It's official. I love hybernation.
That silence. That deep sleep where the cosmic winds lulled me to deep slumber, where I don't have to worry about much. It was simply sublime.
Granted, it did not last long since a certain fool that would one day be called Rodan razed hell somewhere in the seas of the proto-Asian continent, disturbing me from my two centuries-long sleep, but it was still an amazing nap.
Given the chance, I definitely want to go to sleep like that again.
Unfortunately, Earth is still not stable enough for me to indulge in such things yet.
Hell, we are still in the timeframe of the late Cretaceous Period based on the occasional T-rex that I spot whenever I go down to play with the upcoming King and Queen of monsters.
Of course, Godzilla and Mothra are nowhere near the level where they need to be to claim that title just yet, given that they are still considered juvenile by their species's standards, even if Mothra has already reincarnated a couple of times by now.
They still have a long way to go before they fully grow into the roles that I know they will fulfill in the future.
The only saving grace for those two is that they don't have to contend with me, or the two troublemakers, to claim their place in the hierarchy.
Because, as it turns out, while we three are considered Titans as well, we are more akin to a living geo-engineering team than simple super-organisms like the rest of the Titans. This means that we fall out of the chain of command for the Alpha system but are still linked to it.
I know all of this because the Titans told me this. About how they view us three and what role they believe us to be playing in the planet's existence.
It is a complicated situation where we three are kings in our own right and stand above all titans, yet we cannot command other titans directly like an Alpha can.
On some level, I think I am grateful for it. Because I don't want to fight Mothra and Godzilla if I can help it. Especially since I've grown fond of the lively little moth and the grumpy punk of a lizard.
Maybe it is those old instincts of a teacher from my old life coming into play?
As I continued my orbit with these thoughts going through my bored mind, I felt a familiar call from the Hollow Earth.
'Speak of the devil.'
With a grin, I dove down to the planet, heading straight for the nearest rift.
The rifts are strange things.
From what I've managed to learn over the years, they appear to be some kind of wormholes or some kind of energy barriers that only open up for Superspecies and Titans.
Although I am leaning more towards wormholes because of the existence of the strange in-between space that separates the Hollow Earth from the surface world.
I don't know much about it since it keeps changing with each visit, thanks to its anomalous gravity, but what I've managed to find is that the rifts open up into this in-between space, which may or may not be another pocket of space within the Earth's crust. Like a layover, before we need to take another rift to Hollow Earth.
Of course, this is not the only way to get into Hollow Earth since many 'smaller' critters have their own methods of travelling from Hollow Earth to the surface, but this is the most popular one since it is the only way that can accommodate the large bulk of the Titans.
The moment I passed through the wormhole, I felt the strange gravitational pull of the in-between space.
Without waiting for even a second, knowing that time is all wonky here thanks to personal experience, I kept moving to the other end and shot out through the exit, arriving straight into the Hollow Earth.
Exactly where the source of the call, the two children, had called me.
Mothra fluttered happily and flapped her wings, spreading her glowing dust all over the place.
Godzilla, on the other hand, gave me a grumpy look before huffing and turning away.
Of all things, I would never have expected the King of Monsters to be a Tsundere.
With a snicker, I flicked my tail, lightly tapping his head.
Of course, the punk did not like it and growled at me, but I simply dared him to do something about it.
With a hum of energy, he charged his atomic breath and unleashed it on me.
It was not at full power, not even at one percent of his true power. Mainly because he was not looking to harm me, only to make a statement.
'This brat. He is getting bolder by the day. Or should I say, bold by the century? Whatever.'
Ever since he gained his atomic breath by consuming that strange blue energy crystals that grow in the Hollow Earth, he has been an insufferable little brat about it, forgetting that he only did that in the first place becuase he wanted to gain a power similar to my Macron Cannon which he witnessed me use when I took out an extremely dangerous asteroid more than a century ago.
'It really is a shame that I never got to watch all the Monsterverse movies back when I was a human. I would have loved to know that Godzilla was like this in his youth. Not to mention knowing more about that mysterious mineral that doesn't seem to do anything for me as it did for Godzilla.'
Shaking my head, I brushed against Mothra's mind with my own, inquiring why they called me here.
She happily shoved a series of images towards me, bundled with emotions of curiosity and apprehension.
'Ah. I see. They stumbled upon the Apes.'
The giant apes that call this place home are known to me. How could I not know them when I personally segregated their land from the rest of the Hollow Earth so that they could live in peace?
From the scattered fragments of my human memories, I know that, someday, they will give birth to Kong. However, I don't really care about that distant future.
For me, the apes are a rather peaceful tribe of species that borders on sapience, just like Mothra and Godzilla do.
It really is a shame that the Godzilla species are rather solitary beings, similar to leopards. They don't usually stick together once they grow into juveniles and move out into the world.
The only time two members of the Godzilla species will ever be found in the same place is to mate and lay eggs. That's it.
That is why I consider it a shame. Because if the Godzilla and Mothra species had also formed a unique culture of their own, it would have been a truly beautiful sight.
Although it might be a little tough to do that for the Mothra species, given that her species is functionally extinct as far as we can tell.
I mean, I personally helped search for anymore speciment of her species across the Hollow Earth and on the surface a few hundred years ago, but we came up empty-handed with her being the only one of her race.
I silently followed the two younglings despite knowing exactly where we were going, not willing to tell them that I was responsible for hiding the apes from the other superspecies in the Hollow Earth more than a thousand years ago.
Mainly because it is irrelevant to them.
Soon, we arrived at a large mountainous area where the apes have carved out a life for themselves, literally.
They carved out the mountains to make chambers for shelter. They created tools for their daily lives. They live in relative harmony, from what I can see.
A magnificent sight indeed.
Of course, the moment they saw our approach, the Alpha, a rather large ape that looked similar to a Silver-Back roared and raised his axe-Hold the phone!
Is that a goddamed dorsal plate from an adult Godzilla specimen? What the hell happened in the years I left them to their isolation?
GRRRRR
'Ah! Shit. Looks like Godzilla arrived at the same conclusion.'
With a huff, I brushed against Godzilla's mind and instructed him not to go off the handle just yet. At least, not before the apes can communicate properly.
Godzilla grumbled, but relented. His rising atomic breath retreating back into his core.
'Seriously. Its like wrangling teenagers all over again.'
Then again, he is a juvenile, so in a way, he really is a teenager.
Before the apes could do something stupid, cooler minds prevailed, as some of the older apes hooted and communicated with their alpha.
Given the knowing looks they were giving me, I assume that they recognize me from back then.
What followed was an awkward attempt at communication made by the apes, given that their communication method is slightly different from that of other Titans. A disgruntled Godzilla who kept demanding to know about the axe. And a lively Mothra who was her usual self.
I really wanted to raise my arms and beg god (or Arceus) to tell me why I was stuck in this situation.
'Oh! Right. It is my fault to begin with. It's because I ended up befriending these two that I am caught in this shenanigan, right?'
Truly, there is nothing worse than being stuck in an awkward situation and having no one to blame for it but yourself.
Hopefully, things will calm down a bit as the years go by and humanity comes about.
If I remember right, the Iwi tribe is supposed to coexist with Titans in a few million years, right?
It should be really fun to interact with them later on.
-------------------------------------------
Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon
Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1