In the center of the crater that was once the heart of Tokyo was a lake of molten rock, once the solid concrete and steel of many edifices. Within this "artificial" lava lay an enormous skeleton, its bones charred and burned almost black by the heat of the explosion. Had any humans survived, they might have marveled at or recoiled in horror from the colossal skull illuminated by the glow of the liquid rock. And if any humans had been there, they would have been incinerated by the wave of lava created by the gigantic foot that came down and crushed that skull.
A flash of lightning revealed Godzilla. He had destroyed a mechanical duplicate and a clone from outer space, and now he had struck down an earthborn double. He roared, reveling in his victory, but even he had not escaped unscathed.
Another flash of lightning exposed his spines, partially melted and then healed into strange, irregular shapes, and the burn scars across his body where open wounds had been seared shut by the explosion before they could properly regenerate. All of this would heal in time, but for now his battle scars were a testament to his vanquished foe's might.
A distant roar drew his attention, and closer to the shoreline he could see four of the smaller Gojirans preparing to battle amongst themselves. He strode out of the crater, preparing to crush his diminutive competition…
Radiation infused lightning struck the spines of one Godzilla, waking him from his explosion induced unconsciousness. He rose to his feet, another flash of lightning briefly illuminating a scarred chest, revealing his identity. He could smell death in the air. A truly mighty foe must have fallen for his lingering energy to have created a storm. He roared a challenge into the night, daring any other survivor of the explosion to attack him.
A small chorus of roars answered him.
Looking towards the first, he saw his jade double, the one with lavender spines. Simply from the speed at which it moved, he could tell it was not Godzilla 2000.
Looking towards the second, he saw his "father." Though the reanimated Godzilla looked considerably worse for wear, it still lived.
The third gave him a start. The old king, the champion, the protector of Japan, was still alive. From the look of him the blast from the demon had almost killed him, covering him in burns. But he had not died. Just as he had after his first battle with Mechagodzilla, he had withdrawn to the ocean to heal. Godzilla had not expected to be thrown onto land by a miniature tsunami, but it had been a blessing in disguise, as the lightning had rejuvenated him.
The scarred king spared a glance into the distance, where he saw one of the leviathans approaching, but he put it out of his mind. He had more immediate concerns, and the giant seemed oblivious to the fact that another one was following him…
The eldest Godzilla, the Permian apex predator, had not been killed by either the mutant he stalked or the explosion of the one whose bones lay scattered in the lava. He had survived the asteroid that ended his era, and then dug deep beneath the earth where the pressure and heat was enormous to obtain life granting radiation, and when he had emerged in 1954 the Tsar Bomb had not been enough to kill him. It would take far greater powers to send him to the grave.
But the eons had made him cautious. He knew that this mutant, a greater son of lesser sires, could have the power it took, and so he fell back to the oldest of the predators' techniques: stealth.
He timed his steps with those of his prey to prevent it from hearing his footfalls, and with his greater stride length he slowly and steadily caught up to his soon-to-be victim.
However, luck and chance ruin even the best-laid plans, and a random swish of the mutant's tail struck his leg and alerted it to the predator's presence. The mutation turned its head in surprise, but it was too late. The predator lunged for the back of his prey's head, bit down, and squeezed. With one claw he dug into his prey's shoulder to prevent it from turning around, and with the other he gripped one of its more severely melted spines to further immobilize it.
The mutant struggled in his grasp, but the predator would not be denied. He felt the scales give way under his teeth, then the softer flesh. All that remained was the tough skull. Any moment now, he would crush this pretender's brain in his jaws and the battle would be over.
Godzilla thrashed in his attacker's grip and fired his atomic ray at everything and nothing in desperation, but in spite of everything, he could feel his skull beginning to give way. He let out a final, defiant roar as his skull cracked beneath the pressure betraying no fear, only a terrible rage at being denied his victory.
With a loud snap the skull finally gave way. The mutant's brain was crushed, and when the predator released him, Godzilla fell forward with a loud thud. He was dead before he hit the ground.
The alpha predator let out a victorious roar. It had taken every ounce of his skill as a fighter and a hunter, but he had triumphed over his two only real rivals. He set off for the smaller ones, intent on ending this long war before the night was over.
One might have expected the four Godzillas to break into two separate duels, but instead, their battle had devolved into free-for-all melee, with each fighting the three others.
The hero punched the one with purple spikes, causing it to stagger sideways into the demon, who retaliated against the perceived aggression with a bite to the back of the neck. In turn, the sole green Godzilla shifted slightly so that its spikes stabbed into the demon's arm, piercing its thick hide and drawing blood. The hero paused to register how easily the purple spikes had cut through the undead kaiju's scales, leaving him open to a tail whip from his scarred opponent, knocking him over.
The champion rolled with the blow and got back to his feet, firing his atomic breath as he did so, aiming for the scar, bringing a cry of pain from his foe. The demon charged his own atomic ray and fired at his emerald-scaled enemy, only for that enemy to leap over the beam. Ceasing his attack due to sheer shock, he looked up just in time to see his foe falling back down, crashing into him and slamming him to the ground. The violet-spiked king lunged and tried to bite through the demon's thick scales, struggling to do so.
The resurrected king shoved off his opponent and rolled away, taking the opportunity to bite the hero's tail, interrupting an attempted attack and leaving him open to be bitten on the arm by the scarred Godzilla.
But the old king whirled around with surprising force, pulling his tail from the reanimated monster's jaws and swinging his scarred rival into his undead father. Leaving them to snap and roar at each other the champion charged the green Godzilla. The one with violet spikes lunged like a cobra, but his elder rival caught him by the sides of the head, turned, and flung him over his shoulder.
He did not expect his rival to exploit his unexpected flight by wrapping his tail around the champion's neck, simultaneously strangling him, using him as an anchor, and pulling him face first onto the ground.
Godzilla got back up and brushed himself off. He prepared to rush into battle again, but halted, feeling a vibration in the ground that did not come from himself or any of his opponents. He looked around for the source and saw the leviathan approaching from behind him.
The Permian predator roared at all four of them, attempting to intimidate them.
In turn he received four defiant roars. It took more than enormity to become King of the Monsters.
The green Godzilla leapt, attempting to attack the eldest's head. He was caught with surprising speed and thrown to the ground. The scarred one charged, but was kicked to the ground with tremendous force. The demon fired its atomic ray, and though this staggered the titan, it retaliated by putting its full weight into a tail whip that launched the abomination far off, toward the colossal corpse.
The eldest king glared at down at the last of his diminutive challengers, the champion, who looked back defiantly.
The hero struck first, blasting the predator in the gills, causing it to yelp and turn away. Then, he slid on his tail, kicking into the back of the leviathan's leg, causing him to topple with a thunderous boom.
The champion knew that that would not keep him down long, and formulated a plan. Though it galled him to retreat from a fight, he needed something more to triumph against so many powerful foes. He fired his atomic breath and began to fly down the coast.
This battle was not over by a long shot.
Author's Note: This story is back! I was sick for a week, so you get two chapters in one day to celebrate the fact that I'm back to normal. As always thank you for your follows and favorites, and if you want to read additional author commentary you can visit my DeviantArt page (I can't post links, but I'm Gojirahkiin on DeviantArt too).
Also, if you received a whole bunch of updates, I apologize about that. I went through and fixed some spelling and grammatical errors in all the chapters, that's all.
