Author's Notes: Hello there! Man, this has been a LONG time coming! Last I checked, the last episode for my "Godzilla: The New Adventures" series that follows my fanfic-verse version of the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla series was put up in January of last year. That's quite a long time to get the creative juices flowing again, but hopefully this story will show that the time was worth it. This will also be the first of my "Godzilla: The New Adventures" stories to feature questions at the end of each chapter, something I was inspired to do by fellow Author DJ Rodriguez while reading his Disney/Toho specials.

Still going to school—I seriously can't believe it's November already—and I'm still working, so nothing new there. Well, except for the fact that as of October 26th, I am now 24 years old. I didn't have a celebration right on the day since I was busy with schoolwork at the time, but I did get birthday cake and presents a couple days after and I have to say this is probably one of the few birthdays that I was surprised on; my family got me some Christmas ornaments: My younger brother got me a "Nightmare Before Christmas" ornament that featured Jack and Sally, and my parents—you won't believe this—they got me Pinky and the Brain ornaments! (excited squeal!) My dad told me that the ones I got were like literally the displays; all the other boxes had been sold out beforehand. Talk about a stroke of luck!

Speaking of birthdays, in Godzilla news, guess who just turned 68 earlier this month? That's right; Big G is now only two years away from the big 7-0! Can you believe it? Oh man, and you know what? When I mentioned some series that turned a year older back in September in another story, I completely forgot one: "Godzilla: The Original Animated Series", the one made by Hanna-Barbera that premiered in September of 1978, it's now 44 years old; just six years away from turning 50! I realize I'm probably one of the few who actually likes this particular series, but as I said when I started putting up my stories almost 2 years ago now—how time flies!—this cartoon series is very special to me in the fact that it introduced me to the Godzilla franchise in a medium that I was comfortable with until I was able to watch the live-action Toho films.

Now that the news is out of the way, I have to warn you that this is another of what might be considered "filler episodes", kind of like the last episode was, but I have to say based on how I've arranged the events of the original material in my head, it might also be one of the shortest, so at least there's that. I have to say I am eager to get to the next two episodes, which are "The Energy Beast" and "Colossus of Atlantis" which are going to prominently test the bond between the Calico crew and Godzilla and show a little more of Godzilla's backstory, respectively. And, of course, I am still itching to get to "Island of Lost Ships" because I'm going to be adding something special. I won't tell you what it is, though, or else that'd ruin the surprise.

As for the disclaimer, I do not own the characters of the 1978-79 Hanna-Barbera series Godzilla: The Original Animated Series, Hanna-Barbera does, or should I say Warner Bros. does. This incarnation of Godzilla is owned by H-B and Toho. The only character I own is Vicky, my self-insert. I also do not own the story that is based on the fifth episode of this cartoon series. Also, anything in bold when a kaiju character is speaking/thinking means that they are speaking/thinking in their native language.

Recap: Ever since Vicky found Godzilla and Godzooky after they disappeared from Monster Island, it has been one adventure after another for them and the crew of the oceanographic vessel Calico, from tracking new discoveries to taking down kaiju foes to learning more about each other and the world of kaiju/Titans at large, with the most recent discovery being the hidden room in the Pyramid of Ramal that told of a time when kaiju and humans co-existed. And with their newest alliance with the three Megavolt Monsters, that's another small step taken down the long road of achieving that goal. But what new adventures await? Will the next creature they meet be a new friend or a foe?

Let's find out…

CHAPTER 1

Near the Sargasso Sea, 12:46 hours

It was a clear day in that area of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Sargasso Sea, famous for its abundance of floating seaweed. A perfect day for half the crew of a certain science vessel to go down into the area's clear waters to gather some local fauna.

"You take it easy down there, Quinn, Vicky," called Captain Majors as he, Pete, and Godzooky looked over the railing of the Calico at the three people below in the water.

Both Quinn and Brock were in diving gear, the woman's colored purple and the man's colored green. Vicky, however, was the oddball of the trio; she was dressed in her normal clothing of jeans and a shirt—a purple one this time instead of red—and black and purple sneakers. She also appeared to be floating and bobbing about on the water, as if she was in a bubble, which wasn't too far from the truth; as Vicky had figured out how to use the shield her watch projected for diving, she had also found that she could adjust the density of the shield so that it could float or sink with her in it; the air pressure was also set accordingly at the same time.

"You too, Brock," Captain Majors continued. "There's a lot of plant life here near the Sargasso Sea, and—"

"And we could easily get tangled up in it," Dr. Darien finished with a chuckle. "Don't worry, Carl," she said reassuringly.

"We'll be careful," Brock promised.

"We'll bring you back a seaweed bouquet," Quinn smiled.

Captain Majors chuckled softly at that. Did you have to put it that way? After all, under normal circumstances it'd be me giving you one, only it'd consist of flowers, not seaweed, he thought in amusement.

Godzooky looked over at the captain, having picked up a slight change in the man that the young kaiju didn't quite understand. In fact, like any small child, Zooky had quite a few questions in regard to these "slight changes" that he occasionally picked up between Captain Majors and Dr. Darien. And there were other things, too; like how protective the captain would get whenever it seemed like Quinn was about to walk into danger, or that brightness in Quinn's blue eyes that would show on those occasions that she wasn't working on one of her projects and when the captain was near. Of course, Zooky had seen these things before, back when he was very young, actually; mostly between his uncle and Lina. As with now, he didn't understand what it meant, but something told him that the two really liked each other. If that was the case between the two humans, why didn't they just admit it? After all, Captain Majors really cared about Quinn, and she was certainly a very nice person; so what was the problem?

"Hey, don't worry, Zooky," Vicky called just then, bringing the young, winged saurian out of his thoughts. "I'll make sure to bring back a bundle for you; promise!"

An eager smile grew on Zooky's maw and he licked his lips; given his current vegetarian and pescatarian diet, seaweed was a welcome treat, and he had just been promised a whole bundle.

The blonde preteen giggled at the sight before using a dial on her watch to increase the density of her shield, making her sink beneath the water and follow Quinn and Brock, who had also just submerged.

"Aunt Quinn's a good diver, Captain Majors," Pete told Captain Majors once the three divers were out of sight. "She knows what she's doing."

"Well, she'd better," Majors responded. "And these waters can be dangerous for divers," he added seriously.

"Really?" Godzooky asked worriedly, the thought of there being a kaiju about down there starting to enter his mind.

Luckily, Captain Majors was quick to jump on this and explained, "No, no, no, Zooky, it's nothing like there being any dangerous creatures down there. It's just that the seaweed here in the Sargasso Sea can get so dense that divers can get tangled up in it; that's why Quinn and Brock grabbed those diving knives when they were gearing up," the captain added, doing a movement of taking something out and putting something in by its handle so that Zooky could understand.

The youngling kaiju nodded, remembering being shown the item as Quinn and Brock were getting ready…as well as being warned not to touch the bright, silver part as it was very sharp.

"But aside from that, the Sargasso Sea's a pretty neat place," Pete added in.

Godzooky had to agree; he hadn't gone beneath the surface yet, but it was pretty neat seeing the water look like it was colored green, even if it was due to seaweed. And, of course, the best part was, aside from his uncle who was never too far away, there were no other kaiju to worry about.

…Of course, that has been proven wrong on numerous occasions.

Underwater

No such thoughts were in the minds of Vicky, Brock, and Quinn, though; they were too busy gathering the wavy, leafy stalks. The only worry they had was accidentally getting tangled in the seaweed. Vicky had thought that despite her shield, the water plants would get through and wrap around her like a boa constrictor, but to her surprise—and relief—on those occasions when she didn't see some seaweed coming toward her, it actually wrapped around the shield, making it look like an orb wrapped in vines. All Vicky had to do was just walk out of it. As for traversing the sea bed, she either walked or jumped, like an astronaut on the moon.

The first five minutes down there were relatively uneventful, with Vicky using a camera given to her by Dr. Darien to take some pictures of the scenery to fill the time when gathering seaweed got a bit boring. She was doing just that when she spotted a dark shadow in the distance. It may have been far away, but it was large—scratch that; it was enormous and close to the sea floor. The blonde-haired preteen would have alerted Quinn and Brock, but she was also curious about it…and there was something slightly familiar about it as well.

Vicky looked down only for a few seconds to put the camera into a storage compartment in her rather unusual watch, but by the time she had lifted her head, it was gone. Normally, she would have just dismissed the whole occurrence, but given everything she had been through so far, it proved prudent to make sure. So, she took a few leaps in the direction that had seen the shadowy figure in. When she got there, there was nothing but a few underwater boulders, some local fish—a rather small amount, she noted—and some slightly upturned sand.

Wait a second. How could there be upturned sand? For the most part, the Sargasso Sea was a calm place. Vicky looked again and she realized that there seemed to be a large patch of seaweed missing. OK, so that explained the upturned sand, but what could have caused it?

As if in answer, the hair on the back of Vicky's neck stood up and her skin broke out in goosebumps. She was suddenly lightly buffeted forward by a wave that could only be caused by something very big, which made her turn around with a yelp…that turned into a relieved "Oh!" and a burst of giggles.

"Goji-i-i-i!" Vicky giggled. "Geez Louise, give me a head's-up next time, huh? Ya practically scared the daylights outta me!"

The 75-meter-tall, charcoal-gray green saurian kaiju gave a sheepish smile that reached his coal-black eyes and apologized quietly, not wanting to knock his friend off her feet and give away his location to the other two humans.

Now, you may be wondering, "If Godzilla has come to consider the Calico crew like his own family, then why would he want to keep himself hidden on occasions like this?" Well, there's a number of answers to that: First of all, he didn't want to intrude on their space. From what Zooky had told him about what the crew did, Godzilla had deduced that what they did was very important, and they certainly didn't need a massive kaiju looking over their shoulder and messing things up. Secondly, Godzilla could better focus on his surroundings if the attention wasn't on him; less chance of getting sneak-attacked. Lastly, and probably the biggest reason of all, Godzilla barely socialized with the crew, so there was still a lot of trust to be gained in that area. With Vicky around though, that was bound to change things, not to mention those occasions where some or all of the crew had to get up close and personal to the saurian; however, as with many things it was a slow process, so for now it felt right to remain away from them.

Changing the density of her shield again, Vicky floated up and over to the right side of Godzilla's face so that he could see her better and so that she could give him a hug in greeting (as best she could, anyway, considering the massive size difference).

"How's it going? Anything interesting?" Vicky asked.

"Everything's been pretty quiet so far. It's, as I think the saying goes, 'nothing to write home about'," Godzilla answered.

Vicky nodded. "Yeah, same on my end. I think I'm actually getting more pictures than I am seaweed," she added. "And I promised Zooky a bundle, too."

Vicky opened her bag and tilted the opening towards Godzilla's eye so that he could have a look.

"Looks like you got a good amount there," Godzilla observed. "Why are you guys collecting all this, anyway?" he then asked. "I doubt that you guys are gonna eat all that."

"No, no; that's just for the bundle I'm getting for Godzooky," Vicky chuckled, closing her bag up. "If I recall correctly, I think Dr. Darien said that it's to check on the condition of the seaweed or something; make sure conditions are still optimal for growth here."

"Ah," Godzilla nodded. He then moved his gaze about at the scenery. "Seems fine to me."

"Yeah, except for that," Vicky said, pointing to the area of upturned sand. "Any idea on how that happened?"

Godzilla began to move about, causing some small waves. Vicky quickly got out her hoverboard so that she could ride them out; better to do so on a stable object than trying to swim against it; given her ineptitude at swimming, she wouldn't stand a chance. She also noticed the expression on her friend; it was one of…embarrassment?

"Godzilla, did you have something to do with that?" Vicky asked in that smiling, inquiring tone that made Godzilla feel like that kid that had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Well, I thought I was far enough," Godzilla shrugged, chuckling in embarrassment.

"'Far enough'?" the New Jersey native echoed curiously.

A small rumble sounded off, making Vicky jump and look around before mentally facepalming herself; it was lunchtime, of course.

"So you're keeping to your omnivorous diet, then?" Vicky asked; there were many Gojirans on Monster Island she had seen that either grew off their vegetarian diet to become carnivores or incorporated both plants and meat into their diets. Out of all Gojirans that she knew, Godzilla, Lina, Godzilla's grandparents, Godzilla's mother, Godzilla's older brother, Lina's sisters, and Lina's late mother were ones she knew were omnivores. Lina's father had been one, too, but his preferences made quite a shift after Athena died.

"Yeah," Godzilla affirmed. "It's not like the greenery back home, but it's pretty good." He then proceeded to prove his point by heading over to a patch of tall seaweed far from the area Quinn and Brock were in and taking half a mouthful—basically from his front teeth to the middle of his jaw—of the patch, the sand below stirring quite a bit from the tugging and the occasional digging he did because the stalks were often pretty stuck.

One thing Vicky always wondered was how omnivorous Gojirins managed to consume plants, especially after their rather pointed "hunting teeth" came in, as they possessed no molars (not that she ever asked for a look; she wasn't a dentist). The answer to that question came from observing: What happened was once a Gojiran had the plant in their teeth, if they were on land, they tilted their head back and snapped with their jaws, only making a forward snap once they were finished with what they were currently chewing on. From there, it was basically instinctual control of the swallow reflex until they were ready to fully swallow. The process was pretty much the same underwater, except since submersion in water was involved and Gojirans were pretty well hydrated underwater, the water was filtered out through some type of gills while the food itself was swallowed. Vicky had never been able to find them on her friend, but she could guess their location from where she saw a stream of bubbles, and soon enough she caught such a small, unnoticeable-unless-you-were-really-looking bubble stream from a point on his neck.

Why gills? Well, Gojirans may have massive lungs to hold in air from the surface, but they needed to filter in fresh oxygen somehow.

Anyway, Godzilla took one swallow of his snack, got a mischievous glint in his eyes, then turned to face Vicky with some of the seaweed still sticking out of his mouth, making it look like he had a floating beard.

Vicky tried so hard to keep the volume of her laughter down as she tried to stay upright. Honestly, he could be so silly sometimes! She often wondered to herself just where he got that "silly side" of his.

Godzilla couldn't help but smile and chuckle; he had found that it didn't take much to get Vicky to laugh; just say something a certain way, or do things like what he was doing now and out came her laughter. Of course, Vicky wasn't the only one he did stuff like this on; he had done this in play with Godzooky, even getting a few funny faces right back. Back on the island, he had even managed to make Lina giggle by being his silly self. And oh, what a pretty giggle she had; starting low before jumping up to a gentle high note with a lilt in it. It had caught him by surprise when he first heard it, then as time went on it became a treat for his ears and the high point of any day. He missed it so much…

"Oh goodness!" Vicky gasped, finally getting her laughter under control. "Man, it's a miracle Quinn and Brock haven't come over to find out what all the noise was about! Speaking of which, I think I'd better get back; I don't wanna worry 'em."

Coming out of his lonely reverie, Godzilla finished up what seaweed was still in his mouth and managed to put an unsuspecting smile on his face, so that Vicky wouldn't see that anything was wrong.

"Besides, I've still gotta finish that bundle for Godzooky; I swear that kid's appetite just keeps growing every day," Vicky chuckled, shaking her head.

Godzilla had to agree. "I think he's almost there," he said, referring to Zooky's "hunting teeth" coming in.

"Yeah; I think Quinn had to pull another baby tooth a couple days back," Vicky said. "A lot of those pearly whites of his are starting to look like yours. Not that that's a bad thing," she added good-naturedly.

"Of course not!" Godzilla said in the same tone, smiling widely.

"And what beauties they are, too," Vicky giggled. "Although I think your flossing leaves much to be desired."

"Hey, gimme a break; it's not exactly something we kaiju think about 24/7," Godzilla pointed out.

"True, very true," Vicky conceded. She then took a breath and said, "Well, I'd better get back. Just…leave some for the rest of us, OK, big guy?" she added as a parting word.

All she got was a playful pout in response before both said their farewell-for-now's and went back to their business.

Yeah, that kid's growing fast, isn't he? Godzilla thought a bit sadly to himself as he pulled up another half-mouthful of seaweed.

Godzooky was still pretty young, of course, but that didn't change the fact that eventually, in addition to his "hunting teeth", the winged saurian would be undergoing growth spurts that would make staying on a small vessel like the Calico impossible and he would be learning to find his fire, both the normal kind and the nuclear kind, although the latter wouldn't occur until at least adulthood. Godzilla kept hoping against hope that those days were still far away, but factoring what had happened in San Francisco put quite a kink in things; Zooky's mind was ahead of his body, to look at it a certain way. It certainly showed in those dark-colored eyes of his. Why did something so terrible have to happen to someone so innocent?

The Kaiju Prince's thoughts were interrupted by his sixth sense gently tugging at him. He swallowed whatever amount he had already chewed and let the remaining stalks fall from his maw before looking around.

Sand, water, fish, and seaweed. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Maybe it was a false alarm? No, no; he had never known his sixth sense to be wrong; it had had millennia of perfecting, after all.

Cautiously, Godzilla began lowering his head towards the seaweed he had dropped…and stopped short at a strange sight: There was a cluster of seaweed that looked like it was being tugged by an unseen force.

OK, that's weird. And coming from me, that's saying something, Godzilla thought as he tilted his head to the side in confusion.

As the massive saurian watched, the seaweed continued to be tugged by an invisible hand. The movement then stopped and for a minute or so, nothing else happened. Godzilla made ready to move forward when the seaweed cluster lurched violently to the right, finally snapping from the roots.

Godzilla blinked in amazement at the occurrence before noticing that there was more seaweed flying by and that his sixth sense was going off again, more strongly this time. Following the thread, Godzilla determined that the source of whatever was pulling the seaweed wasn't too far away…but also that the seaweed being pulled was, for lack of a better word, unusual. Once he had determined a direction, Godzilla swam after the wayward growth.

Whatever Godzilla was thinking was drawing the seaweed to itself immediately vanished from his mind as he looked from behind a small rock formation at what had to be the most bizarre thing he had ever seen: What was causing the seaweed to move…was a creature made of seaweed! Despite having no legs or a bone structure to speak of, the creature stood upright, the bottom part near the sandy sea floor trailing behind it. It also had six long arms that were constantly moving, a possible explanation for how it was able to "stand up", so to speak. It seemed like it was hunched over, and large clusters of light-green seaweed seemed to give it the appearance of a face, its eyes narrow and empty-looking, and its mouth wide open with strands of seaweed connecting the top of the mouth to the bottom; it was a bit of an ugly sight, Godzilla had to admit.

Another thing that Godzilla quickly made note of was that as the creature somehow continued to pull more seaweed to itself, it got larger. At this point, it would be as big as the Calico, if not as big as he was.

Eventually, the Seaweed Monster began to move; it was slow, but it was definitely moving…right towards the area where Vicky and the others were! Godzilla actually jumped at that realization, turned, and made a beeline for that same place, almost forgetting to slow down as he approached.

It was a good thing that Vicky had had the sense to turn on her watch's radar so that the proximity alert could go off, or else she never would have known that there was a rather alarmed Godzilla coming up behind her. Keeping a tight grip on her bag, which was half full already, she used her hoverboard to speed off, then make her way back in an up-and-down wave path as the waves caused by Godzilla's arrival and sudden stop dissipated.

"What's going on?!" Vicky managed to ask before Godzilla put a finger to his lips to shush her, then directed her attention to something that made her drop her bag.

It was a humongous, tall glop of living seaweed with six, constantly-moving arms and a rather scary face; at least, that's how it looked to the shocked female preteen. She was familiar with Biollante, who was part-plant, but she had never seen or heard of a creature like this, especially one that drew plant-life to itself and grew in size as it absorbed it.

Once she had regained control of her senses, the first thing Vicky did was order Godzilla to get out of sight while she would alert Quinn and Brock. Understandably, Godzilla was hesitant to comply with that order as the young human girl was no match for a creature like that, but he obeyed his friend nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Vicky withdrew her hoverboard from her watch so that she could reach Quinn and Brock before that thing could and sped off to the closest person first.

"Brock! Brock!" Vicky called as she quickly approached, barely applying the brakes in time. "We've got company!" she responded to the obvious question, pointing behind the African-American. "Look!"

Brock turned and saw the same creature that Godzilla had alerted Vicky to just minutes earlier, dropping his own bag of seaweed in surprise.

No words needed to be said about the next course of action as the two humans sped off to warn Quinn, the large blob of living seaweed following from behind and still growing at a rapid pace.

From his hiding spot, Godzilla began to get antsy; he didn't want to sit on the sidelines while that mess went after his friends! He needed to do something and soon; the humans' luck wouldn't last long.

Quinn was working on tugging out quite a stubborn handful of seaweed when Brock and Vicky suddenly came up behind her, panic on their faces. Any questions as to what was going on were immediately answered when she followed Brock's finger pointing back to the massive Seaweed Monster.

With that, the three of them made speed for the surface, with Quinn and Brock somehow remembering to depressurize their diving equipment before taking off. Unfortunately, the three humans may have been going fast (especially Vicky on her hoverboard), but the arms of the Seaweed Monster were longer and starting to gain on the fleeing intruders.

On the Calico

"This water's so clear, you can almost see the bottom," Pete observed as he and Godzooky looked over the railing.

While Dr. Darien, Brock, and Vicky had been taking in the sights below the water, the boy and his young kaiju friend were doing so from the deck of the Calico.

Offhand, Godzooky wasn't sure he could see the bottom like Pete said, what with all the seaweed floating in the water and making it look green. He leaned over the railing just a tad more to see if that would help, but in doing so began feeling that familiar tug in the back of his mind, the one that told him to get going because someone he cared about was in trouble.

He was so focused on the figurative thread the "alarm bell" in his brain was making him follow that he didn't realize how far he was leaning over the railing, or when Pete began to say: "Not too far now, Godzooky, you'll—"

Pete's brown eyes widened as he saw his kaiju friend lean farther and farther out until he lost his balance and tumbled into the water, the resulting splash soaking the boy.

"…fall," Pete finished a little too late, annoyed with having been soaked. "Godzooky, get back up here!" he called.

The young, winged saurian seemed to start making a motion to lift himself up, but he stopped himself and got a concerned look on his face, looking down at the water.

"What's wrong, Zooky?" Pete called.

The youngling kaiju continued to have his head pointed down at the water, but now his dark eyes were uneasily glancing between the sea and his friend on the Calico's deck, his sharp teeth almost making his bottom lip bleed from biting it.

"Zooky?" Pete called hesitantly this time.

"What's going on, Pete?" Captain Majors asked as he came over to the railing again.

"I don't know, but I think something's wrong," Pete answered. "Godzooky accidentally fell off the deck, but he looks like he wants to join the others."

Captain Majors thought for a moment; from what he understood, an ability that Gojirans seemed to have from the get-go was a sixth sense of a sort that alerted them to danger. In the past, the crew might have taken some of the times Zooky rushed in to something as him jumping into a situation where he didn't belong, but what if some of those incidents could be explained as the young kaiju's own sixth sense going off? And from what Vicky had told the crew about it (as well as she could, anyway) as well as experience, it hadn't steered its owners wrong yet.

If this is a legitimate warning for trouble, Zooky could be putting himself in danger, Majors thought. I know Vicky can handle herself, but even she might need help, and we don't know the scope of the situation so calling Godzilla is currently unnecessary. It'd take too long for Pete or myself to change, so that leaves only one option.

"Ask Godzooky what's going on; what's he picking up?" Captain Majors instructed Pete.

"What's going on, Zuke? Is there trouble?" Pete asked.

The response was a nod and "Feels like it".

"He said it feels like there's trouble underwater," Pete translated. "He really wants to go, Captain."

"I know, Pete," Majors said, the conflicted look on Zooky's face telling him that very thing. "All right, Zooky," he then called. "Take a look at what's going on down there. But if it's more than a match for you, you get Dr. Darien, Brock, Vicky, and yourself out of there as fast as you can; don't take it on. Understood?"

Zooky nodded in the affirmative, a look of serious determination on his face that almost mimicked his uncle's, and let himself sink under the waters of the Sargasso.

"I hope they'll be OK," Pete said.

"Me too, Pete," Captain Majors added.

"What could be down there that would make Godzooky uneasy?"

"I'll be darned if I know," Majors admitted. "I just hope it isn't what I think it might be."

And he dove further and further into the depths, Godzooky was hoping the same thing.

Meanwhile, Quinn, Vicky, and Brock were still trying to keep ahead of their pursuer, but the tendrils that sprouted out from the creature's limbs were faster and soon one of them had Quinn by the ankle. Vicky noticed this and turned to help, only for her bubble to get grabbed and enveloped by multiple tendrils. She urged her board to go faster by leaning forward, but she was stuck fast and the grip of the hand-like tendrils seemed to tighten, as if they wanted to break the bubble their victim was in. The thought made Vicky scream in panic.

When she did, it was like a signal went off. Godzilla growled and dashed over to the back of the creature while Zooky dove faster past Brock—who had turned around to try to rescue Quinn and Vicky—to the trapped female humans, both full of determination to rescue their friends. The young, winged kaiju glared at the ugly beast, grabbed a handful of strands, and began to pull. Godzilla employed a similar tactic, but instead of grabbing some of the seaweed that made up the creature's body with his hands, he bit into it and began shaking it like a dog would do with a toy.

Getting pulled on like that was annoying and it hurt, but getting bit like that really hurt the creature, so it released its captives. Vicky grabbed Quinn, who had gotten the mouthpiece to her oxygen tank pulled out of her mouth, so that she would at least have a temporary oxygen source until Brock got her. It was a bit tricky having someone else on her hoverboard, though; the combined weight of the woman and the girl made the latter have difficulty balancing and they wobbled. Luckily, Brock soon came and took Quinn, the female scientist giving her assistant a look of thanks as he offered her the mouthpiece to his oxygen tank.

Now that she was free and Quinn and Brock were safe, Vicky had one more thing to do.

"Hold on, pal; I'm coming!" Vicky called to Godzooky, who was starting to get wrapped in the tendrils he had been pulling on.

"Help! Let me go! Let me go!" Godzooky cried out, trying to pull away.

A few strands had already snapped due to the kid kaiju's efforts, but there were still a stubborn few that wouldn't let go, even with Godzilla still biting and shaking the part of the creature he had grabbed.

"Be careful, Zooky; I'm gonna cut you loose!" Vicky warned, putting her finger over the 9 over the glass part of her watch, which activated the device's laser.

Godzooky still struggled to keep from being dragged towards the Seaweed Monster, but at the same time tried to minimize his movements so that Vicky had a clear shot. The young New Jersey native aimed and fired, the beam cutting right through the seaweed and releasing Godzooky.

"Thanks!" Zooky smiled.

"No problem," Vicky smiled back. "Gimme a lift?" she then asked, pointing a thumb up in the direction of the surface.

The young kaiju was happy to oblige and once Vicky had swiftly stored her hoverboard away, she seated herself piggyback style and held on tight as Zooky quickly took them up.

Once Godzilla saw that the others were safe, he got himself loose from his quarry (who by now was trying to wrap itself around his head) by doing something he rarely did with his fire attack; he somehow closed off certain passageways in his head so that the fire came out from his nostrils. He followed it up with a laser eye beam blast that finally got him loose and he dashed off back to his hiding place.

Glad that everyone, including himself, had managed to get out OK, the Kaiju Prince took a deep sigh of relief…then sneezed loudly. When he opened his eyes, he saw two streams of red floating in the water.

And that's why I don't use that 'breathing-fire-through-my-nose' strategy very often, Godzilla growled to himself, rolling his eyes.

After waiting a few minutes for their bodies to get used to the change in water pressure, Quinn and Brock came out of the water, with the female scientist being helped up by a relieved Captain Majors. Godzooky and Vicky came out a couple seconds after and landed on the deck.

"You guys all right?" Pete asked his friends.

"We're not hurt," Vicky began as she dismounted. "But we do have quite a problem."

"What happened down there, Quinn?" Captain Majors asked his friend.

"It's… It's horrible, Carl," Quinn replied between breaths, still shaken from the ordeal. "A creature made of seaweed…"

Godzooky then went into another charades routine, this time trying to mimic the monster he had seen by spreading his arms and wings out while making a sound that sounded close to the gurgling sound the creature made.

"It was pretty ugly thing, that's for sure," Vicky added with a grimace as she remembered taking in the sight of the creature's face for the first time.

"Godzooky was quite a hero," Brock put in after he had taken his diving goggles off.

With a little help, Vicky added in thought, having spotted Godzilla's form as she and Zooky were heading out of the water.

"A creature made of seaweed?" Captain Majors questioned. "But…that's impossible."

"Begging your pardon, sir, but do you consider what we've been through normal?" Vicky pointed out.

"Good point," Majors agreed. "But, Quinn, are you sure you didn't just get tangled up in it?" he then asked Dr. Darien, just to be sure.

Quinn shook her head seriously. "No, Carl, it was like it was alive."

"And I sure didn't make-believe those seaweed strands trying to crush my air bubble," Vicky added. "Or wrapping around Zooky when he came to help."

Zooky nodded seriously, corroborating Vicky's latter statement.

"Well, anyway, let's get you two dried off and then maybe we can try to find some explanation for all this," Majors suggested.

As those on the Calico were preparing to do just that, the Seaweed Monster, temporarily down but not out, was gathering more and more of the underwater vegetation into itself, making it grow larger.

Godzilla had to admit that it was quite an impressive, and worrying, sight, more so the latter when the creature, now truly as big as he was, began making its way up.

Right to the Calico.

Well, there was no way he was just going to sit there.

The creature never saw it coming; the strange being came at it so fast. Biting, tearing, shaking; this thing fought like a predator. It wrapped as much of its tendrils around the flesh-covered beast to try to smother or choke it, but they were either torn off or hit away.

The two were so busy brawling that they didn't realize that they were still heading up, their path leading them to surface only a couple feet from the Calico.

And there you have it, the first chapter of "The Seaweed Monster"! This took a lot of time, mostly to wait for my interest in "Godzilla: The Original Animated Series" to kick in again (which took a year, apparently), but I hope you enjoyed this.

So, once again, we see the crew in a state of normalcy before things start going haywire with a new monster showing up: Quinn, Brock, and Vicky are exploring the waters of the Sargasso Sea, collecting seaweed for study (possibly in Quinn and Brock's case) or for a treat (in Vicky's case). And while down there, Vicky has a surprise visit from Godzilla, and we get a small lesson on how omnivorous Gojirans keep the vegetarian half of their diet whether they are on land or underwater, with a little design detail I borrowed from Legendary Godzilla; apparently, he has gills on the side of his neck (if I recall correctly) and I might as well tell you that since I'm basing Goji's grandpa's on Legendary Godzilla, it makes sense that his grandson would have them, too. They're just...not as noticeable, I guess. …And we also get to see a rather humorous side to Goji as he plays around a little with the seaweed that's slightly sticking out of his mouth. Vicky really has no idea where he gets it from, but maybe you'd like to guess?

Anyway, the funny moment takes a slightly sad turn when Goji's thoughts turn to Lina, and then to how Godzooky seems to be growing up pretty quickly. Of course, that is soon overshadowed when Godzilla notices that something seems to be up with the seaweed…and finds himself face-to-face with the Seaweed Monster! He alerts Vicky, who in turn alerts Brock, and they both alert Quinn, and all three humans start heading for the surface.

Meanwhile, everyone else is taking in the sights from above water…at least until Zooky accidentally falls overboard and starts sensing that something's wrong. Majors reluctantly lets the youngling kaiju go, sternly instructing him to get himself and the others out if the problem is too big to handle. Well, the Seaweed Monster is quite a big problem to handle, but a little help from Godzilla gets Vicky and Quinn loose and the girl helps Zooky out so that they and the two grownups can safely make it to the Calico. Meanwhile, Godzilla has to get himself loose with a technique that has a slight side-effect. I freely admit that I lifted the bit about Godzilla breathing his flame breath through his nostrils from a future episode. It's only shown once, though, and I'm not sure if it was intentional to change Goji's battle tactics up a bit or not, but I think one has to wonder why he doesn't use that technique very often. Well, now you know.

Quinn, Brock, Vicky, and Zooky have made it back to the Calico, but the crew is far from being out of danger as the Seaweed Monster continues its pursuit, with Godzilla pretty much trying to tear it apart. As I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm giving Godzilla some more screentime than he had in the original material, so as to explore his personality and his relationships between the Calico crew, Godzooky, and Vicky; as I'm sure I've also said, this series had many different angles to explore, but ultimately didn't due to a multitude of factors. I only hope that throughout my explorations into these angles that I'm doing the characters from the series justice.

Here are the questions:

Would you go with Quinn, Brock, and Vicky to gather seaweed or stay aboard the Calico with the others?

When Vicky spots the "strange shape", would you have gone with her or stayed behind?

When the Seaweed Monster makes its appearance, what would your course of action have been? How about when it grabs Quinn and Vicky as they and Brock try to get back to the Calico?

Next time, the battle between Godzilla and the Seaweed Creature comes to the surface, with the Calico close by! The crew is going to have to summon their combined courage and wits if they are to survive being caught in a giant monster battle!

As always, please read and review. Thank you!