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Up off the coast of Maine, a small fishing town was settled next to the ocean. About 40 miles north of them was the border of Nova Scotia, so it was as far north of the United States as you could get, besides Alaska. That morning was grey and raining, like most of the early spring days. Winter was finally coming to an end, and the earth was waking back up. Pops of green and color could be seen slowly coming out of the trees and ground, even in the rain, but it was still too cold to go without warm clothes.
Daniel and his son-in-law, Tyler, were loading up some supplies to take back down to the docks for the new fishing season. They lived on the outskirts of the town, closer to the woods. As the two men were lifting and hauling boxes of supplies, Tyler noticed something odd in the back of the shed.
“Hey Dan, what’d you do with all them old pipes and scrap metal you had back here? Finally cleaned it out?” he called.
The old man see a crate down in the back of his trunk and gave a perplexed look. “The old pipes? I haven’t done nothing with’em. They should be back there.” He stepped over and sure enough, the back of his shed was completely emptied out.
Thunder rumbled in the distance over the hills. The rain started to pick up, pounding on the roof of the shed and echoing around them forebodingly.
“Maybe Peggy did something with them?” Tyler suggested. He knew that his mother-in-law was often going on about spring cleaning recently, and all that scrap metal in the back sounded like something she would want to get rid of. But Dan shook his head.
“She don’t ever come out in my shed. And she wouldn’t’ve touched any rusted old metal herself.” He scratched his head in thought.
Suddenly, movement caught Tyler’s eye. Something large had just moved behind the house, making him jump.
“Did you see that?” he cried, whirling towards the house. It was an old new england style home that had lasted them generations. It was a bit roughed up at the moment, but still standing strong.
“What? I didn’t see nothing.” Dan said, squinting towards the house. He looked down to his pocket to grab his glasses, when he stopped dead.
There on the ground, outside the shed, was a patch of mud indented with a giant, monstrous footprint. Dan took a sharp break in, remembering the stories he’d seen on the news about monsters popping up all over the globe out of nowhere, attacking people and places, like Godzilla in New York.
“Tyler, get in the house.” he whispered urgently. But Tyler was too focused on what he’d seen. He started forward, grabbing a wood axe nearby. As he approached the turn of the house, the rain continued to pour, but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the sound of something rumbling. Some animal or person? He wasn’t sure, but he was going to find out.
“Hey!” he cried, lifting the weapon.
“Tyler, no!!” Dan cried, reaching out to him.
Whatever it was got spooked, and gave a cry of alarm. A sound neither of them had ever heard. And it sounded big.
Inside the house, Peggy was doing some of her spring cleaning with the radio on, but she also hear the noise. She straightened up and turned to the nearby window to see what was going on. But when she pulled back the curtains, she was met with the sight of the creature, and screamed.
_______
As usual at the H.E.A.T Headquarters, Dr. Craven and Randy were having some spat about NIGEL's programing, while Nick was busy with his most recent field research on Godzilla.
"There's no way the big man would be into that opera junk. Why don't you play him something cooler like Foo Fighters or Green Day? I bet you $25 bucks he'd really love Rage Against the Machine, too. That's definitely his type of music." Randy grinned, pretending to rock out a little on air guitar.
"Are you insane?" Craven argued back, "Having Godzilla listen to that kind of loud, angry punk music would just aggrivate him and probably provoke an attack! No, we need to start off with something soft and easy." He clicked a few buttons on his laptop, and Mozart began to play.
"Research has show that playing classical music while babies are asleep helps with brain development. Who's to say it couldn't help Godzilla's?"
"Godzilla is not a baby, Craven." Randy rolled his eyes. "But you should definitely try it out for yourself. If it works for babies then it should work on you too, huh?"
Before they could continue, Elsie came into the room holding a freshly printed report.
“Hey Nick, you might want to have a look at this.” she called over the commotion.
After being handed the paper and taking a quick skim of the information, his eyes narrowed. Local reports up north about strange, large creatures in the woods terrifying a nearby town. He checked the dates.
“Elise, some of these reports are over four years old. We’re looking for new mutants, not local cryptids.” he said flatly. It was bad enough the public already thought they were a joke. They’d been receiving files like this from places wanting to prove Mothman and the Yeti to be real, and it was getting annoying.
“Might want to check the rest of the file before you make your call, Nicki.” she said, handing him a thin folder. The others now interested, started to gather around as he opened it. His expression immediately changed.
Attached to a much more recent report, was a photograph. The shot was blurry, but the silhouette was unmistakably similar to that of Godzilla’s.
____
As the Heat Seeker drew near the port of the town, Elise gave her analysis on the photograph.
“Judging by the size of the trees in the background, and knowing their species’s average height, I’d say this creature is close to 60 feet tall, and around 100 feet in length, although it’s hard to pinpoint where the end of it’s tail is. If this thing is as close to Godzilla as it looks, that would be my estimate.” she concluded.
“A creature of that size and shape this close to New York can’t be a coincidence.” Randy pointed out. “I mean, Godzilla already had a girlfriend once before, and an egg! Maybe he found a new flame and got busy.”
“Or maybe the egg from before somehow survived?” Craven suggested.
“Even if it was, why wouldn’t Godzilla be caring for it?” Nick added, “His behavior with the Komodithrax and the egg suggested that he would care for any young of his own and possibly be involved with rearing them.”
“Our studies have shown that Godzilla’s been nowhere in this area for over a year.” Randy said, pulling up the data on the nearby computer. “Not even for the fishing, which I hear is very good up here.”
“Then perhaps it is related to Godzilla in another way.” Monique spoke up in her mysterious french accent. The room immediately got quiet.
“You mean...another egg might have survived?” Craven dared to be the one to suggest.
“It’s possible an egg might have traveled up the coast to this location to feed and grow, as with all the fishing.” Dr. Tatopoulos stated.
“But if our Godzilla and this Godzilla were hatched around the same time, then why is this one smaller?” Elise asked.
“And why doesn’t he keep in touch with Godzilla? Bad blood?” Randy added.
“Only one way to find out.” Nick sighed.
_____
After an afternoon of talking to the locals and the police, the H.E.A.T. team set out to the woods in the last location the creature was spotted at. The trees were still pretty bare, and the dead leaves crunched under their boots. Crisp, cold air was silent all around them as they walked.
“Temperature at forty-three degress.” Nigel’s robotic voice whirled beside them. “No confirmed traces of Godzilla DNA within a mile radius.” There was a brief moment of pause before the machine then added in a wild accent “Come out, come out, wherever you are!!”
Craven gave Randy a cold scowl.
“These woods go on for miles, and it’s going to be dark soon.” Monique pointed out, “We should head back and start again early tomorrow morning.”
“I agree.” Craven nodded, pulling out a tissue and blowing his nose very loudly. “This mountain air is playing havoc with my allergies.”
“Shh! Wait.” Elise held up a hand and they all stopped. The world around them was dead silent. Nothing moved, not even the wind.
“Human readings detected.” Nigel’s voice shattered the silence like glass, making half of them jump. “Twenty yards ahead.”
“Probably some local hunters.” Nick reassured them. “Maybe they can help us get back.”
They continued forward again for another ten minutes, when Monique cried out. “There! Something moved in the trees ahead.”
“Hello?” Nick cried out, his voice echoing across the hills. They all looked, but there was nothing but more dense forest. No reply. They cautiously continued onward.
Suddenly Randy stopped. “Hey guys, hold up.” he called. They all stopped and turned to see him kneeling down to dig through the dead leaves.
“There’s something here. I think its-”
SNAP!
The ground beneath them caved, and they all tumbled down into a giant hole, screaming.
As they collected themselves back up Nick asked if everyone was okay. Luckily the padding of leaves had broken their fall, and no one was seriously injured.
“What kind of trap is this?” Elsie said, looking up towards the sky above them.
The hole was about 30 feet deep, with no ledges on the sides. They couldn’t climb out.
“No signal this far out,” Randy said, checking his phone. “Can’t call for help.”
Craven was attending to Nigel, who wasn’t totally busted, but had been damaged by the extreme fall. He groaned and sat back in defeat.
“Someone was up there, I know I saw them.” Monique told them firmly.
“Let’s just hope they’re friendly.” Nick said, before cupping his hands over his mouth and calling again. Lucky for them, they could hear footsteps approaching through the leaves above them. They waited with breath held and shoulders tight, not knowing what to expect.
They definitely had not been expecting two small kids to peek their faces over the side.
A boy and a girl, one with long, curly brown hair, and the other with short, blonde hair and glasses. They didn’t look happy, either.
“Who are you, and what are you doing out here?” the girl called aggressively. They couldn’t have been more than 12.
They all looked at each other in confusion, but went along anyway.
“My name is Doctor Nick Tatoplalus, and this is my research team. We’re here to investigate reports of possible mutations in the area.”
The boy nudged the girl, eyes wide. “They’re the guys from TV!” he whispered, “I’ve heard of them. They know Godzilla.”
“Are your parents with you?” Elsie called.
“How do we know you’re the real Nick Tatopolus?” the girl asked suspiciously, deliberately avoiding the woman’s question.
“Hey, your buddy just said he saw us on TV, didn’t he?” Randy pointed out. “Give him some credit.”
“Can you help get us out of here, please?” Nick quickly called.
The kids disappeared from view for a moment, but they could still hear them whispering to each other. Elsie nudged Nick and pointed to the walls.
“Nick, take a look. These markings on the walls? They’re practically identical to Godzilla’s, but thinner and smaller.” she told him.
“Well, we do know his kind is capable of building tunnel systems.” he nodded thoughtfully.
“But Godzilla eats fish.” Craven reminded them. “Why would this creature be digging traps like this for hunting in the woods if it came up here for the fish?”
“I don’t think this is a hunting trap.” Monique threw in her two cents. “It was too precisely dug. This is a trap for intruders.”
The children reappeared.
“Hey! Godzilla guy!” the girl called. They all turned back up. “We’ll be right back, okay? We’re gonna go get help.”
A sigh of relief from everyone. Before they could thank them, the kids were gone. As they waited, they continued to analyze the situation.
“Will the creature come back?”
“What were those kids doing out here all by themselves?”
“What exactly is this new creature? Is it really related to Godzilla?”
“Will we ever get to have dinner?”
“Why hasn’t Godzilla come here yet?”
About 40 mins after the children had gone, they heard something. Or rather, they felt something. Brief tremors shook the ground around them. The thud and crunch of heavy footsteps on the dead leaves got closer and closer. They all jumped up, alert and nervous. Craven whimpered. Monique took a fighting stance.
“It’s the creature!” Randy whispered.
And then the sound stopped. And the sound of smaller feet rustling through the leaves could be heard instead. Both the boy and the girl reappeared.
“Okay, we have a deal to make with you!” the girl called.
“Huh?” was all Randy could say. The other stared in confusion.
The girl went on, “We’ll help you out, BUT! In exchange, you have to help us.”
“And don’t freak out!” the boy added.
A moment of silence.
“What kind of help?” Nick asked cautiously.
“You said you’re a doctor, right? For monsters? We have a patient you have to see right away. Deal?” the girl asked.
The pieces were starting to fit together. Nick turned to the others and they huddled up for a minute.
“I think these kids know our Godzilla double.” he said.
“So he’s friendly to humans? That’s good to know.” Randy nodded, relieved.
“They can probably take us right to the creature.” Monique added.
They all agreed. Nick turned back to the kids and struck the deal. A moment later, they threw down a rope tied with knots to help them pull themselves up. Nick went first.
As he reached the top he saw the kids run back away from the edge. And once he was finally out of the pit, he was greeted with a shocking sight that almost made him fall backwards back in.
The rope was being held by a creature that resembled a younger version of Godzilla, but it wasn’t. The coloring was different. He was more of a grey with hints of orange/red. The fins along his spine were curved back instead of forward. And he was much, much younger and smaller. Maybe only 35 feet tall.
The others finished climbing out one by one, all of them staring at the mini Godzilla in awe and disbelief. The two kids stood firmly between them and the creature, who actually crouched down low and seemed to be hiding behind them!
“Well, a deal’s a deal.” Nick finally said, breaking the ice. “Thank you for helping us out. Now let us help you.”
He said this looking at the smaller Zilla, but the kids shook their heads. “He’s not the one who needs your help.” the boy told them.
They all blinked. “Oh?” Monique inquired.
“Follow us.” The girl motioned, and she and the boy went towards the creature. To the adults’ surprise, they both climbed up on the back of the young Zilla’s neck and sat there as he stood up. He was letting them ride him!?
They followed the monster through the woods, and he kept a slow enough pace for them to keep up without a problem. The team had so many more questions they wanted to ask, but they couldn’t with the kids being up so high. And they could do was follow along and hope thing would make sense soon.
___
A short while later, they came to a mountainside, where the monster reached down and pulled back a boulder to reveal a hidden tunnel. He lowered himself to let the kids get off.
“Down this way.” the girl pointed. Both of them started into the tunnel, and the team followed. The creature went last, to move the boulder back into place. It was pretty spacious in the tunnel as it went down into the earth.
“So just to let you know,” the girl suddenly said, “They only kinda understand certain words. But they learned sign language pretty quick, so we’ll have to translate for you.”
“They?” Nick asked.
“Don’t worry, we’ll introduce you properly in a minute.” the boy told them.
The tunnel was dark, but they could see that there was a light coming from the end at the bottom. Sounds of metal work could be heard echoing up from it. When they finally entered, all of their jaws dropped.
The cavern was huge. As big as Godzilla’s was in the Hudson, but without the big pool of water, and there were all kinds of machines and wires laying and strung about. Electric lights of all different kinds were lit about, parts of cars, boats, trucks, and other large machinery were everywhere, some put together in odd ways.
On the other end of the cavern was yet another Godzilla creature. This one more of a grey and dark blue color, larger than the first they encountered, but not by much. His head was shoved inside what looked to be a giant safe with tubes and wires coming out of it. Homemade tools in relation to his personal size were scattered around him.
The smaller one finally came through the tunnel behind them and gave a short cry. The other one moved and a loud BANG! could be heard, followed by a low growl as he pulled back out of the safe, rubbing his head.
It was then that they saw his face, and the fact that he was wearing what appeared to be homemade goggles or glasses strapped around his head; the glass in them made from car windows. Like the first, his fins pointed backwards. However, he did appear to be older, as he had a small dewlap growing out under his chin and neck.
He took notice of the kids, who happily smiled and waved, and his expression softened.
“Dr. Nick, this is Trevor!” the boy explained, motioning to the one with the goggles.
“And this sweetheart here is Franklin.” the girl added, as the younger one walked around and gently nudged her with his snout before sneaking over behind his brother.
“Trevor and Franklin, huh? Did you two name them?” Elsie asked.
“Yep! They liked the idea of having names so we could tell them apart.” the girl said proudly.
“Would you look at this place!” Randy said, gawking at the technology around them. “I mean, look at this! Dude turned an old refrigerator, a postal sorting machine, and random pieces of scrap metal to build a homemade generator for this entire place!”
“Are you telling me,” Craven said in disbelief, “That all this was made by that thing?” He pointed to the blue-grey creature.
“He’s not a thing!” the girl snapped, “His name is Trevor, and he’s the smartest monster in all the world. He can build or fix anything.”
Trevor then made a sound deep in his throat, almost like a soft cooing, and started making signs with his hands. The boy responded back with more hand signals, and pointed to the team.
“What’s he saying?” Nick asked.
“He’s just a little confused why you’re here. We don’t usually bring guests.” the boy shrugged, not looking up at him as he continued to communicate.
“This is absolutely crazy…” Elsie said, watching them talk without words. “They really do understand what you say, and are able to respond back. This is…this is leaps and bounds ahead of where we currently are with our communications with Godzilla!”
“It’s basic American Sign Language, so if you want to learn for yourself so you can talk to’em, too, I’m sure that would make them very happy.” the girl told her politely.
Suddenly, another monstrous roar echoed through the cavern. They all turned towards one of the entrances to see a much larger Godzilla creature come through and into the room.
She was big, and the closest to adulthood out of all of them. Her scales were darker grey with hints of purple. Unlike both boys and Godzilla, her fins were jagged and pointed straight upwards. Multiple scars were flecked across her skin, some still healing.
“Nick! That’s the one from the picture. The size is a match!” Elsie whispered to them.
“Uh-oh.” the boy said under his breath.
“Uh-oh? What does uh-oh mean?” Craven asked nervously.
The largest one let out another roar at the sight of the team, and it did not seem like a happy one. As she stepped towards them, Trevor and Franklin rushed between them. The two boys made a fuss to keep her from attacking.
The team and the kids stepped back towards the tunnel they came in.
“And uh, who is this?” Randy asked.
“That’s Sharron. Their big sister.” the boy gulped.
“She’s ridiculously protective and grumpy all the time.” the girl added.
“Is she the one you wanted us to help? Or Trevor?” Nick asked, as the monsters continued their loud debate.
“No! It’s not them, it’s their mom.”
The entire team rounded on them. “Their mom!?”
“She’s really sick, which is why Sharron is so upset all the time,” the curly haired kid went on, “She has to take care of her brothers and their mom because their mom is so weak she can’t hunt for them anymore. I think she may be dying.”
“She’s kinda like your Godzilla, but a little different.” the boy with the glasses went on.
“So there was another egg that survived.” Monique concluded.
“And she had these three babies, which, by the look of it, were hatched one at a time, and not all together.” Elsie added.
“Which means that Godzilla isn’t alone anymore.” Nick proclaimed with a smile.
“The G-Man is a brother and an uncle!” Randy shouted happily, “All right! That makes you a great-uncle, Nick.”
Before he could reply to Randy’s statement, the monsters’ fight escalated. Sharron snapped at her brothers and pushed them aside. But they wouldn’t give up that easily…
____
“You’re being ridiculous about this!!” Trevor cried, hugging his sister’s arm and yanking her back. The older kaiju snarled at him and went to shove him off.
“We can’t trust adult humans!” she roared. “I let you befriend those little ones because they were harmless, but now they’ve brought danger right into our home!”
“But Brian says that they are here to help mom! They can make her better!” Franklin tried, hugging around his sister’s waist. She growled but did not try to rip him off like she wanted to. She didn’t want to hurt her baby brother. But this was serious!
“When will you two get it through your thick skulls?” she groaned, “We can’t trust humans! Did you forget that they’re the reason mom is so sick in the first place?!”
“Which is why it makes sense to have humans come and heal her.” Trevor argued, finally letting go of her. “They would know their own poisons and what remedies to use to fix them.”
Sharron gave a frustrated roar and snuffed in defeat. At this point, her fear of losing their mother outweighed her fear of the humans. If they tried anything, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill them anyways. She could still protect them like she promised.
“All right…” she said and signed to the kids with her claws. “We can take them to mom. But I don’t like it and I’m going to be watching them.”
The children signed that they understood, and Franklin started to lead them towards where their mother was resting. Trevor and Sharron watched them go.
“It’s going to be okay, Sharron. Can’t you smell it?” Trevor finally said to her. She glared down at him as he went on, “These aren’t just any ordinary humans. They’re Godzilla’s humans. The ones from the news. If any humans can be trusted, it’s them.”
“Godzilla is way less intelligent than us, remember?” she shot back at him. They started towards the other cave, following the group. Her brother frowned at her.
“Yeah, but so is mom. And she still loves us and took care of us when she could.” he reminded her.
They entered the next room in the cavern to find a large pool of water, and their mother, who did closely resemble Godzilla. However, her skin was naturally darker greys, not shades of brown. Her scales were also pointed backwards. But the most prominent feature was that she was missing part of her front right limb.
She had told her children that it had been chopped off by one of the motors on a boat when she was very young and still curious about the world.
They heard the humans chatter to themselves in their own dialect for a bit, clearly surprised. A few signals from Brian informed them that they had believed Godzilla to be the only one left of his kind.
“Mom never wanted us found,” Trevor said aloud and signed back. “Between the humans and the new mutants popping up, she thought it was too dangerous for us to go out yet.”
“She’d probably have a fit if she knew you were running out to town to take parts.” Franklin chuckled.
Trevor frowned at him and lashed his tail. “I’m careful! A lot more than her, anyway.” He motioned to Sharron, who growled at him.
“I wasn’t near any civilization, those humans were infiltrating our turf when they took that photo. It’s not my fault!” she argued.
“Children?” the soft, weak voice of their mother called from across the room. All of them immediately straightened up and went over to her. Sometimes it was days between her speaking to them even just a single word. They crowded around letting her know they were there.
“We’re here, mother.” Sharron assured her, her mood changing to that of love and concern.
She did not speak again for a while, but she moved her head slightly towards each of them. To which each of them nuzzled her to let her know they were there.
While they did that, Trevor noticed the humans sneak around them to her body, and start getting out their equipment. No doubt to do some tests to see what they could do for her. He hoped they would get their results fast.
“I need to feed you.” she muttered. “Need to hunt.” Her muscles trembled a moment, but she could not get herself up.
“It’s okay mom, we’re not hungry.” Franklin told her.
“Need to hunt. Feed my babies.” she groaned, again trying to get up, but unable to lift herself at all.
“Mom, stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.” Trevor warned, placing a claw gently on her snout. “We’re fine. You don’t need to worry.”
“Fish. Need fish.” her voice was starting to fade. All three of them glanced at the pile of fish they had brought for her days ago that still remained untouched. Sharron went over to scoop some up and try to feed her by hand.
“Here mom. I have fish right here. Please, eat.” she begged.
A couple handfuls made it into her maw before she appeared to doze off again. They knew it was not enough.
“If she doesn’t eat properly, she’s going to get worse.” Trevor pointed out.
Sharron threw the rest of the fish back on the pile and balled her claws into fists. She hated seeing her mother this way, and knowing she might die. She hated that she was forced to be the adult and care for her brothers even though she was still just a kid, too. She was barely a third of her mother’s size!
“This is so unfair!” She roared, clawing at the wall in front of her and leaving a deep slash. “It’s her own damn fault she’s sick in the first place! She knew better than to go near that human base!”
“Sharron, please,” Trevor tried to calm her, while Franklin cowarded behind him. Neither of them liked seeing their sister so upset.
“And now she’s all drugged up and can barely eat or move!” the older sibling went on, still furious, “And we have to take care of her instead of the other way around! It’s not fair!”
Their mother remained deep in sleep, despite her daughter’s roaring in her ear. The other humans were huddled together and backing away. Even their kid friends were taking shelter under Trevor and Franklin.
“I hate this! I hate you!” Sharron screamed at their mother’s face, “I wish you would just die already so we don’t have to deal with this anymore!”
Trevor and Franklin both gave a horrified cry. The younger one immediately cried and hugged his brother. Trevor was too stunned to do or say anything.
A moment later, she whirled around and dived into the pool with a loud splash and was gone, leaving her family, ashamed of herself and angry at the situation.
____
Whatever had just happened was clearly not good. Franklin now appeared to be extremely distressed, and Trevor was barely able to hold himself together to comfort him.
When the kids asked what had happened, he refused to answer them, and instead looked away.
“Poor kids.” Elsie muttered.
“C’mon,” Nick sighed, “We need to get these samples analyzed as soon as possible. We’re gonna help this family, whatever it takes.”
____
Hours passed. Although the mood had lifted a bit, Sharron was still missing, and the H.E.A.T. team was still trying to figure out what exactly had their mother sick. Trevor had gone back to his project, now with help from Randy who was curious to see how in the world he did it. Franklin, Monique, and the girl, Allie, were playing some kind of game involving drawing in the dirt and a bunch of colorful rocks.
Brian was silently sitting on a rock nearby, watching the team work and occasionally walking over to check on the mom. After the third of four check, Nick called him over on his walk back.
“You gave a name to all the kids. Did you give the mom a name?” he asked, looking up from his microscope.
“Trisha.” he replied sommberly.
“And how long have you known these guys?” he continued, writing some notes. The boy thought for a moment.
“A while I guess. Allie and I got lost in the woods over a year ago, and fell into one of those traps like you guys. Sharron digs those to keep out anyone who gets too close to the caves. But when her and Trevor saw us, they must’ve seen how scared we were, and they were very friendly. They took us back to town, so we gave them a gift to thank them.”
He turned and pointed to the far wall in the other room where Trevor was working. Hanging there was an old floor length mirror, with beautifully decorated edges. It looked to be from the early 1900s.
“Allie’s grandmother was getting rid of it, but Allie really liked it and didn’t want to see it get trashed, so she gave it to them. After that, Trevor kept coming around to visit us. He was really fascinated by all the cars and boats and trinkets we had, so we took him to the local junk yard and he just went crazy! Eventually, we realized that he was nearsighted, because he kept having to hold everything super close to his face. We helped him find some glass and other parts and built him a pair of those goggles together.”
The boy was smiling now, happy to remember these things. Nick was smiling, too, and Craven and Elsie were glancing over, listening in as well. He went on:
“Once he could see better, he took us back to their cave and showed us around. Sharron wasn’t too happy, but only because she didn’t want their mom to find out and hurt us. Franklin was still just an egg at the time, and their mom was out in the ocean hunting for them most of the day.”
“So Franklin over there is about a year old?” Elsie asked.
“A year and a half, probably.” he told them, “Trevor is almost three and Sharron is four.”
“That adds up.” Craven commented. “Godzilla is about four or five years old now. If their mom is his sister and had the massive growth spurt like he did, she could’ve started laying eggs right away.”
“But then why do these three age slower than them?” Nick pointed out. “What makes them different?”
“They don’t know why either.” Brian went on, “Trevor once mentioned something about the rapid evolution of their DNA, but he wasn’t certain because he had no way to test it. They just know that they are a lot more intelligent than their mom.”
“Once we finish diagnosing Trisha, we should run some tests on them to prove that theory.” Elsie said, “I’m interested to actually see if he’s correct.”
“Uh, guys,” Craven called. Everyone turned. The man gave them all a saddened expression. “I think you’d better come see this…”
Nick and Elsie rushed over to see the results on his computer. Their faces fell.
“This...this can’t be right.” Nick said.
“I reran the results three times already. It’s always the same.” Craven said shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Nick.”
“Then...there’s nothing we can do.” Elsie’s voice lowered.
“What? What do you mean?!” Brian cried, coming up beside them. He looked at the screen but he didn’t understand the big words and numbers it showed.
“There’s a mutation of cells in her body. And it appears that it's been like this since the moment she was born.” Nick explained. The boy still didn’t understand, so Elsie knelt down and gently took his shoulder.
“Brian, I know this is going to be hard to explain to them, but...I’m afraid Trisha has been slowly dying of cancer from the moment she hatched. It’s in the final stage now. There’s...nothing we can do.” she said carefully.
____
Trevor let the team set up camp in his lab for the night, while Franklin took the kids home. Sharron still hadn’t come back yet, and he wasn’t sure what to do. His mother didn’t respond when he tried to talk to her, and he didn’t feel like building anything anymore.
After a long time sitting with his mother, he heard the footsteps of one of the humans approaching. He had removed his goggles so he wasn’t sure who it was at first. As he sat up and slipped them back on, he saw it was the man in the red jacket.
It was easy to tell he was the head of the group. He was marked with a distinct scent, different from the others. Trevor presumed this had been the human who found and raised Godzilla, while the others were just friends who helped out.
“Hello,” he sniffed, and signed, not sure if the man even knew sign language.
“I am sorry,” he signed back.
Trevor tilted his head, then sighed. It was a lot to process, but at the same time their mother had always been sick. He knew that. Sharron tried to blame it on the humans poisoning her, but they had never known that for sure.
“We will take care of you,” the man signed. “G-O-D-Z-I-L-L-A will help.”
Trevor looked back to his mom. He remembered when he found out about Godzilla and told her about it. Before she got really sick. He had told her that he might be able to help them. But she had refused. He didn’t understand why then, but his presumption now was that she was simply too proud to ask for help from anyone. Sharron must’ve gotten that from her.
If Trisha hadn’t shut down that idea, if they had gone to Godzilla, he would have taken them to his humans. They might have been able to treat her. She might’ve had a chance. But her stubbornness had destroyed that chance. And it had led to her death.
Trevor would not make the same mistake.
“Okay,” he signed with a nod. He and Franklin would go. He wasn’t sure about Sharron, but there was no way he was leaving his baby brother behind. Even if he had to fight her.
And that’s when he heard her. He jerked his head and straightened his entire body. His sister screamed again, far, far away. She was in pain. She was suffering. Something was wrong!
His mother didn’t (couldn’t) react, so he did. Trevor called back to her at the top of his lungs, a loud, high pitched cry of fear and determination. Then he dove into the pool to follow her, leaving the humans dazed and confused.
___
Sharron withered around under the thick wired nets that held her down. The electric pulse that they shot through her body caused her immense pain, and she was unable to contain her cries of agony. It hurt so much!
She had gone to the human facility up north, the one that had attacked and poisoned her mother. She wanted her revenge. She wanted to make them pay for what they did to her. Little did she know, the facility was run by none other than Dr. Winter.
From his room in his lab, Winter watched the screen with keen interest. He noticed the striking differences and similarities between this monster and Godzilla. Could it be? A Godzilla clone? Offspring? Whatever it was, he couldn’t wait to have it and take it apart to find out.
Sharron’s fury was finally wearing off. Exhaustion set in. Fear overwhelmed her. She wanted her mother. She was still just a kid, and was still fearful of the world. She felt helpless, even though she didn’t want to. She collapsed to the ground as the nets lit up with another blast of electricity and screamed out in terror, pleading for her mother to come save her.
She was answered almost immediately.
The water nearby exploded. A roar louder than anything she’d ever heard called back to her a song of fierce protection. For a fleeting moment, she believed it to be her mother. Relief flooded her heart, and she gave another pitiful cry in response.
But when she heard it again, she noticed the slight differences in tone and pitch. It wasn’t her mother.
Godzilla lept from the water to the shore where she was being held, and lashed out at the machines that held her down with the nets. Drones above bombarded them with a shower of bullets, but he stepped his enormous figure over to shield her from them with his thick hide.
Using his massive jaws, Godzilla ripped the netting off of her and reared up to blast the drones with blazing green fire. Sharron had no idea who this was, and was dazed and confused from the pain.
“Mother?” She called weakly. “No, wait...who are you?”
Godzilla leaned back down once the danger had briefly subsided and tilted his head in curiosity. “You are like me?” he replied, in the same manner her mother would often speak in. Like he understood but in a limited sense.
She couldn’t answer him. Her head hurt, and she laid back down.
“You are hurt.” Godzilla rumbled with concern, nudging her gently. “I will protect you.”
Another shower of bullets hit him and he whirled around to face them with a cry of defiance. A new fury blazed in his eyes. She was like him. The first he’d ever encountered in all his life. She had called for his help, and he would not fail her.
He lunged forward at the machines and weapons, while Sharron tried to collect herself. Nearby, Trevor finally burst from the water and looked about wildly. He saw Godzilla battle all kinds of machines that momentarily caught his curiosity, before he heard his sister’s cries.
“Sharron!” he wailed, rushing up the shore to her. He looked her over and smelled the burnt flesh and smoke. “Oh no, what did they do to you?!”
“Trevor...get out of here. It’s too dangerous…” she groaned, still struggling to move.
“I’m not leaving without you!” he shouted at her, shoving against her side. “Get up! Get up right now!”
“Sharron!”
Trevor turned and saw Franklin rushing down a hillside towards them. He immediately started to help his brother get her to her feet, but it was difficult. She kept crumbling back to the ground, the pain too great.
Godzilla was doing his best to fight off the immediate threats, not yet realizing there was now more than one young to be protected. All the while, Winter was flipping switches in his lab, now drawn to act by the fact that there were not one, not two, but three young Godzilla babies on his doorstep.
Winter released another set of large robotic soldiers from a hanger closer to the young ones. They matched towards them, weapons ready. Trevor took notice and yanked his sister up as fast as he could.
“We have to go! NOW! Get up! Get to the water!!” He cried urgently. Sharron stumbled on her feet, both of them barely able to support her weight. But as they neared the water, she collapsed again on the sand. Franklin continued to try and shake her, crying with fear. Trevor knew they would never make it at this rate. He turned to face the robots.
Sharron had sacrificed so much for them. While their mother was sick she had hunted and fed them, comforted them and cared for them. He was not about to let anything else bad happen to his family. Not while he had something to say about it.
He lunged forward, dodging the shots they made at him with great speed and agility that he didn’t even know he had. He reached the first robot, grabbed it, and after a quick look over, he found what he was looking for. He ripped out the back of it, revealing the interior hardware.
His brain raced as he observed what he saw and pieced together the type of workings. Then, with a few simple adjustments here and there, he was able to hack into the signal from the main computer and cut it off.
A red light beeped on Winter’s dashboard, and the robots all stopped movement. He had watched Trevor the entire time, and realized what he’d done. It only made him want the young ones even more now.
Godzilla finished off the main threats and turned back towards the younger girl, now seeing two boys as well. His heart filled with sudden surprise and joy, and he rushed over to greet them.
“More like me?! Hello! Hello!” he cried, nuzzling Trevor and Franklin. The boys awkwardly chirped back a greeting, and explained that their sister was badly hurt.
“Father will help. Friends will help. Come with me.” he said, scooping up Sharron in one arm around her waist. She supported herself on his side and he led her into the water as the boys followed.
___
Trevor had easily found out that by ‘father’ and ‘friends’ Godzilla had meant the H.E.A.T. team, and had convinced him to bring Sharron back to their cave where they all were. His poor sister had just enough strength to cling to Godzilla as he carried her back through the water.
They surfaced in the underground pool, and Godzilla laid her next to her mother, whom he was shocked to see.
He sniffed her and licked her face, giving a gentle call, but she did not respond. “Sister? She is sick.”
“We know.” Franklin said sadly. “She is our mother. She’s been sick for a long time.”
“She’s dying.” Trevor added, taking all his strength to say.
The humans entered the cave and Godzilla greeted them. Suddenly, to their surprise, Trisha stirred awake.
“Who is here?” she asked weakly. Godzilla, still in the pool, turned back to her.
“Brother is here. I will protect.” he told her.
The children all exchanged looks.
“Protect my babies.” Trisha said. “Protect and care…”
Her sunken eyes dulled. Her body grew still. Her breathing ceased. She was gone.
Sharron buried her face in her neck, and Trevor and Franklin gathered around her face, giving pitiful cries of anguish. Even Godzilla, who had only known his sister for a brief few moments, felt his heart aching so badly he cried out. He had found and lost family once again.
The H.E.A.T. team all hung their heads. Monique placed a hand on Randy’s shoulder as he began to cry, denying it the whole time. Elsie turned into Craven’s shoulder, unable to bear the sight. Nick’s heart was heavy with intense guilt that there was nothing they could do to keep her alive. All they could do now was honor her final wish...
___
The goodbyes were hard. To ensure that people like Winter or the aliens from before couldn’t find and use her body for their own evil purposes, Godzilla had to cremate her remains, which were then taken out and poured into the ocean. Ensuring that she would rest in peace.
Sharron, Trevor, and Franklin were forced to say goodbye to Allie and Brian, who were devastated by the news of their mother as well. Promises to visit were made by both sides.
“Do you really have to go?” Allie asked, tears streaming down her face as she signed.
“Godzilla promised to care for us, but his cave is in New York.” Franklin signed back. “We have to go where he is.”
“And we’re going to help take care of them, too.” Nick reassured the kids. He gave them his card to be able to call anytime they wanted.
“Keep my lab safe, please.” Trevor signed. “I’d like to come back to it someday.”
The children agreed, and gave each of their large friends a big hug. Even Sharron scooped them up to say goodbye.
They all finally turned towards the shore, where Godzilla was standing and waiting patiently. He was a stranger to them, but he was family. And as they quickly found out, he was also extremely affectionate and relaxed. They waved goodbye one last time before heading into the water, following their uncle back to their new home.
“Well, this was certainly an interesting trip.” Elsie stated.
“I can’t wait to show Trevor all my favorite places to get scraps. I think he’s reeeally going to like New York.” Randy said as they walked towards the Heat Seeker.
“We’re all going to have to learn ASL in order to communicate with them, you know.” Craven pointed out.
"Sounds way better than forcing Godzilla to listen to classical music." Randy added, "Woah, wait! Do you think they could teach Godzilla sign language, too?”
Nick smiled. “I think Godzilla’s pretty good at communication already.”