The skies darkened as the mighty KING GHIDORAH slowly, painfully tore apart the once-beautiful planet Earth. Mountains were ripped asunder, forests blazed to ruin, and the most powerful organisms on the planet were drained of their lifeforce. As the life of the planet began to ebb away, the Earth's very spirit refused to be destroyed. With her last measure of strength, the Mother of All created, in her image, a being of incredible force and sublime grace; GIGAMOTH. Of course, as all creatures, Gigamoth had to earn its way in the world...feed, grow, learn. Born a huge larvae, her armor protected her against most external threats, but just barely against Ghidorah's might. Armed with only a handful of powers, Gigamoth first tried to fight the beast head-on...to little avail. Utilizing its natural abilities, it developed a hit-and-run stratedgy against the King of Terror, and eventually, Gigamoth launched one massive assault; an army of dinosaurs against the King of Terror, lead by the huge larvae. Ghidorah, initially pushed back, quickly overwhelmed the lower lifeforms and nearly killed Gigamoth. The young deity sought refuge deep within the forests of the prehistoric jungle, where it travelled to a massive tree, bigger than any other on the planet...the Tree of Life, which had existed since the birth of plant life itself. Gigamoth formed its cocoon at the base of the tree, drawing from the last life the planet had to give, and, under the gaze of the last of the dinosaurs, whom had gathered to bear witness to the birth of their new god, Gigamoth was reborn! A winged giant of light, it sped across the planet to challenge Ghidorah to battle! As the fight raged, it appeared that Gigamoth was close to finally driving the space dragon offworld, but then the King of Terror tried something new, something that nearly cost Ghidorah's own life force: channeling his gravitational power through his mighty wings, Ghidorah trapped Gigamoth in a vortex of energy, and then charged what remained of his solar power into a single blast, intent on cutting straight through the benevolent kaiju. However, even as the blast began to strip away Gigamoth's own mortality, something beyond comprehension occurred - Gigamoth gave birth to MOTHRA and BATTRA! The two larvae fell from Gigamoth's vaporizing husk, and the one-time-only power that Ghidorah used had weakened him, thus forcing him into retreat. He left the planet, seeking easier prey elsewhere. Mothra and Battra regarded each other for a time...but then Battra roared, challenging Mothra for the territory that was the battleground. Mothra, seeing the destruction that had been wrought and what was left of the Earth, decided that enough fighting had be done this day. She went into hibernation, and Battra, himself confused and angry, eventually succumbed to slumber himself. One day, perhaps, these two giants would be needed again, and perhaps, one day, the two would find their unity again.
YAMATO NO OROCHI is perhaps the first daikaiju in recorded history to menace humanity. The legend of the beast spread throughout the world (one version being the Hydra of Greek mythos) and his size and raw elemental power a force to be reckoned with. Orochi eventually met his end at the hands of Susano-O, as the legend of the "Kojiki" goes, when the beast drank of eight vats of sake, purified eight times over. The Kojiki states that Orochi then fell asleep, and Susano cut him apart, but the Legend of the Yamato Guardians proclaims that Orochi was merely weakened by the sake, and Susano-O used the power of his sister, Amaterasu, to become UTSUNO IKUSAGAMI (though others state that Yamato Takeru did this...it varies) and destroyed the serpent. Regardless, nobody knows where Orochi came from, though it was not necessarily an evil creature, rather a pure force of nature, which lashed out at mankind (not unlike Godzilla). Some have speculated that Orochi was born from some leftover part of Ghidorah 65 million years ago, but it's a stretch...
Regardless of Orochi's origin, the creature's most important contribution to the history of kaiju is what happened AFTER its demise: when Ikusagami/Yamato/Susano-O defeated the monster, each of its eight heads were severed. Each head, however, carried a certain power or element, they being Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Thunder, Venom, Light and Shadow. Each head, which each power, slithered off into the far reaches of the world, and, as the Guardian legend goes, each returned as its own daikaiju. Destiny foretold that the 8 beasts would fight one-another, and the loser would willingly give his chi to the victor, who would augment his or her power with the strength of the other. Eventually, one beast would stand above the others, and that last monster would become Orochi reborn. Of course, Varan, Manda and Baragon each had two of the powers of Orochi within them, so it goes without saying that only two others exist. If Orochi should indeed ever return, the world would quake, and even Godzilla would find himself hard pressed to defeat such a foe.