Every year on a certain night, the veil between our plane of existence and others becomes thinner, diluted, it wanes. Mankind has been aware of this occurrence for centuries, alternately fearing and celebrating it from culture to culture. It has had many names over the years and globe, but it is popularly referred to as: Halloween. It is a night were people think the spirits of the dead can reach out to us, or us to them. Some think of it as an ancient folk tradition, others a festival for commercial interests.
Still, others have little to no clue about it whatsoever. But that doesn't mean that powers beyond are not aware of them.
Even on far away Monster Island.
OGASAWARA ISLAND, NULLIUS AGER
HALLOWEEN NIGHT
Nestled in the warm jungle under the mooncast shadow of Fratre in Dormit, the Brother Who Sleeps, a little Godzilla no taller than a horse steps innocently through the tropical brush.
He is a curious and playful creature, this junior Godzilla, much different from his mountainous and forbidding kindred. He has walked through this part of the island a hundred times, and knows well all the comfortable spots to lay dawn for the night's rest. There is a particular bush, low to the ground, and sprawling with fat leaves that is one of his favorite places to sleep, curling atop it like a cat in a basket.
It's late in the year, and even though the island has never tasted a single flake of snow, there is nonetheless an unaccustomed chill in the air. Junior doesn't much care for the strange temperature tonight, but dawn will bring the warmth of the sun, and sleep will only hasten its arrival for him.
Somewhere off in the distance, he hears the cry of one of the other inhabitants. It sounds like Titanosaurus, but weariness pushes Junior to forego investigating and continue on to his nesting spot. Somewhere much closer, to his left, he hears a scratching noise in the leaves. This time it is not the desire for sleep but rather fear that convinces him to pass by, and at a bit quicker pace.
With the steam of a subterranean vent wafting through the ferns and flowers, Junior at last came upon his favored bedding. Another feature that helped to make this a safe place for him was the proximity to one of the larger neighbors, who had taken to looking out for the adolescent Kaiju. Junior could hear him slumbering not far off.
So like many nights before, Junior settled down onto the wide and supple plant, curling his tail around to cover his thigh. It didn't take very long for sleep to encircle him, and with a drowsy yawn, he closed his eyes.
When they opened again, Junior found himself in the exact same spot on the plant, but there was something about the night air that felt, off. The grip of sleep had released him, and with attentive ears and watchful eyes he rose up and started off back into the jungle.
Gone now was the sound of insects, the rustling of wind through the brush, and the taste of the salt ocean on his tongue. Pervasive now, was the chill of the night. It had evolved from simply being a queer trait of an October night, into something that was digging its thousand little claws into his spine.
He whined in slight distress, not understanding why he felt so vulnerable in his own homeland, so frightened of his everyday surroundings. He couldn't rationalize it, but there was just something wrong about where he was. There was also the instinctual feeling that something was watching him.
CHU-CHEW!
The startling noise cut through his anxiety, alerting him immediately to one of the major threats he had learned about early on. Moving along through the forest on its long spindly legs, Kumonga emerged into view, looking above Junior, it's mandibles salivating and working eagerly.
Junior knew he was no match for the sinister spider, and quickly tried to run in the opposite direction. But as he moved his underdeveloped legs as fast as he could, he seemed stuck in place, and when he looked down, he saw that his feet and tail were enmeshed in the sticky projectile webbing.
Wailing for help, Junior tried to wrest himself free, with every twist and pull the substance got tougher and less elastic. In panic he fell onto his stomach, only to worsen things, squealing and clawing for freedom.
Kumonga's shadow fell over him, the moonlight glinting off the exposed tip of the venom stinger. Junior turned away in terror, but the sound of the barb moving back and forth, between flesh and mucus he could not escape.
The stinger shot down and pierced the ground right next to where Junior lay. The impact had thrown-up a cloud of dust, and by the time it cleared, he saw that something very strange had happened.
The stinger had become one of the flying things that the humans used against their kind. It looked like a giant arrow, with a sharp conical head, and a round shaft of a body.
He was also no longer trapped in the webbing, instead he was merely huddling in place on the ground. He looked over to the strange object, but suddenly sensed something moving behind him. When he went to look however, he saw nothing but jungle.
A tremendous impact shook the ground under him, causing Junior to stumble into a tree as he was getting to his feet. A new roar, this one inorganic and strained filled the night. Standing high above where Kumonga;s head had been, some fearsome machine gazed down at him, burning orange eyes standing out as beacons in the darkness. It held up it's right hand, and junior saw that it was missing a finger. The hand spun in place and the fingers locked themselves straight, MechaGodzilla aiming the digits in his direction. With a series of loud detonations, more of the fingers were launched from the hand, shooting down in a daisy chain of explosions all around him.
Junior tried to protect himself, tried to get away, but with every step the ground began to fall away like quicksand. Eventually he broke the plain and collapsed into the chasm, tumbling through a space of disorientation and ever increasing velocity.
The flames from above followed him down, and as they got closer and closer, they coalesced into a single form. With a large nasal horn and a pair of crescent ears, Junior recognized the voracious Baragon who had tried to eat him several times.
Gravity slowed for Junior, but not for the flaming visage of the fire-breather. In a heartbeat Baragon's maw consumed him, swallowing him whole as he screamed his way down the throat of the monster.
Junior tumbled upwards, defying the previous gravity, a powerful wind propelling him through the body of fire and into the void, a single beam of light above to provide orientation and hope. Slowly and steadily he rose higher towards the light, pulled to it be an unseen force.
In the waking world, not far away, Junior's cries and whimpers had not gone unheard. A large eye popped open, reacting to the painful sounds coming from the Godzilla child. Rising from his own slumber he growled, a warning to who or whatever might be so foolish or eager for violence as to attack the youngster.
With the source of the disembodied light hovering closer to him, or he to it, Junior hoped that salvation from this trauma was close at hand. He mewled, as he got closer, and let out a startled bark when the orb blinked. Floating just a few feet from the object, Junior watched as the light spawned a double, each of them manifesting a black pupil that transformed into a yellow core with a red iris.
Below the eyes and row of jagged fangs stretched out from a single point, forming a malicious grin to match the fiendish eyes. The disembodied mouth opened to emit a bizarre warbling laugh, an indication that it took pleasure in tormenting Junior.
With that, he perceived an ominous form flying through the void, flapping massive wings that made the sound of thunder with every beat. The figure crashed through the eyes and teeth, and latched onto Junior before he could protest. Bearing a crown of golden horns and glowing red multifaceted eyes, Junior recognized Battra, clutching him to its belly. At first he thought he was being rescued, but the wings began to cast lightning all around him, caging his movements.
Junior squealed in fright, but Battra roared back to silence him. With one final flap, the wings enwrapped Junior, binding him in a lightless tight space that he could not free himself from. The wings hardened until they made a thumping noise when he struck against them.
The moving sensation had ceased, instead Junior felt himself resting steadily in the compact quarters. Instead of claustrophobia taking hold, a sense of comfort greeted him, familiar warmth embraced him and he began to fall prey to the enticing grasp of sleep.
But as soon as he dared to let his eyes drift close, his world was rocked, and whatever capsule he was in started to roll and tumble down some uneven terrain. When it had finally come to a stop, it wasn't a second before something began to strike the outside of the container. After several attempts, something smashed through the wall at Junior's back, scraping against his scales aggressively.
More strikes from more points soon cracked and disassembled the remainder of the shell, peeling away the sections to expose junior to the bright sun of a tropical day. Opening his eyes slowly to the sudden light, he found himself surrounded by a trio of Red Kamacuras, each of them fixated on him.
Junior tried to back away, crying and screaming, but they moved too fast, and were atop him, pinning him down and battering him with their spear-like appendages. Try as he might he couldn't protect himself, the jabbing barbs, the emotionless faces of the Kamacuras, crowded around him. The inundation was maddening, and Junior was so worked-up in terror, with one loud scream, he shot a miniature blast of atomic fire that dispersed the attackers.
In unison they all scattered away in different directions, and the world around him faded once again to pure, endless black.
Simpering in pain and fear, Junior let himself float effortlessly through the nothing, preferring its cold indifference to what he had come through.
Reaching out to him however, behind his back and seeming to come from behind the shadows veil, were a pair of arms. Covering in bumpy, light green scales, and ending in a pair of claws not unlike the Godzilla's own, the arms waited for Junior to drift closer into their reach.
The claws latched onto Juniors shoulders, rivulets of electric volts coursing from the stranger's arms and into him. Again came the warbling laugh as Junior's nervous system was tormented, he unable to break out of the paralyzing effects.
Looking up, Junior saw the yellow eyes appear again, followed by the toothy maw, but now more features came into focus. A roundish face covered in the same bumpy green scales as the arms, a mane of orange fur around the skull, and a cranial horn flanked by the tips of pointed ears.
Humans have many creatures that plagued them in the waking and dreaming worlds. Ghouls, goblins, demons, and things that go bump in the night. But Mankind is not alone in this way, for even the mighty kaiju are beset by malign entities from time to time. On this particular Halloween night, when the protection of the mortal realm against certain foes hangs on by a thread, something has made the leap to this side of the barrier.
This being that has chosen to make Godzilla Junior its first victim resides in the dreamscape, sustains itself by inducing a state of terror, and feeding on the increased brain activity, siphoning off the neural energies of one synapse after another. Neither man nor monster had a name for this thing, though it had been given one long ago when the Venusian progeny still reigned over the Earth. They had called it: Gabara.
Gabara had been separated from this world a long time ago, and exile had left it starving. In choosing the young Godzilla as prey, it had chosen well, for as he inflicted anguish and pain he felt himself growing in power, a more potent psyche was hard to find.
So Junior roiled and cried in the terrible grip of the dream-tyrant, calling out for help as his tormenter celebrated with its warbling cackle.
But fate is often a comedic goddess, and is known to play tricks on even the most crafty and experienced. While Gabara feeds on Junior, growing strong, what he has not learned in his long absence, is the peril of tampering with the mind of a Godzilla. In possession of the most resolute and concrete mind among his kaiju brethren, a Godzilla thinks in absolutes, there are no doubts, there are no questions.
When a sonorous bark split the air, rippling through the dreamscape, it had a very unintended consequence.
In the blink of an eye Gabara found himself standing over the much smaller Godzilla Junior, who was now small enough to fit in his palm. He looked up, and no longer were they in the malleable cosmos of the subconscious, instead he was in the center of a jungle, surrounded by the noise of the island night-life.
It was then that Gabara felt that something had its eyes on him, indeed, when he turned to see what it could be, he found a very brutish, very angry looking quadruped growling at him. It was then that he realized that the mind he had attached itself to had been so certain in believing him real, that when it had been awoken, Gabara had been pulled into the real world.
Anguirus, most loyal and hearty, was very protective of his comrade's young kin, and reacted to any threat to him with extreme prejudice. That included this tailless stranger that he found looming over the distressed adolescent.
Junior rose from his bedding, no worse the wear but still trembling from the nightmare. Seeing that his protector had heard his calls, his spirit grew in confidence.
The same could not be said for Gabara. Unaccustomed to facing physical threats, he found the glaring opponent entirely menacing. He reached out with a paw to cast a bolt of electricity, but found nothing but sparks fizzling forth from his claws.
Seeing that the stranger had the temerity to attack, Anguirus answered with a piercing wail before charging. With the larger, wider, armored Kaiju barreling down on him, Gabara reacted out of instinct rather than sense and prepared to engage his opponent.
The dream-eater moved to grasp Anguirus by the head, but inexperience betrayed him and he smashed his knuckles against the front edge of the spike covered back-plate.
Anguirus for his part, did not miss. He lowered his head and drove his nasal horn right into Gabara's groin, and lifting him shrieking off his feet. Gabara was flung head over heels, Anguirus squatted, and when the ogre came down, drove his bristling carapace upwards to meet him.
His face and chest bounced off the shield of nails with a grotesque crunch, and unfortunately that was not the end of his punishment. The hapless predator ricocheting off his back, Anguirus braced himself forward and mule kicked Gabara, crushing bone and organ in a swift blow to the body.
Gabara came crashing down in a catastrophe of trees, limbs, and agony.
Anguirus, after watching him fall, turned to Junior, lowering his head to let the future titan approach. Junior rubbed the side of his face against his guardians scarred and rock-like cheek, combining it with an affectionate murmur. One day Junior hoped to stand beside him as an equal, like his elder kin.
Nearby, the forest began to rustle, Gabara coming to its senses. Junior watched as Anguirus marched over, latched his jaws down over the ogre's shoulder, and drag him kicking and screaming off into the night.
On nights like this, even the mighty Kaiju are susceptible to devils and ghouls. Had they the language to convey legends and stories, surely they might trade among themselves tales of creatures from the darkest regions of the mind, the Earth, and space.
It is a good thing, that there remain guardians who stand ready to combat these beings, for their sake and Man's. For who knows what kind of evil would slither out from the shadows to ravage the world.
Junior returned to his bedding and settled back down onto the leaves, still sensing the leftover electricity from the manifestation of the trans-plane trespasser. As he drifted off to sleep once more, he thought not of what other kinds of things might be lurking to ensnare him, what fearful creation waited to set free. On a night like Halloween.