(A celebration for getting yet another art thief castrated!

And many thanks to for his help on this one)

Mushroom People
MATANGO

HEIGHT: 2 meters (average)

MASS: Varies

BIO:
When the Calico arrived on the shores of Selga Island, they expected to find a small village of natives as well as a research outpost stationed for an eventual resort property. What they found was desolation...the village and jungles now overrun with strange growths, and the outpost destroyed. No bodies.

Dr. Darian and Brock went out into the jungle to attempt and locate anyone alive, despite Captain Majors' disapproval. Pete remained with the captain, only to start noticing that something wasn't...quite right. Mushrooms started growing at an alarming rate, their spores floating about just about everywhere they turned.

Even stranger, the spores were whispering, giggling even...

After several hours, Carl grew impatient. He told Pete to stay put and marched out into the jungle, grabbing his shotgun first.

Pete sat on the bow of the boat, rocking back and forth, bored (and creeped) out of his mind. Staring into the hazy sky, he failed to notice the sinister giant tentacle rise from the water and start wrapping itself around the boat. It was when the thing grabbed Pete that he let out a scream, the appendage lifting him into the air, nearly crushing him!

Pete continued screaming, hoping desperately that someone, ANYONE, would hear him.

Then a roar came from the sky; GODZUKI! The monster attacked the tentacle viciously, snapping it and freeing the boy. Waddling over to him, Pete found no fear in his heart, only admiration for this incredible animal. However, it was short-lived; a massive shape emerged from the water, throwing more tentacles at them. Godzuki quickly carried Pete into the sky and over the jungle.

Pete rode the young monster's back for a time, relieved to be out of harm's way. Then, he heard the cracks of gunshots from the forest below. He patted Godzuki's back, imploring him to land, and surprisingly, the monster obeyed. The two landed in a clearing and spotted Captain Majors, running out of the forest towards them, a cold sweat about his face. Pete tried to calm him down, but the Captain was scared out of his wits, and turned his attention towards Godzuki. He aimed his gun at the monster, but Pete implored him to stop. Thankfully, the captain regained himself, noting that they should get off the island.

Pete knew otherwise, of course. The boat was destroyed, and even if Godzuki could lift them to safety, they couldn't leave Aunt Quinn and Brock out in the forest, alone. Carl stated, however, that they may not WANT to find them...

Suddenly, the forest came alive; trees, or what they thought were trees, began shuffling and moving towards them, giggling and cackling. Carl turned and started firing at them wildly, though the bullets had little effect. Instead of attacking, however, they seemed to be offering something...tiny mushrooms, glowing with a blue mist...

Carl grabbed Pete and ran, Godzuki close behind.

"Captain Majors, they don't seem to want to hurt us!"
"That's where your wrong, Pete...if you'd seen what they had done...!"

The three came to a small cave, and considered hiding inside. But then, a shape emerged...

"Don't move!" Carl shouted.

But it was just Brock, scared out of his wits. Brock explained what had happened, that Quinn was still somewhere in the woods, captured by the Mushroom People. He tried to fight them off, but was whisked away by the old man, sitting in the cave. He didn't speak much english, but kept saying "MATANGO," and something else, which he was especially fearful of, "GEZORA."

Pete was done with it. He wanted to find his Aunt, and he ran off, Godzuki close behind. Brock and Carl tried to follow them, but the old man stopped them. He kept saying "Fly! Black! Sound!" flapping his arms and making weird noises.
Brock guessed that he meant the bats in the caves, and the old man confirmed it. He wanted to show them that they needed to set the bats free (since their caves were covered up with overgrown mushrooms). While Brock wanted to give it a shot, Carl would have none of it. He went off after Pete and Godzuki.

The two "kids" had made their way far inland, where the forest was growing increasingly bizarre...almost alien. They reached a strange grotto, with more Matango than they had seen yet. These creatures reacted casually to their presence, not attacking, but following their movements. Suddenly, a voice called to Pete, slowing repeating him name.

Atop a large mushroom, sat Quinn...or at least it was once Quinn. The spores had become one with her body, and she looked like some beautiful, terrible amalgamation of life forms. All about the forest, a strange, glowing presence permeated their thoughts and mind. Pete was falling for the mental assault, walking closer when his logic would have deemed otherwise. Godzuki, a simpler creature with a simpler mind, reacted in blind fear, cowering and whimpering to his friend.

Quinn descended the mushroom, and embraced her nephew. She cooed to him, stroking his hair...telling him not to be afraid...that "Yog will take care of us...because we are all part of Yog..."

A gunshot broke the horrible serenity. Carl stood amongst them, his gun in the air. He demanded that she, once a woman of science...once a woman he loved, release the boy.

She simply stared at him.

BANG.

The bullet went right through her head.
Pete was snapped out of the trance, and pushed away from her seemingly dead-but standing-body. He rushed to Godzuki, who guarded him and snarled at what was coming.
Quinn's body shuddered forward, and stared at Carl. Her eyes flashed blue, and the Matango attacked!

They swarmed over Carl, faster than he could shoot. They began descending on Godzuki and Pete, despite the monster's flailing and defending the boy. But then, squeaking and chirping filled the air, and the Matango started convulsing and writhing. Even Quinn's body started shuddering. Bats were all about the canopy above, assaulting the invaders of their island home with a sonic attack.

Pete jumped on 'Zuki's back and the two were off, smashing and tearing their way through the jungle and Matango. Reaching the beach, they saw Brock and the old man, both with a small motorboat salvaged from the Calico. But to all their horror, Gezora rose from the water! The giant cephalopod cackled at the tiny figures before him.
But Godzuki roared back! He lept from the ground and assaulted the kaiju, biting and clawing, while bats from the inner island also swarmed the behemoth. Brock, Pete and the old man got on the boat and started speeding away.

Pete watched as Godzuki spewed fire on his giant nemesis, and Gezora thrashed about, still under the assault of the bats' echolocation. Then, the island itself started shuddering; an eruption!
The volcanic power that had granted the island life was about to swallow up that which had desecrated it. Gezora still flailed as the island shattered, the earth consuming it, and one of the tentacles snatched Godzuki, dragging the young monster in with it.

Pete simply stared as the storm of the earth itself disappeared into the distance...

ABILITIES/ASPECTS:
- Strong
- Impervious to small firearms (goes right through them)
- Not aggressive unless commanded otherwise
- Consuming their spores will result in mutation

UP NEXT - Ookondoru