“With Krystalak under our control, the strongest monsters in the universe are at our command,” said Vorticia, turning to look out the window of her mother ship at Earth. The other alien leaders all joined her, except for X, who waited on his own mothership. “Now, just one last thing before we begin the invasion in its entirety,” she said. “X, send Obsidius to Infant Island,” she said, a dark smirk rising on her face.

* * * * *

The Cosmos sat before Mothra, singing their songs to the insect guardian. They knew something bad was on the horizon, but just what that was they couldn’t be sure of. Still, until they were needed, they might as well relax. Suddenly, their peace was interrupted by the sound of a spaceship. Running outside, they saw an Xilien ship hovering over Infant Island before a beam descended from it, forming into the brutal lava monster Obsidius. The spawn of magma and SpaceGodzilla’s crystals roared as he beat his chest, preparing to fight.

Mothra erupted from the temple and screeched at this challenger, furious that anyone would defile her home like this. Obsidius let out a fierce roar and marched towards her single-mindedly, ordered to assassinate Mothra by those controlling his mind. Seeing this, Mothra let loose her antenna beams, striking Obsidius’ molten hide but doing little to no damage. As Obsidius reached her, Mothra flew back to evade a clubbing blow from his hand and flapped her wings with all her strength, producing a windstorm that blew the molten behemoth backwards. Enraged, Obsidius let loose a torrent of blazing magma from his maw, only for Mothra to barrel roll and evade. Still, the stream of molten rock’s intense heat left her wing smoldering even though it had missed. Countering, Mothra dove and landed on Obsidius’ head, scratching his hide with her arms. Annoyed, the molten goliath reached up and tore Mothra from his head and roared in her face before slamming her into the ground with all his force.

Mothra screeched in pain and tried to rise, only for Obsidius to stomp his foot down on her back and grind it into her. Thinking quickly, Mothra flapped her wings to kick up a small windstorm, knocking Obsidius off balance and knocking him to the ground as she took off. Before the lava golem could rise again, Mothra grabbed onto his tail and pulled, dragging him across the ground. After a few moments of this, she let him go, sending him slamming into a mountain side. Flying over, Mothra rained down energy beams on the monster, trying her best to overcome his hide but doing little but angering him further. Rising to his feet, Obsidius let loose a stream of lava from his mouth, lighting Mothra’s wing aflame. Screeching in agony, Mothra flew over the ocean and dipped her wing mid-flight to put it out. However, as she returned to the island to continue the attack, Obsidius rolled along the ground after curling into a ball, using this tactic to pick up speed before extending his tail and slamming it into Mothra’s head, sending her crashing to the Earth. Bellowing in rage, Obsidius slammed his fist down on Mothra’s back, earning a screech of pain. He picked the giant insect goddess up and sent her flying a good ways into the trees nearby. Obsidius proceeded to let loose his magma breath on the forest, igniting it into a flaming configuration in an attempt to burn Mothra alive. However, as he did so, another combatant entered the fray, slamming full speed into Obsidius’ back and toppling him to the ground.

The Cosmos gasped in surprise at the new arrival. “Battra!”

Battra, ready to defend the Earth as always, screeched in fury. He had little love for Mothra, but the creature before him was an abomination, a mix of the Earth’s life blood and an alien invader’s sinister crystal, something he refused to allow to exist. Mothra rose from the flaming forest, having managed to avoid most of the flames and survive. Glad to see Battra, Mothra screeched to him in thanks but was ignored. While they were on the same side this battle, Battra still didn’t care for her.

As Obsidius rose, he turned to face Battra, roaring his threats. Charging, he slammed heavy blows into the Black Mothra, forcing him back. Battra countered by swinging his horn around, bludgeoning Obsidius’ chest and forcing him back, allowing Mothra to fly overhead and smack the lava monster over the head as she passed, staggering him forwards. Infuriated, Obsidius spat a stream of magma at Mothra, barely missing and the sheer heat of it singeing her wings. Battra, enraged at the site of his mother’s lifeblood being used as a weapon, charged and slammed his massive body into Obsidius, forcing the giant back. Letting loose with all his firepower, Battra bombarded Obsidius with horn and eye beams, sending large explosions up everywhere. But alias the lava monster’s hide withstood the assault and he charged through, blasting Battra in the face with another stream of lava, burning his eyes and forcing him back. While it was true Battra had withstood lava before, Obsidius’ was lava of a different sort. Taking advantage, Obsidius grabbed Battra by the tusks and in a show of strength lifted him clean off the ground and threw him, sending him flying into a row of trees. Obsidius roared out and beat his chest before launching another stream of molten rock at Battra, only for his tail to be grabbed by Mothra and throw off his aim. Screeching, Mothra pulled Obsidius off his feet and sent him face first into the ground.

Roaring in fury, Battra quickly rose to his feet and charged, lowering his horn and wedging it under Obsidius before bucking his head, throwing the monster over him in a huge show of strength. Mothra, seeing their chance, flew above Obsidius, flapping her wings and beginning to let loose her reflective scales and wing lightning. Seeing this, Battra began to open fire with everything he had in his arsenal, the scales reflected the beams around inside it, bombarding Obsidius from all angles. Roaring in pain, even Obsidius’ hide couldn’t withstand such bombardment and began to crack. He tried his own beam but even the fires of his lava breath were reflected back at him. Finally, Obsidius began to succumb to the assault and fell to his knees.

* * * * *

“Obsidius is losing!” exclaimed one of the other alien leaders, the representative of the Seatopians.

“Not to worry, my friend,” said Vorticia. “Nebula Space Hunter M, care to show your role in all this?”

“Gladly,” said the representative of Gigan’s masters. He walked forwards and put a special tape in a device on the control panel. “It will send your words directly to Battra, as you requested.”

“You knew Battra would show up?” asked the Seatopian.

“Not quite,” said Vorticia. “We knew he would likely show up to protect the Earth so I was prepared,” she said. “Now, have a little chat with Battra, shall we?”

* * * * *

Battra continued his assault…that is until he heard words spoken to him. “Battra, I am Vorticia, Queen of the Vortaak. I know you and I don’t have much in common, but I have a proposition. You see, humans are a lowly, repugnant race of beings who have polluted and hurt the Earth for centuries,” said Vorticia. “Me and my compatriots have clean energy and respect the planet, the Nebula Space Hunter M have lost one planet to pollution not of their own making, they do not desire to see another fall to such a fate. Help us and we’ll make sure those pathetic humans never hurt your mother again. Think about it. What have those wretched humans ever done for you but cause the Earth harm? We’re not enemies of the Earth but of humanity, with them gone or enslaved to our whim, we’ll take good care of the Earth. Give it some thought, I know you hate humanity as much as I do. If you agree, kill her…kill Mothra and prove your friendship to our liberation of the Earth from the evil humans.”

Battra snarled, but couldn’t help seeing the logic in it. Humans destroyed and pillaged the Earth, they did nothing but hurt it. But these aliens that had crossed galaxies and had weapons and powers far beyond what humans did surely had outgrown the need for polluting energy sources. And they were enemies of mankind, as was he. Why shouldn’t they work together?

Battra turned his head and blasted a hole in Mothra’s wing with his horn beam, sending her crashing to the ground, screeching in agony. Mothra looked shocked and betrayed, why had Battra done that? She screeched to him, wondering what happened. He didn’t listen and merely blasted another hole in her wing. This allowed Obsidius to rise to his feet and grab Mothra by the wings, lifting her off the ground. Roaring in her face, he wrenched hard and tore her wings off, leaving Mothra screeching in agony on the ground. Battra knocked Obsidius away, not wanting the lava monster to get the honor of finishing off his ancient rival. If anyone was going to kill Mothra, it’d be him, it was only right his worthy opponent die by his hand. Lowering his horn, he looked Mothra in the eyes, fighting off a bit of guilt and firing a horn beam through her head and killing her instantly.

“Very good, Battra, now go to Tokyo, the rest of our invasion force awaits you there,” said Vorticia in his head before breaking off communication.

Battra watched as Obsidius beamed up by one of the Xilian ships, which then took off. Snarling, not sure whether or not he’d done the right thing, Battra turned and crawled into the waves, making a beeline for Tokyo.

The Cosmos had watched the event unfold in horror and bowed their heads in respect for the fallen Mothra, that is before retreating to the temple and kneeling before a gigantic egg Mothra had laid but weeks earlier.