Humanity had always known that monsters existed. From the days of huddling in caves to the mightiness of the empire of Atlantis and the collapse and rebuilding of civilization, creatures that seemed to withstand the natural order had been known. Some had been made by man, resulting in creations of nightmares and terror; others seemed to be made by nature, natural disasters of flesh and blood christened by the planet itself. In the old days, most tended to think that they came from the sea, or from some remote corner of the planet. Very few thought of threats of the sky, of beasts that could harm anyone from above. Since the age of nuclear power, however, this had changed. While there had been monsters of earth and sea aplenty, some of the largest threats came from the sky themselves. One of the most ancient and first threats was the kaiju known as Rodan. Two had appeared near Mount Aso, and had begun a reign of terror unseen before. Villages had been abandoned, cities destroyed, and people devoured. The original two were have thought to have been burned to death in the volcanic power of Mount Aso.
The return of Godzilla, and the use of nuclear weaponry against him in the area revealed a new aerial menace in the depths of volcanic rock. The radiation from the blast seemed to have healed the grievous wounds once given by the volcano's fiery power or awakened a new terror that followed in its ancestor’s reign of terror. Either way, the world realized the return when the beast had gone through the West Coast of the Americas, leveling any city in its path. Several places he had met foes, either in the form of military reinforcement or other kaiju. Once it had finished near the tip of South America, the mutant turned heel and flew back to its original home of Japan.
Rodan had been enjoying his flight back to Mt. Aso, the feeling of wind rushing past relaxing the pterosaur. As he reached the airspace above Japan, it took note of the fact that the land was gray, ashen, and barren. It had been so when awoken, but it seemed to spread like a plague since its departure. Perhaps there was something causing this destruction, this lack of food that forced it to wander elsewhere in search. Or perhaps it was the fault of the small walkers that he ate. Who could know? The thought had not lasted long, as he soon soared over the growing sea of gray clouds that covered the land.
A screeching cry pulled Rodan out of his thoughts, and his eyes focused on an arising form from the ground. It was a ways ahead, rising from a pile of skeletons and ascending to the heavens. It had a body plan similar to the flying reptile, but had more bird like features. The most identifying pieces, however, were the arrow shaped skull, with leering eyes. A stench of death accompanied it, making Rodan scrunch his eyes. Of all of the things that he had forced out of the air spaces, this one made him angry beyond belief. What foe could this creature possibly be, compared to his might? All it was was a pale, rotten copy of himself, an abomination.
While unknown to Rodan, the appearance of the Gyaos had almost been expected. The fall of Japan had created disaster and mayhem, and left large amounts of pollution and strife that were required for hatching. They were quick to feed upon those stranded on the islands, and had grown to quite a size. It didn't take long until the supply of food and carcasses soon ran out, and the nest full turned onto each other. Now, only one remained and had obtained a massive size from the boost. It headed south, toward the same mountain. Perhaps food would be there, ripe for the taking.
Its thoughts were interrupted as Rodan quickly flew past, sending the Atlantean creation spinning. It didn't take long for it to right itself, and see its foe in front of it. For the first time in its terrible life, the Gyaos's breath was taken away. Its attacker's shape seemed powerful and graceful, strong wings keeping it aloft. Its head was adorned with a crown of horns and graced with a sharp toothed maw ending with a sharp, hooked beak. It gave a cacophonous roar, a challenge to that who invaded its sky. The Gyaos shrieked back in response, giving a snap as a sign of aggression. A feeling of anger and jealousy struck through the creature, along with feeling something new. Never before had it felt below another thing, and it aimed to make sure that it didn't repeat.
They were stationary for only a second more, before both crashed into each other.
It was a fury of swinging wings, slashing talons and snapping jaws. The Gyaos slashed with his legs at the chest region of Rodan, only to be met with the pain of cuts from his chest pieces. Using the advantage, Rodan came in with a bite to the left wing, just below the shoulder. The beast shrieked in pain and kicked the pterosaur away from him. Dark, red blood began to ooze out from the bite wound, and the spines that had kicked had created small gashes in the Gyaos's feet.
It took a single glance at it and shot forward in a sudden dash. The arrow pointed head rammed into Rodan, sending him falling back from his position with a screech of surprise. Feet slashed at the exposed back, a hiss of malice and satisfaction echoing from the mutant bird's jaws. These did not last for long, as a sweeping wing collided with its face. The attack momentarily stunned the Gyaos, who shook its head when the sound of Rodan's cry echoed through his skull. Beginning to think out a plan, it hovered in the air where it was, eyes never leaving the pterodactyl. When one gave a cry, the other was there to answer it quickly back, a locked standstill of hatred.
Suddenly, the Gyaos veered down toward the ground. The change of mannerisms bothered Rodan for only a brief minute, before it gave pursuit. Down through cloud cover and gray skies they fell, the Gyaos always just a little bit ahead of his foe. They soon punctured through the sea of clouds and over the ruins of what had once been Tokyo. Once a shining city, it had been months since being reduced to rubble by Godzilla. Fires still raged onin the depths of it all, black streams bled into the grayness of the clouds. Buildings sat toppled into the ground and ontop each other, creating a maze of dead ends and rotting carcasses of skyscrapers. Neither seemed to notice the impending ground, headed straight for it.
At the last second, the Gyaos veered off, proceeding to zoom through the ruins of streets and corridors that had been the city. Still hot on his tail, Rodan used his slower speed to make for a softer arc and chased after the flying abomination. The two zoomed over the fallen buildings and bridges, banking left and right when unable to fly up high enough. The shockwaves generated by the two leveled the ruins to the ground, creating noise once more in the suffocating silence of the emptiness. The booms were not alone for long however. The sudden changes in the atmosphere caused the clouds to rumble with thunder, and rain began to pour from the heavens. It crashed into the flying kaiju, who simply shrugged it off and continued their dogfight.
Approaching the warped and precarious ruins of Tokyo Tower, the Gyaos used this as an opportunity to return to the high heavens. It veered upward, climbing higher and higher. Rodan was hot on its tail, almost reaching it before a sudden boost shot it out into the sea of raining clouds. A furious screech left Rodan's mouth at the sudden development. Had it been hiding such an ability all this time? There wasn't anything faster than he could be, but this thing was officially a foe that wasn't going to see the next dawn. He shot out into the clouds, popping out the other side of the clouds and into the more open sky. All that greeted Rodan however, was emptiness. His head swiveled back and forth, in search of his newly hated foe. Where had it escaped from his sights? He had been just behind it, there was no way it was all that far as to not see it at all. A cackle left his mouth, partially as a call out to it, partially out of apprehension. No kaiju he had faced could just vanish into thin air, it just wasn't possible.
It shot out from beneath the cloud cover, aiming straight for Rodan's throat. With little time given to Rodan for reacting, the jaws grasped around its throat. Sharp teeth left jagged cuts in the most vulnerable of areas for the pterosaur, strangling the cries of surprise and pain that left its mouth. The upward momentum of the Gyaos made the two continue upward for a brief second more. The small window allowed the Gyoas to rotate around the struggling Rodan's neck, and it began to tear holes in its back and wings. Rodan could only screech in pain as more wounds opened. The change of places and the overall lack of flying sent the two downward at a rapid pace, one ripping long slashes and gashes into the other.
The quarreling duo was swallowed by the swirling sea of clouds, the darkness being illuminated by the occasional bout of lightening. Rodan thrashed back and forth, trying in vain to free itself or to slow the harrowing descent through the skies. The Gyaos however, continued with its vice-like grip on the beast's neck, creating gouges in his back. There was enough freedom for Rodan to give out a cry as he thrashed under the flying menace's grip.
The cloud layer soon gave way, and the landing destination seemed clear. A large, blackened crater was smack dab in the way of the descending foes and was the Gyaos's destination. Nearly a mile wide, it was all that had been the first retaliation of Godzilla's power. The two fell quickly, sending up a cloud of charcoaled dust and slick mud. Rodan was at the bottom of it all, quickly becoming intermixed with the mud, remains of nuclear weapons, and the water rushing into the hole. The Gyaos was perched on top of it, and gave a shriek of victory of his win. Looking downward, the mutant bird prepared to end the foe once and for all.
The sound of a metallic object banging down into the crater distracted the bird for a brief moment. It looked up, watching the teardrop shaped object bounce down the crater. He gave a little shriek just before the round part slammed into the ground. The object in fact, was a miniature nuclear weapon that had failed to detonate against Godzilla in the final savior act of Japan. The dropping of the weapon had been delayed due to a faulty release mechanism, and it had been nullified by the resultant EMP that emanated from the blast. It had sat half buried, unused but viable for months. The rain had worn it loose in its resting place, and the crash of the beasts had simply freed it to tumble down.
The Gyaos was able to get out a curious squawk before the small bomb detonated mere meters away from it. The resulting explosion sent the mutant bird sprawling back into the ruins of the buildings, nearly blinding it with being in such close of a radius. The fires licked at the Gyaos's body, lasting only for a brief moment before being reduced back. More damage had been done by the shockwaves that emanated from the "dirty bomb", snapping the left wing and pulling the limb out of socket. Once it seemed to be all over, the Gyaos shook its head and gave a scream of rage. Nothing could do something to it like this and walk away.
When a familiar cry answered, the Gyaos froze. It was seemingly impossible that it survived, no way it could have. If it had done this much to him, it should have perished in the blast. But it couldn't deny the form that shot up out of the crater into the sky with a seemingly glowing form, and when it landed in front of him, its breath was stolen away once more. Another new feeling emerged, sending shivers through its body. It had never feared anything in its life before, but this was something to be afraid of.
Colored almost like a Phoenix and reborn from the ashes of man, Rodan was back in business. All injuries that had been sustained were healed by the energy absorbed by the blast, and mutations had occurred. What had been dull browns and tans were now vibrant reds, with almost black veins crisscrossing the membranes that made the wings. Its eyes seemed to be alight with a burning hatred, glaring down at the beaten, broken form of the Gyaos. It stepped forward, coming closer little by little to his foe. There wasn't a hurry to get too close, as it wasn't going to be moving all that fast.
The Gyaos began to panic some, trying to stand up on the feet that were now scabbed over. It shakily did so, before falling back to the ground. Looking up at the slowly approaching monster, a weapon nearly forgotten in the supposed ease of eliminating this new prey. Opening its mouth, the air began to warp around the Gyaos's mouth as a light began to grow in the back of its jaws. It regretted not using this sooner, and taking the time to enjoy using its claws. As it looked on preparing the sonic beam, the Gyaos noticed too late of the flashing light around the foe's horns.
A beam of pure uranium energy shot out from Rodan's mouth with a screech, and collided with the building sonic ray. The resulting explosion blew the Gyaos's head off, along with a portion of the neck. A roar in dominance left Rodan's mouth while the body of the creature slumped over into the ruins. With a flap of his wings, Rodan was once more airborne. Soaring back up above the cloud line, he swiveled and headed back toward Mt. Aso. The battle had left him more tired than the flight back to Japan, and he needed to rest.
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