Match 188: Gezora vs. Godzillasaurus

Match 188: Gezora vs. Godzillasaurus is the 188th Match of the KWC and is written by Christian Salabert.

## Story

1971. It had been almost a year since a volcanic eruption had nearly swallowed Selgio Island in molten rock. But now that time had passed, and the alien consciousness known as Yog had been confirmed to be eradicated. Dr. Kyoichi Mida was determined to make a thorough investigation of whatever was left of the island. Along with his colleague Kenji Shimura and a team of workers, Mida made his way back to Selgio Island and began his search. While most of the island had been covered in volcanic rock, there was enough inhabitable land left to be worth a scientific expedition. Their initial sweep of the island didn't turn up much other than the occasional dead bat. After that, one thing Mida knew he wanted to investigate was the corpse of the mutated cuttlefish Gezora, which had died in the ocean shallows not too far from shore. But when Mida and Shimura scuba dived to the area where Gezora had died, they were stunned to discover that the creature's body was nowhere to be seen!

"I thought you said Gezora was dead!" Shimura said as he removed his scuba mask once they were back aboard their small research vessel.

"It was!" Mida insisted. "We burned it with gas and torches and it collapsed into the sea! This doesn't make sense."

"If Gezora was even half as big as you all said it was, there's no way some flaming gasoline could've fatally injured it."

Mida paused, thinking over his colleague's words. Could he be right? Could Gezora have merely been driven away by the fire, not killed? No, that's not possible, he thought. Had Gezora survived, then the alien being would have used him to threaten Mida and the others along with the turtle and the crab, wouldn't it? "Whatever happened here, it's making me feel uneasy," he said finally. "We'll have to consider our next move once we get back to camp."

"Sir!" A worker on the boat was pointing to the boat's port side. "Look!"

Mida and Shimura turned to see where he was pointing. Mida gasped, but Shimura full-on panicked. Mida grimaced, having been hoping that this wasn't going to happen.

"Gezora."

Indeed, the gigantic cephalopod was rising up from the ocean's waves, waving its two main tentacles threateningly. With a sharp, rasping cry, it began to make its way toward the boat, having been attracted from the depths by noise generated from the vehicle's motor.

"What do we do?!" Shimura cried.

"He's dangerous, but he's not fast," Mida informed him. He turned to the captain. "Get us back to shore."

"Yes, sir!"

The boat lunged forward at full speed, quickly speeding out of Gezora's reach. Dropping Mida, Shimura, and their workers off on the beach, the boat sped off for the time being as the group made their way back to camp, which was inland but still not too far from shore.

"The alien IS dead, isn't it?!" Shimura asked. "Why is Gezora still a giant?"

"The mutation is permanent," Mida explained. "Even when we rid the turtle and crab of the alien's control, they remained monsters and battled one another to the death. The cuttlefish may simply be searching for food."

"Wonderful. So what do we do now?"

Mida did not know.

They quickly reached camp and explained the situation. Everyone started grabbing as much equipment as they could, hearing the sounds of Gezora making its way toward them, tearing trees out of the ground as it went.

"Hurry!" Mida called out to his team. "Gezora is slow, but still deadly if he catches you!" The scientist looked in the direction of the giant beast, seeing the pointed top of its elongated body looming over the trees, growing closer and closer. "It's too late, leave anything you're not already holding!" Just as the team began to run, Gezora erupted from the trees, screeching as it began to reach for the panicking humans. One poor soul was ensnared in its tentacles, frozen to death long before he could be crushed. Gezora feasted upon the worker as Mida and his team ran.

"How long do we run, Mida?" Shimura asked. "The boat can pick us up, but we can't just run across this entire island!"

Mida knew he was right. The island was too large, and terrain would be a problem once they reached the volcanic side. Just as he was about to start thinking of a plan, a deep, cackle-like roar echoed across the island. The loud, rumbling noise caused the entire team to stop in its tracks.

"What the hell was that?!" Shimura asked, turning to his colleague. Mida was just as shocked by the noise as he was.

"I-I have no idea..."

Gezora came closer and closer behind them. Crashing footsteps came closer and closer to the group. Just as Gezora was about to catch up with the humans, another beast appeared in front of them. Heralding its arrival with another thunderous roar, a dinosaur burst from the forest, challenging Gezora!

"Wh-what the?!" Mida cried, stunned.

"A dinosaur?!" Shimura gasped. "You didn't say there was a dinosaur!"

"There wasn't!"

Gezora cried out at the new arrival. Though the cuttlefish normally preferred not to fight over a meal, it had already chased the humans a considerable distance and was in no mood to hunt down another source of food. Raising its tentacles, Gezora headed toward the dinosaur. Growling furiously, the mighty reptile lunged forward, biting and clawing at the cephalopod. Gezora let out a painful cry as the dinosaur's claws raked across its soft skin, leaving trails of blood across its large body. Retaliating, Gezora lashed out with its arms, whipping the dinosaur in its throat, causing it to stagger backward. Gezora advanced on its opponent, but the dinosaur quickly recovered and rushed the cuttlefish, slamming its head into Gezora's body like a battering ram. The powerful blow sent Gezora stumbling, crashing over onto its back.

"Is that Gorosaurus?" Mida asked as the team ran while the monsters were fighting each other.

"N-no, I don't think so," Shimura said, shaking his head and stealing a glance back at the two titans. "Gorosaurus has a much larger head and tail than this one does. And he stands upright. This dinosaur... I've never seen a species like it before!"

The unknown reptile advanced on the fallen Gezora, who attempted to defend itself with its many tentacles. Though difficult to focus on one of them at first, the dinosaur was finally able to seek one out with its jaws, biting down hard on the appendage. Gezora let out a pained scream and unleashed a stream of black ink, spraying the dinosaur in the face. Temporarily blinded, the dinosaur let out a high-pitched screech, reeling back. The dinosaur shook its head back and forth, trying to shake the ink from its face, its tiny arms of no use in wiping it away. The reptile's face was still covered in the sticky, black liquid by the time Gezora got back on its feet, clobbering the carnivore over the head with its tentacles. The blow brought the theropod to its knees, and another strike by Gezora's limbs knocked the dinosaur to the island floor. The creature howled as Gezora's powerful tentacles slammed against its body again and again. The dinosaur tried to defend itself, but as it was still blinded by Gezora's ink, its attempts were futile. It snapped its jaws wildly, trying to find its foe.

Eventually, it did.

Gezora cried out as the dinosaur's razor sharp teeth sank into its right tentacle and began to shake its head back and forth, tearing deep into the cuttlefish's flesh. Gezora tried to pull away from the vicious attack, but only succeeded in ripping the end of its tentacle away, spewing blue blood from the torn stump. Blind and battered, the dinosaur rose to his feet, its rage matching its pain. Focusing on the sound of its foe, the reptile lunged forward, slamming its head into Gezora's body once again. The blow sent the giant cuttlefish staggering back and knocked it down a hill, careening over the side and spinning downward, hurtling toward the beach. Determined to finish Gezora, the dinosaur charged forward, only to fall down the hill as well. The two beasts crashed into a tangled heap at the bottom of the hill, striking and clawing at one another as they attempted to get back to their feet.

Gezora continued to whack the dinosaur with its tentacles even as it attempted to rise, eliciting pained, frustrated roars with each blow. As the reptile tried to rise, it suddenly felt water on its snout. The sea! Rolling closer to the ocean's waves, the giant carnivore submerged its head and shook it back and forth, at long last washing away Gezora's ink. Now able to see once again, the dinosaur rose to its feet and glared at Gezora, ready to finish this fight.

Lunging forward, the dinosaur opened its jaws, preparing to tear into the cephalopod's flesh. Gezora retaliated with its tentacles, smacking the dinosaur in the face, but the reptile ignored the blows, biting and clawing at Gezora's extended limbs. The cuttlefish shrieked as teeth and claws tore its flesh asunder, two more dismembered tentacles falling to the sandy shores. Gezora realized this was a losing battle. This creature was too strong to risk fighting any longer.

Backing away, the mutant cuttlefish started to make its way toward the open sea. But the dinosaur would have none of it and leapt toward the sea creature, biting down right between its bulbous eyes. Gezora let out a hellacious, agonized shriek as the dinosaur bit down fully, then wrenched its jaws away, tearing out a large chunk of flesh, blood spewing from Gezora's enormous head. Gezora panicked, trying to retreat when another bite removed its left eye completely. The damage and blood loss affected Gezora immediately, weakening and dizzying the aquatic beast. Taking one last step, Gezora collapsed backward into the sea, its life force fading for the final time as the dinosaur proceeded to devour most of its corpse right then and there.

"Well, if Gezora wasn't dead before, he sure is now," Shimura said.

Mida nodded his agreement. "It's shame. We could have learned a lot by studying him. But still. This expedition isn't a total loss. We've discovered a new species of dinosaur! It may not be as exciting as an alien-mutated lifeform, but surely there are many secrets we can learn from this ancient creature. Well then! Let's get going, Dr. Shimura! ...Dr. Shimura?"

When he didn't receive an answer from his colleague, he turned to look at him. He gasped as he saw Shimura standing there, staring back blankly, his eyes glowing blue.

"No," Mida said. "It can't be!"

"Oh, but it is." The voice, cold and flat, emanated from within Shimura's mind. "We meet again, Dr. Mida."