Mr. Tako tapped his foot on the floor of the limo, obviously impatient. His thin mustache twitched up and down as he mumbled to himself. The service in America was horrible, especially for as high a priority a guest he was! Adjusting his brown suit and bowtie, the businessman knocked on the window separating him from the driver.

With an exasperated sigh, the driver pulled the window open and replied in his cheeriest voice possible. “What can I do for you, Mr. Tako?”

“What in the world is taking so long? The show is at nine, I need to be there for the bidding! They’re calling it ‘The Jewel of Lagos Island!’ A creature from a time gone by!”

Mr. Tako continued to ramble about his precious animal, causing the driver to roll his eyes and turn back to the road. He was tired of lugging around all these V.I.P A-Holes. It wasn’t his fault the Golden Gate Bridge was full of traffic!

The driver made a silent suggestion as to where Mr. Tako could shove his ‘jewel’ before turning back to the bridge.

The color immediately fled his face. The crashing of footsteps and car alarms resonated through the bridge. Very slowly, he opened the door to the limo and stepped out.

“-A two hundred-foot treasure from the Cretaceous! A-”

Mr. Tako stopped talking when another footstep rocked the bridge. The squat little Asian man unbuckled himself and climbed up to the front, peering out the front window.

No more than 30 meters from the car was a massive, brown dinosaur. Its long tail and head swung from side to side, causing the steel chain hanging from his neck to jostle and clink.

As its feral eyes frantically scanned the foreign landscape, Mr. Tako came to a realization. This was the beast from Lagos Island! His Jurassic Gem!

His Godzillasaurus!

The man was out of his door in the blink of an eye. With surprising agility, Mr. Tako jumped and dodged over cars and through the herd of people who, with good reason, were running the opposite direction. Mr. Tako, however, was on a mission.

Little did he know, as was Godzillasaurus. The bad men had come with whips and chains, tying him up and taking it to this strange land with strange lights and strange sounds. They chained him to the stage and put him on display. He didn’t like that.

He broke the chains.

He broke the bad men.

When he left, he found himself wandering this concrete jungle. His ears hurt from the noise, and his eyes from the lights.

Now, he was trying to find a way out. There was only one way that didn’t lead to more lights; the bridge. The other side was surprisingly lush and green, perfect for a wandering dinosaur.

“Hey! Down here you overgrown lizard!”

The noise caught Godzillasaurus’ attention. He lowered his massive head to the ground and stared at the little man with one bright yellow eye.

“Yeah, you! How would you like to be the mascot for my pharmaceutical company? Of course, there’s tons of food involv-”

Titanic jaws wrapped around Mr. Tako’s torso, muffling his screams from inside Godzillasaurus’ mouth.

Godzillasaurus lifted his prey with a vicious snarl. There was enough noise already, he could do without this pest. When he threw his head to the side, Mr. Tako’s legs and waste tore away from his body and flew into the water below. His struggling stopped soon after.

With a jerk of his head, Godzillasaurus swallowed the man. The strange fur they wore wasn’t pleasant in the stomach, but the flesh was worth it.

Swallowing the last of Tako’s suit, Godzillasaurus continued on his way. Cars were pushed into piles that overflowed and dropped into the water. Godzillasaurus ignored the sounds of metal grinding and cars splashing, choosing instead to focus on the sweet sight of the forest before him.

That’s when he heard the roar.

It was high pitched and piercing, like an audial dagger. Godzillasaurus stopped in his tracks. Were it any quieter, he would have convinced himself that it was just another sound of the city. But this was far too loud and direct. A rival.

The earth at the end of the bridge crumbled and cracked, giving way to some unknown force. A slender, slate colored beast crawled out with another screech of challenge. Godzillasaurus stared with a mixture of contempt and surprise. It appeared to be another dinosaur, but far more decorated than he. There were massive half-crescents on its back and long, grasping arms attached to its shoulders. Plastering a sinister grin on its square jaw, the raptor shrieked at his stunned foe.

The thwaps of helicopter blades broke the angry silence. Inside, a blonde reporter stared into a clunky camera. “This is Audrey Timmonds for WIDF news, reporting live from the Golden Gate Bridge, the site of a devastating attack by the 200 foot dinosaur scientists have dubbed ‘Godzillasaurus!’” she looked back at the carnage, now seeing the spiny raptor. “And now, Godzilla has-” a voice from her earpiece interrupted the statement, which, despite her surprise, she was quick to correct. “Apparently, that is incorrect. This creature is something else entirely. A ‘Zilla.’”

When the Zilla had hatched in New York, he immediately fled to the sewers for refuge. Without a parent to provide for him, he had to find other ways to sustain himself. He ate the fish of boats that he infiltrated and even found a few generous humans. Eventually, he ate those too.

Once he got too big to hide, the reptile fled to the sea, but was too accustomed to being fed to catch any fish. He needed something bigger and slower. Something that couldn’t run as easily. That led him here. Without any other experience on the battlefield, he was bold and fearless. The young kaiju was certain victory would be at hand.

Both monsters moved briskly forth. Cars were crushed shoved out of the way, along with any pedestrians that were unfortunate enough to remain in their path. To them, nothing but the enemy ahead existed.

Zilla struck first, locking his jaws onto the metal cuff around Godzillasaurus’ neck. While the inexperienced youngster tried to tear off the restraint, Godzillasaurus went for the kill, sinking his teeth into the flesh around Zilla’s spine. The two theropods stayed like this for a tense minute, shoving each other back and shaking their heads with primeval vigor.

It didn’t take long for Zilla to realize he had the low ground. Arrogance became panic as he desperately attempted to shake off the tyrannosauroid jaws of his foe. Luckily, the pronounced scutes sticking out of his neck were able to snag Godzillasaurus just below the molar, digging it out in a very painful fashion. The ancient saurian cried out with pain and reeled away from his foe, who took his advantage with pleasure.

Zilla launched forward with a flurry of claws to Godzillasaurus’ snout, but the tyrannosaur replied with naught but an annoyed snort. Zilla cried out in pain when his next swipe from the lizards stinging claws was caught between Godzillsaurus’ massive teeth. The dinosaur threw Zilla on the ground with a furious snarl. A cry was earned from his downed foe when he rained a series of kicks and punts rained down on Zilla. Each blow from the Tyrannosaur drove the mutant lizard closer to the edge.

The final kick pushed a squealing zilla through the wires and off the bridge.

Godzillasaurus waited to hear a splash before announcing his victory.

But none came. No splash, no thump, nothing.

Cautiously, Godzillasaurus moved to the edge and peered over. There was nothing but blue sea greeting him.

Suddenly, he felt a hard kick land on his back. The bridge wires prevented him from falling into the ocean, but the surprise of the attack was close to killing him anyway.

Zilla had somehow caught the bridge and crawled on the bottom, putting him in prime position for a surprise attack. He took that opportunity immediately, but not to the effect he wanted. The mutant didn’t let this discourage him. He continued the onslaught by immediately chomping on Godzillasaurus’ shoulder.

The false prince’s grip fell short, however, and Godzillasaurus shook him off with ease. Switching up his style of offense, Godzillasaurus slammed his tail into Zilla’s ribs with enough force to send him tumbling down the road with a surprised squeal. As Zilla came to a stop, he made a feeble attempt to stand.

A bus slammed right into his chin, sending him back to the ground. Godzillasaurus, upon seeing his projectile had connected, wasted no time to gloat. The theropod dashed forward and lunged for Zilla’s neck. The mutant was lucky enough to roll out of the way and evade Godzillasaurus’ snapping jaws, but the dinosaur’s tail came around and smacked him down again. Godzillasaurus quickly stepped over Zilla so that the reptilian mimic was between his legs and underneath him. His onslaught of biting was frantically and repeatedly slapped away by Zilla, who was trying to think of a way out. Pondering proved to be a mistake, as his lack of concentration allowed Godzillasaurus to grab onto Zilla’s right arm. A crunch of bone and scream of pain sounded in harmony.

But his panic provided an escape. Zilla’s frantic tail cracked like a whip, connecting with one of the metal wires holding the bridge in place. With a metallic twang, snapped and whipped upward, slicing through the flesh on Godzillasaurus’s thigh. His roar of pain gave enough time for Zilla to slide out from beneath and attempt an escape.

The nuclear anomaly leapt into the air, streamlining his body in preparation for a swan dive. His body arced through the air, and he began his pass between the bridge wires…

But the familiar sensation of sharp teeth puncturing his flesh returned. Godzillasaurus’ maw had clamped around the base of Zilla’s tail, dragging him back to the bridge squealing.

The true saurian and the atomic mimicry engaged in a deadly tug of war. Zilla pushed his legs forward, while Godzillasaurus tried to pull his meal back. One fought for life, one fought for food. The two were at a stalemate.

Until Zilla felt the tension grow too great. His tail began to tighten, then to rip. Next thing he knew, he was sent tumbling off the bridge with a shriek of pain.

Waves crashed as he struck the surface of the salty ocean. Home. Zilla had finally escaped.

Except, when he tried to swim away, he found his natural propeller absent. No matter how he shook, he would not move forward. Zilla’s tail had not come with him on his journey into the deep. The pain seemed even more severe now that he knew what it was. He paddled away with his arms, more frantic than ever, but the right one flailed uselessly like a rag.

It was over. Amphibious as he was, even Zilla required air. Cries of panic and fear drew water into his lungs. The feeling of being filled with something other than air was even worse than the pain in his tail. The life-giving liquid spilling from his tail grew dark as its source of oxygen became useless

As he sank into the abyss, the last thing Zilla heard was a muffled roar of victory from his foe above.