Match 183: Ultraman vs. Rodan (Heisei)

Match 183: Ultraman vs. Rodan (Heisei) is the 183rd Match of the KWC and is written by Thomas Eckert.

## Story

The citizens of Kyoto fled for their lives as a frightening shadow loomed over their city. The aerial saurian, Rodan, was on the hunt and humans were on the menu. Buildings erupted to pieces from the shockwaves generated by the prehistoric predator’s wings. Rodan noticed a man standing in the midst of the fleeing crowd and descended closer to the ground, thinking this human made himself an easy target. However, the man pulled a device from his coat and pointed it into the sky. Rodan shrieked in surprise as his intended prey was bathed in blinding light. Within seconds, the light had disappeared and the man had transformed into the heroic Ultraman! Ultraman brought his fists up while Rodan shrieked aggressively from the skies above. Unlike several beasts he fought during his career, Rodan wasn’t a malicious creature. However, Ultraman wasn’t going to let the giant pterosaur feast on the humans he dedicated himself to protecting.

Rodan shrieked loudly while circling his new enemy like a vulture. Knowing that the sky was Rodan’s true element, Ultraman surprised his opponent by taking flight himself. Rodan, shaking off his surprise, flew downwards with Ultraman closing on him. Like two massive rockets, both airborne giants charged into each other at incredible speed. Rodan curved to his right, hoping to smash his chest spikes into Ultraman. However, Ultraman saw the maneuver coming and turned his body frontwards, grabbing Rodan’s neck between his legs. With his foe trapped, Ultraman rotated his body several times in the air. Rodan, still caught in the deadly embrace, grew more disorientated by the second. Ultraman ended the cycle by tossing Rodan straight down with the strength of his legs. Rodan’s body whistled like a missile as he descended closer to the Earth. The falling pterodactyl was still dizzy from the spinning to right himself. When he came to, he managed to turn to his left to avoid a devastating fall. He found a patch of buildings to land on and searched for his opponent.

Suddenly, he shrieked in pain when a Specium Ray struck him in the back. He quickly turned to see Ultraman standing behind him. Rodan’s horns crackled with power and unleashed a Uranium beam from his beak. However, Ultraman summoned a shield barrier to defend himself from the purple-colored beam. Rodan tried a second time, but couldn’t break his foe’s barrier. Realizing that his methods weren’t working, Rodan flapped his wings as hard as he could. While the winds he created didn’t destroy Ultraman’s barrier, it did give him time to get airborne. Ultraman kept his shield up in case Rodan would try any more frontal attacks. The red and silver-colored hero noticed that Rodan wasn’t attacking directly. Instead, he was circling around him like before. It was almost as if the prehistoric titan was mocking him. Ultraman, however, wasn’t buying it. He saw it more as a cheap attempt to intimidate him. Surely the creature should’ve known he wasn’t safe in the air, Ultraman thought to himself. Turning off his barrier, Ultraman once again took to the air to battle Rodan in his turf. The flying monster turned to his right to face Ultraman with the latter ready to fire another Specium Ray. But Rodan had other plans.

Ultraman crossed his arms together to fire his traditional attack, but Rodan easily dodged the beam and flew straight into Ultraman’s side with his wing. The humanoid warrior cried out in pain as the wing cut into his side and threw him off. Seeing his foe in pain, Rodan opened his wings and clapped them together to create the strongest windstorm he could. The attack was so strong that it forced Ultraman down into the ground. The entire city quaked from the heroic alien’s crash. Ultraman did his best to stand up. The impact rattled him up, but that wasn’t what made him raise his guard. His Color Timer was beeping red. He knew his time was running out. He needed to end this fight now. He cried out in pain when a Uranium beam struck him in the attack. A second beam rained down from the sky, but Ultraman back flipped away from it. He looked up to see Rodan traveling down towards him with a mighty shriek. Knowing Rodan had gotten wise to his Specium Ray, Ultraman decided to pull out some other tricks. When the mutant pterodactyl was close enough, Ultraman put up his hand. Rodan, thinking his foe was going to do another Specium Ray, prepared to dodge. However, when Ultraman threw his hand forward, what came out was something different and more lethal.

A saw-like projectile soared through the air and did the unthinkable. It managed to cut into Rodan’s left wing and cleave it in half. Rodan shrieked in pain from the loss of his wing. Without it, he steered off course. Ultraman watched his now one-winged opponent plummet to the ground and skid violently through buildings. For the moment, Rodan laid in a pile of debris. He got back up slowly. Blood oozed out of the wounds on his severed wing. Footsteps coming from behind him made him turn around. Ultraman grabbed the wounded pterosaur by the neck and tossed him mercilessly down hard into the street. Before Rodan could get back up, Ultraman repeated the same technique. Rodan screeched painfully from the second impact. With his left wing critically damaged, he couldn’t retreat back into the sky. In the air, Rodan was a force to be reckoned with. On the ground, however, his chances of surviving were slim. He had to do something quick or he was as good as dead. Ultraman took a minute to examine his crippled foe. At first, he thought of sparing Rodan’s life since the creature was only acting out of his primal need to consume like any wild animal. However, there’s always the chance that he may once again plague mankind’s cities and allowing a potential threat to the race he swore to defend be allowed to live is never an option. With his decision made up, he moved closer to his downed adversary.

Rodan struggled to stand up, but was met with great difficulty due to the massive blood loss from his open wounds. He looked up when a giant silhouette crept towards him. Ultraman summoned a Specium Ray onto the struggling Rodan, causing him to call out in agony when it exploded on his back. To Ultraman’s amazement, the crippled saurian withstood the blast with little damage. Unbeknownst to Ultraman, Rodan has had a history with withstanding deadly beams. Most notably Godzilla’s atomic breath and the weapons from mankind’s version of Mechagodzilla. Ultraman stepped closer to Rodan, ready to summon another energy saw. That’s when Rodan, summoning an incredible amount of strength, leaped into the air and took Ultraman by surprise! Before Ultraman could unleash another energy saw, Rodan’s talons grabbed a hold of his arms and pushed them down. During the charge, Rodan’s chest spikes smashed into Ultraman’s own Color Timer, nearly cracking it. Rodan shrieked in rage as he pushed Ultraman down onto the ground. Ultraman’s arms were pinned down under Rodan’s feet, leaving him vulnerable to attack. Rodan bellowed furiously before ramming his beak into Ultraman’s right eye. The hero screamed in pain as his foe’s beak viciously tore into his eye socket, drawing blood. Now having only one eye, Ultraman tried to find a way to escape. Before Rodan could inflict any more damage, something happened. Ultraman vanished!

The surprised pterosaur landed on the ground, wondering where his foe had gone. That’s when Ultraman appeared a good 3 meters away from Rodan’s position. He managed to use his teleportation ability to escape from Rodan’s attack. But the cost was heavy. Like how he made his foe lose any important appendage, Rodan did the same by destroying his right eye. Both wounded combatants glared at each other. Both were incredibly injured and exhausted. It was time to finish this fight. Ultraman took to the air and placed both fists in front of him. Rodan avoided the attack by ducking and exposing the spikes on his back. Ultraman cried out in pain from the sharp features scratching his body. Rodan turned around and used his one only functioning wing to create windstorms to blow Ultraman off course. While it didn’t force Ultraman down, it caused him to crash into a building. The hero, however, recovered quickly and teleported in front of Rodan to karate chop him in his wounded wing, causing the saurian to cry out in pain. Ultraman then delivered a kick to Rodan’s chest, driving him backwards before sweep-kicking his legs, knocking him down. Ultraman then jumped up and smashed both fists into Rodan’s chest as hard as he could, nearly breaking the pterosaur’s ribs. Before he could proceed, Rodan smashed his only good wing into Ultraman with all of his might. The strike forced Ultraman back and gave Rodan enough time to stand up.

Ultraman raised his arms, ready to discharge another Specium Ray from his hands. Rodan eyed his foe, daring him to attack. Ultraman responded by unleashing his ray, hoping to score a direct hit onto Rodan’s head. However, Rodan used whatever strength he could muster to leap into the air and allow the ray to flow harmlessly beneath him. With his foe too preoccupied with firing his energy beam, Rodan attacked. He noticed the destroyed eye socket on Ultraman’s face and fired his Uranium beam directly into it. Ultraman didn’t have time to scream before his foe’s energy beam traveled through his eye socket and out of his head. Rodan landed onto the ground in time to watch Ultraman’s head explode into pieces and the humanoid warrior's corpse crashed into the ground. Rodan raised his one remaining wing and cackled to the heavens victoriously. Before he could feed, he noticed Ultraman’s giant form revert back to its human size. Rodan considered eating his fallen foe, but one human isn’t enough to satisfy his hunger and with his one wing in terrible condition, feeding was no longer the prime objective. Now he needed to find a way home.