King Kong: The Legend of Skull Island [Wattys 2017]

Chapter 7

Godzilla placed his sword on the ground and wiped his forehead. The dead bodies of Skull Crawlers lay all around him. Kong stood next to him, stretching his arms.
"I think they're all gone now." He said. "But more will come in the morning."
"I was afraid of that." Godzilla said. "Anyway, I'm looking for someone. Maybe you've seen her around."
Kong was able to guess he was referring to Hana. "Is she a young girl with short blonde hair?" He asked. Godzilla's eyebrows raised.
"Yeah. You've seen her?" He asked. Kong nodded.
"Hana is safe. She's in my village right now." He explained.
"Great. So I can go get her?" Godzilla said. Kong's expression fell and he shook his head.
"No. But if you'd like to stay until tomorrow-"
"Wait, what?" Godzilla interrupted. "Why can't I get her now?"
"Because according to my tribe's traditions, she must stay the night." Kong explained. He expected this to be the end of it, but it wasn't. Godzilla stepped closer to him.
"Tell me where she is. She's coming with me tonight." He said.
"First of all, no she isn't." Kong said. "Second of all, you are in no position to demand anything of me."
"Oh, is that so?" Godzilla growled.
"I may be young, but I am the king of this island." Kong said. He picked up his spear again and spun it around, pointing it towards Godzilla. "I'm sorry, but I must ask you to leave my village. If you do not comply, I will force you out."
"Are you threatening me, kid?" Godzilla asked.
"I am, and do not call me 'kid'." Kong said. Godzilla chuckled and picked up his sword. His mood changed as he swung down at Kong. He blocked the blade with his spear, and swung back at Godzilla's midsection. He managed to dodge out of the way in time, and dodged again when Kong jabbed the spear at him.
"You're making a big mistake." Godzilla warned. He slashed his sword again, catching Kong's spear and nearly knocking it out of his hand. Kong jumped back to get a better vantage point.
"You're the one making the mistake." Kong challenged. He flipped the spear so the blunt end was facing Godzilla and swung it at his feet, making him fall onto his back. He smirked as he aimed the sharp end at him again, until Godzilla sent a blast of blue energy at him. Kong managed to dodge, but his spear was caught in the crossfire, knocking the pointed end off. He tossed the spear away and brought out his knife. He front flipped over Godzilla's head and jabbed him in the side while he was distracted. He smirked, but it fell when he saw Godzilla healing the wound nearly instantaneously.
"What in the world..." Kong said.
"Yeah, I know." Godzilla said. He took Kong's distraction into his advantage by spinning around and kicking Kong in the jaw. The impact made him drop the knife. After another solid kick to the chest, Kong flew backwards and into a tree. Godzilla walked over him and raised his sword. Before he brought it down, he caught a glimpse of Kong's facial expression. He was glaring up at him. He clearly wasn't afraid of him. He had the hardened gaze of a warrior, and practically dared Godzilla to kill him. His gaze enraged Godzilla, but before he could bring the sword down, Hana ran in front of him, arms outstretched. Her face was more serious than Godzilla had ever seen.
"Godzilla, stop!" She shouted.
"Hana!?" Godzilla said, lowering the sword. "You escaped?"
"I didn't need to escape." Hana said.
"C'mon, get behind me so I can kill Kong." Godzilla said. To his surprise, Hana didn't comply. In fact, she attempted to pushed him away. Of course, she wasn't nearly as strong as Godzilla, so she wasn't able to push him back very far.
"No! I'm not moving." Hana shook her head. "Kong is my friend. I won't allow you to hurt him."
Kong smiled as he heard this. He had come to see Hana as a friend as well, but he wasn't sure how she felt. Now he knew. Hana turned around and helped him up.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Her voice was laced with concern. She brushed his long matted hair away from a bleeding cut on his forehead.
"I'm fine. It's nothing I can't handle." Kong replied. He looked up at Godzilla, who now had his arms crossed and was looking at the ground.
"Listen... I may have been wrong here." Godzilla said. "I guess the polite thing to do would be to apologize, so I'm sorry for attacking you."
He stuck his hand out to shake hands with Kong. Kong didn't understand at first, but after a while, he smiled and grabbed Godzilla's arm, pulling him into a brotherly bear-hug, nearly knocking the wind out of Godzilla.
"Any friend of Hana is a friend of mine!" Kong laughed.
"Okay... great..." Godzilla wheezed. Kong let him go after a few seconds, letting Godzilla breathe again.
"You fight with the strength and bravery of a mighty warrior, Godzilla." He said.
"Yeah, you have some skill too." Godzilla admitted. "In fact, I'm working on putting a team together, and I think you'd be a great fit for it."
Kong nodded, placing a hand on his chin and nodding. "A tempting offer." He said. "I'll think it over."