It had been a clear, peaceful early morning in the city when suddenly Gigantro the Terrible, scourge of all mankind, came looming out of the ocean depths. Innocent civilians fled as the monstrous,  back-projected lizard-thing made landfall in what had, up to that point, been a popular resort spot. He cared not that the homes and businesses of thousands were in his way, destroying vehicles and buildings as if they were nothing but unconvincing papier mache props in a cheap monster movie. As he strode across the petrified conurbation like a scaly colossus, his piercing roar echoing off the distant hills to announce his angry progress, striking fear into the souls of his hapless victims and shattering windows a split second too late to be wholly convincing. As he passed deeper in to the city’s coastline, a tower belonging to an overpriced hotel obstructed the beast, and a swift flick of the tail brought it crashing down like so much polystyrene, leaving nothing but smoking rubble. Gigantro truly dominated all he could see, no puny human could ever hope to even slow him down, let alone stop him. Truly all hope was lost to the city.

Just then, from out of the left speaker came a new, terrifying, echoing shriek. Stock footage of people cowered, wary of a new threat to their very existence, even the terrible Gigantro paused in his rampage, incensed that something else dared to intrude on his territory. From out of the horizon, swooping across a city that looked like an unconvincing scale model, came the sleek, silvery form of Pterrormek, Friend to All Humanity. In a daring mid-air manoeuvre, the winged cyber-dinosaur executed a perfect loop and slammed his huge, metal claws in to Giganto’s chest, knocking the monster lizard off balance. 

The snarl of metal and monster combatants collapsed backwards, slamming through a rail viaduct as they hit the ground with a deafening crunch. Before the dust had even had a chance to settle, Gigantro let rip with a blast of his fusion-breath, igniting the very air in a super-bright video effect beam. But the chrome-alloy replacement skin of Pterrormek was built to withstand the worst weapons that could be thrown against it, an overgrown lizard’s fire breath posed no threat whatsoever. Taking advantage of his opponent’s momentary pause to spit flame, the heroic mechasaur punched down with adamantine claws, but Gigantro was no fool and managed to roll out of the way just in time, Pterrormek’s talons instead impacting with the ground and getting stuck in deep. As the heroic cyborg tried to free himself, his nemesis rained down a heavy tail-slam, knocking him flying in to a neighbouring glass tower block, completely destroying it.

As the two monsters continued their epic battle, the people on the ground were not idle. Civilians fled as the fight slung debris around as if it were mere painted polystyrene, all desperate to escape as far away as possible. In the other direction came the authorities, the police, the government suits, even the army. None knew what they could do against such beasts, but they had to do something. As the first vehicle reached the scene, Gigantro was being pummeled back by Pterrormech, gouging great chunks from the surrounding buildings. Despite the best efforts of the ancient cyborg, Gigantro refused to go down, weathering a beating that would have ended lesser lizard-things. 

Seeing their hero struggling, the military began their attack. The lead tank let rip with a suspiciously firework-like blast that hit Gigantro square in the side, eliciting a pained roar. Taking advantage of his opponents moment of weakness, Pterrormech shoulder barged in to Gigantro, who stumbled backwards. Trying to steady himself, the lizard-thing stepped on to a car, lost his footing and fell flat on his face. 

The scene went deadly silent, no-one was sure what to do now, but then…

“CUUUUUUT!” 

…The director screamed from behind the cameras, before stalking on to the set with an expression like he was about to explode. 
“What the hell was that? Damnit, Gavin, you screwed up the big shot!” He threw his bullhorn in the general direction of Gigantro.
“M’sorry Jerry,” the stricken lizard said from the floor, still face-down in the scaled-down wreckage. “Just lost my footing.”
“Yeah? Well sort yourself out.” Jerry fumed “We’re taking a risk with you, understand? We can still get ‘Zilla back in for this, he said he’d rather do this than that Monstro! dreck over at Maroon’s.”
“I know, Jerry, I’ll do better.” Gavin tried to lift himself up, but was too entwined in the set dressing.
“See you do.” Jerry then turned to Pterrormek, who was taking off the cheap metal-effect armour plating. “Raul, baby, as for you, brilliant work, man, I got chills. Chills! Now, lets call lunch and reset after. See if we can get it right, ok?” The irate director stalked off set before anyone could answer.
“Damnit, Gavin, I was in the zone there!” Raul said, dropping the armour at Gavin’s feet before leaving in the opposite direction.

“Uh, guys?” The stricken lizard said from the floor, as the studio emptied, “Little help?”

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This story, its characters & setting are ©2019 Dom “Ndro” Barlow
Text originally published in the Just Fur The Weekend 2019 Conbook,
Illustration by Stefi “Heartlilly” Hauke, Used with Permission