First work of the Kaiju Shippingverse series. Supposed to be read together with "Hatchling - Rodorah". ( s/13348927/1/Hatchling-Rodorah)
Connects to "Monarch's Mothzilla Archives", but you don't need to read it to understand this one. ( s/13345947/1/Monarch-s-Mothzilla-Archives)

Royal Island, classified location

Mothra rested besides her egg, watching it quietly. It didn't look like her other eggs, the eggs that normally held safe others like her – or, in other words, herself.

This egg was bigger, which had been a huge task to push out of her small form – but it was worth it, or at least she hoped it was; the colors were different, showing more blues and grays than any other color; and the shell seemed to be way harder and more resistant than that of the other eggs she had laid before.

She admired her egg and wondered to herself what was inside it, what was going to hatch out of it… A little larva, a little lizard? She sometimes felt worried, scared, unsure. Never before had creatures so different from each other had an offspring, or at least… One that survived long after the hatching. Mothra had lived long enough to see groups of other species try to reproduce, it rarely worked that well.

But if they were able to reproduce together, that meant they were compatible, and their offspring would be healthy, right?

The moth could only hope…

She heard a call coming from the ocean and she called back, not leaving the egg's side. She watched as the large form of his mate entered the cave, dripping water as he moved. Knowing that Godzilla was back made her feel calmer, safer, and washed some of her worries away, even if her mate couldn't control how their offspring would look like.

"What took you so long?" She asked as he finally reached their altar.

"Humans being annoying…" He didn't need to say more. Godzilla bent down, softly licking Mothra's fluffy head, making her purr in delight, before he turned his attention to their egg. "How is it today? Anything?" He pushed his snout against it softly, making it wobble to the side, before returning to the same position it was before.

"Nothing." Mothra let out a soft and tense trill. "If it was one of my normal eggs, it would have hatched by now…"

"I'm pretty sure it'll hatch soon." The big lizard said, noticing the worry on his mate's tone. He pressed his head against hers, attempting to sooth her even if little. A buzzing sound ruined the moment, making him growl slightly and look up. "And they're here…"

"Don't antagonize them." Mothra said, soft, but serious. "They are just as interested in our egg as we are."

"Yeah, and that worries me." Godzilla huffed, watching the metal insect fly off. Mothra understood the worry, but she preferred to stay silent, more focused on her egg than at the drones.

They had gotten used to them after some times. Humans were curious and nosey, there wasn't much they could do about it. Godzilla had smashed many of the flying creations in the earlier days since he arrived at the island, but as time went on, and as many returned – even thought most hid in between the rocks – the king started ignoring them. They didn't hurt, they didn't cause them problems, so why should he care?

He just hoped his complacency with them didn't spell problems for the future. If there was something Godzilla knew for sure, is that no one should ever underestimate the humans and their stupidly crazy brains.

-o-

Mothra was laying over the egg, its huge form was harder to cradle than her normal eggs, but she did it anyway. While Godzilla's head was pressed against her back, his body curved, keeping both her and the egg safe, surrounded by his huge form.

Suddenly, the ground shook under the moth. She opened her eyes, noticing that it wasn't the ground. It was the egg, shaking to the sides, till a very small crack appeared in its surface, showing that the little one was ready to come out.

She quickly jumped away from it with a loud trill that startled Godzilla awake.

"What's going on?" He asked, confused, ready to attack.

"The egg is hatching!" Mothra trilled happily.

The two watched the egg silently, as it shook to the sides more and more. The first crack became more visible, with new ones appearing as well. A piece of the egg cracked up and both Mothra and Godzilla held their breath. Never before had Mothra felt this nervous about one of her eggs… Or this excited! While Godzilla was… Well, he himself wasn't sure what he was feeling. But he sure was slightly nervous with the fact that he could see one of those humans creations behind a rock.

Something pushed against the raised piece of the shell, lifting it up even more. A little snout. It had a strange yellowish-brown color, a bit similar to the color Mothra's larva form had; but that was definitely a lizard-like – or more Godzilla-like – snout.

It pushed once more and then let out a soft squeak. It sounded like a perfect mix of Godzilla's softest roars and Mothra's loudest shrills.

"Come on, little one. You can do it." Mothra trilled encouragingly.

The hatchling seemed to hear the words of its mother and pushed harder, the cracks becoming longer and wider, till finally… The shell broke completely, falling to the sides and revealing the form of their little offspring to the world.

It was a lizard, body shaped just like the father, though lacking all the tough looking scales that covered his body and also the dorsal spines. Mothra got closer, pushing away the piece of eggshell that hid the offspring face from them.

The hatchling blinked once or twice and squeaked, focusing its eyes on its parents. The eyes were pure blue with no pupils, just like Mothra's.

"Hello, little one…" Mothra said sweetly and couldn't help the happy trill that escaped her as the hatchling squeaked, showing a mouth already full of teeth. It tried moving, getting caught in the rest of the amniotic sack of the egg and its long tail – way longer than Godzilla's. "Here, I'll help you." Mothra moved closer, pulling the membrane away with her mandibles and softly licking her hatchling's head to clean it. It squeaked again, reaching its stubby arms to the moth's fluffy face, who trilled softly. "Hello, I am your mom."

It squeaked, putting itself on its hind legs and trying to balance. Mothra took some steps back to give it space, watching as it wobbled back and forth, tail moving to the sides, curling on itself. The hatchling didn't walk too long though, as it tripped over one of the slimy eggshells.

Godzilla quickly brought his snout down, stopping his little one midfall. It looked up at it's father's big eyes and squeaked again.

"And this is your dad." Mothra let out a soft trill enjoying the moment. She was glad, their offspring seemed to be healthy and totally perfect. And a perfect mix of both of them.

Godzilla watched the little one and it watched him back, squeaking as it tried to speak already. He snorted softly but it was strong enough to push it back; the youngling made a loud noise when hitting the ground, as if shocked or annoyed by the sudden fall.

The king of the monsters brought his tongue out, softly licking the little creature until it stopped being noisy.

"Hello… Princess…" He said softly.

Blue eyes looked up, curious with the name, but the squeak it made showed it didn't mind it.

But the moment was once again broken by humans. This time, Godzilla snarled, the sound echoing around the cavern's walls, locking eyes with the man-made object. He loomed over his youngling's small form as a protective barrier. Mothra trilled at him, but he wasn't going to do anything, not now.

It was just a warning. He wanted them away from his little princess.

-o-

"I worry about her." Godzilla said.

"Worry?" Mothra asked, finishing cleaning her antennae.

"She is too delicate." The king sat beside his queen, looking over to were little Hime was playing, running after bats, trying to catch them with her mouth. "Her skin is just so… Soft… She lacks both my armored scales and your strong exoskeleton…"

Mothra watched her offspring play, jumping to try catching one of the scared bats, but failing. She remembered the moment Hime had tried to jump down from the altar, falling face first on the ground. Mothra took a look at her after she got up, seeing a red mark taking over her snout.

"Indeed." She trilled tensely. "Even though she seems to have a skin similar to the armored plates of my worm form…" But her tone changed, turning more positive. "But she is still on her early hatched form though. I'm pretty sure her skin will tighten up soon."

Godzilla huffed, but not dismissively. He agreed that maybe his mate was right, but they couldn't be sure, and that fact alone made him worry more. What if Hime's skin never tightened? Being soft like that could cause major problems to her… It scared him. He didn't want to lose his little princess.

Mothra watched her mate's expression and let out a soft trill, pressing her fluffy form against his leg. She understood and shared his worry, she knew that she would be just as protective of their little princess as her mate was.

"But if it doesn't…" The king started.

"Then we'll teach her how to survive like that." The queen interrupted. Godzilla turned serious eyes to her. "I want her to survive just as much as you want, my dear. But if she'll live longer than her first weeks, that is something only time can tell."

Godzilla huffed in agreement.

He had lost many before, to nature, to other titans… Godzilla had lost other younglings as well and, while it made him a bit more desensitized once the inevitable happened, it also made him much more protective than before. And specially now, that he had an offspring with someone else, the queen who had been his mate for so many years, Godzilla was determined to see his little one reach adulthood.

At least one…

-o-

Her soft skin didn't seem to be the only problem she had, her parents soon noticed.

Hime didn't grow much in the next weeks, maybe a few inches, but she maintained her height, reaching up to Godzilla's knees. That was something she liked to do by the way, run in between his legs, until he had to stop in order to not trip on her. He would gently flicker her away with his tails once she squeaked at him for stopping. She liked it as well.

She was basically the size of Mothra, but still, she simply didn't seem to change from the size she had when hatching.

She had gills, Godzilla once noticed, but apparently, they were useless. Hime liked the water though. She splashed around with no problem, she could zip pass her father like a bullet after a few days of learning, but she always had to return to the surface to breath.

Her skin didn't change either, still soft. It became normal to see red hashes on her back and stomach after she pressed hard against certain porous rocks on the cave. But she didn't seem to mind it, which meant it probably didn't hurt. In just a day all the hashes would be gone. That was a good thing that calmed Godzilla and Mothra even if just a bit, she healed easy and fast.

Mothra lost count of the times she had to turn Hime around, even with her complaints. For a moment Hime would be standing with no problems, to suddenly be dragging her upper part against the sand next.

But if she had problems with her arms or with her balance, it surely didn't show. And as time passed, she seemed to have passed that strange dragging faze.

Hime grew active, she ran fast and jumped high. Her long tail gave her balance and she used it to hit things on her way, grabbing onto things and lifting them up with almost no problem. She was strong. She was a fighter.

And she was going to survive. Godzilla was sure of it.

Still, she was young, and she needed help and protection.

As much as he liked staying on the water, Godzilla started residing mostly on land. Even if he knew that Mothra was there to take care of their little one, he would want to be there as well. Especially when humans were around…

Godzilla was pretty sure they had always been this nosey, but for some reason they felt even more nosey now. It annoyed him. He didn't want close to Hime, no matter how much Mothra said they probably weren't going to risk hurting her.

Mothra on the other hand, didn't mind them that much. She appreciated human's curiosity, she couldn't help it; the search for knowledge was something she admired on them. Whenever Godzilla wasn't near, she would allow them a closer look.

"What is that thing?" Hime asked once. "Is that a bat?"

"No. Those are metal bird made by humans." Mothra explained. "They are curious about you."

"About me?" Hime repeated, surprised.

"Yes." Mothra said as the drone stood in midair, probably focused on both of them. Hime tried reaching for it with a claw, but Mothra held her hand with a pincer. "Just remember…" She said, getting Hime's attention. "They're just like those birds who attacked you the other day. If you don't want them messing with you, don't mess with them."

"Ok…" Hime said, a bit confused. But she already knew it was best to listen to her mother. Mothra was always wise, Godzilla himself agree with this.

Still, Mothra decided that, maybe, she gave them too much liberty. One morning, when Godzilla was away for the first time in weeks, Mothra woke up to find a small group of humans inside her cave.

She froze and stared at them, they stared at her. Both seemed surprised. Mothra felt her instinct of maternal protection kick in, but she waited to be sure if there was the need for violence.

She recognized the face of one of them, she remembered seeing that same face once she woke up thanks to human meddling. She wasn't an evil woman, just a bit misled here and there, Mothra had decided. But she didn't want her there, she didn't want any human near her little Princess at the moment.

She checked Hime. She was still asleep, curled around herself, with her tail pressed against her face, being held by her little claws. Nothing different, she was fine.

Mothra turned to the humans again.

"Leave." She said simply.

And they did as she asked. She watched as they slowly left the cave, and then took a look around to be sure all of them were definitely gone. Mothra then draped her wing over Hime and rested.

Godzilla could smell the humans on the cave when he arrived, and let's just say that… He wasn't very pleased… And from them on out, Godzilla decided that he wouldn't allow even the metal insects inside the cave, at least when he was around.