Author: Christian Salabert | Banner: Jackson Morris

Nagoya was now a ghost town. The city was quiet and dead, devoid of human life. They had long since evacuated. An enormous flower had rooted itself atop the city’s famed Nagoya Castle. Energy gathered within the pod as it prepared to launch its seeds into the stratosphere. Not too far away, the Legion Queen watched over the area contently. She was about to withdraw for now when she felt tremors underneath her. She soon saw the disturbance as building after building collapsed, in a beeline heading directly towards the Castle. The insectoid monarch realized the flower was in danger, but there was nothing she could do about it without harming the symbiotic plant. The alien queen howled in rage as the Nagoya Castle was struck next, leveling the famous structure to the ground. Red and purple energy crackled underneath the flower as it impacted with the earth, setting it aflame. But that wasn’t the end of the strange underground disturbance. It headed directly for her, continuing to destroy buildings as it went. Suddenly, it stopped.

Legion watched as the ground split open and out came the armored form of the larva Battra!

Spotting his target, the armored caterpillar immediately went on the attack, unleashing crackling Prism Bolts from his eyes and horn. Legion instantly brought her force field up, but it was no use against the rapid fire bolts. The energy warped and twisted in front of her horned head before exploding, causing her to rear her head back and wail. Battra continued his assault, firing Prism Bolt after Prism Bolt at the alien menace. The blasts exploded against her exoskeleton and send bursts of flame erupting all around her. The armored invader let loose a groan as her attacker’s beams struck her, then decided it was time to return fire. She opened her proboscis, blue energy crackling within. A massive beam of energy thundered forth, missing the Dark Moth but hitting the ground not too far behind him. A massive shockwave erupted from the impact point, catching the fallen guardian within and scorching the larva. He shrieked as he was thrown to the ground by the blast, his armor badly damaged.

Legion made her way towards her downed opponent, chirping evilly. Battra managed to pull himself upward, glaring in fury at the intergalactic insect. He fired more blasts from his eyes, strafing her thin legs. He aimed his bolts up at the towering titan’s upper torso, and the evil queen lost several of her smaller legs, and in the process, her force field. The Black Mothra continued his assault, blasting at the monarch as he waddled closer and closer towards her. Not wanting her foe any closer, Legion opened her mighty horn once again, ready to blow a hole through the armored beast. Not wanting to risk a direct hit from the beam, the Battle Mothra aimed his Prism Bolts into her open face. The red and purple energy blasted into her exposed energy core, throwing off sparks and flame. The alien threw her head back, wailing in pain, her beam cut off before it was even released. With his foe distracted and now within reach, Battra thrust his head forward, plunging the giant yellow horn atop his head into Legion’s chest.

The massive queen screamed as Battra’s horn pierced her exoskeleton, steam pouring from the wound. The dark hero shook his head back and forth, digging his horn deeper into his foe’s torso. But just as the god began to feel confident about the wound he had just inflicted, the tides were suddenly turned. For not only had his horn broken into Legion’s chest… but her egg sac as well.

In an instant, thousands of Symbiotic Legion began to emerge from their queen’s torso. Traveling down Battra’s horn, they began to swamp and attack the caterpillar. The divine lediopteran realized what was happening, and began trying to dislodge his horn from the queen’s chest. He managed to break away from her, worsening her wound in the process, but by then it was too late. Every single one of Legion’s children had left their mother and had completely covered her assailant. The Dark Moth swung himself wildly back and forth in an attempt to shake them from his body, to no avail. Each time they got close to his eyes, he fired his Prism Bolts, blasting them away, but otherwise he was helpless to stop their assault. He could feel them eating away at his armor, almost burrowing into it. With a crack, his horn fell away, crashing to the ground. One of his tusks soon followed. Before he realized it, the queen was upon him. With a mighty shove, Legion sent the larval form of Battra toppling over onto his side.

The swarm queen watched, satisfied, as her brood took care of the creature. Those who attacked the Legion would be sure to pay with their very lives. And if her children weren’t enough to end the beast, one final blast from her beam would no doubt finish it. She sat and waited as her soldiers continued their work.

Battra panicked as he felt the Symbiotic Legion continuing to destroy his armor and began to make contact with the soft flesh within. He had no arms to swat at them and his Prism Bolts were useless against them. He knew that if he didn’t do something quickly, they would kill him within mere moments. Trying to block out the pain from the soldiers’ assault, he began to focus his powers. Suddenly, a crackling vortex of energy engulfed him. Red, orange and yellow energies exploded out of his body, transforming it into a new shape. His massive body shrank, but new appendages emerged from the sides. The flashing energy faded away just as quickly as it came, revealing his imago form!

Legion watched in fury as her soldiers fell from the sky, burnt and charred beyond recognition by the power given off by Battra’s transformation. The few that had survived flew towards him, but the Black Mothra immediately opened fire with his Prism Beams, incinerating the last few Symbiotic Legion and blasting their queen below. The intergalactic invader cried out as the god of destruction flapped his wings and flew overhead, raining his violet beams down on her head. The blasts burned deep scorch marks into her off white armor and blew off her remaining few legs from the sides of her torso. Again and again, the divine insect fired his Prism Beams, never failing to strike his foe with each blast. The alien queen opened her proboscis and fired her electromagnetic blast into the air, but Battra easily avoided the beam and returned fire, sending his Prism Beams into her face.

Circling around his foe, the anti-hero planned his next form of attack. Before he could implement it, however, one of Legion’s giant hind legs sprang upward, uppercutting Battra in the mandibles. As he tried to regain his wits without falling from the sky, the living plague swung her leg sideways, slamming it across his face. The brutal butterfly spiraled out of control, but miraculously managed to stay in the air. Just as he managed to regain his composure, he saw the queen firing her beam directly at him. He had no time to react, the blast was already airborne. He tried to move, but the beam punched a massive hole through his left wing. It failed to detonate, shooting off into the afternoon sky, but the damage was done. No longer able to stay aloft, Battra fell to the ground, flapping his wings in an attempt to make the landing as painless as possible. He cackled in frustration, futilely flapping his wings. He was a sitting duck like this. He looked ahead and saw Legion making her way towards him. He fired his Prism Beams at her, taking satisfaction in watching her recoil in pain from the blasts. The dark moth’s satisfaction soon turned into panic, however, when the monster mother bent down and thrust her proboscis into the ground. Dirt and concrete exploded into the air as the Queen began to burrow into the street. Within seconds, she was gone.

Battra tried to push himself up off the ground, but his useless wing weighed him down too much. He needed to move. He could feel the tremors underneath him as Legion traveled underground, heading in his direction. He knew he was finished if he couldn’t move. The Battle Mothra began to gather his power again, preparing to revert back to his larva form. Crimson energy began to crackle over his spiked body.

The pavement exploded as Legion’s enormous torso erupted from the ground, her head held high in the air. She held her proboscis triumphantly into the sky.

Battra had been impaled on it.

The Black Mothra weakly shook his head side to side, his legs twitching. Yellow blood poured from where Legion’s horn had pierced his body. Battra knew he had lost, but refused to give in. He used his last bit of strength to fire his Prism Beams, blowing chunks from Legion’s armor. The alien queen’s beady blue eyes glared angrily at her foe, furious that it would dare attack her even as it was dying. Putting all of her strength into it, the swarm queen opened her horn.

The two halves of Battra fell to the ground.

Legion surveyed the area. The flower was destroyed, her soldiers were dead and she herself was injured from the fight. She decided to resume her conquest in a different location. Placing her horn against the ground once again, she burrowed into the earth, disappearing into the soil.

Winner: Legion