Author: Hayes A. Jones | Banner: Jackson Morris

Zilla was on the hunt for fish. And his hunting ground, oddly enough, was central Tokyo. The irradiated iguana had been idly swimming through the waters of Tokyo Bay when he picked up the most inviting smell. It was a strong scent, salty and unmistakable. Zilla would recognize it anywhere: a huge number of fish, all in one place and ripe for the taking. The simple thought of it had his mouth watering. The lizard had spent all morning gorging himself, but this wasn’t an opportunity he could afford to pass up. He was about to make a transoceanic journey and it was sometimes very hard to find enough suitable food in the open ocean. If Zilla stuffed himself now, he wouldn’t have to eat until he arrived at another one of his fishing grounds. So naturally, the great reptile had immediately swum to shore and begun making his way to the scent of the glorious stench.

His landing was, as always, announced with a chorus of human shrieks. Zilla had no idea why they panicked so in his presence. There was no need for worry; he hated the taste of human. It was much too bland. Concrete cracked beneath his weight and cars were crushed under his dinosaurian feet. Although he traveled carefully, using the nice, open streets the humans had been kind enough to lay out for him, his long tail would occasionally drag across the side of a building, sending a small rain of glass down upon the fleeing humans. He didn’t pay attention to any of these things. His mind was on one thing and one thing only.

Fish.

Judging by the pungent scent now clogging Zilla’s nostrils, he was almost there. Within a few moments, he turned around a particularly large skyscraper and came face-to-face with the Tsukiji Market, the largest fish and seafood market in the world and an absolute feast as far as the imitating iguana was concerned. Smacking his chops, the saurian beast tore the roof of one building off with a clawed hand. Dozens of humans were crushed by falling rubble. Zilla didn’t care. What he did care about were the thousands and thousands of fish within the structure. Purring with delight, the giant lizard leaned down and gathered up all the marine life he could fit in his square jaws. Throwing back his head with a few violent jerks, he gobbled down hundreds of fish at once, grumbling in satisfaction. He bent over for another mouthful of seafood but before he could finish this action, a Prism Beam slammed into his face and exploded on contact. He screamed in agony and leapt back. Landing several blocks away, the injured reptile gazed at his attacker through the crimson screen of blood oozing into his eyes.

The violator was a gigantic, armored caterpillar. A large, harpoon-like horn rose from its forehead. Huge tusks curved out from either side of its vicious-looking mandibles. Red eyes full of malice stared back at Zilla. It was Battra, the Black Mothra. The enormous insect gave a terrible screech, energy crackling up its great horn. He was here to exterminate this walking overfishing problem. Its mission in mind, the dark guardian monster launched a volley of Prism Beams from his eyes.

Moving with a speed that seemed to defy his great size, the radioactive reptile bolted from the path of the attack, as the Prism Beams blasted part of the fish market into smoldering bits. Battra shrieked in anger. The mammoth invertebrate prepared itself for a counterattack from the more agile beast. To the dark god’s surprise, Zilla instead made a beeline for a dense forest of buildings. Battra stared at the fleeing form of its opponent for a moment, stunned, then let loose a fierce cry of rage. How dare this abomination try to run! Enraged, the huge caterpillar gave chase, smashing straight through what was left of the fish market, his dark mind beginning to visualize ways he could kill the thing. He finally decided on grinding its bones to dust after frying it with his Prism Beams.

As the savage defender entered the concrete jungle, a fast, cutting blow was delivered to his neck in a blur of slate gray scales. Staggering, Battra felt his yellow blood wet his black armor. A great wave of rage swept through him. In a fit of anger, the deity fired a barrage of Prism Beams from his eyes and horn, tearing apart the buildings that the lizard had disappeared behind. He didn’t stop until the human structures were reduced to nothing. As the dust cleared, Battra expected to find the dead or dying form of Zilla amongst the rubble. He was wrong. As the great insect was waiting to see his mutilated remains, the new species leapt atop him from behind. Shrieking in shock, the dark moth thrashed about, trying to dislodge the much lighter monster. Zilla dug his talons in between the caterpillar’s armor. Growing irritated, Battra rushed forward and drove his horn into a large skyscraper. Swinging his head up, the ruthless defender sent the building groaning down atop himself and his foe. The mutated iguana howled in terror and jumped from the divine beast’s back, but it was too late. With a might crash, the human structure collapsed on both of them.

With a screech of victory Battra burst from the fallen building, completely unharmed due to his armor and incredible durability. He didn’t think Zilla had fared so well,though, but better safe than sorry. Destructive energies shot forth from his horn and obliterated the building and whatever lay beneath it. To the insect’s horror, the attack revealed a gaping hole. The ground directly in front of the giant invertebrate erupted. Leaping from his tunnel, Zilla closed his jaws around one of Battra’s tusks. With a jerk of his head, the appendage was removed with a gush of yellow blood, causing the god to wail in pain. Unleashing a Prism Beam, the dark protector was disappointed to see it only strike his discarded tusk. The reptile had vanished again. Battra’s mandibles chattered in rage. This was Zilla’s playground and he would just have to adapt to it. The frustrated insect calmed himself. Concentrating, the battle Mothra focused all his effort on feeling the vibrations the beast would make upon its approach. A low rumbling traveled up the guardian’s body, and he almost turned to attack right then, but thought better of it. Wait for it to get closer, then strike. The rumbling steadily increased in power.

Wait… wait… almost… Now.

Whipping around, Battra thrust his horn forward, trying to spear it through Zilla. The shocked reptile squealed in fright as the insect’s cranial projection rushed to meet him. Taloned feet dug into the ground. With a reaction speed powered by self-preservation, the saurian giant leapt backwards, as Battra’s horn carved a small, red cut into his chest. As the mutant landed, the dark moth immediately fired a swarm of Prism Beams. He failed to run his horn through the reptile, but he did succeed in getting it out in the open. Exposed and vulnerable, Zilla took the offensive. The irradiated beast charged, darting under the rain of Prism Beams. Battra shrieked in surprise as tons of irradiated iguana collided with him. Powerful jaws snapped shut on one of his legs. A screech of pain was forced from the great insect as Zilla savaged the limb, twisting his head in one direction and then the other. Prism Beams cut into the air, unable to reach the offending beast below their range of attack. Yellow blood poured down the imposter Godzilla’s jaws and neck. As Battra’s leg was torn off, the mutated lizard spat it out and bolted for cover. Prism Beams tearing apart the ground behind him, he disappeared into the city.

The places that his tusk and leg had once occupied pulsated with dull pain. Furious eyes scanned their surroundings. Battra screeched a challenge to the new species, hoping to draw him out. It wasn’t going to happen. Fine. If this beast wanted to play hide-and-go-seek, then he’d just topple all the hiding places. Explosive power harpooned out from his eyes. Prism Beam after Prism Beam raked across the city landscape blowing apart. Cackling joyfully, the demonic insect leveled buildings, knowing he would draw out Zilla sooner or later. With a growing annoyance, Battra found it would be later. Much, much later. For every building he destroyed, another appeared behind it. The ravaging beams stopped. It was useless. That reptile had an infinite amount of places to hide. The insect gritted his teeth. This beast was a slippery one. It was obvious the fight wasn’t going anywhere soon. He was too slow to catch the stupid thing and it was too weak to deal him any serious damage. What he needed to turn the tide in his favor was mobility. And he knew exactly how to attain it.

Battra screeched as the molten power within him exploded outwards. Transforming energies possessed his body, molding it into an entirely different shape in a flash of orange might. Jagged wings swept aside to reveal the dark moth’s imago stage. This airborne form took on the shape of a moth, but was covered in familiar black armor and a trio of yellow horns jutted from its head to form a crown. Shrieking, the empowered guardian took to the skies, rising above the buildings Zilla used to hide himself. The great invertebrate spotted the irradiated retile immediately. It was staring up at him from behind a shopping complex with frightened eyes, now unable to hide from the black terror above. Battra noticed its claws and teeth now stained yellow with blood. His blood. Screeching angrily, Battra unleashed purple vengeance from his eyes.

Prism Beams tore into Zilla’s scaly hide with small geysers of blood. A thin wail of agony tore from the reptile’s throat. Encouraged by the horse’s cries of pain from below, Battra only cackled and fired more Prism Beams. The purple projectiles ripped into the ground around the irradiated iguana. The resulting explosions herded the terrified creature, but the blooms of smoke they created also blocked the god of Earth’s view of Zilla for a few seconds. This was all the time the saurian beast needed to vanish. As the smoke from his own attack disappeared, Battra discovered that his target was gone. The savage moth screeched in rage. Increasing his altitude, the dark guardian began searching the city for the reptile.

Cowering under a bridge, Zilla was hidden even from the high eyes of the now airborne Battra. The naturally cautious beast was now scared out of his wits. That horrible bug was going to kill him! He had to get out of here. He had to run. As the great saurian prepared to flee, a Prism Beam struck the street right in front of his nose, throwing up concrete and abandoned cars. Zilla’s howl of fear was only covered up by an ear-splitting explosion. High above, Battra had begun sending his purple rays down randomly into the city, hoping to flush his pathetic foe out. Shivering, Zilla realized he wouldn’t get away without being blasted out of existence. Scared eyes hardened. A mouthful of sturdy, conical teeth were promptly displayed in a snarl and a soft growl. If he was going to escape, he’d have to fight his way out! Slate-grey skin stretched taunt as powerful muscles bunched in preparation. The beating of Battra’s wings slowly moved directly over Zilla’s waiting form. The mutant lizard waited a moment, the booming sound of Prism Beams exploding around him making it difficult to pinpoint the location of his insectoid opponent. Saurian legs snapped into action like springs, propelling Zilla through the bridge that hid him and high into the air. As the reptile gripped the wing of a very surprised Battra in his maw, he vaguely noticed that the deity’s transformation had replaced the leg it had torn off earlier.

With a tremendous crash, an irradiated iguana and a moth god crashed to the ground together.

Battra shrieked in pain as Zilla pounced atop him. Crocodilian fangs punctured the armor around his neck. Yellow blood poured into the streets. Battra was too stunned to put up any defense. Why had the cowardly thing suddenly become so aggressive? It had spent the entire fight running away and now it had turned the tables and plucked him from his own element. What had happened? The guardian was thrown violently back into reality as he felt his life begin to slip away. Prism Beams cut into the sky. Two gigantic, jet-black wings began to pound the ground, desperately pushing against the air. With a great whoosh, the lepidopteran took off, soaring over the Sumida River, Zilla still on his back. Luckily for the giant invertebrate, the reptile was extremely light. Panicking, Zilla dove into the waters below. The dinosaurian beast entered the water like a torpedo – straight, smooth and with little resistance. As the tip of his tail slipped into the water, Battra unleashed purple Hell. Prism Beams struck the surface of the water with sizzling clouds of steam. The river began to heat up, little by little, the streams of raw power warming it. Below the surface, Zilla was experiencing what it was like to be in an oven. The waters would soon be too hot. He’d be cooked alive. A muscular tail swept through the murky water, pushing him to the river bottom. Knowing it was do or die, the great reptile began to dig, talons ripping up chunks of earth. High above, Battra continued to bombard the water with his Prism Beams, cackling his dark delights. As the water came to a boil, the thunderous bubbling masked the sound of hundreds of tons of concrete beginning pushed aside by a reptilian body. Swiftly and quietly emerging from the tunnel he had dug, the monstrous lizard trotted to the tallest building he could find along the river. Battra’s joyful cackling prevented him from hearing the distressed groan of the skyscraper as Zilla scaled it. His five-hundred tons delicately perched at the top of the human structure, Zilla roared and leapt.

By the time the trumpet reached Battra’s ears it was too late.

Zilla planted both of his feet square on Battra’s back. With an outraged screech, the insect god was sent plunging into the boiling waters below, Zilla with him.

SPLASH!

The two giants sent towering waves over each side of the river. Within an instant of touch the scolding hot water, Zilla pushed off of Battra’s body and streaked to the rivers edge. With a yelp of pain, the reptile jumped from the water, badly burned. Battra did not have the advantage of being amphibious. Trashing and wailing in pain, the moth was boiled alive, his heavy, wet wings unable to lift him from the river. The clever mutant watched as Battra suffered the fate that the sadistic bug had planned for him. Eyes growing dull, the dark guardian slowly sunk beneath the waves. Sinking to the bottom, Battra dissolved in a flash of the energy that gave him life. The Earth had reclaimed him, waiting for the time where She could unleash her Black Mothra again. But until that day, Zilla could live freely.

Zilla turned around and began to retrace the battle, following the trail of destruction it had caused. The mutant iguana was heading back to the Tsukiji Market. He was starving. And what better to satisfy his hunger than fish?

Winner: Zilla