“We’re here!”

Rebecca jerked awake. Caerulea’s voice was deep and it seemed to penetrate Rebecca’s whole body when she spoke. The rhythmic noises of the ocean, the soft and gentle tentacles wrapped around her, how Caerulea would swim, rocking her giant head back and forth had lulled Rebecca into a sleep. Rebecca was so tired, how long had they been traveling? The smell hit her as she regained consciousness. Caerulea was a nice person but man she smelled like the ocean.

Rebecca wiggled her arm free from the tentacles holding her in the air near the side of Caerulea’s face. Rebecca wiped the drool from the side of her mouth, then rubbed her eyes and gazed into the distance. There it was, Caerulea’s island, bathed in the moonlight and a bit difficult to see but it had cliffs, palm trees, sand, and jungle. Rebecca wiggled her hands back down into her pockets and fished out her phone. It was 1am, they had been traveling for more than two and a half hours. Rebecca almost couldn’t believe she wasn’t dreaming, it was so strange to be carried around by a giant kaiju in the middle of the night to her island. Rebecca yawned and then immediately realized how tired and thirsty she was.

“Man, you really live out here don’t you?”

Rebecca saw Caerulea’s huge ear twitch in her direction as she spoke.

“W-well, I usually sleep underwater but I like to come to deserted islands like this one to watch the sunset or things like that. I didn’t realize but I swim quite a bit slower above water so I think I might have underestimated how long it would take me to get here. I have so many questions for you but I didn’t want to disturb you sleeping, I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable.”

Rebecca shoved the phone back into her pocket and stretched her arms out above her head, groaning as she felt a few vertebrae pop. “Ugn, nope your hair thingies were very accommodating, I was quite comfortable!” Rebecca didn’t know it but Caerulea had been obsessing over the comfort of her passenger the whole way, her tentacles were sore from trying not to move too much and disturb Rebecca’s sleep. Besides her father on occasion, she didn’t have a lot of experience carrying humans around, especially for long periods of time.

Caerulea’s sigh of relief was quite audible. “That’s great!”

Rebecca yawned again. “Well, I dunno about you but I’m beat! I know you took some damage from that mantis kaiju. Do you think you could show me where that spring water you were talking about is? I’m really thirsty and it was a hot day out today…”

“Of course! I’ll bring you right to the source of the island’s creek. Just give me a few minutes and we’ll be there, then we’ll see about making you a place to sleep.” Rebecca could only watch in awe as Caerulea began to walk out of the water. Rebecca rose with her, rising higher and higher above the ground. Her heart beat faster, she heard the crash of the water as Cearulea’s body emerged from the crashing waves. It was a little scary dangling so far above the world, Rebecca clutched one of Caerulea’s tentacles as they reached the beach and water flowed off of Caerulea’s body like a river. Caerulea suddenly stopped, “Are you doing ok, Rebecca?”

Rebecca breathed a bit heavily. “I-I’m fine, I’m just not used to being this high above the ground, I know I live in an apartment but this is different!” Rebecca felt the tentacles wrap around her just a bit more tightly.

“I promise I won’t drop you. Let’s get you to the spring.” Caerulea began walking in earnest. There was a pre existing path carved out of the jungle where it seemed she had walked before. Rebecca noticed how careful Caerulea was to try and not step on trees or stray out of her pre-existing path. Caerulea climbed up the island, using 50 foot cliffs like stairs until they were near the top of the island. The island was kind of mountainous, there was an incredible view of the ocean. Caerulea found a clearing near the stream and climbed down to her hands and knees, carefully lowering her head to the ground. Rebecca felt the tentacles around her shift and she too was lowered to the ground. Rebecca stumbled a little, it seemed like she wasn’t quite used to solid ground after swaying around for so long.

Rebecca looked up at Caerulea from the ground. Caerulea sat down and crossed her legs. Rebecca could feel the ground beneath her vibrate like a minor earthquake. “Man, you seem even larger from down here! It’s really quite incredible that someone like you even exists! I mean yeah, there’s Orchid but she’s a horse! I mean, you’re not exactly human but you’re more human than any other kaiju I’ve ever seen! After all the damage and death that kaijus have done to us, the desperate lengths we’ve gone through to fight them, it kind of gives me some hope to see you, someone I can actually talk and reason with, you know? It seems like such a rare thing in this world, someone like you just being a normal person.”

Caerulea blushed bright blue and turned her face slightly in a quite futile attempt to hide her expression. It was the nicest thing anyone other than her mom or dad had ever said to her. Lea wiped at her nose with a webbed finger and revealed a huge smile. “Aww, thank you! It feels so great to hear you, a human, say that! You know, I’ve always admired humans! You all can do incredible things despite being so tiny! I’ve heard about your computers, I’ve seen your ships and airplanes. Just yesterday I got to see your buildings for the first time. I wasn’t sure if I believed my mom but they really are a lot taller than I am! Not to mention the Jaegers…”

Hnnng! How could such a large and monstrous kaiju be so adorable? Caerulea’s face lit up as she started talking about humans, the expressions on her face were so bright and passionate. She watched as Lea continued, Rebecca could even feel gusts of wind as Lea gestured around with her arms explaining how big humanity’s cities were. Rebecca couldn’t help it as a half smirking smile crept into her face watching Caerulea explain things. Caerulea seemed like some kind of enthusiast, gushing about the fictional franchise they were a fan of.

“So, what’s it like to be a human? What’s your everyday life like? I mean, I know a bit from my dad but he never lived a regular human life, ya-know?”

Rebecca paused, Caerulea seemed like she could be a bit overwhelming and Rebecca was exhausted from the trip and the day’s events. She was extremely sore from being violently jostled during Caerulea’s fight.

Rebecca held up her hands in a halting gesture. “Look, lemme drink a bit of water before we continue, my mouth is so dry I might have a hard time talking for more than a few seconds at a time. Also, I really need to go use the little girl’s room.” She looked up at Caerulea.

“What’s the little girl’s room?” Lea looked genuinely curious.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow. “Uh, I need to use the restroom.”

“Oh! Of course!” Lea abruptly stood up, Rebecca felt the ground vibrate beneath her. It was incredible how quickly a huge being like Caerulea could move. Lea paused. “Look, I’m going to go to the beach and gather some dried palm leaves to make you a bed. I hope you don’t mind sleeping on them just for tonight, that and the sand on the beach should be at least somewhat comfortable. I’ll get going and give you some privacy. If you need anything just holler, you might not think it but I have excellent hearing and my dad told me it’s much better than human hearing. I should be able to hear you even if you were miles away.”

Rebecca nodded, she had to now crane her neck upwards to look at Caerulea’s face, it was almost dizzying how large she was. “I appreciate that, Lea. Do you mind if I call you Lea?”

Caerulea smiled widely. “Of course! Either one works. My parents call me that sometimes, I would love it if my first friend called me that also.”

Ugh, Caerulea was so wholesome! It made Rebecca want to throw up rainbows. Well, she should be thankful to be saved by such a kind person, she probably would have been eaten if almost any of the other Kaiju had captured her. “Nice! Well, I’ll get my business done while you make me a bed.” Rebecca walked into the Jungle and looked behind her, she could hear thundering hoofsteps slowly fading as the behemoth walked to the beach. What an insane day this had been. Rebecca shook her head and relieved herself. Between the gaps of trees and foliage she could see the top of Caerulea. She had uprooted a palm tree and held it up in front of her face, her hair tentacles were reaching out and plucking the leaves off the tree in a quite efficient manner. It was incredible how much dexterity a huge creature like herself had. Then she remembered the kaiju training she had received in school, warning how kaijus had adapted small, for their size, tendrils to reach far into small places to grab and extract humans from rubble or hiding places to grab and eat them. She shivered slightly as she watched these same tendrils pick palm leaves off of a palm tree like how she would pluck petals from a flower. She thanked her lucky stars once more that she had run into Caerulea and not some other monster that would have plucked her off the ground like a palm leaf and tossed her into its mouth like a potato chip.

After Rebecca finished up her business and slurped her fill of water from the spring she walked up to the edge of a cliff and watched Caerulea work down at the beach. It was a bit mesmerizing to see such a strange thing. Rebecca watched as Lea tossed a naked palm tree into the jungle and it crashed into other trees. Soon there was what resembled a hay stack of dried and still wet palm leaves. That seemed like plenty.

“Hey, Lea!”

Caerulea’s ear swiveled in her direction and the huge kaiju quickly turned to her. Blue eyes glowed in the shadows and instantly pointed directly at Rebecca as the moonlight cast the titan in shadow. Rebecca’s heart skipped a beat as Caerulea smiled, she even had sharp teeth that glittered in the moonlight. It was a rather unfortunate nighttime light that made Lea seem kind of menacing, but Rebecca couldn’t stay scared as Lea waved.

Caerulea seemed to notice Rebecca’s slight hesitation and split second frightened expression. She had seen it in so many humans before. She was about to say something but hesitated, her toothy smile shrank a bit. Caerulea suddenly wondered if the human was only pretending to be her friend to survive.

“You- you’re not scared of me, are you?” Caerulea’s voice seemed smaller than it usually was but it easily carried over the half mile distance between them.

Rebecca frowned and placed her hands on her hips as she looked at the glowing blue eyes, peering out of the darkness at her. She snorted and then laughed, it was such a ridiculous situation she was in.

“No, I’m not scared of you, you silly kaiju! I trust you! You’ve always shown such care for my safety, being as large as you are. You’re a nice and incredible person, you saved my life! I mean, ok, seeing you like that with the moonlight casting your whole face in shadow with your eyes glowing at me is a bit scary but it’s fine! Don’t worry about it! I know you’re not like all those other monsters.” Rebecca raised an eyebrow and stared at Lea with a bit of a smirk as she tried not to laugh at this kaiju’s seemingly fragile confidence. Rebecca’s smirk waned when she saw that Caerulea wasn’t smiling as widely as before.

“Are you sure?” Lea suddenly seemed so shy. It was adorable as it was ridiculous. Rebecca rolled her eyes.

“Of course I am! Don’t tell me you’re afraid of me now! Get over here and carry me to the beach you adorable little kaiju!”

“I’m adorable?” Caerulea blushed blue with embarrassment.

“Yeah, now get over here!” Rebecca shouted.

Rebecca couldn’t help but chuckle as the embarrassed satyr kaiju lumbered her way over. Caerulea slowly squatted down in front of the cliff so that her face was more level with Rebecca. Her huge face loomed, glowing in the night as she began to talk.

“I made you a bed and I was able to find some firewood if you get cold but I don’t think it gets that cold around here in the caribbean. Ready to go?”

“Yup, let’s go.”

Caerulea leaned forward and her hair feelers reached out. Rebecca couldn’t help but reach out her own hand as the first hair tendril reached out to her. Rebecca smiled and Caerulea looked a little embarrassed as her tendril gently curled around the girl’s hand but it faded and she smiled, revealing her huge fangs and tusks. It was a magical moment, true friendship between kaiju and human. More tendrils reached out and wrapped themselves around Rebecca’s torso and thighs and lifted her up, pulling her close to Caerulea’s cheek. Rebecca caught only a glimpse but it looked like Lea’s eyes were watering slightly. Caerulea stood up from her squat and a rush of wind blew around Rebecca as she quickly rose more than a hundred feet, she could feel her stomach drop a little and her ears popped slightly. Caerulea used the commotion to wipe her face with the back of her hand, probably hoping Rebecca wouldn’t notice.

Lea walked in silence for a few moments but Rebecca spoke up. “You’re really special, you know, Lea. You don’t have to be out here all alone. As much as I want to keep you all to myself, I’m sure there’s a lot of other humans out there that would love to be your friend.” Rebecca sighed. “There have been a lot of strange things going on in the world, conspiracy theories abound, nobody really knows what’s going on. Humanity could really use your help, I’m sure you’d be famous.” Caerulea sensed something was off about how Rebecca spoke but she didn’t really know what it could be.

They reached the beach and Lea went through the process of setting Rebecca down once again, depositing her on the beach. Rebecca marveled at the creation in front of her. There was the trunk of a coconut tree split in half like a toothpick and it was divided at one end kind of like a fork. This fork served to stabilize the trunk against another coconut tree creating the spine of a lean to shelter. Branches leaned against the trunk and palm leaves covered the side creating a small shelter. The floor of the shelter was full of palm leaves that served as the floor. With the sand underneath, it wouldn’t be too bad to sleep on.

“You made this? How-” Rebecca said in wonder.

“Well, I have a little experience helping my dad make shelters when we went camping together. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to think of a good way to make a pillow but I gathered some firewood and I can make you a bonfire if you want, I know a little trick my mom taught me.”

“Wow! That’s amazing! Someone so big like you can make such a small structure for me! I bet you could make a fortune helping out with construction. Those cranes are not cheap, you know!”

Caerulea frowned. “I don’t know, I feel like I could do a lot of damage with one false move.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, I bet they could find something for you that’s not in the middle of the city, maybe a project away from a dense population. When you’re rich and famous, make sure you remember little old me, ok?”

Caerulea lowered herself further until she was flat on the beach with her head resting on her hands, trying but failing to look at Rebecca at eye level. “Is there something wrong?”

Rebecca looked up, a little embarrassed at Caerulea’s face. They stared in each others’ eyes for a few moments. Rebecca sighed. “You’re amazing. Full stop. So amazing and incredible that I’m amazed that I’m even talking to you. I can tell you right now that when you finally make contact with the rest of humanity, I think that you’re going to be a celebrity. I don’t even know how you would even be able to pick me out of a crowd. But that’s not really important. I’m not that special, humanity needs you more than me, it’s super important for civilization’s very survival.”

“I think you’re special.” Cearulea said.

Rebecca blinked rapidly, she couldn’t show weakness now, the fate of humanity was hanging in the balance. She sniffed slightly. “Why don’t you show me the trick for starting a fire? I see the huge pile of dry wood you made over there.” She pointed at the firewood.

Caerulea didn’t look at the firewood, she was still looking at Rebecca, fixated and deep in thought. “Do you really think that they’ll like me? I always thought that humans were terrified of me.”

Rebecca thought for a moment. Perhaps she was half right, people were terrified of kaiju. Rebecca sighed, “Perhaps you’re right but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try! People have been fighting kaiju for decades, it’s an ingrained fear. I know there’s Orchid but even now there’s lots of people who don’t trust her. But don’t worry about all that, just show them with your actions, I know that you care about humanity, you’ve shown me as much. Orchid has started to turn the tides a bit, I mean she even has a fan club in the university I attend, you even resemble her a little. It might not be as hard as you think to get people on your side. I mean, I’ll definitely try to help however I can.”

Rebecca looked back up at Caerulea, Lea seemed to be almost gazing through her, eyes unfocused. It seemed her words had a profound effect. Rebecca couldn’t help but smile. “Sounds like a good deal, huh? I don’t want you to be out here all alone, it’s not right. I mean, you’re part human too, right? Humans are social creatures, we aren’t meant to be isolated out here for ever. Speaking of, before you bring me back tomorrow we need to think of a plan of how to stay in contact. Things have been tough in the big city, especially with all the recent chaos but I should be able to make time for you. Our city hasn’t been as affected as others so refugees have been piling in from almost everywhere. It’s a good thing that we have a new city manager, her name is Piezo. She has been in charge of organizing the city as well as the newly emerging superhero sector. I don’t know where we’d be without her running things, I bet we wouldn’t even have electricity.” Rebecca shook her head. “There has been so much chaos these last few years, sometimes it seems like society is just trying to hang on for dear life. I’m glad that I was at least able to keep studying at the university. Things are tight tho, I need a part time job just to survive.”

Caerulea looked at Rebecca with an almost hungry look. “Can you please tell me more about your everyday life? I-I’ve always been so curious to talk to a normal human.” She sighed. “I know my dad is a human but he was never really ‘normal’ per se.” Caerulea’s hair tendrils made an air quote gesture as she talked, it made Rebecca snort at how silly, unique and cute the towering titan could be. Lea looked over at Rebecca snorting with slight confusion but Rebecca recovered quickly as if nothing happened.

“Sure, sure! Well, let’s see here. I’m a college student which if I’m being honest is a bit of a rarity in this day and age but before the Schism, society seemed to be recovering in a big way so I kind of got in before it became crazy. It was all thanks to the Jaegers and your mom protecting us and winning against the Precursors. Well, let’s see here. On the weekdays I usually have a lot of classes and homework as well as my job as a fast food worker. That usually keeps me busy most of the day but I do have one or two hours in the evening for a show or just to browse Youtube.”

“What’s fast food, and what’s youtube?” Caerulea interrupted with intense curiosity.

“Oh, wow. Well, fast food is a system we have in place where food is mass produced on the cheap for anyone who is hungry and wants to be served quickly. Youtube is an on demand service that allows people to upload video recordings on the internet for others to see. It’s kind of replacing mass media in some senses.” Rebecca looked up at Lea. “Were you able to understand that?”

“I think so! My dad told me about the concept of the internet and also videos, he even showed me a few with a big projector he had. It was hard to get new videos out where we were at but I’ve seen quite a few of them.”

Caerulea continued asking various questions. What’s it like being in a car? Flying in a plane, using a computer, a phone, living inside a building, having to talk to so many people on a daily basis. Rebecca grew a little sad, realizing how much Caerulea couldn’t participate and how much of a primitive life she was leading. But it was getting late, despite how exciting it was to be in the presence of a kind and friendly kaiju, she was nodding off.

“Look, Lea, I absolutely love talking to you but man, I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open. How about I get some sleep so that I can talk to you all the way back to the mainland. Also, I have a few good ideas of how we might be able to keep in contact. There’s a few beaches with big cliffs a bit south of where I live that I could go to on the weekends and meet up with you. I wish I could just spend time with you every day, I’ve been so busy just keeping up with work and school.” Rebecca paused. “I really want to help you Caerulea, the question is, what do you want to do? I mean I could just hang out with you and keep you all to myself. That would be great for me, but do you want me to try and help you meet more people? Maybe get in contact with the government?”

Caerulea remembered the distrust, fear and sometimes hate that came from some of the few PPDC employees she came in contact with. There were only a few of them that looked like they could have had an attitude similar to Rebecca’s.

“I think that for now I want to keep a low profile. We can talk more about this on the way back tomorrow. For now though, let’s get you a fire. I’ll show you the trick that I learned from mom.” She smirked and started to sit up from her prone position slowly taking an Indian style seat, then she hesitated. “Uh, do you think that you can back away from the firewood and maybe stand behind that tree? I don’t want you to be hit by shrapnel.”

“Shrapnel! What are you going to do?” Rebecca quickly walked over to a tree and stood behind it, peeking her head out.

“Eh, it’s not gonna be a big explosion or anything but better safe than sorry when it comes to humans, right?” She looked over at Rebecca and she nodded a bit dumbly. Caerulea smiled, showing teeth. She was a bit excited, she never got to show off this ability to anyone other than her parents. “Alright, here I go!” Caerulea rubbed her fingers together and the tips of her hair as well as her eyes seemed to glow quite a bit brighter, she brought her huge finger above the huge stack of wood and suddenly a huge crackle and buzzing noise sounded, not quite as loud as thunder but not quiet either. A bright blue flash occurred as electricity erupted from her fingertips and zapped the wood pile. An afterimage was stuck in Rebecca’s eyes and she rubbed them slightly as well as a ringing in her ears that quickly faded.

“Dang! Did you just create thunder?! Holy crap, I still have the afterimage seared into my retinas!” But there in front of her, the pile of wood was on fire. “Wow, that’s awesome! Looks like I’m not gonna be cold tonight, also, it will drive away the bugs. Thanks!”

Caerulea smiled proudly, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Thanks for putting up with me today, Rebecca, and I’m sorry I couldn’t get you a better place to sleep.”

“Nah! This is fine, and with the fire I can even use my shirt as a pillow on top of your palm leaves. Next time tho, I’m definitely bringing my camping gear! Ohmygosh, this is going to be so fun seeing you and camping every weekend. I’m so excited!” Rebecca found herself smiling too.

Caerulea was ecstatic, she couldn’t believe her luck! She found a human friend that she could hang out with every week! “Alright, I’ll let you get some sleep. I’ll sleep on the beach sand a bit further up the beach. I usually sleep in the ocean but I think I can afford to sleep under the stars for one night to keep you company. Give me a holler if you need anything.”

“Thanks for being so awesome, Caerulea, and thank you for saving my life.”

Caerulea blushed a blue tinted blush on her cheeks and looked away slightly, she looked back at Rebecca. “Do you mind if I give you a hug goodnight?” She gestured at her hair tendrils hanging near her face.

“I would love it, get over here!” Rebecca walked out from behind the tree and past the fire. Lea leaned down her head and closed her eyes as she felt her hair tendrils wrap around Rebecca and gingerly gave her a nice but tight hug. Rebecca wrapped her arms around the tentacles and returned the hug. They both released the hug after a moment.

“Alright, like I said, I’ll be over there if you need me.” Lea pointed a thumb down the beach.

“Goodnight, Lea! Sleep well.”

Caerulea slowly stood up and they both made the most of their unfamiliar beds. Despite this, they were both completely exhausted from the chaotic day and quickly fell asleep.

Author's Note

I have had quite a few ideas brewing for this story for a while. Have really wanted to get these ideas and feelings out of my head and on paper. A coming of age superhero story reminiscent of Worm and other universes. I'm probably going to keep following Caerulea and Rebecca for a bit but I will move on to other characters like Blossom, Amber, Piezo, perhaps even characters like Tija and Thrill Seeker. I also have some complex interactions planned for these characters. We'll see though, it will also be a process to introduce and use new characters that aren't strangefus, something that I sadly don't have a lot of experience with. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I may make a blog post tomorrow tagged with this story that gives more background on Caerulea and perhaps some other characters. I am sure that many of you are not familiar with the Strange Waifu group and the characters created from that group being used in this story. I'll ask for some permission to post some artwork of some of these characters as well as get a bit further into their origins and how they might be used in this story. Stay tuned!