VS.
Word Count: 3,214
Author: Fanofstuff
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Gezora swam around the bottom of the sea, not knowing where he was or what he should do. He knew only one thing, that the alien Yog had made him grow giant only to leave him shortly afterwards. He had attempted to enter the nearby island, but a giant ape had seen Gezora and proceeded to attack him. A part of him wanted to stay and fight, but instead, he decided to just leave. He made it to the shore before finally losing the presumed king of that island. But he couldn’t enjoy peace for long, as a giant sea serpent bit the cuttlefish. A larger part of him still wanted to fight, but once again, he instead ran away further into the ocean where the serpent stopped chasing him.
Realizing that the surface held nothing for him, Gezora had retreated down to the darkness of the ocean. Now he remained unseen, unknown to the world. Adrift at sea, hiding from everyone, the only interaction he had was with the tiny fish he fed upon. He was lonely. He was scared. He was angry. Looking up, he weighed his options. Did he stay in the darkness, alone, in the hopes that he would get used to his loneliness? Or did he go up to the light, knowing that others would attack him, in the hopes to find someone who would be his friend? Finally, he decided to brave the light. Swimming up, he would make something out of his existence.
At the same time, a spaceship had entered the Earth’s atmosphere. The spaceship consisted of five pods, each colored like that of a beehive. The Virasians were piloting the ship, having discarded their human disguises after learning of the failure of the first team. In fact, there were many things they learned from the first crew’s failure, the main one being to trust only themselves. They would show this world what true conquest was.
When their spaceship was over the ocean, the Virasians combined into the giant Viras. This wrecked their ship beyond repair, but they didn’t care. When they’d taken over this world, then they could take as long as needed to let their home world know.
Gezora had just made it to the light when he noticed the explosion and a new monster appear from out of nowhere. At first, he didn’t know how to react, but after seeing that the monster had a strong resemblance to himself, he got excited. Maybe he wasn’t alone after all. Gezora waved at this new creature in hopes of getting its attention. Viras looked at this thing with contempt. Did he really want to feel the wrath of the alien conquerors? Oh well, this weakling would do good for a warm up. Viras closed their head and aimed. Gezora during this time was confused. Why were they nodding?
Gezora got his answer when Viras launched towards him at high speeds. Instinctually, the cuttlefish lurched to the left, but he was still nicked by the space squid. Blue blood dripping out, Gezora turned to stare down his attacker, only to notice them turning around for another shot. Viras shot out again, but the white cephalopod was able to get out of the way safely this time. Undeterred, the invader turned around and launched for the third time. Gezora decided it was best to leave now and went down, hoping to use the darkness to hide himself. Unfortunately, he underestimated his size and the top of his body was impaled by Viras. The fiend smirked, finally they had hit their mark. Pulling back, a torrent of blue blood started coming out of the hole in Gezora’s head. Viras chuckled to themselves, clearly this fight wouldn’t be difficult in the slightest. Oh well, they might as well have some fun.
As Gezora tried to cover the hole in his head, Viras swam up to the mutated cuttlefish. Now wary of this creature's head, the mutant held up his main tentacles in defense. The aliens thought this was cute, that this pathetic thing thought it had a chance. Viras started spinning rapidly like a top, using their tentacles to strike away their foe’s limbs and then bludgeon his face. While not very damaging, the constant strikes to his face started to make Gezora feel dizzy. Viras stopped spinning, not having to worry about dizziness after spending so much time in a spinning spaceship. Seeing how their target was dazed, the gestalt alien decided he needed a wakeup call. Opening their head crest, Viras snapped it shut on Gezora’s right tentacle. This caught his attention, as he started shrieking and pulling to get free. It was at this moment that the invader realized that Gezora was stronger than they had thought, as they had to use their full strength to keep the tentacle in their crest. Viras was so focused on keeping the limb restrained that they didn’t see Gezora’s other tentacle coming for their face. After the strike, they became too dazed to keep the crest closed, allowing Gezora to bring his wounded tentacle back.
Viras shook their head to clear their thoughts, and turned to face the pathetic cuttlefish. Surely his strength was a one time thing. When Viras looked at Gezora now however, they noticed something different about him. He had this… aura of anger.
Gezora just wanted a companion, a friend, something to rid him of his loneliness. He had hope for friendship, and all it got him was impaled and nearly amputated. Every fiber of his being was telling him to retreat to the darkness of the ocean and hope this creature would just go away. But no, wherever this thing came from, they had angered Gezora, and would know the mistake they had made.
Gezora screeched a battle cry and launched himself at Viras. Unable to react in time, the alien was bashed by the cuttlefish’s bulky frame and launched backwards into a mountain. Dazed, Viras shook their head to clear their thoughts, only to see Gezora rushing at them. Before the conqueror could react, the mutant struck them with their tentacle. The native of Earth continued his assault, rapidly smacking his foe with his tendrils. After six slaps, Viras manages to use one of their tentacles to poke Gezora in the eye. He covered his eye with a screech, giving the extraterrestrial time to collect their thoughts. Clearly, they underestimated this creature’s strength. Still, victory would be assured as long as they played things out carefully.
Gezora had recovered from the earlier poke and was ready to continue the fight. Before he could close the distance however, he was suddenly blasted by an unknown force, burning his flesh. Viras was thankful they brought more members to this conquest than the last one, as it allowed them to access their energy bolts. With Gezora hurt, Viras decided to resort to old tactics. Closing their head crest, they launched themselves toward the mutated cuttlefish. Their foe was able to bring up his tentacles to prevent impalement of his head, but the force of the launch caused Gezora to spin as Viras continued forward. Undeterred, the alien turned and launched again, only to be prevented from a clean stab by the cuttlefish’s tentacles a second time. At this point, it was clear to the conqueror what needed to be done.
Once again launching forward, Viras quickly stopped in front of Gezora before impact. Not expecting this, the mutant instinctually brought up his tentacles to block the spear, despite its halting. Taking advantage, the alien wrapped two of their limbs around the cuttlefish’s main tentacles. While he had many tentacles, Viras had noticed that everything this creature did, he did so using only his two front tentacles. With this knowledge, Viras knew that if they could just cripple the main tentacles, victory would be assured. Of course, Gezora refused to let this occur. With mighty tugs, he began trying to shake off his foe. Once again, the conqueror was surprised by the sheer strength of their foe, but was prepared this time. Viras started to pull back with all their might, matching the mutant’s every tug with one of their own. This great test of strength between these two giants was starting to show its wear and tear on Gezora’s main tentacles. He started wailing in pain, trying with all his might to just pull his tentacles away. Viras on the other hand was disturbingly ecstatic about this turn of events. This idiotic creature would become the first example of what happens when you fight Viras.
This thought process was interrupted when the alien noticed that they couldn’t feel their own tentacles anymore. Looking down, Viras soon learned why, to their horror. Their tentacles were covered with a thin layer of ice. In their panic, they immediately released their tight grip on Gezora and swam away to the mountain. The only thing on the extraterrestrial’s mind was one word; how? How could they have suffered frostbite from wrapping their tentacles around those of this creature? They didn’t gain much in the way of information from the last force's invasion, but they figured the sea couldn’t have done this, otherwise they would have felt this as soon as they went into the water. Viras’s emotions slowly turned from confusion to fear as the reason for the frostbite dawned on them. It was the creature itself. They hadn’t noticed before because all of their attacks never lasted long on the creature's body, but when they kept their tentacles locked for so long, it allowed this thing’s cold body to try and freeze them. This was a bad idea; they couldn’t deal with the cold. Maybe they could just run away, try to outspeed the frigid menace. This thought was discarded immediately after it came up, Viras didn’t come all the way to this planet just to run and hide like a coward. No, there had to be another solu-
Viras was interrupted when Gezora launched his full body mass at the space squid. While lacking a sharp crest to impale, the force of the blow caused the invader to slam against the mountain. Now dazed out of making any form of plan, Viras shook their head, trying to focus back on the fight at hand. Sadly, for the would be conqueror, this act gave Gezora the perfect chance to strike with a tentacle. The force of this blow was powerful enough to turn Viras around, leaving them now facing the mountain. With this new orientation came new attack plans for the former Yog container, which he was more than happy to take advantage of. Bringing his right tentacle to the back of Viras’ head, Gezora used all his power to bash the alien squid’s face into the mountain. Gezora wasn’t done yet, however, as he used his suckers to keep his grip on the back of Viras’ head. Now secure, Gezora started swimming as fast as he could possibly go while still applying his foe’s face to the mountain.
This new strategy was quickly proving effective in causing damage to Viras, as soon, a trail of blood was appearing where the space squid was being pushed. Screaming in agony, Viras had to think of a solution to this predicament before they became the squid with no face. Opening up their head crest, they tried to fire an energy bolt at the menace who was currently rearranging their face. The combination of the speed at which Gezora was moving and the pain from the force distracting them, not to mention the frostbite Viras could feel slowly forming on the back of their head made landing a shot next to impossible, but they couldn't stop firing. To stop firing would be the exact same as admitting defeat and letting this creature kill them. Finally, somehow, someway, by the luck of the cosmos, an energy bolt managed to hit Gezora right in the eye. Screeching in pain, the mutant lets go of the alien force to cover his eye. This momentary reprieve from pain was exactly what Viras needed. Closing their head crest, The alien quickly turned and used its crest to slash at Gezora’s giant head. A torrent of blue blood started gushing out of the new wound, leaving Gezora the one in pain and Viras now the one in control. Swimming away from the mountain, the invader turned and for a moment, just glared at Gezora who was trying to close the new wound. What was supposed to be a simple attack to gain a new planet in their territory had nearly caused their death, and all from this weak, stupid, and cold freak. This death would give Viras more joy than anything before.
Opening their head crest, Viras unleashed energy bolt after energy bolt at Gezora. Each bolt now hit with precision, blasting their target repeatedly. Gezora began wailing after each and every bolt blasted his skin away, adding more and more bruises and burns. After countless energy bolts and countless screams of agony, Viras ceased their onslaught. Gezora was covered in burns and welts, he had lost an eye in the barrage as well as one of his smaller tentacles, and the old slash wound had been cauterized and was no longer bleeding. Viras became very pleased at this turn of events, knowing that this creature had suffered for causing pain to this planet's future ruler. They could just keep blasting with energy bolts until this pathetic creature died, but where was the fun in that? The alien wanted to feel this cold enemy’s life fade away. Viras closed its head crest, aimed and fired.
After all the pain and suffering he had endured, Gezora was just done. All this fighting, all this conflict, all this pain, what was it all for? To try and save a life that had no meaning? His existence was an accident, a side effect of an alien taking control of his body. He was never meant to live like this. He didn’t know much of this world, but the only creatures his size he found had tried to kill him. There was no way the humans would help either, after his rampage in the village, no one would willingly befriend him. Scared, alone, hurt, all these emotions festered inside Gezora as he noticed Viras beginning to aim, clearly intending to kill the giant cuttlefish. He initially made no moves to escape, nor to block, not even an attempt to fight back. He simply laid back and prepared to let this creature end his suffering.
As Viras fired forth to impale Gezora, however, the depressed cuttlefish soon gained a new outlook. No, he wasn’t going to just lay back and let this creature kill him. True, he was alone. True, he was made by accident. True, every single inch of his body was in tremendous pain. But this was the life he was given and damn it, he was going to make it count! This menace wasn’t going to just come in and kill him without a fight! At the last second, right before Viras could impale and end this conflict, Gezora used all his strength to lurch to the right. The speed at which the alien was moving didn’t give them nearly enough time to stop their momentum, which caused them to instead shoot straight into the mountain. A shower of dust fired off from where Viras hit, coating the space squid in dirt. Spitting out the dirt, they sneered. Where did this creature get the strength to get out of the way? It was still weakened from the bolt barrage, finishing it off would be simple. Viras started pulling at their head crest in order to get out of the mountain.
Only to find that they could not. Looking up as much as they could, they came face to face with the rock wall. The speed of the attack had forced their head crest deep into the mountain. Panic started to set in for Viras, what would happen if they couldn’t get free? They tried with all their might to open up their crest, only to learn that the solid rock around it was forcing it to stay shut. The alien tried rocking back and forth in an attempt to become loose from the mountain. Sadly, for the wannabe conqueror, they were not given the peace they needed to get loose. Mustering all his strength, Gezora swam up to his foe, noticing that they couldn’t move. Good, this meant they also couldn’t hurt. Gezora could have swam away, used this opportunity to make some distance and hide.
But, he would not.
Whether due to a worry that letting it go would only result in another battle or due to some instinctual part of his brain telling him to end this, Gezora knew what had to be done. Wrapping his tentacles around Viras’ neck, the mutant tightened with all his might. Viras, feeling the cold, tight grasp on their body, began thrashing with all their might. They wouldn’t let their dreams of conquest end here, not with all the sacrifices made in order to accomplish this. The thrashing began getting even more frantic and desperate when they began feeling ice form on their skin. Viras was using all their strength just to try and get this cold creature to let go.
Sadly, for Viras, they just weren’t strong enough. The ice forming around the neck of the space squid started expanding all the way down to the tips of their tentacles. Tried as they might, Viras just couldn’t shake off Gezora until the cold caught up to them. With a layer of frost coating their body and reaching deep into their organs, Viras’ dream of conquest was shattered. Soon after, they themselves were also shattered, as their killer used all his strength to break the frozen alien into little shards of ice. Gezora, now realizing that the threat had been eliminated, laid against the mountain to rest.
That had to have been the hardest fight he had ever been a part of. Who knew how many times he had been close to death? Still, he had come out of it victorious, despite how he had just wished for the end at one point. Remembering his earlier thought process, Gezora looked up, towards the light. He had explored to find friendship, and instead he only found another creature that wanted to hurt him. Would he ever find a true companion, or would he live out his life as he feared, alone and unloved? The fear of that second possibility coming true nearly paralyzed him, but he wouldn’t give up. He wouldn’t allow the possibility of failure to stop him from finding a friend. After all he had gone through, he refused to give up now. Still, that fight took so much out of the lonely cuttlefish, and who knew what threat could come to try and attack Gezora like that last creature did? For now, Gezora would allow himself this rest. But after that, he would not stop. Not until he found a companion that trusted him. Not until he found an ally that accepted him.
Not until he finally found a friend.
Winner:
Spoiler:
Will say, the ending is a delightful surprise, and one that fits with the ideas the matchup presents. Good job! Fun way to kick off the new year! 