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Description
From the Files of Frank Womack, Kaiju Expert*

Kaiju File # 005: {page 1}

Amminot (Am-mihn-naught)

First Seen: Lake Erie, United States
Last Seen: Mumbai, India

Primary Range: Non-Polar Regions

Dietary Preference: Organic Matter

Description: Amminots, a catchall term for the myriad states and stages of victims of Doctor Allison Gaither's modified virus, typically have a few physical traits in common. In the first recognizable stage, called the polyp by scientists, they are gelatinous in texture, with a dazzling violet color that shifts in hue and saturation constantly. They begin life as infected cells from viral victims, which congregate together, growing larger and more numerous within hours. They are surprisingly mobile with the use of fleshy tendrils they can eject from anywhere on their mass, walking crudely in an almost arthropod like fashion, as well as climbing, jumping and swimming, though they will likely dissolve into individual cells if too much time is spent in liquids. As they grow, the cells begin to develop specialties akin to larger hydrozoans, with some focusing on building a thick sub-dermal surface to defend and aid in holding the polyp together, and other taking on a bright turquoise hue and developing a deadly neurotoxin that they use to immobilize prey. Other specialties likely exist, but as they are too dangerous to isolate for study no effort has been put forward to find out.

On that note, the Amminot polyp, unlike most kaiju cell organisms, prefers to prey on organic matter. It is not uncommon in the event of a bloom for a whole neighborhood to disappear in less than a fortnight. How they sense prey is unknown, no sensory organs have been determined on the creatures, but they can sense a living thing from several meters away and will doggedly pursue that prey until it is consumed. This is the cycle of their lives at this stage, feeding and growing and seeking out others of their kind until they can begin the next level of their infernal existence...

Defense Protocols: In the event of a polyp sighting, the proper authorities are to be contacted immediately, as by the time one is willing to show itself in open space, it has likely claimed several victims and has many hungry compatriots eager for a meal themselves. An UNDER funded strike team is usually dispersed and at the sight within three hours, and they will do their absolute utmost to exterminate the organisms before they can spread and germinate into larger forms. They do so through the use of cryogenic weapons, as this is the only proven way to kill the cells for good. Should you find yourself approached by one, the only advice I can give is to get somewhere bright and dry as swiftly as you can. The conditions will weaken their advance. If cornered, fire is partially successful at dispersing them, though if set aflame they can become wild and erratic and able to cause more harm. Police forces in high risk areas for blooms will be distributed Ymir cryo-rifles and other assorted anti-polyp weapons, and usually, through vigilance, a bloom can be prevented before it begins.

In the event of a large-scale bloom, air strikes with cryogenic bombs are to be utilized, though the potential for collateral damage is high. It should be noted that the organism Grorn will, if able, emerge to battle the polyps anytime they gain numbers, and as such proper kaiju evacuation protocols are recommended.

Noteworthy Abilities:

-Germination: Amminots, at the polyp stage, are almost impossible to harm with conventional weapons. They are an aggregation of single-celled organisms working together for a higher evolutionary purpose, and can adapt their anatomy to fit most situations. They lose their cohesion in wet and arid environments, but can still spread through mitosis and form more of themselves in minutes. As more of them congregate, they become harder to kill, and eventually they begin to combine together into chimeric fusions that most ground forces could do nothing about.

-Neurotoxin: Commonly seen in grown polyps with glowing tendrils, Amminot possess a deadly neurotoxin they use to subdue and feed on their prey. The exact breakdown of the venom is impossible to track, as it is constantly adapting to the environment around it.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Have you ever thought you stumbled onto a perfect solution to a problem? Something that managed to steer your ship back on course and into safer waters so well that all or your troubles were over and done with for the foreseeable future? For Doctor Allison Gaither, the genius geneticist that unknowingly played a key role in the emergence of the kaiju infestation, that solution came from the same place the problem did. Her bleeding-edge work towards achieving total cellular regeneration in humans led to an in-depth study of bracoviruses, microorganisms that work with parasitic wasps to alter the dna of their hosts, and many other organisms capable of altering their own genetic code, such as rotifers. Her magnum opus came in the form of a tailored virus capable of tricking the human body into fighting off its own weaknesses, restoring it to the blueprint held in our DNA. Cancer would be devoured, lost limbs regrown, nerve damage undone. Permanent problems now had a seemingly perfect solution.

Until, that is, someone (I don't know who) turned her work against her, and took it to its natural conclusion, creating a weaponized organism able to survive breaking every natural rule. Umbara and the wrath it brought to the eastern U.S. was the price she paid for her advances, and it devoured her conscience every day for years. But she discovered a solution to the problem of an organism able to heal from any wounds instantaneously, tailoring another virus to not just undo the work of the first, but to outrightly sabotage the body. It only targeted those who had the first, regenerating virus in their systems, and tricked the body into breaking itself down, which, FYI, is a grisly sight I wouldn't wish on anyone.

They called it the Amminot virus, and for a time, it was seen as the perfect, karmic solution to the kaiju problem. But it didn't last. Consequences have a way of coming for people who rush to solutions.

It started a few years after Umbara's last stand in Detroit. Even for a city with a lot of historic ups and downs, an unusually high number of disappearances began to happen in lower income neighborhoods. Then, the investigators started to vanish too, and the escalation continued until it could no longer be ignored. Finally, UNDER sent in a strike team, covertly of course, to see the problem for themselves. They lasted two hours. The last anyone from UNDER heard of them was a terrifying transmission that raised more questions than answers. The eye cam of the chief operative showed him, and the rest of his team, enveloped in purple goop, which was eating through their skin at an alarming rate. It was shocking, UNDER agents rarely get caught by surprise and almost never die in the field. On the off chance that they do, a bomb implanted in their bodies goes off, leaving no evidence of the organization and their advanced technology for prying corporate eyes. And it was quite an explosion, hitting a gas line and forming a crater where a block corner used to be. Fortunately, there were no other known fatalities, but they could no longer ignore what was happening underneath the city.

Doctor Gaither recognized the method of their death almost immediately, it mirrored the way Umbara and Okidu fell perfectly. She demanded to be allowed to go the site, and UNDER relented, but only if she brought a LOT of backup. She collected a sample, and, to karma's full credit, immediately recognized what she was seeing. Her tailored virus had done well, but she had underestimated the kaiju cell's ability to adapt, to take what works and make it more. And now, a monster of her own making was born, and it was hungry for more. And though no others were sighted in Detroit after the explosion, they began getting similar reports off of the Ivory Coast and the Red Sea within days, just a short distance from where Okidu died in the Seychelles.

But the exact details of that are another story. I've never seen an Amminot bloom in person, but I've interviewed people who have, and the details are nightmarish every time. These are a single celled hiveminded being that is always seeking a way to make more of itself. It lacks the regeneration kaiju possess in one way, it is more easily wounded, but unlike kaiju which only regenerate as many cells as required, Amminot polyps never stop reproducing as individuals, and given the opportunity, they would swallow the whole damn world alive. Fortunately, we had a great solution appear from right under our noses. Literally.
---------------------------------

*These files are in no representative of nor indicating the opinions and/or facts concerning various government bureaus, including but not limited to: The United Nations, UNDER, etc. These are unofficial productions by a private citizen determined to aid the concerned public in the event of a kaiju or extraterrestrial incursion and are in no way to be considered authoritative reports on the aforementioned dangers.

---------------------------------

And now we are officially as far into the files as I was two years ago before my old laptop crashed on me!

The Amminot is a concept I've had in my head for years as a way of exploring the regeneration abilities of kaiju and how people might try to counter them. Its a concept that's fascinated me for more than a decade now, ever since I was a wide-eyed preteen watching Godzilla 2000 and falling in love with kaiju fiction. If we, as a jealous species, encountered a being able to recover from anything, any injury, and just keep coming at us, we'd be scrambling to figure out a way to undo it, and potentially apply it to ourselves. Even if it meant no harm, odds are the more skeptical of us would apply the 'what if?' card and experiment. And believe it or not, the possibility of achieving that sort of ability is not as impossible as I once realized. The missing pieces already exist within nature.

I know I mentioned bracoviruses, (look 'em up if you get the chance) but there are a lot of other attributes that give Doctor Gaither her insight into her discoveries. The missing pieces of how exactly I comic book science'd my explanations for them are not going to be found here, however. I've got to save some things for the novelization.

Now, on to the monsters. I guess you could call these things a sort of hybrid of hedorah, gyaos and destoroyah, role-wise. I know its a bit out of series order with existing kaiju properties, but I never said I was following that to the letter, and who could resist karmic, hive-minded death blobs that hunt people? That, and I needed something to keep my people around, I'm trying to write a kaiju series full of useful human characters that play a big, fun part in things. Smaller monsters that can engage individual humans fulfill the drama quota nicely, and these creatures are one I personally am very scared of. The idea of being digested alive is one of my oldest nightmares. That, and honestly, they fulfill the role of a lovely foil for one of the more important kaiju to this story, who you will be seeing very soon.

And by soon I mean tonight or tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the read.

Description
From the Files of Frank Womack, Kaiju Expert*

Kaiju File # 005: {page 1}

Amminot (Am-mihn-naught)

First Seen: Lake Erie, United States
Last Seen: Mumbai, India

Primary Range: Non-Polar Regions

Dietary Preference: Organic Matter

Description: Amminots, a catchall term for the myriad states and stages of victims of Doctor Allison Gaither's modified virus, typically have a few physical traits in common. In the first recognizable stage, called the polyp by scientists, they are gelatinous in texture, with a dazzling violet color that shifts in hue and saturation constantly. They begin life as infected cells from viral victims, which congregate together, growing larger and more numerous within hours. They are surprisingly mobile with the use of fleshy tendrils they can eject from anywhere on their mass, walking crudely in an almost arthropod like fashion, as well as climbing, jumping and swimming, though they will likely dissolve into individual cells if too much time is spent in liquids. As they grow, the cells begin to develop specialties akin to larger hydrozoans, with some focusing on building a thick sub-dermal surface to defend and aid in holding the polyp together, and other taking on a bright turquoise hue and developing a deadly neurotoxin that they use to immobilize prey. Other specialties likely exist, but as they are too dangerous to isolate for study no effort has been put forward to find out.

On that note, the Amminot polyp, unlike most kaiju cell organisms, prefers to prey on organic matter. It is not uncommon in the event of a bloom for a whole neighborhood to disappear in less than a fortnight. How they sense prey is unknown, no sensory organs have been determined on the creatures, but they can sense a living thing from several meters away and will doggedly pursue that prey until it is consumed. This is the cycle of their lives at this stage, feeding and growing and seeking out others of their kind until they can begin the next level of their infernal existence...

Defense Protocols: In the event of a polyp sighting, the proper authorities are to be contacted immediately, as by the time one is willing to show itself in open space, it has likely claimed several victims and has many hungry compatriots eager for a meal themselves. An UNDER funded strike team is usually dispersed and at the sight within three hours, and they will do their absolute utmost to exterminate the organisms before they can spread and germinate into larger forms. They do so through the use of cryogenic weapons, as this is the only proven way to kill the cells for good. Should you find yourself approached by one, the only advice I can give is to get somewhere bright and dry as swiftly as you can. The conditions will weaken their advance. If cornered, fire is partially successful at dispersing them, though if set aflame they can become wild and erratic and able to cause more harm. Police forces in high risk areas for blooms will be distributed Ymir cryo-rifles and other assorted anti-polyp weapons, and usually, through vigilance, a bloom can be prevented before it begins.

In the event of a large-scale bloom, air strikes with cryogenic bombs are to be utilized, though the potential for collateral damage is high. It should be noted that the organism Grorn will, if able, emerge to battle the polyps anytime they gain numbers, and as such proper kaiju evacuation protocols are recommended.

Noteworthy Abilities:

-Germination: Amminots, at the polyp stage, are almost impossible to harm with conventional weapons. They are an aggregation of single-celled organisms working together for a higher evolutionary purpose, and can adapt their anatomy to fit most situations. They lose their cohesion in wet and arid environments, but can still spread through mitosis and form more of themselves in minutes. As more of them congregate, they become harder to kill, and eventually they begin to combine together into chimeric fusions that most ground forces could do nothing about.

-Neurotoxin: Commonly seen in grown polyps with glowing tendrils, Amminot possess a deadly neurotoxin they use to subdue and feed on their prey. The exact breakdown of the venom is impossible to track, as it is constantly adapting to the environment around it.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Have you ever thought you stumbled onto a perfect solution to a problem? Something that managed to steer your ship back on course and into safer waters so well that all or your troubles were over and done with for the foreseeable future? For Doctor Allison Gaither, the genius geneticist that unknowingly played a key role in the emergence of the kaiju infestation, that solution came from the same place the problem did. Her bleeding-edge work towards achieving total cellular regeneration in humans led to an in-depth study of bracoviruses, microorganisms that work with parasitic wasps to alter the dna of their hosts, and many other organisms capable of altering their own genetic code, such as rotifers. Her magnum opus came in the form of a tailored virus capable of tricking the human body into fighting off its own weaknesses, restoring it to the blueprint held in our DNA. Cancer would be devoured, lost limbs regrown, nerve damage undone. Permanent problems now had a seemingly perfect solution.

Until, that is, someone (I don't know who) turned her work against her, and took it to its natural conclusion, creating a weaponized organism able to survive breaking every natural rule. Umbara and the wrath it brought to the eastern U.S. was the price she paid for her advances, and it devoured her conscience every day for years. But she discovered a solution to the problem of an organism able to heal from any wounds instantaneously, tailoring another virus to not just undo the work of the first, but to outrightly sabotage the body. It only targeted those who had the first, regenerating virus in their systems, and tricked the body into breaking itself down, which, FYI, is a grisly sight I wouldn't wish on anyone.

They called it the Amminot virus, and for a time, it was seen as the perfect, karmic solution to the kaiju problem. But it didn't last. Consequences have a way of coming for people who rush to solutions.

It started a few years after Umbara's last stand in Detroit. Even for a city with a lot of historic ups and downs, an unusually high number of disappearances began to happen in lower income neighborhoods. Then, the investigators started to vanish too, and the escalation continued until it could no longer be ignored. Finally, UNDER sent in a strike team, covertly of course, to see the problem for themselves. They lasted two hours. The last anyone from UNDER heard of them was a terrifying transmission that raised more questions than answers. The eye cam of the chief operative showed him, and the rest of his team, enveloped in purple goop, which was eating through their skin at an alarming rate. It was shocking, UNDER agents rarely get caught by surprise and almost never die in the field. On the off chance that they do, a bomb implanted in their bodies goes off, leaving no evidence of the organization and their advanced technology for prying corporate eyes. And it was quite an explosion, hitting a gas line and forming a crater where a block corner used to be. Fortunately, there were no other known fatalities, but they could no longer ignore what was happening underneath the city.

Doctor Gaither recognized the method of their death almost immediately, it mirrored the way Umbara and Okidu fell perfectly. She demanded to be allowed to go the site, and UNDER relented, but only if she brought a LOT of backup. She collected a sample, and, to karma's full credit, immediately recognized what she was seeing. Her tailored virus had done well, but she had underestimated the kaiju cell's ability to adapt, to take what works and make it more. And now, a monster of her own making was born, and it was hungry for more. And though no others were sighted in Detroit after the explosion, they began getting similar reports off of the Ivory Coast and the Red Sea within days, just a short distance from where Okidu died in the Seychelles.

But the exact details of that are another story. I've never seen an Amminot bloom in person, but I've interviewed people who have, and the details are nightmarish every time. These are a single celled hiveminded being that is always seeking a way to make more of itself. It lacks the regeneration kaiju possess in one way, it is more easily wounded, but unlike kaiju which only regenerate as many cells as required, Amminot polyps never stop reproducing as individuals, and given the opportunity, they would swallow the whole damn world alive. Fortunately, we had a great solution appear from right under our noses. Literally.
---------------------------------

*These files are in no representative of nor indicating the opinions and/or facts concerning various government bureaus, including but not limited to: The United Nations, UNDER, etc. These are unofficial productions by a private citizen determined to aid the concerned public in the event of a kaiju or extraterrestrial incursion and are in no way to be considered authoritative reports on the aforementioned dangers.

---------------------------------

And now we are officially as far into the files as I was two years ago before my old laptop crashed on me!

The Amminot is a concept I've had in my head for years as a way of exploring the regeneration abilities of kaiju and how people might try to counter them. Its a concept that's fascinated me for more than a decade now, ever since I was a wide-eyed preteen watching Godzilla 2000 and falling in love with kaiju fiction. If we, as a jealous species, encountered a being able to recover from anything, any injury, and just keep coming at us, we'd be scrambling to figure out a way to undo it, and potentially apply it to ourselves. Even if it meant no harm, odds are the more skeptical of us would apply the 'what if?' card and experiment. And believe it or not, the possibility of achieving that sort of ability is not as impossible as I once realized. The missing pieces already exist within nature.

I know I mentioned bracoviruses, (look 'em up if you get the chance) but there are a lot of other attributes that give Doctor Gaither her insight into her discoveries. The missing pieces of how exactly I comic book science'd my explanations for them are not going to be found here, however. I've got to save some things for the novelization.

Now, on to the monsters. I guess you could call these things a sort of hybrid of hedorah, gyaos and destoroyah, role-wise. I know its a bit out of series order with existing kaiju properties, but I never said I was following that to the letter, and who could resist karmic, hive-minded death blobs that hunt people? That, and I needed something to keep my people around, I'm trying to write a kaiju series full of useful human characters that play a big, fun part in things. Smaller monsters that can engage individual humans fulfill the drama quota nicely, and these creatures are one I personally am very scared of. The idea of being digested alive is one of my oldest nightmares. That, and honestly, they fulfill the role of a lovely foil for one of the more important kaiju to this story, who you will be seeing very soon.

And by soon I mean tonight or tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the read.