Fathom File 011: Verminator

From the Files of Frank Womack, Kaiju Expert*

Kaiju File #  011

Verminator 

First Seen: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Last Seen: Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Pacific Ocean

Primary Range: Urban Areas


Dietary Preference: Organic Matter


Description: A visceral menagerie of creatures, any kaiju coded as a 'Verminator' is in fact a chimera of many different common scavenger species born from the consumption of kaiju cells. They vary greatly in size, shape and temperament, but most share common attributes with brown rats, corpse flies and scavenger birds such as buzzards and crows. Depending on the locality, other more exotic species such as wild canids and crustaceans may be present. No matter the exact mix, however, the Verminator will be an asymmetrical, misshapen creature that has yet to shed its desire  to feed despite its evolution beyond such functions. 

Defense Protocols: Fire. Much like Amminots, a Verminator is viable to regrow from the smallest tissue sample at a much greater speed than the average kaiju. So if a blob is seen, set it on fire immediately, and make sure you've got a good exterminator to prevent outbreaks of rats, ants, roaches and flies. Should a larger one appear, the best recourse is to bait it into an open area and vaporize it with a SOL blast. Any and all efforts should be taken without hesitation to prevent more from rising up. If one kaiju sized chimera is bad, a horde of smaller ones is much worse.

Noteworthy Abilities:

-Extreme Regeneration: A verminator, true to most of the abomination class of kaiju, possesses a much wilder, more extreme healing factor than the average leviathan or behemoth, recovering from wounds at more than twice the speed. However, this regeneration is far from perfect and prone to mutation, often contributing further to the vestigial, unnecessary physical attributes covering these beasts. Each piece is capable of forming another of its kind provided it is consumed by another organism, and as such a Verminator is considered extremely dangerous.

-A 'Gore-necropia': Whatever attributes a Verminator's original forms possessed, in time it will come to possess them too. For instance, a chimera containing avian attributes will grow wings, and at times is even able to use them to achieve lift, but mostly these are just used to wildly bludgeon anything in its path.


AUTHOR'S NOTES: As kaiju attacks continued to spread across the globe, and as the valiant efforts of O.V.E.R. to eradicate them propagated, a lot of unforeseen consequences began to rear their ugly heads. And I mean that literally. Many of them had multiple heads. Verminators, as appropriate a name as ever there will be, are a dark shadow of the kaiju world we live in, a consequence not entirely unlike the earlier Amminot blooms, but in many ways much worse. And now, thanks to some recent internal changes at U.N.D.E.R. HQ, I have the ability and clearance to tell them in more detail. Hence the swanky new folder style. 

The first known case was in Rio de Janeiro, a megatropolis of the mid 21st century with as much excess as poverty, much like any corner of the world. The kaiju T'zakka had appeared nearby and was deterred by O.V.E.R. forces immediately, and in the process they managed to wound the creature with several new weapons, including a new and improved missile called the Gae Bolg that has seen quite a bit of active duty ever since. The creature still escaped, of course, and business resumed. But in some remote corners of the city, the favelas and cartel controlled spaces, a silent menace began to breed in the dark. People began to notice a lot of the native wildlife, from the rats to the dogs and even birds and monkeys, was beginning to disappear. Then after that it was people, the homeless and the drunkards. After a while it began to impact people that others would miss, and then the fresh circle of hell broke loose from under the city.

Several dog sized rat creatures, with bodies as unusual and chaotic as they came, began to consume the locals, and within 12 hours the favela was empty and they moved to richer pastures. By the time O.V.E.R. forces arrived, a good chunk of the city had fallen into chaos, and the creatures were getting bigger quickly. They succeeded in firebombing the beasts, reducing many to piles of ash, but that didn't stop the surviving pieces from John Carpenter-ing themselves back into bigger mutations. Much like previous cases, their violent response, while saving lives, also endangered many more, but unlike some previous cases where the worst that happened was a trampled town or a few sunken ships, this one had the potential to become much worse.

You see, kaiju cells are very interesting. As Doctor Gaither's research shows, the cells all share a degree of connection to their host form, and their behavior when separated is usually very hard to predict. Many samples taken from kaiju attack sites disintegrated within minutes, making them indecipherable, but others at times would begin to regenerate without haste, regrowing the entire kaiju from scratch, provided they have ample space and no distractions. But when consumed by non-kaiju life forms, they do what they do best, adapt to the new bioform and make the most of it, and in this case we made ourselves a real doozy of a creature.

Before the day of fighting was done, three Verminators (named by a dear friend of mine over the net) towered over the city, full kaiju in every sense of the word. They all had various traits of birds, beasts and bugs splattering out of themselves, and they likely had no intention of stopping their growth. They regenerated from every blow almost instantly and were too surrounded by populated lands to get the SOL there.

But, and thank god for it, something else decided to come to our aid. An old friend who honestly is probably getting really tired of our shit right about now. Grorn arose from the forest, and charged the beasts, but unlike the single Amminot in Dubai, this time it was outnumbered. Well, at first, anyway.

After the battle passed, Grorn disappeared and the Verminator became another cautionary tale. Be wary of causing flesh wounds when battling kaiju, and always scour areas the flesh might have fallen. You never know what could come from that violence. 

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Hello again! I'm back with a vengeance after taking my month off and I have got some crazy stuff for you guys! First of all, the new bio style. 

I deeply enjoyed putting the new look together, trying to evoke a slightly more professional appearance to show the in-universe upgrade Frank has received from U.N.D.E.R. There are a lot of different features you'll get to see soon, too. 

Now then, the Verminator is an old concept I originally wrote for my bizarre toku concept Monsterman as a first enemy for the title character to fight. It seemed like a good fit to bring into Fathom the more I looked at it, and with a few origin tweaks and design aesthetic changes, here we have another deadly consequence of violence against monsterkind. And believe me, we have not seen the last of them. I have some big plans for these guys. Big plans indeed. 

We're about done with the side monsters, too. In two more entries, we'll be back to the main plotline and that'll steamroll us right into the big DAM moment I've been teasing. But we've got to get there first.

So, I'm back! Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it. Feel free to drop a comment. See you soon.