//------------------------------//
// The Phantom Dragon 
// Story: Codex Equestria: Notable Events 
// by Red Qilin 
//------------------------------//

The Phantom Dragon

"He's coming...the destroyer is coming..."
--- An Ahto Islander following the attack on the island by the Second Demon King, also known as Ghost Dracozilla.

With the appearance and defeats of the first three Demon Kings, Dracozilla had transitioned from a destroyer of Neighpon to its protector. However, there were still many who remembered the devastation his father had wrought on the country, and an event would soon happen to remind them of it. And also remind the world of the lingering threat of Orochi's spawns.

Background

“I thought he was on our side now!”
--- Neighponese Public's general response to the attacks seemingly by Dracozilla

=Intro Theme - Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack=

Following the defeat of Imperfect Orochi, there was a period of relative peace. Dracozilla was now a protector, and along with the rest of his fellow benevolent kaiju, Neighpon's more malicious kaiju denizens were largely kept in check. Sadly, this peace would not last long.

Out of nowhere, an Equestrian vessel was destroyed at sea in international waters. Sea ponies living in the Neighpon area joined in the search and discovered the wreckage, which appeared to have been torn apart by some form of monster, an alarming and tragic but not exactly uncommon occurrence. What caused a stir, however, was what was seen moving in the silt.

A set of familiar dorsal spines moving through the depths, glowing a menacing dark violet.

The reaction back in Neighpon to this sighting was one of shock. Dracozilla had become their greatest defenders and had not caused any unnecessary destruction recently, so the prospect that he had destroyed the vessel was an eyebrow-raising one. However, to those who refused to forgive the King of the Monsters for his and his father's rampages, it was ammunition to encourage the demise of the ancient creature.

Of these vocal group, the Cloven Empire was the quickest to suggest the dragon's death, as he and his bloodline had caused the Empire so much trouble and humiliation that seeing him destroyed was something they greatly desired. Particularly given their latest anti-kaiju weapon, a gigantic amphibious airship called the Antlergon that was also capable of burrowing through the earth.

To complicate matters, Dracozilla himself was not on the island he'd made his home.

To make matters worse, the guards responsible for guarding the prisons of Orochi's fallenspawn demons reported an earthquake at the location of the Fourth Demon King and a purple glow raising into the air, inciting fears that the demon may be awakening.  As a result, the benevolent kaiju that could be contacted were requested to guard the remaining demons, both to intercept the Fourth if he did awake and to prevent the cultists from merging together multiple demons as they had before.

Little did anyone know, the truth was far stranger and more terrible than what any believed.

Stirring Forces

"Someday, I'd like to come to Neighpon without a giant monster attacking."
--- AK Yearling, upon her arrival in Neighpon

As she had been directly involved with the previous Orochi related incidents, AK Yearling returned to Neighpon to investigate the signs of the Fourth Demon King awakening. Her search lead her to Mount Maneoko, were a strange earthquake with a moving epicenter had begun. The author reported seeing a mysterious old stallion in the woods who vanished into thin air.

That very night, a tunnel collapsed in the area, crushing some surviving members of the Orochi Cult attempting some kind of terrorist attack to death. The survivor and intended victim of their attack reported a reptilian creature moving in the Earth he believed was Dracozilla.

The next night, at Lake Ikedeer, another group of Orochi cultists attempted a separate attack, and likewise were found slaughtered next morning, apparently killed by something in the lake, but saving a dog they were attempted to use for a blood sacrifice in some sort of ritual.

Yearling pointed out to the strangeness of the cultists launching seemingly random attacks with no clear goal, but no one could figure out a correlation...at least until Yearling received a book titled "The Guardian Monsters" from an anonymous source, and discovered the locations of two of them were a perfect match to the locations of the two disturbances.

A Grim Warning

"You must wake the Eldest Beast, the Guardian of Fire before it’s too late! And maybe together they will be able to stop him!"
--- 'Isayamane', warning AK Yearlingthat if Neighpon is to survive, the final Guardian must be awoken.

Discovering the stallion she'd seen at Mt. Maneoko was currently in police custody, Yearling travelled to the jail and met with him, discovering his name was Isayamane (or so he claimed), he'd been arrested 'vandalizing' an ancient shrine.

The old stallion explained that Dracozilla was coming. When questioned, he clarified that while the Clovenist Mana Bomb had given Dracozilla his immense power, something far older and far more evil was what now resurrected and powered the leviathan. And worse still, claimed that the dark entity had resonated with and called the souls of the restless, vengeful dead, those who had died in the revolutions and wars the Clovenist had wrought and desired to forget or bury in the sands of time. Together, they intended to rise and destroy Neighpon for the sake of the dark one, and then the Cloven Empire to punish them for their evil. He plead with her to awaken the final and strongest Guardian Monster, the Fire Guardian Angileo.

Studying the book she'd received, Yearling discovered that the three Guardian Monsters, Bararyu, Varein, and Angileo, were created to defend Neighpon from great evils by an ancient, long-forgotten civilization. Traveling to the area where Angileo's shrine was located, she couldn't locate the sleeping guardians and had no choice but to continue her search.

Titans Awaken

“Whatever is causing these tremors, it isn’t natural!”
--- Geologists near Aoneighhara Forest.

Finally, Isayamane's prediction began to come to pass. Ahto Island was once again attacked during a hurricane and an airship sent to investigate was destroyed by something huge enough that their last report was of a 'moving hill'.

Soon after, the earthquakes around Mt. Maneoko intensified greatly, it becoming more and more apparent that the moving epicentre was in fact a living creature moving underground.

A stallion reported having fallen into an underground cavern with a gigantic creature frozen in crystal beneath Aoneighhara Forest, but before anything could be done, the moving epicentre finally revealed itself at the police station Isayamane was being kept at. Bararyu, the Guardian Monster of Earth, did not harm anypony, merely tore open the wall of the prison to release the old stallion before heading off into the wilderness.

=Godzilla's Rage - Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah=

Before any choice could be made regarding Bararyu, the ocean erupted. A sea side town soon found itself under attack by Dracozilla. But the monster had changed. Not only was he larger and now capable of a violet wild magic beam, his eyes had become blank, white, and evil. Unleashing his wraith, the behemoth left blazing ruin in his path as he continued towards Hakoneigh, seeming to actively target innocent ponies in the process. With their good monsters preoccupied, Mothryu and Roedan still wounded from the battle with Imperfect Orochi, and the Antlergon still hours away, there seemed to be nothing that could be done...

The Guardian of Earth

“I saw the two kaiju battling it out. Whatever that thing was did its best to hurt the crazed Dracozilla, but it wasn’t enough… Where are our guardian kaijus when we needed them?!”
--- A Witness to the first battle between the Earth Guardian and Ghost Dracozilla

AK Yearling, having no leads on Angileo, instead chose to pursue Bararyu, and followed him as he abruptly changed course towards Hakoneigh.

Confronting Dracozilla in a rock pit there, the two began to battle it out, with Bararyu actively holding Dracozilla back in an attempt to protect the innocent lives in harm’s way from the malevolent mutation.

While able to use his burrowing abilities to distract and topple the mad titan, it soon became apparent that Bararyu had no chance of defeating Dracozilla on his own. But the smaller monster kept trying with all he had, until finally the civilians were evacuated. Being slammed around and beaten nearly to death, Bararyu just barely managed to escape with his life under the cover of Dracozilla's wild magic beam.

Now unopposed, the mutated dragon continued his warpath.

Enter Antlergon

“Well, third time’s the charm… or is it lucky?”
--- People's Centurion Malinav, Belomaneian pegasi Clovenist Imperial Aeroforce liaison to Neighpon, upon the take-off of their upgraded Antlergon. Malinav’s reserved opinion was not commented upon by the Clovenists.

The Clovenist warship Antlergon was deployed to intercept Dracozilla, under the command of (ironically named) Admiral Cloven, a Clovenists who had been on the crew of the Red Sun II and received a facial scar from an exploding piece of machinery in the process. Few in the Cloven Empire had the same degree of wrath for the monster king as the Admiral, who would relish the chance to take revenge on the one who had destroyed his previous vessel.

Confronting Dracozilla as he marched towards Umiyako, the Antlergon unleashed everything in its arsenal upon the beast, from missiles to mana lasers, to even the drill on the front of it. The battle, however, ended rather abruptly when while attempting to impale the beast with the Antlergon's drill, Cloven discovered the drill lacked the power to do so, only allowing the mutant to grab the ship and leave it crippled with a point blank blast of his wild magic ray. Leaving the warship severely damaged, the kaiju marched forward unopposed.

When asked why the juggernaut spared him, Cloven replied that the monster's gaze made him believe it desired to allow the Clovenists to live to see its eventual attack on the Cloven Empire.

Call of the Guardians

"The Eldest Beast, the Guardian of Fire, Angileo..."
--- AK Yearling upon watching Angileo awaken.

While researching anything that may lead her to the location of Angileo, Yearling instead found something far more shocking. A description of the Fourth Demon King: a being with no form of its own. A formless, malevolent spirit that must find a corpse to make its vessel.

The Fourth Demon King wasn't awakening, it'd already awakened. But, as it could only possess the dead, it soon became apparent that the Dracozilla attacking Neighpon was not Junior, but Senior, reanimated and possessed by the Fourth Demon King and the vengeful spirits under his control. With this in mind, the creature was renamed Ghost Dracozilla to tell the two apart.

Noting the report from beneath Aoneighhara, and that Bararyu was already heading there, Yearling finally got her lead and followed them. There, she found Angileo sleeping in crystal. Along with a large number of Orochi Cultists, presently preventing Isayamane from awakening the final Guardian Monster, revealing their other attacks had likewise been attempts to prevent Bararyu and Varein from being awoken.

Aiding in battle with some defense force members, it seemed that it'd take too long for them to awaken Angileo...until Bararyu erupted through the wall, severely wounded and bleeding badly, but alive enough to crush the cultists to death.

Finally, the Guardian Monster of Fire was freed from his tomb, raising from the crystal...and promptly sacrificing some of his mana to heal Bararyu just enough to survive, allowing his brother in arms to enter a healing coma to recover as he headed towards Neighpon's present capital of Umiyako to face Ghost Dracozilla, with Yearling in tow.

Meanwhile, at Lake Ikedeer, Varein completed his own awakening and emerged from the depths. With a fierce roar, the Guardian of Water took flight and headed towards Umiyako.

Guardians vs Destroyer

“Not enough… we need more guardian creatures to stop him!”
--- A despondent 'Isayamane' upon seeing the battle between Varein and Angileo with Ghost Dracozilla

As Ghost Dracozilla arrived near the venerable ruins of Old Tokneigho, Varein made his presence known, landing a top a building and roaring his challenge to the Fourth Demon King.

In the resulting battle, Varein used fierce hit and run attacks to keep his much larger and stronger opponent off balance, but couldn't do any lasting damage. As the Guardian Monster latched onto Ghost Dracozilla's back and slashed away at him, Angileo finally arrived and slammed into the demonic revenant's front by curling into a ball and launching himself like a wrecking ball.

However, even with both Guardian Monsters fighting at once, Angileo providing the power and Varein providing the speed and quick attacks, Ghost Dracozilla still managed to obtain the upperhoof, slamming Varein through a building and blasting Angileo to the ground with his wild magic ray.

The True King vs the Fallen King

“BAKARO! Know who your REAL enemy is!”
--- Shogun, a Neighponese Self-Defence Airforce officer, to Admiral Cloven.

However, before the undead horror could finish either Guardian off, a piercing roar cut through the air and a familiar form intercepted what would have been the killing blow to Angileo. Dracozilla Junior roared his challenge to the heavens, not caring if the kaiju before him was the reanimated corpse of his father.

Joining forces with the Guardian Monsters, the three heroes battled the revenant kaiju, the King of the Monster's assistance making it even.

However, before victory could happen, the Antlergon arrived, its crew managing to get it back on line. But instead of targeting the undead titan, Admiral Cloven targeted Junior, recognizing him as the beast that had defeated the Red Sun II. Now fighting both the Fourth Demon King and the insane admiral, the heroes slowly began to lose ground, with Angileo and Varein both suffering severe injuries.

Despite demands from both Neighpon's Empress and the Clovenist high command (though reluctantly and only to save face) to cease his attacks on Dracozilla Junior and focus on Ghost Dracozilla, Cloven merely cut all communication and continued his assault.

However, during this, a Neighponese officer by the name of Shogun piloted his airship into the Antlergon and forced his way to the bridge. Trying to reason with the now Admiral, he was ultimately forced to knock the stag unconscious (as by perception of both the Neighponese Empress and the Clovenist high command, Cloven had gone rogue), and take command himself.

Rest in Peace

“The dead… should be left well alone.”
--- Empress Nadeshiko of Neighpon, on Ghost Dracozilla’s defeat

Now on the heroic kaiju's side, the Anterlgon's drill was driven into a wound opened on Ghost Dracozilla's shoulder, tearing open a massive gash. Attempting to counter attack, Ghost Dracozilla roared in agony as his wild magic ray instead tore its way out of his open wound. Seeing the opportunity, Dracozilla and the Guardian Monsters targetted the wound, ripping it wider and wider, causing the revenant to lose control of his power and begin to tear himself apart. With Angileo ripping the wound further open, Dracozilla and Varein fired their beams into the open wound, blowing a gaping hole in the demonic beast.

Charging forwards, Dracozilla grasped his possessed father's heart and crushing it in his claw and killing Ghost Dracozilla. The Fourth Demon King finally made himself visible, rising into the sky in the form of a demonic specter along with the legion of vengeful spirits that it had bonded with. However, Angileo and Varein combined their holy power and blasted the demon, destroying it completely and ending his reign of terror with another of Orochi's spectral heads dissipating into the sky.

With their duty complete, Varein and Angileo departed to heal while Dracozilla would head back home to rest after the fierce battle.

Aftermath

“I don’t know which is the bigger problem – Orochi, or those honourless mortals who call themselves the Clovenists!”
--- Kazekami, wind elemental deity of the Neighpon’s Shinseina Pantheon, during a Cosmic Council meeting discussing the impending threat of Orochi’s inevitable resurrection

Once again, Neighpon owed its existence to its guardian kaiju. However, another of Orochi's spawn had been slain, meaning the countdown to the Demon King's awakening ticked down a little more.

Admiral Cloven claimed that his communications had been cut off by the fight and not by himself, a story the Clovenist backed up and permitted Cloven to retain control of the Antlergon. However, as Dracozilla Senior was their direct creation and his animated form was partially animated by the vengeful souls of the Clovenist's victims, they once again came under fire by many and demands for them to accept responsibility for their actions grew.

However, despite all of that, Neighpon know possessed three more powerful and loyal guardians. And with the clock ticking down, they would likely need it.