Peru

"Am I still going to get paid when this turns out to be the load of crap I've been telling you it is?"

Glen had one hand holding the cellphone he was speaking into against his ear, and the other holding onto the grip of the jeep's door, trying not to bounce all around from the bumpy terrain.

"You shoot me enough footage and make it interesting no matter what, you'll get your money. It turns out to be legitimate, I'll make it worth your while. Don't screw this up, Glen." said the voice on the other end of the line, rather dryly.

He hung up the phone and stared out the window at the beautiful scenery; a lush green landscape with sprawling mountains in the background. If nothing else, he was thankful to have a job that took him to places such as this.

His current assignment was to investigate and document reports from a local village of a massive creature appearing multiple times near their homes. Six months earlier, a monster that became known as Godzilla destroyed San Francisco, leaving it an uninhabitable radioactive fallout zone. Since disappearing into the sea that same night, it hadn't been spotted again. Once word came up of the sightings in Peru, Glen got hired by a media mogul by the name of Hal Watson, hoping to cash in on the tragedy by making a documentary about the beast. Glen, however, didn't buy into the claims that it was vacationing away in Peru.

"We're here. Go ahead and grab your things, I'll go find the family who's going to house us for the next few days." Tick said, his travel partner, driver and, in this case, translator. He exited the jeep while Glen did as he said, rounding up his various, heavy bags. He unloaded them onto the ground outside as various locals looked on. There wasn't much of a reason for any outsiders to ever visit their humble village before, so most of them were interested. A couple of children ran up and started speaking to Glen, to which he could only repeat the one phrase he knew in Spanish; "no habla espanol."

Tick returned after a few minutes with a middle aged man and woman. "These are the Ojeda's, and they're our host family for the next few days. I explained to them you're a terrible American pig that was too lazy to learn even basic Spanish before coming here."

Glen shot him an unamused look, then smiled at the couple and attempted to show his appreciation. "Gracias... ah... mucho gracias." Feeling a bit stupid, he shook his head and picked up his bags and asked Tick to show him where the house was. As they walked, he took in the village itself. Children and dogs ran around the dirt streets, while women hung clothes out to dry in front of their shanties.

After a few hours of settling into his temporary home and having a fish soup dinner, he started his first on camera interview on topic with Hugo Ojeda, head of the household. All dialog was translated through Tick.

"Thank you, Mr. Ojeda, for inviting me to your home first off, and for this interview."

"You are welcome. A welcome guest in this house, both of you."

"I'm sure you know what we are here for, we are making a movie about a monster that we believe is here in Peru."

Hugo nods.

"A monster named Godzilla destroyed a city in the United States, and some believe it was sighted here."

"No, there is no Godzilla here..."

Glen felt a wave of disappointment. Even though he was entirely skeptical, he felt like his documentary ended before it even began with that, until Hugo continued on.

"...it is named Varan."

Glen's heart dropped. For some reason, it gave him chills. He imagined the villagers being superstitious, less civilized folk that worshiped various deities and the like, but Hugo at the very least seemed like a reasonable man.

"Varan, you said?"

"Yes, Varan. It lives in a lake surrounded by cliffs, far in the jungle. Very large. Larger than any other animal."

Glen and Tick both exchanged a glance. Glen reached into his bag next to his chair, and pulled out a photograph of Godzilla and handed it to Hugo.

"Mr. Ojeda, is this Varan?"

Hugo studied the picture, then shook his head. "No, this is not our monster." He handed the picture back over, and shouted something to his son who was in the other room. After a moment, his son came out with a piece of paper and handed it over to Hugo, who in turn handed it to Glen. "This is Varan."

Glen studied the paper; it was a drawing the man's son had drawn. It looked very similar to Godzilla, but instead of large, jagged dorsal fins, this animal had a row of straight spikes lining from it's head down to it's tail. He handed it over to Tick. "Another monster?"

He turned back to Hugo. "Have you seen this animal with your own eyes?"

Hugo nodded. "Yes, I have. You can see it tomorrow for yourself... when we feed it."

The weather the following day had changed drastically; it was now cold and rainy as opposed to the humid, sunny atmosphere of the previous day. Glen, Tick, Hugo Ojeda and a few others from the village were congregated just on the outskirts of town. They were all wearing rain-gear, and the locals had four cattle tied along with rope.

"This is Miguel, Alma and Bruce. They said they, and Hugo here, are the ones who took it on themselves to feed this monster."

Glen looked the group and the cattle over. He'd been thinking about it all night and all morning but it still made no sense to him. "Did you ask them why they feed it? Or why they haven't called the military?"

Tick conversed with them for a minute, and then turned back to Glen. "They said the beast is their guardian. They said it's never hurt anybody, and they're convinced it keeps evil out, as long as they keep it happy. I guess it used to eat livestock, and then they started feeding it on a regular basis … and it's left them alone ever since."

The convoy started the trek toward the creatures location, up the hill past the village, and through the hills for a while. Eventually, they stop in front of a large gulch with a small lake at the bottom. The locals led the cattle down a rocky, winding path and advised the Americans to stay behind and watch. Glen removed his camera; the best waterproof camera he was able to bring along, and began filming.

The group of Peruvians took the cattle to the bottom of the path which led directly to the shore of the lake. The gulch itself was a few hundred feet deep, and the lake seemed to stretch out at least a mile. The cattle were untied, and the locals quickly went back up the path. There was much silent waiting, everybody's eyes fixed on the cows. Just as Glen turned to Tick and mouthed the word "Hoax?" a large commotion came from down below. A massive splash was heard, and one of the cows was gone, with the others mooing in panic and running away. Then, the creature appeared.

It crawled out of the water, stumbling rather clumsily. It wasn't apparent if it was biped or quadruped, as it seemed to be somewhere in the middle; pushing off its front two legs for a brief moment and then falling back on all fours. It did this a few times in its pursuit of the rest of the cattle, which it eventually devoured with no hassle.

This was Varan, the pet monster of the small village. He was much smaller than Godzilla, and more vibrant in color. The pink-purple coating seemed to shimmer when it moved despite the weather being overcast. It did bear resemblance, however. Varan was very much a massive reptilian creature, seemingly one of a kind. It also had spines running down it's back, although they were along a single row, and straight as opposed to Godzilla's jagged protrusions. It also had a thick membrane attached between its body and arms, as well as the legs.

After he finished his meal, Varan a low, rumbling bellow and casually slinked into the water, vanishing below the surface. Tick and Glen exchanged a silent look to one another. It was one of amazement and excitement. The group trekked back to the village and Glen rushed into his temporary home, going straight for the satellite phone. A few rings after the connection went through, and Mr. Watson answered.

"I've had a terrible day, don't make it worse with bad news."

"Hello to you too, Hal. Brighten up. Your day's about to get a hell of a lot better."

Author Note: This story is a very late sequel to my one shot Diabolic, although it's not necessary at all to read it. I've been wanting to do my own take on the Godzilla series for a long time, since I've loved it since I was about five years old. I hope you guys give the future chapters a chance. Also, 700th Godzilla story on this website! Woo!