Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island

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Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island
Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island
Author(s) Scott Ciencin
Publisher Random House
Publish date March 31, 1998
Pages 108
Genre Children's novels, fiction
ISBN ISBN-10: 0679889019
ISBN-13: 978-0679889014

Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island is a children's novel written by Scott Ciencin, with illustrations by Bob Eggleton. The sequel to Godzilla Invades America, it was published by Random House on March 31, 1998.

Description

Lost in America!

After invading the United States, Godzilla is unhappy, alone, and hunted by a fearful military. Then he meets a strange group of giant insects and animals, and together they team up to defend themselves.

Luckily, a courageous pair of twins wants to help. Roy and Amy are able to make the authorities understand that Godzilla just wants to find a way home.

With the twins' help, Godzilla leads his giant friends on a wild and rowdy journey to a place called Monster Island. But once they get there, they find that their only chance to live in peace may be to put up one last fight!

Plot

Godzilla dreams of playing with another member of his species in present-day Zigong, China, 170 million years ago.

Twelve-year-old twin psychics Amy and Roy O’Neil search for Billy, a runaway from their Washington State orphanage. Amy loses her grip as they scale a mountain, only to be caught by Godzilla. She realizes that she was seeing through his eyes during her last dream. Through telepathic images, Godzilla explains to her that after his battle with Kamacuras, Kumonga, and Sasori in Las Vegas, he has been attempting to return to the ocean. She agrees to help him, and asks him to help locate Billy in return. Godzilla has already spotted him, and picks up Roy before taking them to the cave where Billy has been hiding. A bear rushes out to meet them; the twins are too surprised to use their abilities, so Godzilla scares it off by threatening to use his atomic breath. Amy and Roy reunite with Billy, who had moved to the cave above them before the bear showed up, and he agrees to come home with them.

As Godzilla sets them down, the U.S. military suddenly launches an all-out attack, with tanks and planes covering Godzilla in a green fire. He fights back, burying two tanks and shooting down a fighter jet, but reinforcements send him reeling. Kaijuologist Dr. Hiro Kuroyama finds the kids, explaining that the weapons are attuned to Godzilla’s DNA. He also revealed that the attack was only launched because General Cutwell believed that Godzilla meant the kids harm.

Other monsters come to Godzilla’s aid—mutations from a research accident in the Nevada desert. Varan, Kumonga, and the giant snakes Rattler and Yellowback disable the tanks, while Kamacuras controls the skies. Also present on the scene are five smaller monsters: an armadillo, a gopher, a gecko, a Gila monster, and a chuckwalla. Godzilla advances on the ground forces and readies his atomic breath, but Amy calms him by showing him the prehistoric paradise from his dream, a vision visible even to Roy and Hiro. Godzilla shows Amy his years of suffering at the hands of humans, starting from the day he was mutated by a nuclear test, and she convinces Hiro to withdraw the soldiers.

The other monsters surround Godzilla; he puts them at ease by exchanging headbutts with Varan. Hiro suggests bringing the monsters to an island in the South Pacific where two more giants are under observation. Amy, now harboring a crush on the scientist, offers her and Roy’s services to psychically guide the monsters there.

Godzilla struggles to explain to the other monsters that he does not know where to find food or shelter, but they are unable to understand his ancient means of nonverbal communication. Amy comes to his rescue, showing them the island and the two monsters—Anguirus and Rodan—who already live there. Godzilla is eager to journey there, believing that Anguirus and Rodan were mutated in the same way that he was. A Jeep takes Billy home while two officers chart a path for the monsters that will keep them away from populated areas. Six Jeeps, two tanks, and a helicopter that soon learns to keep its distance join the kaiju caravan. Amy, Roy, and Hiro lead Godzilla forward, and the other monsters follow him.

As Amy and Hiro play cards, Roy telepathically teases her about her crush, and she responds by punching him in the arm. Just then, Varan kicks one of the smaller monsters, and Hiro wonders if his behavior is a coincidence. His suspicions are confirmed when Roy needles Amy again and they start wrestling, sending all of the monsters into a frenzy. Worse, Hiro learns they’re approaching a bridge where hundreds of people have gathered to see them in person. He and Roy help Amy conjure up calming images to soothe Godzilla; she then shows the monster that simply barreling through the bridge would be disastrous. He prepares to lead the others around it, but the onlookers begin honking their horns and flashing their lights, attracting Rattler, Yellowback, and Varan’s attention. Godzilla, Kamacuras, and Kumonga head them off. Godzilla pins Rattler, while Kamacuras headbutts Varan. Yellowback, however, slithers around Kumonga and constricts Godzilla, injecting him with venom too.

Amy tries to convince the people on the bridge to evacuate, only to learn that they want Godzilla to crush their town so they can turn it into a tourist attraction. She resorts to using her powers, setting off a panic as the monster battle nears the bridge. Yellowback and Rattler turn their attention towards the people, only to be dragged off by Kamacuras and Kumonga. Godzilla subdues Varan with a trio of headbutts and leads him around the bridge. It soon collapses, but by then all the onlookers have evacuated.

In the aftermath, Amy realizes that all the smaller monsters have fled. Roy, General Cutwell, and several of his soldiers break off from the main group to draw them out from a Seattle mall where they have taken up residence, trapping many shoppers inside. A SWAT team drops Roy in through the roof. Meanwhile, Hiro admonishes Amy, warning her to control her emotions and avoid putting herself in danger. Angry at him, she leads the monsters south instead of to the colder north. At the department store, Roy and the soldiers find Gecko on the ceiling of a mattress store. As they lead people to safety, the ceiling collapses, causing the soldiers to panic and open fire. Gecko flees, joining Gila and Gopher in a TV store. Roy and the SWAT leader, Jenkins, follow them, with the boy theorizing the monsters will be less frightened by a smaller group. He calms them with memories of him and Amy playing games with their parents, and convinces them to play hide-and-seek to find their fellows. Riding Gila, Roy and Jenkins find Chuck in a clothing store, on the verge of crushing three women trapped in the changing rooms, and tag him. Armie turns out to be tunneling in the basement.

As the caravan nears Seattle, Amy confides in a soldier named Jean that part of the reason she’s upset is that everyone in the caravan has someplace to go home to except her and Roy. Spotting a crane loading the smaller monsters into a ship, the larger monsters become agitated and charge towards the city. Realizing that she caused this, Amy convinces Godzilla to break off his attack by showing him the little monsters frightened inside the ship—because of him.

After a two-week voyage, the excited monsters arrive on the island. Amy tries to read Godzilla’s mind, only to be repelled by a strange psychic cloud. Roy gets the same result, causing Hiro and Cutwell to become suspicious. Cutwell orders the smaller monsters kept on the ship while they investigate. Ashore, they find their radio malfunctioning and Rodan, the pterosaur, on the warpath. His shockwaves send them sprawling and sink their powerboat. Rodan engages Godzilla as the armored dinosaur, Anguirus, emerges and immediately charges at the humans. At the same time, camouflaged soldiers emerge from the jungle and tranquilize Cutwell and Jean. Godzilla disrupts Anguirus’s charge with a powerful stomp, knocking the humans unconscious, then struggles against the same cloud Amy felt. It wants him to smash the ship holding the smaller monsters. As he resists, he notices Rattler and Yellowback doing the same. Rattler aids him against Anguirus, and the King of the Monsters hurls the ankylosaur back into the jungle. Kamacuras and Kumonga succumb to the cloud and begin to tear the ship apart, while Godzilla pinpoints the source of the cloud: a volcano on the island. Varan flies at him, but he wards him off with his atomic breath.

Amy, Roy, and Hiro regain consciousness and find Rodan with his head stuck in the sand. As he recovers, Amy reads the mind of one of the soldiers and learns that he is part of a terrorist group that struck a deal with Dr. Mason, one of the scientists studying Anguirus and Rodan. Mason discovered a way to communicate with and control the monsters, allowing them to be weaponized.

As Godzilla reaches the volcano and bats aside Rodan and Varan, he finds the cloud’s calls for violence against the nearby humans more appealing. Just then, Amy and Roy combine their powers to break through to him, and he resolves to save the ship. The psychics then lead the smaller monsters, who swam to shore when Kamacuras and Kumonga attacked and appear immune to Mason’s device, to the volcano. They encounter a hostile Yellowback and a trap laid by a dozen more terrorists, then plunge into a pit when the ground fails to support the smaller monsters’ weight. Armie and Gopher tunnel into a supply depot. With only a narrow corridor leading out of the room, the smaller monsters agree to stay behind and gorge themselves on the food there. Hiro, Amy, and Roy put on heat suits and discover that Mason is using the volcano to power his machine. They also see Mason himself, aghast at Godzilla and Rattler’s continued resistance but still plotting to procure human subjects from the caravan for further experiments.

Amy resists the urge to charge in and instead psychically influences one of the terrorists to smash nearby video monitors with his pistol. She makes another type in codes, fed to her by Hiro, to cut the power. Scrambling to turn his machine back on, Mason is oblivious to Godzilla’s approach until the monster tears the roof off. The other monsters, sans Anguirus, assemble behind him. Hiro demands that Mason surrenders, but the mad scientist points out that the monsters can’t attack without endangering the trio. He activates the backup transmitters as Amy, trying to control him, realizes that the cloud is a manifestation of his own powerful mind. Amy and Roy try to counter his influence by showing the monster’s Godzilla dream. Mason draws a gun on them, but a revived Jean tranquilizes him before he can fire. Cutwell drags Mason from the room as the transmitters start to draw more and more power from the volcano, dissipating the psychics’ images. Rodan disables them with his shockwaves, but the monsters continue to run wild. Channeling her own desire to find a home, Amy manages to calm Godzilla just before he unleashes his atomic breath on the volcano, and the other monsters follow his example.

After Mason and the terrorists are arrested, Jean and her husband ask Amy and Roy to stay with them for a while. Hiro and Cutwell watch the monsters enjoy their new home, which Hiro decides to name Monster Island.

Appearances

Monsters

Weapons, vehicles, and races

  • Mason's monster-control machines
  • Tanks
  • Fighter jets
  • Helicopters

Characters

  • Amy O'Neil
  • Roy O'Neil
  • Dr. Hiro Kuroyama, kaijuologist
  • Dr. Mason
  • General Cutwell
  • Jean Faraday, U.S. military officer
  • Billy
  • Jenkins, Seattle SWAT team leader
  • Ben, Jean's husband
  • Edwards, U.S. military officer

Locations

Trivia

  • Manda's trademark icon appears on the book's back cover, although the character never appears in the story. It is possible this was either an error or that Toho felt the snake monsters Rattler and Yellowback were similar enough to Manda to require use of the license.

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