tyrant’s garbled and fused screech of many kaiju at once pierced the air as it batted at the buildings, smoke and debris flying everywhere. It wanted one thing and one thing only and that was to finally kill the Ultra Brothers. It screamed up into the heavens, demanding its most hated enemies come down to fight it again. One of the Alien Icarus ears twitched and that was the only warning Tyrant received before an atomic breath slammed into him from behind and sent him crashing across the city.
Godzilla roared out in anger and domination, raising himself from his usually slightly stooped appearance to stand as tall as possible. He could hear them, thousands upon thousands of souls screaming for vengeance after being slaughtered by so many kaiju, their revenge literally flowing through his undead veins and forcing his heart to beat once more.
Rising to his feet, Tyrant shook the dust off of himself and roared angrily at Godzilla. Tyrant on some level could sense that Godzilla was like him in a way – of the dead clawing and scratching back to life to exact their revenge. Although the King of the Monsters wasn’t any of the Ultra Brothers, if it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he’d get. Slamming his meaty tail down onto the ground, Tyrant boomed out again and beat the flat side of his right hand axe against his chest before charging forwards.
Godzilla immediately fired another atomic breath at the chimera kaiju, jerking back in alarm as he saw the suction spout spring open and absorb the beam harmlessly and with an almighty ‘crack’ Tyrant brought the Despotic Hammer upside Godzilla’s head and forced the revived monster king backwards, slashing with his hand axe and howling in delight as he cut a gash across Godzilla’s chest.
Powering through the pain, Godzilla moved forward and swiped at Tyrant’s face, the despot monster barely reacting to the attack and swinging his mace arm again. Swiftly grabbing Tyrant’s arm, Godzilla whirled around and hurled Tyrant bodily over his shoulder and sent him crashing to the ground before stomping roughly on his chest.
Tyrant flailed his limbs as Godzilla continued to stomp on him until he fired his mace hand upwards, clocking the vengeful demon in the jaw and forcing him backwards. With a thrust of his hand, the Baraba Whip wrapped itself around Godzilla’s legs and Tyrant rose up, yanking fiercely to sweep the ruthless monster clean off of his feet.
Godzilla fired another atomic breath instantly, slamming into Tyrant’s chest and forcing the chimera kaiju staggering backwards to give him the time he needed to rise back to his feet.
Only to be sent stumbling back with a howl of agony as Tyrant belted out his Death Fire. Hotter than anything Godzilla ever felt before, a large explosion point blank at Godzilla’s chest forced the undead king to careen over with another roar of pain. Godzilla grit his teeth as he heard the mocking laughter from his opponent. The screams of the dead and the damned only grew louder and louder as Godzilla rose up with an almighty howl of rage and charged forwards, throwing his full weight against Tyrant and locking arms.
The two undead kaiju grappled with one another, Tyrant swinging his mighty horn to club Godzilla on the head to try and gain the advantage, yet despite that Godzilla held on tightly. The spines on Godzilla’s back began to light up and blue energy was wisping from the demon’s mouth, ready to fire point blank at Tyrant’s head.
The suction spout burst open and with a loud ‘whoosh’, Tyrant quickly fired his freezing gas that forced Godzilla to back off and caused him to miss Tyrant completely when he fired his atomic breath. The beam carved a path of destruction as Godzilla swayed his head to adjust his aim and fire upon Tyrant, smoke and explosions following in his wake, only stopping when the chimeric nightmare launched his Baraba Whip again and it wrapped itself around his opponent’s throat.
With another mocking laugh, Tyrant wrapped his axe hand around the whip and pulled it taut, forcing Godzilla to stumble forward. Tyrant shoulder checked Godzilla to force him backwards, then yanked him forward again with his Baraba Whip and shoulder checked him again. He howled with sadistic laughter as he angled a heavy kick with one of Red King’s powerful legs at Godzilla’s gut.
With an eerie calm about him, Godzilla waited as he was shoulder checked again and sent stumbling back. Just when the Baraba Whip was once again pulled around his throat he snatched it in his hands and yanked forward, causing Tyrant to stumble forwards. Godzilla wheeled around, whipping Tyrant across the face with his tail before in a bright flash of atomic blue he attempted again to fire another atomic breath, only to have Tyrant club his head with the Despotic Hammer. It forced Godzilla to fire at the ground and cause a massive explosion of dirt and dust to obscure both of them.
Not that either monster cared about being able to see. Tyrant slashed at Godzilla’s chest with his axe again, blood coating the black scales a dark red, only to have Godzilla’s tail suddenly club into his sensitive feet and sweep him to the ground with a howl of pain.
Godzilla kicked Tyrant hard in the side to keep him down before raising his foot high and stomping hard on Tyrant’s horn. With a sickening ‘crack’ the horn was snapped clean off and Tyrant’s anguished howls were matched only in volume by Godzilla’s roars of vengeful glee.
He only stopped when a Death Fire shot up against his chest, cauterizing his injuries shut and causing the acrid scent of burnt blood to fill the air as the explosion singed some of Tyrant’s skin thanks to how close he was to Godzilla. It succeeded however, in throwing Godzilla off and the two monsters glared at one another as they rose shakily to their feet.
They were both breathing heavily and yet it was clear neither of them would stop. This was something that would last for hours and by then the city would be turned into a smouldering graveyard.
Tyrant immediately launched his Baraba Whip again to ensnare Godzilla, jerking in alarm when Godzilla swiftly reached up and caught the weapon. Tyrant tried to pull back as Godzilla wrapped the whip around his hands and dug his heels into the ground, pulling with all of his might.
His feet skidded against the pavement and the dirt beneath it as Godzilla took a step back and slowly began turning, dragging Tyrant in a circular motion and grit his teeth. His muscles flexed as he pulled harder and finally succeeded in lifting Tyrant up off his feet and began swinging him around with his Baraba Whip, Tyrant flailing as he tried to unsuccessfully free himself.
He swung Tyrant around faster and faster, gaining more momentum as Tyrant moaned in dismay. With a final heave, Godzilla released Tyrant and sent him flying across the city like a discus, skipping across the ground and crashing into a nearby skyscraper to send it crumbling on top of Tyrant. With a bright flash of blue, Godzilla fired his atomic breath at the downed skyscraper, a giant explosion blossoming from where the beam struck and pillowing smoke and fire into the air.
Godzilla gave a booming roar of victory. He had done it! He could finally rest now and quiet the voices in his head.
Then the ground began to shake violently, and with a sudden eruption of concrete and plaster Tyrant burst out of the ground and tackled Godzilla, sending the two undead monsters flailing onto the ground as they wrestled and scratched and scratched and bit at one another, rolling around the debris of the city, smashing through buildings. Interwoven with the dust kicked up by their wrestling and flailing limbs, Godzilla’s spines would start to flash then glow blue.
At the same time, Tyrant’s maw began heating up. The air began to warp as the heat rose and Tyrant’s Death Fire was charging up.
The two kaiju fired their beam attacks at each other and they collided, causing a massive explosion that engulfed both monsters in an inferno of fire and atomic energy. As the dust settled, no trace of either Godzilla or Tyrant remained…
The lights turned back on in the classroom, all of the students staring in horrified awe at the now empty screen as Lipiah stood from his desk. “As you can see,” he said gravely. “Both Godzilla and Tyrant are some of the most powerful monsters to exist in part thanks to the fact the souls they are amalgamated with had coalesced their power into something truly frightening.”
He clapped his hands and the students took this as the cue to leave. They began gathering their things and talking to one another, only half-listening for whatever homework assignment Lipiah had for them.
Draw: Godzilla (Millennium), Tyrant
“I haven’t excused the class yet.”
There was silence throughout the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Lipiah in confusion. Lipiah shook his head. “I believe I said I have videos planned today. Not just one video. Sit back down everyone.” He waited until he had done so, clasping his hands together. “As we discussed, when monsters die they go to the Monster Graveyard, right? Now then, what do you all think would happen if these two kaiju, whose very existence pertains to that of rage, spite, and hatred were to go to the Graveyard?”
Another silence, no one dared to answer… but someone did raise their hand. “How do you even have footage?” They asked.
Lipiah nodded at them, glad that someone asked. “After recent events involving Ultraman Belial and the existence of the Bogarls being discovered as living inhabitants, the Defence Force felt it was prudent to set up a monitoring system to record any activity that may happen. I was lucky I was able to get permission to even show the footage here.” He chuckled a little, then sat back down. “Now watch and see what happened.”
As the lights dimmed the video kicked in and almost everyone in the room jumped at the booming sound of Tyrant’s roar, sounding more powerful than ever and there were a few gasps as the footage finally displayed the monsters.
Tyrant had amassed even more souls into the collective of monsters that made him up, evolving himself into EX Tyrant through sheer, spiteful willpower. Now on all fours, Tyrant galloped around the Monster Graveyard with his Baraba Whip wrapped around Godzilla’s throat, dragging the undead monster king around before hurling him into the nearest rock formation.
Tyrant reared up, firing a Death Fire into the sky and roaring powerfully towards Godzilla. Daring him to challenge his might and now standing twice as large as Godzilla was.
Godzilla rose to his feet with a snarl and fired his atomic breath at Tyrant, the undead behemoth not even absorbing the blast, instead just galloping through without a care in the world. One swing from Tyrant’s massive axe would decapitate Godzilla and he ducked just in time to feel the metal scraping against one of his dorsal plates, being driven back as Tyrant swung his new Despotic Hammer like a mace, a thick chain connecting the weapon to his arm.
He stood back and dove to the side as Tyrant charged at him again, eyes narrowing in concentration as watched the mad chimera kaiju carefully. As Tyrant wheeled around on Gomora’s hind legs he charged forward again. Godzilla waited, dorsal plates flashing blue as he charged up his atomic breath. He’d only have one shot to try and get the advantage back. Waiting.
In an instant, Godzilla suddenly fired his atomic breath downwards and the powerful beam smashed into Tyrant’s front legs. Tyrant squealed in pain as he suddenly felt his forelegs buckle underneath the beam, sprawling onto the ground in a mass of flailing limbs as he crashed hard.
Godzilla grabbed Tyrant’s flailing tail and grunted as he pulled with all of his might, dragging the centaur kaiju across the ground. Gritting his teeth, he pulled upwards and managed to heave the gargantuan creature into the air for a brief moment before slamming him back down onto the ground. Godzilla’s own roars were drowned out by Tyrant’s as he lifted and slammed his opponent on the ground a few more times before lifting him once more in the air and hurling him away.
He took a breath, atomic energy swirling around his mouth as he stalked closer to Tyrant. Energy began to hum and crackle as Godzilla came closer and closer to the downed despotic kaiju and fired the strongest atomic breath he could muster, slamming against Tyrant’s chest. The force of the beam pushed Tyrant back across the ground and sent him tumbling before he crashed into a rock wall and the entire thing collapsed onto him. Godzilla paused for a moment before firing another atomic breath, smashing into the rocks and causing a massive explosion that rocked the whole Monster Graveyard.
Panting, Godzilla cautiously began to edge towards the fallen Tyrant. Surely this time, he had to be dead for good. Just to be sure, he began charging one more atomic breath.
Then out of nowhere, Tyrant’s massive axe hand lodged itself into Godzilla’s chest. Chest only a little burnt, EX Tyrant rose back up to his full intimidating height and lifted up the undead beast with his axe hand. Godzilla struggled weakly, blood dripping down Tyrant’s axeblade as he sunk it deeper into Godzilla’s heart.
Tyrant lifted Godzilla higher so he was dangling uselessly in the air. Fire began to churn in the maw of the super-chimera beast. The two monsters shared one last hateful look before Tyrant fired his Death Fire and it engulfed Godzilla’s head. The screams of pain were drowned out by the loud roar of flames and when Tyrant finally stopped the attack only the charred skull of Godzilla was left.
He threw the corpse down onto the ground and let loose another Death Fire, immolating Godzilla’s body until there was nothing more than blackened ash that scattered on the winds. Beating his chest with his mace hand, Tyrant boomed out in victory before galloping off into the Monster Graveyard and the footage ended.
The whole class was buzzing with energy as the lights flicked back on and Lipiah excused them after reminding them about their homework. Gathering up his own things, he was excited to read his student’s work regarding what they had just witnessed and the nature of the soul.
Mebius stayed behind for a moment. “Brother,” He said slowly. “EX Tyrant won’t be a problem for the Graveyard, will it? Something that powerful and angry can’t be good for the monsters and aliens who are at rest there.”
Lipiah shrugged a little at that. “Truthfully, I have no idea. As far as I know EX Tyrant hasn’t been causing a major stir since the fight with Godzilla.” He placed a hand on Mebius’s shoulder. “If something does happen, Brother, then you and I will be there to take care of it. That’s what we do.”
Mebius nodded firmly and took his Brother in Arm’s hand for a moment before letting go and going off to his next class. Lipiah followed him, the two Ultraman talking to one another about recent assignments as they walked.
Winner: Tyrant
