Monster Island was a warzone.
The researchers had sealed themselves in the recently completed command center and radioed for help, but it would be some time before any response could come. For now all they could do was watch the battle as the kaiju defended themselves from the invading hordes.
Each of the invading creatures was enormous, their five limbs covered in thick, shaggy fur. Each limb ended in an ape-like hand, the finger-tips armed with razor sharp claws. But the worst by far were their heads. While their jaws took up a majority of their central body, and their teeth were large and intimidating, the researchers found themselves chilled by their all-too-human eyes, each ablaze with fury and madness.
They seemed to be weak, thank goodness for small mercies, as even Kamacuras had dispatched a few, but the horde was vast and constantly swarming forward.
Mothra's hurricane winds blasted the creatures away from the Infant Islanders, who scrambled to hide behind their goddess. Jet Jaguar arrived to provide her with assistance, crushing the invading monsters beneath robotic hand and foot.
Manda periodically lunged out of his lake and coiled around several at a time, dragging them to a watery grave.
Kumonga's spray of webbing bound many in their place, and the spider kaiju was practically salivating at the feast their soon-to-be corpses would provide.
The more intelligent kaiju were working together in the face of the swarm. Anguirus was in a defensible position in a gorge beneath Rodan's roost. Any that crawled on the walls to attack from above and behind him were impaled on his spiky shell, and he mauled those that charged him directly, while Rodan periodically flew by and used his sonic booms to keep the oncoming swarm at bay. On occasion he flew low and used the spikes on his belly and sheer speed to pulp several at once.
Baragon seemed to have entered a feeding frenzy, breathing fire to roast dozens at a time and then mauling any that still moved, occasionally burrowing and resurfacing to avoid being swarmed. Varan employed a similar tactic, savaging all comers before gliding to a less infested area.
But Godzilla had entered a rage that the researchers had not seen in some time. He seemed particularly infuriated that his home was under attack. He tore the ones that swarmed over him limb from limb and crushed those that surrounded him beneath his feet and tail. When they approached Minilla he would pause in his otherwise unrelenting assault to immolate them in searing azure atomic plasma.
In the command center alarms suddenly blared and one of the camera feeds focused on a roiling part of the ocean, where three much larger versions of the same creatures emerged and began charging inland.
Unlike the others these paused to listen to the war cries of the other monsters on the island. One began making a beeline for Anguirus, another for Godzilla, and the third for Manda.
Nearest to the coast, the one approaching Godzilla was the first to arrive and challenged him by rearing up and slamming a few of its fists against the ground. Godzilla returned the challenge and both monsters charged.
The creature's strange shape forced Godzilla to grapple with its jaws, allowing the rest of its limbs to pummel him. But this proved to be a mistake, as Godzilla rather casually forced its mouth open and fired an atomic ray directly into its gullet. The beast exploded in a shower of fire and gore, and it seemed that this was enough to rout the smaller brethren that had witnessed it.
The next to arrive was Anguirus's opponent, and with simultaneous roars they rushed each other.
But this beast was clever and leapt over Anguirus, landing on the wall of the gorge behind him. It then pivoted to face the giant ankylosaur's back and gripped the edges of his shell with three of its limbs.
It became clear after a moment that this one was trying to rip the shell from Anguirus's body.
Overhead, Rodan seemed to understand his ally's predicament and screeched to him, and Anguirus honked in return.
Many had heard of Godzilla and Rodan's teamwork against King Ghidorah, and of Godzilla and Anguirus's against Gigan, but this was the first time Rodan and Anguirus were witnessed performing more than the most basic of communication.
Rodan dive-bombed the enemy monster, angling his armored belly to take the brunt of the impact, and Anguirus leapt up and backward.
The creature was crushed between them, and died instantly, impaled from both sides by their many spikes.
The last approached Manda's lake, but took no interest in the ancient serpent. Indeed, it did not appear to be taking an interest in anything. Manda eyed it warily even has he constricted yet more of its smaller brethren.
After a moment, the creature began to convulse and shudder, and seams along its legs appeared and erupted into the heads of snakes, which immediately began hissing loudly even as the mutilated monster shuddered in obvious pain.
In response the basilisk emerged from the lake as though called; and perhaps it had been - the lead researcher made a mental note to get a parselmouth to review this footage.
Regardless of why, the basilisk approached the serpent heads and the two began to communicate. The central, non-serpentine head eyed the basilisk with a wary expression.
The snake heads began hissing in unison, and Manda called out to the basilisk which seemed conflicted.
Whatever the conflict, it seemed the strange monster ran out of patience as its central head unfurled and its tongue became a tentacle that lashed out and gripped the basilisk tightly.
Now the basilisk panicked in earnest and began struggling and biting the tendril, even as it was pulled closer and closer to the monster's main body.
Manda lunged, moving across the surface of the lake with speed the researchers had not known he possessed, and clamped his jaws around the tentacle, attempting to tear it off. The serpent heads all whirled to focus on Manda, but whatever their plan, it was quickly rendered irrelevant as an azure beam of destruction severed all five in quick succession and the hideous beast keeled over dead. Godzilla and Manda both eyed it suspiciously, and once the basilisk slithered back towards Manda's coils, the Monster King incinerated it.
After that, whatever will was guiding the strange kaiju lost interest, and the remaining scores were eradicated by the agitated natives with little resistance. The assault on Monster Island had begun at dawn and lasted for three hours, during which no backup beyond Jet Jaguar had arrived.
Disengaging the lockdown protocol, the researchers soon learned why.
This was not an isolated incident. Though Monster Island appeared to have been the focus of the attack, similar creatures had appeared across the globe.
Harry decided that being aboard a UFO was cool. But being aboard a UFO for a crisis meeting of the magical, muggle, and monstrous was not cool in the least.
The Xian host of the meeting summarized the findings of the last several hours. "Point one: these strange kaiju were abnormally large Quintapeds, a beast previously believed by the MSU's predecessors to be confined to the hidden Isle of Drear. Point two: each attacked location aside from Monster Island was designated a magical wildlife preserve. Point three: every attack featured one creature larger than the others that grew some form of capture tentacle and then wings with which to fly away. Point four: the voice from the serpent heads from the one on Monster Island was that of the terrorist known as Lord Voldemort. Point five: necropsies of the Quintaped kaiju uncovered traces of a sapient alien parasite, a 'space amoeba' in layman's terms not seen on Earth since an incident in the year 1970 CE. Conclusion: Lord Voldemort has discovered the Isle of Drear as well as the space amoeba, and plans to use it to augment magical flora and fauna to suit his purposes. Is there anything anyone would like to add or question?"
There was a moment of silence as everyone digested this information in their own way, before Harry ventured to ask, "You called the space amoeba sapient. If that's the case, it must have its own thoughts on the matter; why would it side with Voldemort?"
"According to files from the previous incident and our own documentation of similar entities, the space amoeba desires control of, and survival within its environment by means of adapting local life forms. It is possible that it sees Voldemort as a means to acquire more powerful creatures that it may use as a basis for adaptation."
One of the UN representatives was the next to speak. "Following up on that idea, what did the tentacled Quintapeds take, as it seems that each one was tasked with retrieving something."
A member of the MSU shuffled her papers and read out, "One lethifold, one Swedish short-snout dragon, one fwooper, one erumpent, and one juvenile mandrake."
There was a moment of silence as everyone looked over the descriptions of each of the stolen creatures.
"Mr. Potter," the Xian called, "Your ability to communicate with kaiju directly presents a unique opportunity. If we are able to find it, would the creatures of Monster Island be willing to assault the Isle of Drear?"
All eyes turned to him and Harry replied, "They're more than willing. I've never seen Dad - I mean, Godzilla - this angry. That attack fired up all of the kaiju, and I think they want to teach Voldemort a lesson about why it was a bad idea."
All those present apart from the Xian winced at the idea of entire island of angry kaiju.
Author's Note: In celebration of the Godzilla: King of the Monsters trailer dropping earlier today, here's chapter 31. We're approaching the home stretch of the story, so hold on to your butts, because things are going to get crazy.