Monster Island was quiet. A war had exploded on all fronts. Invaders from far beyond threatened the very existence of the planet, prompting the likes of Godzilla, Mothra, and many other monsters to leave the tropical paradise to meet it head-on in a brutal fight that spanned the globe. However, it was all according to plan. The invaders knew the island was open. And while the heavy-hitters were preoccupied with their pawns in battles elsewhere, they sought to bring down their reinforcements. This would leave Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra, and humanity’s machines to fight on their own.

To do this, they unleashed a monster unlike that of any other. If it had a conscience, it could be reasoned with. But it didn’t. This thing was walking death incarnate. A thing created in a negative world of decay. It was known by many names. The Smog Monster was one of the most common. But its true name was enough to make human’s shutter in fear. They knew what it was and what it was capable of. And without Godzilla nor Gamera on Monster Island… nothing could stop it.

Nothing could stop Hedorah!

The mountain of walking sludge appeared out of the ocean. Upon stepping into the lush jungle, the palm trees began to die. Acidic mist spread far and wide, causing entire flocks of birds to drop. Numerous titans on the island fled, but there was nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. Kamacuras were slain by the many as they fled, their bodies burnt and dissolved by crimson beams of polluted power. Kumonga moved as fast as its eight legs could carry it. Baragon dove into the ground, but its tunnels were flooded with toxic mud. It went unopposed for hours.

Screaming, Minilla ran away. His lungs filled with toxic mist, causing him to squeal. The youngster fell, gagging as Hedorah approached like a grim reaper, its emotionless eyes surveying the quickly dying island. The son of Godzilla was helpless as Hedorah grew closer.

But then a noise came. It was a noise that the prince of the kaiju never thought he’d be happy to hear. It was as if a sort of laugh. Hedorah’s head rotated on its upper body, crimson eyes glaring as someone dared oppose it.

It was his time now. He had made a name of himself on the island by bullying Godzilla’s offspring whenever he could. He had beaten down weaker kaiju by the many. And every so often, a newcomer would have to be put in place. To be shown that this was his island, at least when Godzilla was away. But he knew this was something different. It was now up to him to protect the island paradise from complete annihilation. It was time to nut up or shut up.

As Minilla weakly crawled to his feet, Gabara urged the youngster to take refuge on the opposite side of the island. He pointed to the mountains while keeping his eyes locked on those of Hedorah...

The Smog Monster gurgled and a blob of mud launched from its body. It caught Gabara off guard, splashing against his tight chest. The mud sizzled, burning the ogre. The green giant howled, patting his chest and brushing the mud off. His cranial horn crackled with power and he charged, energy racing into his hand. As he closed the distance, a crimson bolt lanced from Hedorah’s eye. It hit the ground in front of the bully of the island. A white cloud rose up, filling the giant’s lungs. He stumbled back, coughing. The beam summoned a cloud of toxic smoke upon impact!

The ogre snarled as he moved away from the expanding cloud. No sooner than he did, another volley of blobs of mud catapulted from the Smog Monster. The electrical titan jumped to the side, dodging the muck. As he rolled away, his hand stretched out. He gripped a large rock in his left hand. As Hedorah’s head followed his movements, Gabara stood up. He threw the rock as hard and fast as his muscles would allow. It struck Hedorah’s face, cratering it. The bizarre thing let loose a strange gurgle as the rock sunk into its face, disappearing into the thick muck that composed it.

Gabara charged in again, braught up his hands and slammed them into Hedorah’s mid-section. The physical assaults did little. Instead, the orge cried in horror. His hands plunged into Hedorah’s acidic body. The muck coated his warty skin. It sizzled and burned. He stumbled back, waving his hands around as he tried to fling the acidic material off.

For the first time in its appearance on Monster Island, Hedorah displayed some sort of personality as its gurgles became laugh-like.

Realizing that his hands were burned nearly to the bone, Gabara snarled. He looked around, noticing that some of the island’s kaiju had begun to watch. He spotted Kumonga peeking out of the trees, Varan perched on a nearby cliff, Manda’s head sticking out of a nearby river. He realized that he was the first and last line of defense. When Godzilla was away, he was the strongest. He had to live up to his own hype. His brows narrowed as Hedorah continued to laugh. In the blink of an eye, Gabara rushed Hedorah.

His arms wrapped around Hedorah’s frame, hugging the taller kaiju. He didn’t have Godzilla’s raw strength. Nor did he have his extensive firepower. But if there was one thing he and the Godzilla clan shared, it was tenacity. Gabara reached down to his core to find the needed strength to hoist Hedorah’s legs off the ground. He lifted it over his head. Already, toxic ooze was dripping and falling onto him. So he kept his eyes and mouth shut.

He then threw it!

Hedorah landed some hundred yards away with a thud. A splatter of polluted sludge spread. Gabara’s shoulders, hands, arms, and head were scalded. They burned and hurt. But he’d worry about that later. If he chose to worry now, he and everyone else would be dead. Hedorah began to stir, its head rotating and eyes burning a look of hatred through Gabara. Then, suddenly, its body flashed with light. Hedorah’s form shrunk inward and changed before the warty kaiju’s eyes. It changed to pinks and whites as it shifted, becoming compact and discus-like in shape.

Gabara tilted his head, unable to come up for a reason for the sudden change of appearance. And then, without notice, Hedorah lifted into the air. Trails of white mist followed it as it ascended. The watching kaiju quickly sought shelter as Hedorah flew around Gabara. The orge spun around, arms ready for whatever Hedorah had in store. But instead of attacking, the Smog Monster merely passed overhead. The titan snarled in rage. When he roared, he breathed deeply. He inhaled the white mist. Instantly, he dropped. His lungs and throat were on fire it seemed! He coughed and gagged on the sulfuric acid mist that powered Hedorah’s flight.

All around Gabara, the jungle died instantly. The green vegetation became brittle and dead. The mist began to burn Gabara’s body, causing his flesh to peel back like a banana. Entire strips of green skin fell from his form. He screamed in agony...

The mist fell on him in sheets as Hedorah flew in circles. Gabara whined, every inch of his body in pain…

Then something else happened.

From the ground, a beam of red, fire-like energy launched! It struck the airborne Hedorah, searing the black matter it was made of. The Smog Monster fell, crashing into the forest with a gurgle. Gabara’s eyes opened slowly, realizing he could breathe once more. He coughed and gagged, spitting up blood in the process. He looked around, but Hedorah was seemingly gone. He then spotted the Earth moving a few dozen meters away. It shifted and bulged before a rip opened from the small hole that the beam had originated from...

A familiar form emerged.

Baragon roared triumphantly. From the mud that flooded his tunnel earlier, he was burned badly. But he survived. And now he was angry as hell. The prehistoric monster snarled and approached the downed Gabara. He nudged the ogre with his horn, urging him to rise...

Gabara did rise. Slowly, but surely. On weakened legs, he stood. His numerous burns were already showing signs of infection from the pollution he was being exposed to. But he would remain. Deep down, he wanted to flee. But when Godzilla was away, he was King of the Monsters. And there was no time to prove it like today...

Hedorah’s unmistakable gurgle rang aloud. The toxic thing appeared as it stood back up in its more humanoid form. A patch of its body was dried out and flaked, pieces falling with the tropical breeze of the island. Gabara’s eyes looked at the patch, realizing something. His horn surged with power once more, transferring that energy into his hands. Gabara roared as loud as his wounded lungs would allow. He ran forward.

Hedorah began to fire its crimson bolts wildly. The ogre kept his burned and melted arms up, protecting his face from the blasts and the toxic smoke created. As he grew closer, Hedorah began to launch blobs of acid mud. The mud hit his legs, finally bringing him down but a mere hundred meters away. Gabara fell, nearly at the feet of Hedorah...

Gabara breathed sharply and raspy. He couldn’t go on. Hedorah’s gurgles turned into laughter once more.

The Smog Monster tilted its disgusting body down, beginning to lie down on Gabara’s fallen form. It’d make a show of the ogre. It’d dissolve him entirely and leave nothing left…

Baragon snarled. His scarred plates lifted on each side of his skull. The dinosaur ran forward, mouth shooting rays of heat at Hedorah. But in this much bigger form, the beams mattered little. A single crimson beam sent the dinosaur falling away and coughing from the expanding smoke…

Hedorah’s entire body engulfed the fallen Gabara. No part of the ogre was visible underneath it. The Smog Monster had won!

For several moments, Hedorah remained in place. It remained unmoving as its acidic body dissolved the bully of Monster Island. It was inevitable. Nothing on this little patch of land could possibly hope to defeat it. Hedorah’s gurgles of laughter rang loud for what seemed like hours. The watchers of the fight began to flee, knowing that once Hedorah was finished, it’d come for them next.

But then Hedorah’s eyes bulged. Its laughter ceased, becoming something more higher pitched as if it felt pain. The Smog Monster tried standing, but Gabara was already swallowed into the muck of its body. He was inside it, channeling his raw power into it. Pieces of Hedorah began to flake off. The abomination flailed about as its body rapidly dried. Baragon, still coughing, looked up just in time to see Hedorah’s wild movements. His head shook from side to side. He stood weakly. His own horn flashed with light and his jaws parted, shooting another ray of glowing heat. The ray washed over Hedorah, now affecting it fiercely. Parts of its body began to burst into fire from the combined temperatures of Gabara’s electricity and Baragon’s beam.

The Smog Monster tried making its way back to the ocean, but Baragon began leaping around it like a giant frog. Every time he landed, he blasted it with another stream of his heat ray. Hedorah’s left arm fell off, breaking like burnt wood on the ground. Gabara’s arm stuck out, ugly and almost completely melted. Parts of his bone structure had been exposed. The rapid drying spread like wildfire. Hedorah stopped in its tracks as Baragon continued his fiery baptism…

Gabara’s body fell out of Hedorah’s. The Smog Monster’s entire frame disintegrated into dust at that moment. It had been dried out from both the inside and then the outside. Continuing to breathe his ray upon the remains, Baragon set them aflame. The brave saurian bellowed in victory as he watched the embers that were once dried Hedrium burn.

He then turned, looking at the barely moving Gabara. Not a single inch of his flesh was unburned or melted. Parts of his ribcage, skull, jaw bones, and other areas of his skeleton had been exposed. One eye was even gone. But it was all worth it. Hedorah, the Smog Monster, had been slain…

He rolled over onto his back, groaning in agony as Baragon approached him. From the trees, other denizens of Monster Island approached slowly. Some were his former victims of torment. But today, they saw him as a protector. He had earned his keep, as did Baragon. Minilla approached last. His distinct noise caused Gabara’s remaining eye to open…