Author: Christian Salabert | Banner: Jackson Morris

Jet Jaguar’s metallic feet clanked against the pebbles amongst Monster Island’s soil. He needed to find Godzilla and fast! Mankind was once more at the mercy of the Seatopian deity, Megalon, and the Star Hunter M cyborg, Gigan. Knowing from past experience that he could not handle both monsters on his own, the heroic machine sped through the air, making his way towards Monster Island to once again call upon his ally the King of the Monsters. Upon landing on the island, however, he heard the sound of chaos. The calls of many kaiju filled the air. Rodan, Anguirus, Baragon, Gorosaurus, Varan, even Godzilla himself. There was definitely quite a battle going on. The robot defender realized he had to lend a hand and began rushing through the jungle, towards the war cries.

Before too long, however, the roaring ceased. Jet Jagaur stopped in his tracks and tilted his head. Had the battle been won? If it had, by whom? Shortly after that, the ground began to rumble. But this was from no monstrous footsteps, it felt more as if something huge was rolling across the ground. The electronic guardian’s theory proved correct when a large, spiked sphere rolled past. The human-sized robot was nearly crushed underneath the strange ball, but he managed to fly out of the way, barely avoiding an early fate. The neon defender landed and turned to look at the strange sphere, and quickly realized it was turning around! Jet realized that whatever this thing was, it was intent on running him over. Folding and swinging his arms, he activated one of his many special powers and became engulfed in a blinding light, growing to his full height of fifty meters! Whatever this ball was, Jet Jaguar was about to make it regret its attempted hit-and-run.

Gororin was briefly taken aback by its target’s sudden new size. But it did little to deter the monstrous cactus. It rolled directly at its foe, intent on bowling the colorful robot over with the same ease it did the island’s residents. Seconds before it could smash into Jet Jaguar’s legs, however, the machine somersaulted over it, rolling off his back and getting onto his legs. The malevolent weed turned and tried to strike again, this time leaping into the air, aiming at the robot’s chest. But Ibuki’s opus was quick to retaliate, spinning around and slamming his foot into the plant creature, knocking it aside. As the evil pincushion crashed to the ground, the android cried out as he realized the cactus’ spines had pierced through his metallic plating. Reaching down, he pulled a small handful of spines out of the side of his foot and turned to face his opponent.

The Xillien weapon’s curved yellow eyes narrowed with satisfaction. Despite its foe’s armored hide, he could still be harmed by the plant’s spines. Almost immediately, Gororin fired a volley of its needles, aimed directly at his foe’s permanent grinning face. Seconds before they hit, Jet Jaguar crossed his arms over his face, blocking the attack as the spines bounced off his metal limbs. Despite the successful protection of his smile, most of the needles stabbed into his arms, however. The sentient machine pulled his arms down, but before he could try to remove the spines, the spiked orb rolled forward and leapt into the air, smashing into his decorated chest.

Sparks burst from the robot as the spiny ball collided with his chest, knocking him to the ground. As the mechanical hero turned over onto his stomach and started to get back onto his feet, the vengeful vegetation swerved around and leapt into the air once again, this time slamming into his electronic enemy’s back and knocking him flat on his face.

As the prickly tumbleweed rolled around and prepared to strike again, the machine who fought for man quickly flipped up onto his feet, striking a battle pose as he prepared for the cactus’ next move. The plant launched another series of spines at the superhero, who dove to the ground and rolled out of the way. Grabbing a boulder from the ground as he went, the heroic robot held it up, deflecting the onslaught of needles. Continuing to use the boulder as a shield, Jet Jaguar made his way towards the evil plant. Not wanting the robot to get any closer, the alien monster stopped firing its spines and rolled away, disappearing into the jungle.

Jet stepped forward, scanning the area but not seeing a single sign of his spherical foe. Still clutching the boulder in his hands, he marched forward, trudging through the thick foliage. The android looked everywhere, but saw no sign of his diminutive opponent amongst the trees. How could such a destructive little beast hide so well?

Suddenly, his audio sensors picked up the sound of needles hurtling through the air. Quickly turning around and holding the boulder up, the technology born savior blocked that wave of spines. He stomped towards their point of origin, but by the time he got there, Gororin was gone. Just as suddenly, another series of spines were unleashed. A scant few embedded themselves into colored armor, but most were deflected by the rock. Once again, when Jet Jaguar tried to strike, the chlorophyll scoundrel had rolled away before he could reach him.

The electronic fighter was starting to grow concerned. He glanced down at his damaged chest plate. This foe wasn’t like other monsters. It was small, deceptively fast and its needles were more than capable of piercing his metal hide. And thanks to that same combination, the beast was almost impossible to hit. How was he going to overcome this creature?

Jet Jaguar cried out as another volley of cactus spines stabbed into his back, trailing down his pronounced “spine.” Dropping the boulder and clutching at his back, the robot left himself wide open to another attack by Gororin, who smashed into his chest, knocking him back-first onto the ground and driving the needles further into his back. The mechanical hero got back to his feet, only to have the Xillien nuisance speed by, sweeping his legs out from under him. The neon superhero toppled once again, his face smashing into the dirt.

Getting up onto his knees, Jet Jaguar quickly looked around, trying to locate his foe as soon as possible. Unfortunately, he saw more than he bargained for when a series of needles stabbed into his eyes, shattering them and effectively blinding the robot.

Scratching at his missing lights, the android protector realized he was fighting a losing battle. Though he had come here with a mission, he knew he had to pull back or else he might be damaged beyond repair before even making contact with Godzilla. Holding his arms up at his sides, Jet began to activate flight mode.

The robot’s feet were barely off the ground before Gororin smashed into his chest once again. The blow was enough to bash open the silver chest plate completely and send him tumbling out of the air. Crashing onto his back, Jet Jaguar held his hand out, trying to rise back to his feet, only for the exposed wiring in his chest to spark, causing him to fall back to the dirt, lifeless. The sound of slowing machinery was heard and the man made hero moved no more.

The sphere’s twin yellow eyes were alight with evil glee as its opponent perished. Very few could expect to survive an encounter with the plant monster Gororin.

Winner: Gororin