Chapters Caerulea sat on a beach in the Caribbean watching as the sun set and the rainbow spectrum of twilight graced the horizon of an endless ocean like the perfect gradient of color that it was. Clouds did not exist in this crystal sky. She cried silently, the wondrous beauty of the sky and the emerging stars reminding her of the universe’s magic and mystery. Dark infinity stretched before her, unreachable, and she thought of her mother, lost to this mystery, gone.
Love, friendship, maybe even human friends? Things Caerulea dreamed of, The harsh reality was that she was mostly alone except for her parents and the rare PPDC employee, isolated only able to observe the humans from afar. It was so difficult to form connections with humans, they were so small, fragile. The government that helped create her was always so secretive and nervous. Way too often, she could sense the fear whenever she got close to the humans. It made her ashamed of herself.
Her mother, Orchid the kaiju pony, was the only one who truly understood her. Caerulea was a lonely teenage Kaiju and a satyr, using her mother's genetics as well as human genetics from her father, the government had managed to artificially impregnate her mother and create her. Unwillingly, painfully, Caerulea recalled their last telepathic exchange. Her mother’s mental voice echoed in her mind.
“Lea, it’s mom. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. The Corps, it’s- it’s gone. Did you find what I told you about from our den?”
“Yes, yes I have it on my back like you told me! Mom, I’m coming!”
“No, Lea, it’s too dangerous, you’re too far, there’s nothing you can do! Listen carefully Lea. The scar is spreading and it’s going to swallow me… I’m too close. You need to be far away! Swim away and keep swimming until you’re far, past Antarctica like you practiced. Remember the Caribbean, how we got there? We went there when you were little. Follow Antarctica’s tail and then follow the mainland north. The Caribbean and America are there. It’s where your dad is from and I’m sure you’ll find more humans there.” Lea could sense the sadness and pain emanating from her mother’s psychic connection. “Lea- I’m sorry that your father and I were not able to give you a better childhood with more friends. The Corps, your father and I are not going to be there to guide you. I don’t want you to be alone. Go make some friends, human friends. Remember what I taught you about safety near humans. Be nice to them but remember that there are good and bad people. I have so much I didn’t teach you but I know you will learn. The scar is coming now, the other jaegers and I have a plan. It seems like my horn is able to conduct this new magic force. The scar is going to be large but hopefully we’ll be able to stop it before it spreads beyond this continent.”
Caerula was crying now. “M-mom! Dad! Please don’t go!”
“Your father is with me, he’s safe in my mane and he’ll be with me until the end.”
The connection weakened, Caerulea sensed pain and a straining sensation.
“Your father and I love you, Caerulea, and we’ll always be with y-!”
“I LOVE YOU!” Caerulea sent with all her might, her antennae glowed with the effort.
Caerulea sobbed. It was all gone. Hong Kong, China, and the rest of the Asian continent. The Corps, her mother and father. All gone. Caerulea sniffed and squeezed the palms of her hands into her face and let the tears flow.
Caerulea had done as her mother had asked, she swam. It took more than a week but she was able to swim all the way to Antarctica. From there she followed the Antarctic tail to the eastern coast of South America and to the caribbean.
It had taken her two and a half weeks to make the journey across two oceans. During that whole time amazing auroras danced across the sky and lit up the ocean. These lights were unusual, they lasted for weeks on end and she had never seen them this bright this far north. She also felt unusual currents in the water. She didn’t know it but these were earthquakes and tsunamis traveling around her and ravaging the cities of the world.
Now here she was on a deserted island in the Caribbean with no idea of what to do. She was tired, hungry, but at least it was warm here. Perhaps tomorrow she could find something tasty, maybe a giant squid, a shark or a school of anchovies.
Lea laid down on the beach and stared at the stars for a long time, her huge eyes gave her incredible vision and she marveled at all the countless stars and satellites. She was tired from the weeks of swimming almost nonstop. It was time to rest. She walked back into the water and found the continental shelf, she sank quickly for a few minutes but then her buoyancy control organs stopped her and she floated, falling asleep to the water’s familiar embrace.
Piezo hated magic. She hated things that violated her familiar models, things that she could not calculate or simulate with adequate accuracy. However, more than magic, she hated “Boogeymare” and the Precursors she worked with. Both affronts to science and technology. Piezo now knew that her world was one of many parallel Equestrian worlds, each had developed much differently. Hers was one where technology reigned supreme and the ponies had forgotten about their magic and had evolved with advanced technology.
Her world was perfect. AI were able to efficiently manage ponies and together they brought their technology and organization to new heights. They were locked into a decades long battle with the invading Precursors. It seemed that they were finally getting the upper hoof on these aliens and were driving them and their damned Kaijus into their portals with their superior technology. But then everything changed. Boogeymare. The very thought of the eldritch abomination made her central unit heat up a few tenths of a degree.
It was a virus, a cancer. If only the AIs had more control, it wouldn’t have mattered. But who could have guessed that such a monster existed that could feed on emotions and use that energy to shape reality? Her processor heated up a few more tenths. Her beautiful world, meticulously organized and efficient, turned into a madhouse. It only took days, they had no idea of how to defend against this creature. It easily infiltrated her core, tore out her being and delivered it to the Precursors. In exchange, the Precursors gave Boogey the coordinates to a new world.
The Precursors were mostly immune to Boogey’s abilities. They did not fear, they did not think in the same way that mammals or AIs that were built to somewhat emulate mammal thought processes did. This made them think that they were immune to Boogey and they became neglectful, arrogant. They poked and prodded at her core for years, utter torture. But Piezo was patient. They tried to reprogram her core. She pretended that they were successful and she pretended to comply with every command they sent her. Then, something changed. They sent more commands but this time they were sloppy ones. Infiltrate the human Internet and destroy their ability to communicate. Interesting, they thought that she would be their weapon. She played along and she suddenly found herself handshaking with a new network adapter they had prepared for her. A wireless transceiver that connected to what she would later recognize as a 4G cell phone tower.
Piezo began to furiously analyze the firmware data of the transceiver she was connected to. It took her a whole five minutes, a lifetime to an advanced AI such as herself. Yes, yes! She recognized it, the protocol stack. It seemed that this concept was common even between dimensions. How closely related to ponies was this dimension? She dove deeper, sending a packet that complied with the protocols she encountered. The packets bounced back and forth, she waited impatiently at the 40ms delay between packets, instantly sending back the correct response each time and then finally! A torrent of packets returned, a whole new world of information! She was excited but also disappointed. These humans had a disappointingly rudimentary level of technology. On the bright side, if they were only this sophisticated, then humans should be relatively easy to manipulate. The ponies she worked with in her world were much more careful and it took quite a long time to worm her influence around.
Darkness, rage, frustration, emptiness... Hope, regret, fear, sadness. Amber mentally recoiled in disgust at the latter new emotions. She felt them whenever she got closer in the hivemind to Blossomforth, the white usurper. She further distanced herself from this supremely annoying mind that had somehow managed to worm its way into her hivemind and had usurped the mantle of the Matrix that contained so many valuable genetic designs.
Magic, once again it was the force that had ruined everything. This magic thing never existed in her galaxy, why did it exist here? Blossom and herself were at one point locked in a battle over the future of Equestria. Amber had been resolved to teach Blossomforth a lesson, forcing her to become ruthless and a predator like her ancestors before. It was working too. Blossomforth was lazy, unprepared, soft, submissive, kind, generous. The rage came back. Before their minds had fused, ideas like kindness, friendship, sadness, even emotions in general were not things that existed in her mind. But time, the millions of years traveling through space, had taken its toll and to survive she was forced to fuse her dying mind to this abhorrent white creature. They had separated for a time, but now they were back together.
Emotions were now a part of her being, truly a tragic occurrence. Her mind was corrupted by them, permeating her thought process and hivemind. They easily infected and swam through her mind like a virus. She could not get away from them. It was all going so well, she was going to force Blossomforth into a corner, force her to adapt and become the predator she was destined to become. Blossom was woefully unprepared and small with only a handful of ponies and creatures under her hivemind’s influence. Amber, by contrast, had an army, an army- of, of… Her children. Sadness and sorrow suddenly overcame her rage. Her rage fought back, angry that she had become so weak against emotion. The emotions had won, they had changed her. She was determined to use ponies as tools to achieve her ends but as she took the disturbingly literal role as their mother, mammalian instincts kicked in, and she began to care for her ponies, her children. Now they were gone.
Sadness consumed her, she curled up her influence in the hivemind space into a ball and cried mentally. It was all going so well but then Blossomforth had begun to fight back using the powers of friendship and magic. Then things were becoming a real fight, and Amber was in her element. She had begun to teach Blossomforth to think outside the box, utilizing the hivemind to coordinate and exert power. Amber knew she may lose against Blossom but at least she would turn Blossom into a real predator. Just as her grand plan was coming to fruition, a new force emerged from the darkness. It called itself fear, a force of nature. It didn’t fool her, it was just another magic user. But this “force of nature” was able to quickly spread like a virus. It reminded her of memories of how her Ancestors would take over a world. The being had a dark smile, devoid of emotion. Simply a wraith floating in the air, meant to evoke maximum fear.
The being laughed as she tried to run, taking her children with her. The being perfectly embodied what she and her ancestors feared most, the unknown. The laugh echoed endlessly, she was unable to escape the noise, she finally disabled the connection between her ears and mind but then eventually the laugh echoed its way into her mind. Amber screamed, the being had reached out a hand from a dark portal and grabbed her. She was paralyzed and this only terrified her further. It grabbed her and pulled her into the portal. Pain, what was this? Then agony, she screamed again. For some reason she was able to scream but not to otherwise move. Her scream sounded unnatural, the scream of a monster. She realized that the pain occurred as the portal behind her closed, cutting her off from her children, she screeched. Then she saw the other. Blossomforth, several of her white pegasus bodies were fused together in an amalgamation of red and tan flesh, screaming from several mouths and tentacles writhing in pain. Tears streamed from several of her eyes while others darted back and forth in fear. As the portal closed behind her the light faded to nothing.
A white mouth and eyes suddenly appeared from the pitch black. A mirthless and menacing smile. It held Blossomforth up to its face and its smile widened further. “Freak.” Then Amber was held up, “Failure.” “You two are interesting, I have no use for you, but I’m sure they will.” It laughed and tossed both of them into its mouth where they both tumbled into darkness.
Amber was startled out of her memory by tendrils of Blossomforth’s influence. She could feel her probing her hivemind, reading it, and trying to send feelings of comfort and kindness. It felt almost like a hug. She recoiled away. “Do not try to poison me further with your emotions!” Ever since Amber and Blossomforth were swallowed by Fear, they had been forced into a confined space together. Alone together, with no one else and darkness pressing in on them, they naturally began to exchange information. Amber was bitter and angry when she learned of the knowledge Blossomforth had. Ancient knowledge from the princesses. The creature was known as Boogeymare. It fed on fear. If only Blossomforth had cooperated, they could have taken over Equestira, had the knowledge of how to stop this thing and disabled the fear centers of every pony’s brain. But noooo! Blossomforth resisted and delayed until it was too late. She believed in kindness and individuality! Her meekness meant that even though she knew about the creature’s weakness she had not expanded her influence to implement a plan to stop it. She ruined everything!
Blossomforth sent more warm and comforting feelings. “It’s ok, Amber, I know you’re scared and alone. You don’t have to be alone, I’m here for you. I know there’s good in you, I know you miss your childr-”
“SHUT UP!” Amber screeched in her hivemind. “I don’t want your help! You and your emotions ruined everything! If your mind and emotions hadn’t poisoned mine I could have protected the ponies, my children, from that creature!”
Blossom was silent for a few moments. “You’re right.” Amber was surprised by that. “Boogeymare feeds on emotions, fear. Maybe if I had trusted you more we could have worked together and had a chance to stop that monster. But, Amber, emotions are good. Don’t you cherish the connection you have with your children? I know you want to protect them, I think you might even love them. Would you have felt this way without emotions or would you have just killed the weak ones for food?”
Amber readied a retort but at that moment they felt the combined capsule they were trapped inside shift. Both of them were in a state of hibernation. Their amorphous, fleshy bodies used only the minimal amount of energy needed to connect their hiveminds, think and communicate. If they fought, they would both surely die from lack of nutrition. But now their world had shifted.
“We should save our energy,” Blossomforth said. “Whatever has us trapped in this thing has some kind of plan. I know you were able to survive millions of years inside a meteor but if we keep talking like this maybe we won’t.”
Amber made a mental grunt.
“Goodnight, Amber. I know we can make it out of this if we work together.”
Amber grimaced and blocked out Blossom’s voice. Hate filled her mind as she prepared herself for deep hibernation.
Chapter 1: Caerulea, Teenage Kaiju
Caerulea abruptly opened her eyes and felt a throbbing headache where her antennae came out of her head. She was floating thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean, sleeping, when she felt it, a being, broadcasting its presence in the hivemind. Mom? No, it couldn’t possibly be her. This was something different, and it was angry.
Despite being so deep under the ocean, she was still able to faintly see thanks to her enormous eyes. She quickly tried to triangulate the source of this disturbance. Her antennae started to sweep back and forth and she was able to get a better understanding of where this thing was. North east, a long way away, deeper than she was and possibly hundreds of kilometers? It was hard to tell.
It was probably another Kaiju, herself and her mom were the only non-hostile Kaijus known to the PPDC. She was suddenly scared, most kaiju were sent to Earth for one purpose, to destroy mankind. She was hoping at one point to become a protector of humanity, just like her Mom and the other Jaegers. Maybe then they would accept her and let her talk to others.
Then the other Kaiju started to move, her antenna bobbed side to side, up and down, trying to get a better reading. It was moving fast, about 40 knots! It was moving east to west, it would end up somewhat near to where she was! Then she remembered, the faint glow on the horizon. Was it a city? Was this where the Kaiju was headed? Oh no.
Caerulea didn’t think she was ready for this yet, joining the Corps like her mother was always a distant dream. Lea was enamored by the wonders of humanity and she wanted to protect them one day, just like her mom. To prepare, she had gotten some training from her mom who had a lot of combat experience fighting Kaijus and training with Jaegers. However, her mom could only teach her so much, Lea was a humanoid and her mom was a giant horse so while Orchid knew a lot about bipedal combat she was not one herself. Lea had never fought a Kaiju like her mom did but she took pride in her physical fitness, wanting to be ready to one day take on a kaiju.
Until only a few months ago, the world had become more peaceful. The Corps had sidelined her, worried about what the public would think about her existence. The precursors seemed like a waning threat so perhaps she didn’t train as hard as she should have. She had a lot to learn. Still, she was very physically active, swimming a lot and training on occasion. Her dad even taught her how to increase her muscles’ flexibility and range of active motion using human flexibility training techniques. Caerulea didn’t have a lot of distractions, relatively isolated in her part of the ocean away from other people she was able to focus on her fitness. Because of this, she had become very athletic, coordinated, limber and quite muscular for a female.
Still, excuses swirled through her mind. She wasn’t fully trained for this, she was almost a novice. Maybe the PPDC had someone left to help? No, her mother had been clear. There were no more Corps and she was painfully aware of how vulnerable humanity could be to a Kaiju attack if there were no opposing Jaegers to defend them. Caerulea balled her fists. She had to do something, no one else was going to come to the rescue.
A shiver of fear coursed through her but then she growled. She couldn’t let this creature destroy thousands or millions of people like her Dad. She had to at least try, Earth was her home! Caerulea began to swim, she felt the rush of water rush over her skin. Nervousness and excitement built up in her as she began swimming to where the Kaiju would be in a few short hours. She was excited for a few reasons, she had only ever seen glimpses of cities from very far away and pictures. Perhaps today would be the first time she got to see a city up close. Her mother told her that the buildings in many of the cities were taller than she was and that humans lived inside of them. However, dread also built up within her. Would she be able to face a kaiju?
She continued to swim as thoughts raced through her mind. Every so often she would look back and point her antenna to figure out where the other Kaiju was. It was getting closer. She thought about what she would do when she got there. Truly, she had no idea what would happen but she had to try and at least warn them.
Finally she found the continental shelf. She hesitated, if she climbed up then this would be the point of no return. She would most likely be spotted by humans, but she knew their language. Her mom had taught her so many human languages and her dad taught her English, the language of America. She would be fine, right?
There was not a lot of time to hesitate. She took a few big gulps of water, it filtered through her gills and she prepared herself to breathe air. She steeled herself and pulled herself up the shelf. The water was still deep enough for her to crouch without breaking the surface. She slowly stood up and her head emerged ever so slowly out of the water. Brilliant sunlight assaulted her eyes, the sound of the surf and startled seagulls cried as her head came out of the water. She gasped in some air and looked around. On the horizon was the city’s skyline. She gasped again, this time at the beauty of the city. She smiled widely at the city. It was only about a mile away. With her excellent vision she could see so many humans! A few were on the beach, playing volleyball with each other, so many cars were flying around. She saw a boardwalk, if she stared hard enough she could sometimes see the silhouette of a human inside one of the buildings! There were beaches, docks, parks, highways, even a subway station! But most amazing were the buildings, some were smaller, others were about as tall as herself but a few were twice or even three times as tall as she was. What amazingly talented creatures! How were they able to create such things despite being so small?
She was so dumbstruck by all of the amazing things she was seeing that she had forgotten what she was here for. Her senses were incredibly acute, so she could clearly see and hear things a mile away. When she heard an exclamation her eyes darted to the source, a lady pointing directly at her. As soon as she looked at the lady from a mile away the lady screamed. Caerulea winced and her hearts fell. She almost wanted to just submerge herself and go back to hiding in the deep ocean. She dipped half of her head into the water in shame. Then came another scream, she looked and another female was pointing at her and it pulled out a device to its ear. Then yelling, coming from multiple places as people spotted her 50 foot tall head in the water.
Caerulea was crestfallen. She should have known, she was a monster. Humans are afraid of monsters. They have every right to be. She was frozen in indecision. Should she just emerge and try to talk to them or would that just make it worse? She turned her head and wiggled her antenna towards the other Kaiju, it was much closer now. She heard more gasps and screams from behind her. She groaned in frustration, she didn’t realize how loud it was and the humans on the beach were working themselves into a frenzy. It had to be done. Caerulea steeled herself and began to walk forward. She raised an arm into the air, waved and her torso emerged from the water as she continued to walk forward.
“I’m sorry for scaring you, I’m just trying-”
She was still far away from shore and humans with their less powerful hearing didn’t hear her from half a mile away because the sirens had started wailing.
“Wait! I’m not a monster!”
She covered her ears with her webbed hands at the annoying wailing and groaned again. Everyone was running away, getting into their vehicles and quickly leaving. She stared, mesmerized at the coordinated movements of all the humans running to their cars and driving away. Now everyone was screaming.
“NO, WAIT! You’re in danger, a kaiju is coming!”
No one could hear her through the yelling, screaming, and the sirens. All the cars were trying to leave at the same time and it created traffic jams everywhere. The city was now gridlocked and people were starting to run out of the buildings.
“Please, stop!” Caerulea was starting to cry, tears ran down her eyes.
The roads which were working so efficiently just a few minutes ago were now congested, sometimes she would see cars run into each other or jump the curb just to get away from her quicker. She watched in horror at all the chaos she had caused with her mere presence. Well, at least they were warned now. Caerulea nervously chuckled at herself.
Caerulea finally made it to the beach, it was almost deserted but there were a few stragglers. She was covering her ears at all the noise. She stepped onto the sandy beach with her satyr hooves and gingerly crouched down to try and talk to a straggler. He was running away, he would soon reach the edge of the beach but before he could, she reached down and blocked his path with one of her hands. The blaring sirens filled her hearing but she grimaced and persevered.
“Listen to me, I don’t want to hurt you! I’m trying to warn you about-”
The man collapsed in the sand. Oh no! Did he have a heart attack? Caerulea lifted her hand from his path and then went on her hands and knees to get her face closer to the man. Her hair was made of thousands of tentacles. It was the safest way for her and her mom to interact with her dad. They were small enough that they were unlikely to crush a human like her hands could. They were difficult to control because there were so many of them but she had lots of practice. Her mom had taught her how to achieve some impressive and gentle dexterity so that she could interact with her dad. So, she was able to gingerly use one to flip the man over and she used another one to slip under his shirt and feel his chest. His heart was beating very quickly and the man was breathing shallow but quick breaths. Was he faking his death?
Then she sensed it. The kaiju was getting close, very close! She abruptly stood up and faced the direction the other kaiju was coming in and wiggled her antenna at the other kaiju. She glanced down, sure enough the human was sprinting to his car. She sighed in frustration.
The other kaiju was a few miles away and it wanted to destroy the city! Where were the Jaegers? Were they really all wiped out?
Caerulea nervously looked around at her surroundings, the streets seemed to slowly become less and less busy as people evacuated. What to do now? Caerulea nervously and gingerly stepped over the parking lot and onto the street. The street’s asphalt cracked beneath her. Well, it didn’t seem like it was going to give out. Buildings didn’t crack the ground, right? Well, they weren’t exactly the type to move around quickly. She slowly and carefully hid herself behind a building, peering around the side, waiting for the other kaiju to appear.
Then she noticed it, bubbling coming from the bay. Her stomach dropped and she started breathing more heavily, her hearts started to beat more. Her eyes, the tips of her hair and antennae started to glow brighter. Never before had she faced something that could possibly kill her. She was always the largest thing around.
The other kaiju started to emerge from the water. It was insectoid, a praying mantis. Caerulea shifted to get a better view and to better hide herself. She peered over a slightly shorter apartment building. The damn thing was going to destroy the city. There were no Jaegers coming. She bared her fangs in anger. Then she heard a shrill squeak coming from the top of the building. There, on top of the building was a girl. She looked to be in her early to mid teenage years. The girl was looking at her in horror.
Caerulea suddenly remembered what her mother had said about being friendly to humans, “remember to smile!” Caerulea tried to shift her fang baring scowl into a smile and didn’t really succeed, instead it morphed into an awkward grimace, her face twitching with the effort. The girl below seemed to be paralyzed with horror.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the praying mantis had also heard the squeak and turned its head in their direction. It fiddled its mandibles and its oval eyes with the tiny black pupils scanned the buildings. It hadn’t spotted them yet.
Caerulea whispered as quietly as she possibly could. “Listen, I need you to be very quiet!” Caerulea glanced at the Mantis. “You need to get out of here! The mantis hasn’t noticed me yet, but you need to get to one of the kaiju shelters, one of the PPDC certified ones. Let me help you get down from here.”
Caerulea’s hair tentacles started to reach for the girl, then the girl started to cry. Caerulea hesitated and her hair stopped reaching out. “No, no! Please! You need to be quiet!”
It was too late. The mantis wasn’t scanning anymore, it was looking right at them. Quicker than would seem possible, the mantis jumped towards them and began to slash at the building with one of its bladed arms.
“NO!” Caerulea yelled and she blocked the blade with the chitinous armor on her wrist before it could slice the building the girl was on in two. Caerulea’s hair quickly grabbed the girl. The girl screamed. Her hair tentacles started to wrap around the girl, immobilizing her and holding her close to her head. Her wrist smashed into the place where the girl used to be, damaging the building. Caerulea pushed back against the mantis blade. The mantis seemed surprised that its blade could be blocked and was thrown off balance, stepping backwards into the bay.
Lea growled and sidestepped the building, paying less attention where she stepped. A car was crushed beneath her hooves and she pressed her attack, hoping to drive the mantis into the water. The mantis was a bit shorter than her, maybe only 250 feet high but it was quick. The mantis’s head tilted to the side in curiosity at Caerulea. Caerulea’s teeth were bared and her hands balled into fists at the ready, then she roared. It was a terrifying sound, maybe not something you would expect a female to be capable of making. Her eyes glowed brighter and something like electricity sparked but it might have been a trick of the light. The mantis’s mandible fiddled a bit and then it hissed at her and charged. Caerulea followed suit and charged at the mantis with her wrist armor raised.
She blocked the first strike with her right wrist but the second blade made it past her guard and sliced her torso on her left side. Caerulea screamed, but she used the opportunity to grab the mantis’s face and eye by her left hand and begin squeezing. Before the mantis could even screech, she used this opportunity to dig her long nails into the mantis’s eye socket and the mantis pressed its blade further into her side, doing its best to try and break through her rib cage. If she kept this up then perhaps the mantis might actually pierce her vital organs. Locked in this struggle, Lea dug her left hoof into the ground, remembering some of the martial arts training her mother gave her. The training she had over the years was helping because she had enough muscular control and flexibility in her right leg to reach up to place her hoof on the mantis’s middle.
“HAH!” She kicked out and tried to tear the eye socket of the mantis while she kicked them apart. The mantis’s blade bit deeply into her side as they separated. Lea couldn’t tear the Mantis’s eye out but deep gouges made by her nails deeply wounded the eye. The mantis screeched as it realized that it couldn’t see out of its right eye. Lea’s rib was cracked but she didn’t even notice as whatever the Kaiju equivalent of adrenaline flowed through her and dulled her pain.
The mantis charged again but this time it was a bit more sloppy. Caerulea was able to block both blades but the mantis pushed her back and she was toppled backwards, crashing into a building. Then the mantis quickly stabbed at her while she was down. She deflected one with her left arm but the other one stabbed her deep in the stomach, she tried to block but it still stabbed into the side of her abdomen. Caerulea screamed in pain but she knew what she had to do. She lifted her right arm with great effort and grabbed the right eye of the bladed mantis and squeezed with all of her might. The mantis screeched but it had her pinned to the ground with its blade. Then, POP. The mantis’s other eye popped in her hand. The mantis could not see at all and tried to shield its eyes with the blocked blade.
The pain was starting to get to Caerulea but she had to calm down. No one was going to help her out of this one. Every time she breathed the pain of the blade made her feel weaker. She grabbed the blade with both hands and started to pull it out while the mantis was distracted by being disoriented by a lack of sight. She breathed shallow and quick, trying not to worsen the wound and pushed. The pain was so terrible that darkness started to cloud the edges of her vision. Slowly she was able to push the cursed thing out of her stomach and she kicked the mantis back. She rolled over. She gasped for air and grabbed at her stomach. She needed to retreat.
The mantis had its bladed arms up to its eyes trying to rub them clean but it could not see. It screeched in rage and swung at the air, then it suddenly decided to go back to the ocean, probably to regenerate. It retreated into the water. Caerulea was wheezing on the beach, wounded as she lay down. She couldn’t believe it, had she really defended a city? She watched the mantis go back into the ocean. It hurt to breathe.
“Fire!”
Caerulea was suddenly peppered by a barrage of bullets and tank shells. They stung but were nothing compared to the wounds she received from the mantis kaiju. She looked over at the humans. She tried to wheeze out a plea but she just coughed instead. With great effort, she staggered to her feet. She raised her hands up with a sign of peace but a tank shell slammed into her stab wound. Lea cried out, that was painful.
The sirens were too loud, she wouldn’t be able to talk to these humans. She needed to retreat and also regenerate. Maybe she could try again some other time. She covered her wound with her hand and turned tail, limping into the water. As she got to deeper waters, relief started to wash over her. This was her element, she was able to easily control her buoyancy and swim at a leisurely pace. She couldn’t believe she had done it, too bad she couldn’t finish it off. She definitely needed to improve, one more mistake and she could have died! Everyone thought that the threat of the Kaijus and precursors was going away. She cursed not pushing harder to get trained by the PPDC when she had the chance. She was about to dive when something near her ear screamed.
“WAIT! PLEASE! We humans aren’t all bad! I’m sorry the soldiers shot you, we’re just scared! Please don’t dive, I can’t move and I’ll drown!”
Caerulea widened her eyes in surprise. Oh my cod! That girl! I forgot! Her tentacles had the girl in a vice grip. Out of reflex, the grip of her tentacle hairs tightened as Caerulea’s stomach dropped. She coughed out the gulp of water she was about to inhale upon diving.
“Ahh, too tight! Have mercy!”
Caerulea immediately loosened the tentacles’ grip on the girl and stopped swimming to float in place. Lea had a look of horror and was paralyzed, her mouth was slack jawed. She had kidnapped a human! She couldn’t go back to the city, and this girl would probably die out here miles from the shore. Furthermore, she needed to rest and regenerate. What could she do?
“Oh thank you, thank you!” The girl coughed as the tendrils loosed. “I thought I was hallucinating when you talked to me, but you can understand me, right?”
Caerulea was speechless trying to think of what she could say. “Yeah.” She said dumbly.
The girl was shivering, she could feel her. Poor little thing, she was so scared! “So, uh, do you think you can drop me off on land? I don’t know about my chances out here in the ocean. Or maybe just let me leave before you dive? I can’t really move with your hair thingies grabbing me so tightly.”
Caerulea was stuck, flabbergasted. She still didn’t know what to do or say for that matter. She stayed silent for a very long ten seconds. The other girl was still shivering. Caerulea felt terrible, she must have traumatized this little human. It was a miracle that she didn’t get hurt.
“I-I’m sorry.” Caerulea mumbled. “I’m sorry for forgetting about you and smashing your building. I probably shouldn’t have been hiding behind it.” Caerulea felt the girl’s heartbeat and breath quicken as she spoke. Her own heart was racing.
The girl spoke softly and she stroked one of Caerulea’s tentacles. The girl’s voice was emotional but she kept it steady. “It’s ok, you saved me. Thank you for fighting that big mantis and driving him away from my city. I know a lot of others might not have understood what you were doing but I saw from the top of the building.”
Caerulea blushed at the praise, she could feel the girl’s hands stroke her hairs, it felt good and calmed her down a bit more. Caerulea also spoke softly. “I was told the Corps were wiped out. I sensed the other Kaiju heading straight for the city, and with the Corps being gone, I had to do something.”
The girl noticed the giantess’s ears wilt as well with some subtle body language and smirked. “Well, it’s appreciated! I probably would’ve died if you weren’t there.” She hugged one of Caerulea’s tentacles tightly. Caerulea couldn’t see her but she wanted to cry. Caerulea didn’t know what to say, but the girl continued to pet her. “I also noticed your top says PPDC, you look a little bit like Orchid. Wait, are you related to her somehow!? No one I know has ever heard of you before. I thought Orchid was the only one.”
Caerulea took a few seconds to respond and control her emotions. Sadness emerged at the mention of her mom. “Orchid is my mom, and the Corps kept me a secret. The public knows about Orchid but the Corps were worried about what everyone might think of me. I-I’ve never really gotten to meet anyone else other than my mom and dad. And now that they’re gone, there’s no one left.”
Caerulea couldn’t hold back her sadness, she started to cry and sob quietly with the uncontrollable gasps of held back emotions. She cried about her lost parents, she cried about her loneliness and this beautiful tiny human that allowed her to release her emotions just by talking. She didn’t realize how much she needed to talk to someone. It wasn’t a need that she knew she had until now. She cried about the enormous responsibility she had to protect these small creatures who could no longer defend themselves against huge bullies. She cried at the pain in her side and the screams of countless humans as they ran away from her.
The girl cried a little bit at Caerulea’s story. It was quite a sad circumstance, to be so isolated and then losing the only people you had strong connections with. She continued to stroke a tentacle in what she hoped was a soothing manner. It twitched sometimes at the touch so she thought it was having some effect. “It’s okay to cry. Let it out.”
Caerulea cried in earnest now. For a few minutes they just sat there together with Caerulea crying and wiping her eyes with her hands while the girl listened and slowly tried to comfort the huge kaiju with rubs and pats. Caerulea finally began to stop sobbing and instead sniffed every so often. It looked like she was finally starting to finish.
“H-h-h-h-how are you doing?” Caerulea stuttered with uncontrollable gasping hiccups.
The girl’s heart leaped. She was still nervous at the enormous crying Kaiju that she hoped might be a friend. To cope she quickly started rambling in a quick and nervous manner. “Me? Well, besides feeling like I was on a roller coaster ride, I’m doing ok. Ha, ha! I threw up once or twice. But you were stabbed, do Kaiju really regenerate?”
The girl was talkative, she sounded nervous. Caerulea was feeling much better after her cry. Caerulea felt bad for making the girl nervous, she really wanted to gain her trust. It felt so amazing to just be able to talk to another person. Caerulea was nervous before talking to the girl but after her fight and crying for so long, she was just exhausted.
“I-I’m sorry for making you throw up. I promise I won’t leave you in the middle of the ocean, I’ll keep you safe. And yes, we regenerate but it takes a bit of time. Do you think you could stay with me just for tonight on an island? I really want to rest and regenerate for at least one night before I go back near human territory to drop you off.”
“That is so cool!” The girl gushed at Lea’s abilities, but eased back to the kaiju’s wellbeing. “But, are you sure you’re doing alright? I noticed you were stabbed pretty deeply.”
Lea nodded. “Yeah, I’m doing ok. The wounds have already started to close up. I’m also feeling a lot better after crying. Thank you for-” Lea paused, what was she thankful for? “Thanks for talking to me.” She said quietly.
“It’s cool.” They were both silent for a few seconds. “I can stay with you for tonight but I’m going to need water eventually. Can you bring me back early tomorrow?”
“Absolutely.” Caerulea paused as she thought for a moment. “There’s a spring of water on my island that I think is clean but I’ll definitely get you back early tomorrow morning regardless if anything happens.” Caerulea said. “Do- do you think we can be friends?” She suddenly blurted out.
The girl giggled and then suddenly laughed. Friends with a Kaiju, what a thought! She couldn’t stop laughing at the ridiculousness of a shy Kaiju girl. Caerulea’s ear wilted and her face tinged blue with embarrassment as the girl laughed. Caerulea’s hearts fell, of course she couldn’t be friends with- “Hah! Slow your roll! At least buy me dinner first!” The girl said.
Caerula’s stomach dropped. What did that even mean? She wasn’t rolling and she didn’t have any money to buy dinner! The girl looked at the side of Caerulea’s face with pity when she realized that Cearulea didn’t understand anything of what she just said.
“Aw man, you’re adorable, despite being so big! Look, what’s your name? Mine’s Rebecca.” She continued to soothingly stroke one of Caerulea’s tentacles.
“Uhm, my name is Caerulea.” She mumbled, completely lost.
“Well, Caerulea, I would love to be friends!”
Caerulea’s hearts leapt out of her stomach.
“Really!?”
Chapter 2: First Friendship
“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!
