>"So, that's why you're getting scuba-diving classes. Any questions?"
>You stared at the screen, eyes tracing recorded footage while you sat alongside Dr. Geiszler in his laboratory.
>The room was dusty and crammed with various tables, a few nondescript machines and instruments tucked away on trays that haven't been used in some time.
>Currently, you were looking at the only actual full view of the full-sized kaiju pony you've ever seen.
>Caught in a weird, almost half-assed combination of horse, dolphin, deep sea fish, and good old city-mashing monster
>Was she always that weird shade of dark-grey-blue or is that just the underwater camera?.
>The thing that you found yourself honing in on immediately was towards her rear.
>Alongside her flank was a set of glowing patches, a fair contrast from her otherwise muted coloration and something you honestly hadn't seen before.
>Unlike her other sources of bio luminescence: the tail, the horn, antennae, the eyes, and whatever was down her throat to cause her mouth to glow, these were simply there on the outer thigh.
>Neither a protrusion or hole into the body.
>The design was simply there.
>Your eyes started drifting towards the tail but stopped suddenly at the rounded edge of her rear.
"Wait... if she was like your daughter... did you ever have to... you know."
>Behind the thick glasses that had probably seen far too many computer screens, the scientist looked confused.
"The talk. Did you have to give her the talk?"
>"Oh!"
>The man reclined back in his chair, grinning as he pushed the glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
>"Hahaha, so my new star is wondering about those things, huh?"
"Wuhl-hey, I-"
>"Looking to break some 'other' kinds of world records, are you?"
>Did the room suddenly get warmer?
"It was just a thought!"
>His smarmy remained for some agonizing seconds before he finally replied.
>"I'm afraid that no, I haven't."
"You haven't?"
>He didn't seem to like your surprise.
"Does she need it? She's not an adult yet, is she?"
>"Okay, okay, look, calm down."
"No? So she's still a kid?"
>The man shook his head.
>"That isn't entirely accurate."
>Your unamused stare seemed to haunt him as for the first time, he suddenly looked uncomfortable talking about his prized creation.
>"Okay, I just don't think it'll come up, alright?"
>He gives a halfhearted shrug.
>"It's not like she gets moody from hormones. It shouldn't come up. Really."
"Are you sure?"
>"Well, not exactly."
>He squirmed in his seat for a moment, like a kid who thought he might receive a failing grade for the science project he had worked on all semester.
>"Look, I know it'll probably have to happen some day, but my funding was drying up. I wasn't sure if I could deal with any repercussions. Most people don't want any kaijus on Earth, period. After the breach was closed and people just never wanted to hear the word 'kaiju' ever again, I had to turn back to human tissue research. Which sucks!"
>He groans.
"But she still needs to know, right?"
>"I'm not that worried about her doing anything too drastic; she's not as dangerous as most would think. Look, what most people don't know is that she was tiny when she started out."
"Tiny?"
>"Yeah, she was about the size of a chapstick. She couldn't hurt a thing."
>He turned back towards his computer and drew up a picture from a folder you didn't get to catch the name of.
>The kaiju pony's eyes do not match at all, instead of that pale blue, they are a vibrant orange color, matched by her short, but still spiraling horn.
>The body and hairs are a greenish teal while the antenna's bulbs are barely there, stringy and delicate.
"She's a different color?"
>"I... haven't figured out why. I suspect it's a maturity thing but we all know that some of the kaiju had different-colored bioluminescence even when they were full sized."
>Orchid is paused in the middle of smiling and waving at something off screen.
>A hand was outstretched from around the camera, holding a graham cracker next to the little horse.
>Unless this nerd is a professional photoshopper on the side, she is no bigger than the cracker animal beside her.
>The teacup horse kaiju looked so happy.
"What happened?"
>"She got found out. And, well, sure, people were shocked."
>He flailed his hands around in mock anguish.
>"It's always oh no, what if it destroys a city, what if it brings the pacific war back, what if it rips a hole through space-time and makes another breach? I almost lost her, you know. But as it turns out, it’s really, really, really hard to dispose of something that can hug you, look you in the eye, and say, 'I love you daddy'."
"She could do that as a baby?"
>"Of course not! But with a genius like me, it didn't long for me to figure out her intelligence, and from there it was just teaching her words and the alphabet like any other kid."
>You couldn't stop staring at the picture.
"How did she go from that to taking up a room?"
>"Funny story. When I was putting the genes together, I threw in lots of other animals, you know, really mixed it up."
>One of your eyebrows shot skyward.
"But wasn't it kind of... reckless?"
>"Like you would know, mister 'I got kissed by a kaiju.' Sometimes some recklessness is just what we need. That's why you still have a job."
>He puffed up his chest and stood up a little straighter.
>"I like to take a few chances, get a little messy for science. Sure there were some screw ups along the way, but the result can't be denied!"
"Doctor, you might want to sit back down in your chair."
>"Yeah. But the remarkable thing about kaiju genetic material is how resilient it is, and at the same time, how easily it changes. It's like genetic sculpting putty! You just play with it. The kaiju all have the same base, but how their makers change them is what I need to find out. We just don't know how they pull it off... yet."
>He began to scroll through other pictures, quickly as he continued to excitedly retell what he already put in more than a few reports.
>"So instead, I had to use other DNA sources to try and remove the genes responsible for the hivemind link and replace it with something else!"
>There was a picture of the kaiju horse monster with a tennis ball in her mouth, pleadingly looking up past the camera.
>"It was kind of a crapshoot, but hey, it worked."
>An image depicting her hopping around with a pair of headphones over her ears.
>"She hasn't talked to a kaiju and and we haven't seen any new breaches."
>A picture of what you assumed must be Easter with her wearing a set of goofy bunny ears in front of her real ears while she chomps down on a chocolate bunny, silvery tinfoil wrapping and all, its big blue eyes almost as luminescent as her own.
>You get a chill before Geiszler starts talking again.
>"Either we killed them off when Gypsy Danger blew itself up, or, she can't establish the link!"
>He stopped suddenly, on a picture of the kaiju with her head buried in a birthday cake.
>"And best of all, she's totally docile! That is, until you came along."
>Finally, a chance to get a word in.
>All that you manage is a nervous.
"R-really?"
>"Somehow you've made her more emotional in the last couple of months than she's been in over a year."
>"Your damage to submersible bay 2 was-"
"We have submarines?"
>"We almost did."
>The screen flips to a schematic you quickly recognize as the Kaiju Den, only, the label simply reads "Submersible Bay 2."
>"Ever wonder what the other doors in that hallway lead to?"
>You look away a little guiltily.
"My card won't let me in those."
>"Yeah, the canceled submarine pens are locked tight. Only "
>The good doctor just looks at you like that was supposed to be super obvious.
>"There were originally going to be submarine pens to quickly launch rescue and recovery operations."
>"Then the coastal wall project took all the funding for them and we had to shut down the other bases. You know how well that turned out."
>It was true.
>The famous coastal wall project to create a massive line of fortifications to keep the kaiju out had failed spectacularly on its first real kaiju attack, a category four called Mutavore.
>The mark five jaeger, Striker Eureka had saved Sydney, and thereby the majority of Australia, from being savaged, but it proved the wall was nearly completely ineffective.
>Still, you weren't sure the brooding glare of the doctor was really warranted, unless...
"The all took most of your funding, too, didn't it?"
>"You have no idea how much they grabbed! They hadn't even gotten to finishing the designs for the defensive weaponry. Based on jaeger developments, of course."
>He looked back at the picture of the monsterhorse, the happy, sunshiny kaiju picture of before she was big enough to step on a car like it was a model toy.
>Doctor Geiszler shifted just enough to stare hard into your eyes.
>Now you know where Orchid picked up her unsettling, attentive glare.
>"But."
"But?"
>"With what's happened in the last couple of months, we're getting scientific attention again."
>"Now everyone's wondering the same thing I've been thinking about since I got to dissect my first sample; what if kaiju aren't all bad?"
>He held up his hands, a smirk on his face like he was sharing some great secret.
>"In all your crazy accidents, you've saved this project. I had to just scrape by with the bare minimum needed to keep her under care, but now we're going to take it to the next step."
"And that is?"
>"The real reason you're getting that diving training. You're going to take her on a trip to the beach while we repair the Den."
"Beg your pardon?"
>"She likes you. A lot."
"She likes everyone."
>"But she listens to you. If we're going to show the world how friendly she can be, she needs to be seen hanging out with you."
"This is just a big PR move, isn't it?"
>"You bet! After the controversy from the boat incident and all the crazy the rumors from the staff about her taking a shine to you, she couldn't have destroyed her habitat at a better time!"
>He pumps his fist triumphantly.
>You didn't join his cheer.
>"Hey, a lot of people out there think she's just an emotional time bomb. We need some way to show them that she's not. You going out there will be the perfect opportunity for that. Show her around on the beach a bit."
>The man clapped his hands together with a sense of finality, like this was all going to his plan.
>"So, we already have you signed up for the course in addition to your normal duties."
>He started to usher you out of your seat with one last glance to the screen.
>"See you in a week."
"A week?!"
>"Hey, diving's not that hard... probably."
>You quickly found yourself pushed outside of the threshold and in the suddenly very empty hallway.
>From behind the door you could hear the creak of his chair before one last muffled shout reached you.
>"Just try not to drown, that'll make her really sad!"
>It was the last time you had seen the doctor that week.
>You were called to the laboratory turned office a good nine days later.
>This time, he had asked that you bring your diving certification
>Sitting at a desk, with his back turned towards you, is none other than the genius scientist himself.
>Over his shoulder, his computer screen shows footage of Orchid planting her face in a cake.
>A banner in the background reads "Happy first birthday!"
>"Hey, there's the man of the hour! Your crash course in diving go well?"
>The video paused and he looked to you expectantly.
"Yeah, the swimming jokes were nonstop."
>”Would you say you’re comfortable in the water?”
“I guess?”
>”And your gear is tested and functional?”
“Has to be.”
>”Excellent.”
>He presses his fingers together thoughtfully.
>”And you can just dive any day?”
“Yeah, not like it’s a ‘Fridays only’ license or anything.”
>”Great! I was worried I might have to call it off.”
“Call what off?”
>He gets this smile.
>The kind of cock-sure, ‘I have a surprise for you’ smile nobody likes to be on the receiving end of.
>”Report in tomorrow at twenty-one hundred for a test dive. You’ll be joined by two instructors for safety.”
“W-what?”
>”It means nine o’ clock. PM.”
“No, not that, er, sir.”
>He raises an eyebrow.
“I’m not certified for a night dive.”
>”Oh, well good thing there’s nothing to hit in there. Except, you know. Her.”
“Woah, wait, d-diving with her? Or-Orchid? Are you sure you want to do it so soon?”
>”Pretty sure. So strap in, because tomorrow you’re going into the kaiju den. And I mean /into/, the den.”
“Aren’t we rushing it? I just got my certification.”
>”No time like the present.”
>“I’m sure either she or the diving instructors will save you if you have any problems.”
“But professor Geiszler!!”
>He starts to push you towards the door.
>”Call me Newt, everyone does.”
”N-Newt, what if she gets too enthusiastic again?”
>”I’m sure that’ll be fine too.”
“I don’t-”
>The door slams and you are left outside.
“You can’t be serious!”
>”Dismissed!” you hear through the door, “I'll see you at the debriefing!”
>That was yesterday.

==========Release Version======

>Today, you stood by two Australians desperately trying not to engage in a staring match with a whale-fish-horse monster based on amphibious creatures engineered by aliens from another dimension.
>Just one of those evenings.
>Though the Kaiju Den lacked windows of any kind, it was late enough that the lights were off in simulated night.
>The floodlight above the doorway was merely dimmed, but it couldn't stop you from shifting just a little at the painfully slow, blue strobe.
>It was on, off for an instant, and back on again.
>Repeat.
>The tint combined with the climate control might have made the room feel cold if you weren’t wearing double layers.
>If anything, your crushed neoprene and snug, underlying thermal suit would keep you warm enough.
>The blue light winked off and on again.
>The click of a light switch was entirely absent from the chamber.
>There was only the shuffling of scuba gear, the noise of an air vent, and the anxious movement of the largest animal presently on the planet.
>Out across the room, the kaiju's gaze flittered around the enclosure, illuminating waves, the walls, ceiling, and whatever object she fixed upon next.
>Each each eye movement was like a lighthouse that couldn’t make up its mind.
>Hardened hooves tapped on underwater concrete with irregular dull thunks like someone taking a muffled hammer to the floor.
>She was sitting on her haunches at a comfortable enough depth that her head was the only thing above the surface.
>A lone island in the miniature ocean, covered in a mat of blue grass and two glowing palm trees.
>All sizes and scales concerned, it looked more like she was sitting in a particularly deep hot tub.
>For you it was more akin to Loch Ness.
>You approach the edge of the Den's walkway and turn your gaze to where two concrete cylinders stubbornly support a uselessly small portion of a dock.
>The Den’s pier was a sham of its former self, extending only to the first set of columns before it touched a large mound of rubble.
>Twisted rebar pokes out from between broken concrete chunks.
>Dangerous to your swim, but not to the creature living here.
>No cleanup crews had dared enter the kaiju's lair to take care of the damages.
>Instead, the monster herself had pushed the debris to its present position, constructing a heap that reached some feet above the surface of the water like an underwater mountain clawing its way to becoming a new island.
>Her view was restless tonight, twisting around until it momentarily landed on you.
>She stared for longer than necessary as you inhaled through your regulator for one last completely uncalled for check.
>The blue spotlights pointed your way only temporarily.
>The monsterhorse made eye contact for a split second before she looked away just as quickly to continue inspecting the Den.
>Underneath unassuming eyes, her lips curl upwards.
>You roll your shoulders to redistribute your weighty scuba gear. 
>Not as comfortable as you would have liked; you can feel the ruffles of your dry suit distribute the weight of the gear unevenly across your back.
>Ignoring it as best you can, you clear your throat.
>It is not long before she wanders your way again.
"Orchid?"
>A sail-sized ear twitches and she snaps her vision to your face.
"Are you feeling okay?"
>Her snout screws up just a little.
>”Your clothes.”
“What about it?”
>”You look silly.”
>Her eyes briefly look down into the pool, while she covers her quivering mouth with a foreleg.
>A burst of suppressed, monstrous laughs rumble in the chamber until she takes a deep breath and goes still.
“Got that out of your system?”
>Orchid opens her mouth to say something when she looks up but immediately crams a car-sized hoof to her mouth again.
>The Australians are quick to remark on this.
>”The kaiju’s ‘avin’ a giggle, mate.”
>He did not just say-
>”Ain’t that sweet, Cleo?”
>”Sure is,” his wife nods.
>You hit the air release valve for your dry suit and let it deflate a ways by the time the seahorse can compose herself.
>As the suit hisses air, it makes a suitable metaphor for your deflated ego.
>Finally, Orchid settles down and clears her throat.
>"We're going swimming. Together."
"Yep."
>"I'm going to have someone in the water with me."
>Her voice is hushed and mystified.
>No quieter in the chamber than you were yelling across a street.
>"At the same time."
"I know they've had divers in here before."
>"They always made me go outside when they did that."
"Always?"
>She nods slowly.
>You shuffled awkwardly in your dive flippers.
"I'm sure it'll be okay."
>She replies with a slightly pained look.
>You must fix it with the magic words.
"I trust you."
>Large nostrils flare and the massive equine lights up in a very literal way.
>In the intensified splash of blue tint, her lips part just the smallest fraction.
>An electronic beep robs her off any words she might have had.
>The dive instructors have their dive computers on and working.
>They looked up from their dive computers and gave you a thumbs up.
>You’ll check yours once you jump in.
>They start towards you, masks pulled over their faces and completely missing the kaiju's sour stare.
>”Ready whenever you are."
"Orchid.”
>She’s still looking at them. 
“Orchid! Are you ready?"
>She snaps out of her trance and looks around herself.
>Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
>Failing to find anything amiss, she nods enthusiastically.
"Guess we're all ready."
>"Really?" she asks excitedly.
>The kaiju bangs the bottoms of her hooves together in imitation of applause.
>You glance back at your fellow divers one last time.
>They seem a little nervous as the noise dies down.
>There's that thumbs up anyway.
>"Remember, use the giant stride entry."
>You stop, teetering on the ledge of the walkway.
>The "giant stride" method.
>Appropriate with the humongous sea monster watching you with baited breath.
>You plaster your mask and regulator to your face with one hand and throw yourself forward in an exaggerated step towards the water.
>You push off against the dock with the heel of your flipper and the motion sends you towards the drink.
>A the apex, you levitated, senses just taking in the moment.
>The water was choppier than it was a minute ago.
>Orchid was nearly motionless, but underneath the blue floodlights of her eyes you could make out the water churning around her hooves.
>No time to inspect the action before your forward momentum turns into a downward.
>Your fins enter the cool water first, cold seeping in and surrounding your face.
>You impact with a splash, feeling the water ascend along your body and cover your head.
>You are submerged.
>You open your eyes and the first thing that awaits is the alien sense of darkness.
>The sides of your vision gently shimmer with dancing refraction patterns from the door light.
>They look so very weak.
>The lights were already dim, but it never seemed that dark until you found the shadow.
>Stretching across the center of the circular Den is a large cone of shadow from the pile of rubble.
>Between the rubble and the drop off at the center, you can just see remnants of the pier’s concrete pilings, a few misplaced pieces still stubbornly jutting from the ground.
>Orchid slowly floats backwards in the umbra, the chill of the water giving her bright blue coloration an icy overture.
>Her alien horse body sits suspended over the vertical shaft that leads to the bottom and supposedly whatever exit to the oceans this enclosure had.
>The exact depth of it eluded you at the moment, but the measurements were enough for her to comfortably swim up and down and wide enough for her to make small, circular laps.
>Her head remains above the water, turning from place to place, searching for you with organic spotlights.
>Her hooves are as dark silhouettes, paddling in front of the cluster of her tail lights, the sheer size pushing tonnes of water with the lightest movement.
>The twinkling lights of her tail dangle in the distance, cascading towards the reaches of the drop off like jellyfish tendrils.
>Your gear weighs so little underwater, the burden almost totally lifted.
>You grope around by your hip and grab hold of a plastic hose.
>Grasping it lightly, you slide your hand to the edge until you feel a set of two buttons mounted at the end of it.
>You press the bottom of the two and listen to the hiss of the air bladder mounted on your back to bring you up.
>You snap your legs together and return to the surface.
>The waterwings on your back urges you forward onto your stomach, back against the surface and you roll to right yourself.
>The two safety divers are standing a short distance from the edge, watching you float on your back, the waterwing air bladder underneath your back.
>"There ya go, comfy as a sea ottah."
>The two chuckle while Orchid blinks uncomprehendingly from the other side of the room like a confused puppy.
>"Everything looks good," the grinning diver whistles.
“Still can’t believe I’m doing this.”
>”Tell me about it.”
>They are still on the dock.
>Oliver won’t stop fidgeting with his gear and his wife is constantly looking around for something you can't discern.
"You're not going with me?"
>"Nah, you should be good enough on your own. We'll come down if you have some air trouble."
>Air trouble is the least of what might happen.
"If she pulls me down, you will come save me, right?"
>The two glance at each other.
>"Of course we will!"
>You start your turn towards the center of the chamber when the two chatter in hushed tones that you can barely pick up over the ambient waves.
>"Will we?"
>"I sure as hell wouldn't let you, Cloe."
>You grunt a response but they don't seem to catch it past the water dripping over your mask.
>While the they murmur to one another in the background, you refocus your attention to the fact that you are in the water at the same time as a kaiju.
>On purpose.
>You look beneath you in the nearly crystal clear darkness while you sail over the cracked or simply removed spots where the pier’s columns used to stand.
>You wonder if any life insurance companies would dare to take you onto their client list.
>Floating over the steep drop off, the legendary terror squirms uncomfortably.
>"H-hi."
>Giant, electric blue eyes return your uneasy stare with their own quiet uncertainty.
>Orchid takes a hard, nervous swallow.
>You let your breathing regulator hang in your grip, a finger plugging it to ensure no air happens to escape.
>You lean forward and skim one arm along the water.
>Your flippered fleet kick and like that you are moving smoothly across the Den.
>Even so, your legs and shoulders feel stiff.
>Are you really doing this?
>Lingering just a couple of moments mid-stroke gives you a view.
>Ahead, the massive amphibious body of the world's single remaining kaiju eyes your progress.
>The only thing that remains above the water is her head.
>Her mouth hangs open in astonishment, though not for long.
>Orchid shuts her mouth with a loud clack of teeth coming together in a grin.
>When your swim resumes, you can't help but notice her smile widening ever further as you get ever closer.
>The kaiju awaits with baited breath, shining teeth outlined in mercurial neon color.
>Your swim speed gets ever slower.
>A tightness in your chest tells you that your body does not agree with your decision making as of late.
>Though the water makes your equipment feel lighter, you arms and legs feel rickety as you try to propel yourself.
>By the time you make it to a stop, you're under the solid spotlights of Orchid's eyes and antennae.
>The pupils are entranced and dilated and the ears firmly locked on to you.
>You are faced with a wall of enamel, slivers of light poking out between teeth to hint at what lay behind.
>The kaiju pony is incredibly still for something this large.
>You warily eye the hooves sluggishly dangling below the surface of the water.
>The rest of the equine body drapes down diagonally, though far below you see tail strands loosely wind in the deep.
>In the tense silence you realize that you can't hear her breathing.
"Orchid? Are you okay?"
>She snaps out of whatever daze she was in and rises just a little further out of the water.
>Air blows out through her nostrils and around her teeth, flooding your senses with an aroma of raw fish.
>The sigh is accompanied by a fluttering of the eyelids.
>In the movement's wake, the eye lands on you, the head craning further to watch you slowly kicking your flippers.
>Colossal pupils travel up to your mask.
>"We're swimming together."
"Yes we are."
>The beast's mouth slowly closes into quiet wonder as the two of you float there.
>It honestly looks like she has no idea what to do with this for a long minute.
>A glow fades into existence across her cheeks.
>"D-do you..."
>A rough noise, like bricks rubbing against each other, comes from below.
>You keep yourself focused on Orchid's face.
>But the hooves insisted on moving not far below you.
>The forehooves tap together and an image of being mashed between the giant soles of her hooves stirs a frown across your face.
>You can hear your death calling in the form of an irregular clunk of hardened material.
>"...want to..."
>You think you know where this is going.
>Something simple like wanting to touch again or eat chips together.
>You blurt out your answer before she even finishes.
>"Do you want to-"
"Yes."
>There's a pause and her eyes are as wide as flying saucers.
>"Really? You'll go down with me?"
"Wait, I'm sorry, did you just say go dow-"
>"You said yes!" she roars excitedly.
>The sound dampening roof pads cannot save you.
>You try to get a word out through the dizzy ringing of your ears.
"Orchi-"
>Kaiju face.
>In your face.
>She had sunken lower so her snout was just above your head.
>Her cheeks were lit up, framing her brighter lights with a vague coloration that didn't quite match the lighting spread across the rest of her features.
>This was some kaiju semblance of a blush.
>You were sure of it.
>You freeze up.
>"We're going to swim down together," she whispers.
>"I'm so excited."
>Your reply is stifled when your view is filled with the teeth of a monstrous smile.
>The thought that if you leaned forward you could probably touch the ivory death trap is dispelled as quickly as invoked.
>It is replaced just as quickly with the notion that in your time of being on the job you've not had to clean her teeth or give her a wash.
>Is that something you will need to do at some point or did her father invent some kind of giant toothbrush?
>Is that even an issue for kaiju?
>You are glad you are wearing a mask over your nose.
"M-me too?"
>"I'll go first."
>Her neck cranes up above as her shoulders roll back with a couple of audible pops from massive joints some industrial machines could envy.
>Suddenly her entire head points skyward.
>The kaiju's jaws open wide like a fly trap.
>She takes a deep breath, and with it, pulls a great volume of air down.
>You also notice that she seems to rise out of the water another inch as she gains some buoyancy.
>The hooves beneath reach down and the legs splay out as they might comfortably allow.
>With a loud dive, she submerges.
>Water pushes against your legs and for a second the undertow makes you panic.
>Her horn sinks below the nearly crystal waves like a sinking ship.
>The last lights sink below the water, distorting the luminescence into a shimmering pattern.
>The monsterhorse slowly drags herself downwards.
>You swear the flower-like antenna join her eyes in remaining pointedly focused on you.
>Just underneath the surface, her hair drifts outwards like a sea anemone.
>Strands float and weave in a thick, tangled mess of lights where the delicate tips glow.
>A shout comes from the dock before you start your own descent.
>"Check your computer before you go down!"
>Like you aren't already stalling for time while you think about following a giant fish monster.
>You bring up your dive computer for a moment.
>You toggle the measurements and check the depth before you give the okay symbol.
>"Remember to listen for the beep!" Cleo yells from the dock.
>"Even if we're not there, yours will tell you when you need to start surfacing!"
--------edit
>You make another thumbs up sign to the dock and with that, you feel for the hose on your hip and press on the top button.
>You release some of the air from the water wings and begin to sink.
>You roll until you are belly down in the proper swimming position and peer about the room.
>You are under the water again.
>The chill of the water across your face fades as you grow accustomed to it, but you find a growing unease in its wake.
>She swam around, lazily. “Hey, let’s play a game. Hide and seek.”
“What?”
>You turned around. 
>She was gone.
>You twist around but there’s nothing but refracting light patterns. She was huge, where could she have…
>Right. That huge abyss.
>It was totally dark. 
>She was down there. She had to be. 
>Lurking somewhere. 
>You swim over it, hovering near the edge of the abyss. Waiting for something to jump out.
>Something is missing.
>You appear to be alone in the dark.
>The Den felt large whenever Orchid wasn't immediately there to take up space.
>The kaiju usually made it feel claustrophobic, if anything.
>This time the massive sea monster just isn't there.
>Breathing impatient breaths, your eyes dart around.
>In the water, where the darkness seemed to be trying to creep about, you became a small fish in a very big pond.
>If you were the minnow, where was the bigger fish?
>You surveyed the dark waters but the massive occupant herself was nowhere to be found.
>Now in the water, the pier remnants cast a great umbra that stretched in a cone to the drop off.
>You reach around your belt for your flashlight and undo the strap.
>You hear the movement of water, so painstakingly loud in the flooded enclosure.
>Orchid herself, it seemed, had retreated.
>You looked down the sloping concrete.
>The room was similar to a giant funnel, leading into the hole of the drop off, visible even in the penumbra of the rubble as a deep, dark passage.
>Like the abyss of deep, open water, the dark is foreboding.
>Your flashlight trails off a distance below.
>The sheer size of the chamber lets it travel on and on but it seems disinterested in reaching the bottom.
>The narrow beam scatters and fades in the deep without touching on your target.
>You put a hand to the glass end and twist, making the beam wider.
>Shining it down again it seems to stop even closer, too weak to penetrate as far.
>She is probably down there, somewhere.
>Somehow you were unable see her illumination.
>Likely, she had slipped into the tunnel and covered her lights somehow.
>Somewhere.
>The wall of black seems to defy your eyes trying to adjust to them.
>Your mind conjures up forms and positions in the dark, the monster probably waiting just inside the shadow.
>You read your dive computer display and hold on to the air bladder hose.
>Precious air bubbles out as you tap the release button.
>You sink easily, though not without repercussions.
>Not long into it, your head feels like it is caught in a pincer.
>A sharp twinge of pain vanishes as your ears pop.
>You continue to float down, watching the lip of the vertical tunnel approach.
>Your crushed neoprene dive suit starts to compress.
>The air trapped within the layers wraps you in a mild squeeze and with it, your insulation weakens.
>You dump air from your water wings and temporarily throw aside some of your buoyancy to help you reach a more vertical position.
>At the same time you touch a hand to your chest to slightly inflate your dry suit to better ward off the compression across your body.
>It does not hurt, though it reminds you to let your jaw flex to let yourself acclimate to the pressure at depth.
>You carefully reach around and to add a portion of air and a hiss of air entering your dry suit makes a few crinkles on your sleeves smoothen out.
>The ambient light recedes and your eyes strain against the slowly growing fog across the mask.
>The depth number continues to grow.
>Your flashlight flickers as you descend and you glance at it with unease.
>You let your other hand strike it with a dull tap but it continues to flicker.
>The breaks between the light stretch longer and longer.
>You can feel the hairs on the back of your neck strain against the tight collar of your dive suit.
>Holding your breath in and go vertical.
>Just the sweet spot for buoyancy.
>You flip the toggle back and forth but the light shuts off entirely.
>You can't even see the light in your hands but you feel the toggle switching side to side.
>The liquid ink continues to encompass you.
>One task at a time.
>You touch a hand around the frame of your mask to get ready to clear it.
>No need to panic.
>You cannot see your dive computer but it can’t be that deep.
>Chilly water floods your the space and into your eyes before you snap the goggles back into place.
>You look down and roll your head to let the water wash away the fog inside the mask.
>You turn your head back up and blow out through your nose.
>The purge valves in your mask banish the water and you re-open your eyes to crystal clear 
>In the pitch black there is very little sense of up or down.
>Nothing to get your bearings with save for the swimming feeling inside your ears.
>You feel yourself tilt unsteadily and try to maintain your vertical position.
>Breath control.
>Breath control.
>A sound of movement.
>Breath con-
>A deep rumble reverberates through your bones from every direction.
>Something is with you in the dark.
>You draw a hissed gasp from your regulator, and try to suppress the feeling of being watched.
>That feeling of being sized up by a predator again.
>The hair across your body stands up.
>A swish of water.
>So close that you can feel the turbulence.
>A fish?
>A whale?
>A shark?
>Giant squid?
>Giant sharktopus?
>Eldritch horror?
>You can't tell where it is coming from.
>Did Orchid leave through the bottom hatch and let something inside to haunt you?
>More movement.
>Whatever it might be surrounds you in the dark.
>Lurking.
>Clean goggles or not, you doubt you could see anything.
>Still, your head turns to different sides of the darkness, hoping, or perhaps hoping not, to catch a glimpse of what passes by.
>The chamber grows quiet.
>You only hear the gurgle of air leaving your regulator at an increasingly fast rate.
>Your flippers twitch, legs jerking to avoid phantom monsters of the deep who might grab you from below.
>You can feel your blood boil in the cool water.
>Your suit is compressed tighter against you, the pocket of air keeping you dry squeezing you while being squeezed by the suit. 
>The depths explodes with blinding, electric blue and you can’t help but wince.
>Two eyes have flit open from barely more than a couple of strokes away.
>Under the intense radiance, you squint and hold your hands up to blot out some of it.
>You sharply throw a hand up to shield your eyes.
>No good.
>The sheer scale of what is before you takes up most of your vision. 
>You resort to looking down.
>Overwhelming light dies down to something more manageable as you begin to adjust until you can somewhat stand it.
>Sprawling eyes focus and refocus on your diminutive form with pupils larger than you are.
>She can't be any further than a couple strokes away.
>Your flippers dangle perilously close to the tip of her nose.
>The surface of the hardened material over her nose carries a sheen in the light only a little further away.
>You don't have to be as close as you are to notice the muscles across her face flex as she starts to brandish a toothy smile.
>A shark's teeth might be more serrated but the sheer, solid design and chomping pressure would probably make anything look twice.
>Coordinated, wary pangs of fear and simple muscle movement push you a little further away.
>You look back to the creature and realize something.
>The sheer size of the creature you are dealing with makes it look like you’ve barely moved at all.
>A stripe of color and light suddenly appears by the top of your vision.
>You watch it somewhat overhead as it races down, leaving a spiraling, lit trail.
>It disappears underneath a writhing mass of lines.
>Like flipping a fuse switch, neon aqua flickers across your vision.
>A sea of electric blue dots sprawls outwards from the epicenter.
>The floating, swaying cords like fiberoptics of her mane fade into being, highlighted by glowing ends.
>Among so many lights, two towering flower bulbs catch your notice.
>The small petals that encapsulate them part and open up leaving two 
>The radiant cores point downwards.
>Towards you.
>A gurgling rumble comes out from beneath you.
>Just beyond your flippers, nostrils snort at the thing in front of them.
>Bubbles rush outwards while a glowing aperture opens below them to shed further light on the gravity of the situation.
>You look down and you feel your body clench and tighten up.
>The unmistakeable jaws of a kaiju, ever widening before you.
>The mouth opens to a cascade of light.
>The deep breath Orchid took earlier returns as a roar of escaping air.
>That's probably enough atmosphere to fill a room.
>You squint at the flood of light from her mouth and eyes, the view dancing and shimmering behind the roaring curtain of bubbles that exude from them.
>The din blasts your ear drums and you cringe.
>Your hands shoots to the sides of your head to try to block the migraine-inducing volume.
>It does absolutely nothing to stop the rumble of a thousand roiling, decorative Halloween cauldrons.
>You kick and back away, flippers moving more on reflex than training.
>If your mouth wasn’t so painfully dry from the scuba tank’s air you might have made some kind of noise to accompany your flight.
>The air peters out like a semi-transparent stage curtain lifting between the two of you.
>The kaiju is utterly unfazed and continues to be happy as can be.
>That is, until she notices you clutching your ears, preparing for her next concert-level blast of noise.
>Nothing comes.
>Realization flashes across her face and neon blue eyes widen with a worried look, tilting her head to the side like a dog.
>You point to your ear again and Orchid narrows her eyes, scrutinizing you.
>She blinks and her eyes widen as a smile reappears across her face.
>An unspoken inspiration had struck the kaijuponi.
>Her bulbs and mane gently move upwards together, blowing in an unseen wind.
>It takes a moment before you realize that she is floating downwards.
>Though you have no way to judge distance or scale except for the beast before you, you can see she is starting to slip down.
>Her head slowly tilts to keep you under watch but her rate seems to go faster and faster.
>There is no indication of what fate she has planned save for the noisy swish of her tail in the water.
>A dread thought of her banging down the door that leads to the oceans outside makes you cringe.
>Would the jaegers be sent out in such an event?
>There were only three in service.
>Would they be able to stop her if she did go rogue?
>What would she even do, raid coastal cities for chips?
>She continues to sink low enough that you can see her back for the first time as an overbearing blackness, a bright blue emanates from the side of her flanks.
>Behind their silhouette is her tail, which seems to have folded together and arranged itself to form some great, draping mass.
>Lights wind along its edges, highlighting every time it undulates like a winding snake. 
>You would say it reminds you of a massive sheet rustling in the wind, but as she sinks further you recall a fish tank from a pet store.
>Her rippling tail brings a memory of a betta, better known as one of those "Japanese fighting fish."
>In a twist of fate, she is just about as isolated as the fish themselves.
>She seemed to descend forever, fading into a slight haze in the water.
>Eventually she stopped craning her neck busied herself with inspecting her surroundings.
>A spotlight of blue color washed across the chasm to reveal the walls of the cylindrical tunnel wherever her luminescent eyes turned.
>Without anything around to reference her scale it looked like she was sluggishly shrinking.
>You watch her dive into the distance until the bang of a great weight hitting the floor makes you wince.
>The solid clunk repeats as she lands unevenly at the bottom, first with her hind hooves and then the fore.
>The kaiju’s tail itself waves from side to side in the currents generated by her own movement.
>It loses its compacted formation and splays outwards along with the strands atop her head.
>She lights up the bottom with countless little discolored fireflies, shining a pool of blue wherever the tail floats over the bottom.
>Her mane swishes as she walks like a large fishing net of glowing lures being dragged around.
>The body moves swiftly, frame unimpeded by the mass of water.
>The image on her flank distorts as she rocks herself from side to side letting you catch more and then less of it with each movement.
>Deep, bass tones, like a whale’s call played through concert bass speakers, warble up to you.
>Tiny specks twinkle in the light shedding from her body, becoming bubbles as they emerge from the bottom of the enclosure.
>Pulses of light flicker on and off like a swarm of glowbugs hovering around her.
>Her mane is a jumbled bunch as she shakes herself to an unheard beat.
>The display is unreal.
>Every step is a distant stomp that echoes through the tunnel and every sudden twist of her body around sends a flurry of tail lights around her.
>It ends in less than a minute, the alien display dying as two headlights turn your direction.
>She looked up, seemingly surprised that you weren’t there with her. blue glow awash across her face as she searches for you again.
>The aquatic equine locks on to you.
>Nervousness gave way to some other emotion.
>She frowned.
>Despite the monstrous biology, you could read her expression as easily as anyone.
>Confusion.
>Worry.
>Doubt.
>She didn’t seem aware that you couldn’t go that deep.
>You needed specific mixtures to reach those ends of the pool.
>Not to mention a heavy deep diving suit.
>And more training.
>Your lips pursed around the regulator.
>Explanations later.
>Even if she might hear close up with those giant ears of hers, you liked your air supply right where it was supposed to be.
>Her mouth moves but all that comes out is a blurbled, indistinct voice that sounds like it was played through a subwoofer while gargling soda, then chopped up, reversed, and introduced to a chimpanzee sitting on a special effects keyboard.
>Did her voice just crack?
>She thumps a hoof to her throat with muted bangs evidently not the message she was trying to send across.
>Cobalt blue eyes watch a few more bubbles escape her mouth and make a break for the surface, twinkling like rain in front of a light.
>She gives a curious look, eyes narrowing, suspecting something.
>The monsterhorse crouches slightly and then kicks against the floor with an earsplitting bang that makes you cringe.
>You regain your bearings, only to be met with her bright, glowing face rushing towards you from out of the dark.
>You can’t possibly swim away fast enough.
>She moving her hooves and tail out to break her momentum and the dark body gracefully pulls to a stop, slightly lower than you.
>The swirling eddies and currents she makes from her movement dies down and she is left with her face peering at you from the same depth.
>The kaiju remains the only object in the void besides yourself in an extended, uncomfortable silence.
>Orchid sits like an anglerfish, steady and virtually unmoving.
>If you moved much further away you could just melt into the darkness.
>Would she be able to find you again?
>She doesn't seem particularly concerned about it.
>You stare at her for a couple more breaths from your regulator.
>Distractedly, she watches the ascending air rise for a few fleeting seconds before shifting expectantly back to you.
>Silence egged on, like she really wasn’t sure what to do.
>Just you, a giant kaiju, and air bubbles.
>She was right there in front of you, a defeated look across her face.
>Maybe this was a golden opportunity.
>You wave your hands in front of her face, watching them with a blurred after image against the stark blue of her bioluminescence.
>You have attracted her attention.
>With a deep breath through your regulator,  you lean into a better swimming position.
>The kaijupone’s eyes widen, amazed when you begin to slowly kick your fins propel yourself through the water. 
>Her mouth parts with a glowing sliver.
>Not your target tonight, or hopefully any night. 
>You keep your distance from the aperture and touch the point of her snout.
>Two neon eyes strobe, blinking rapidly in surprise
>Her lips begin to crease in a smile to reveal a nightmarish display of teeth.
>You reflexively kick your feet easily journey along across the top of her nose.
>She remains firmly focused on you, trying to remain as still as possible.
>The kaiju looks stunned that you might dare to be so close still.
>Her face is awash in electric blue across her cheeks.
>Yawning pupils, like two giant portholes, strain to watch you as you float in front of them.
>She looks excited, if anything.
>Preferable to sad Orchid.
>Even if the excited Orchid is probably more dangerous.
>Such in mind, you point a finger down, signaling her to stay put, and take your leave.
>You crouch and push off against her nose plate.
>She flinches ever so slightly when you sail upwards over her left eye.
>The environment changes around you, lit in blue by the spotlights that track you with precision.
>You wave at her and she responds with a blink. 
>You glide over the sea of dangling strands of mane hair like you were overlooking a distant cluster of stars.
> Reaching the attentively perked up left ear, you swim around to the back.
>In the light shed by the bulbs, you can easily make out another plate of her bizarre, natural armor.
>The back of the ear is sheltered by another thick shell like the nose was.
>You spot the space between flesh and plate and approach it.
>You exhale a cloud of bubbles.
>The next thing you know, a swish of displaced water is pushing you around.
>A loud whoosh of movement overrides your hearing.
>Once you steady yourself you realize that your surroundings have changed.
>You are looking at a different section of ear all together.
>The huge, pointed structure of her ear flicks again in a blink, re-assuming a neutral position. 
>Your scratching hand falters as you imagine it being ticklish enough to swat you.
>You are not sure how much a kaiju ear might weigh, but definitely has more mass than you do.
>You keep an eye on it and slowly move backwards.
>You follow the shape down to where it joins the head and realize that she had jerked upwards when her ear moved.
>Not far enough to headbutt you, and yet you see the evidence.
>All around you, her mane is in disarray.
>The strings of her mane are clumped together.
>Their glowing ends wind to form larger, brighter strands.
>The strands float every which way like aquatic plants as the motion settles down.
>Maybe you could look elsewhere.
>You look down past her shoulder and decide it might not be the best idea.
>The main body lacks lighting save for a few strands of mane hairs that dangle across her lower neck.
>The intensity of the kaiju’s blue light against the black background robs you of being able to see much of her body, even at this close range.
>From somewhere in the shadows, her hooves move as indistinct blobs of greater darkness amidst the darkened waters.
>The depths of her underbelly will have to wait for another excursion.
>Ears flick from the peripheries with loud, noisy movement, huge satellite dishes trying to track your orbit.
>Between them, the bulbs of her outlandish antennae sway gently with her movements, surrounded by the dense undergrowth of her mane.
>You make your way towards the horn,  the spiraling cone and the only solid-looking structure in sight.
>You reach your right arm over to pull a hose below your left armpit.
>You feel for a button along its length and press down.
>A hiss and eruption of bubbles jets a blast of compressed air.
>The BCD's air bladder deflates and the upwards pull across your back lessens, letting you sink further.
>You slowly begin to descend past the tip of the horn, counting the spiraling grooves.
>A zone of discomfort squeezes cross your consciousness and you pop your ears to re-equalize pressure.
>You examine the monsterhorse carefully.
>Her mane is a mess of strands weaving this way and that, each one a cable-sized lure with a bioluminescent light at the end.
>Like a giant sea anemone.
>You float by, half expecting to spot a clownfish.
>You come up towards the forehead where the horn rests like some ancient structure poking out of a reef.
>You are not sure how the narwal-like horn is actually attached to her.
>With morbid curiosity you try to see through the tangles and snarls of Orchid’s hair.
>You lean back a little but can’t find anything amidst her mane’s tendrils.
>Moving on, you kick away to head for the kaiju’s face again.
>You lurch.
>Something tugs on your flipper.
>You are jarred to a stop.
>You look back to see the culprit.
>One of your legs is enwrapped by a strand.
>The length sits there glowing blue as you try to reposition yourself to deal with this snare.
>Your ankle is caught in the hair.
>You reach out for something to hold onto and your fingers slip across the groove of her horn.
>You can’t seem to grasp the smooth material, hands simply brushing across it.
>Orchid seems to have felt it, however and announces it with the loud rush of water being displaced across her.
>The ground moves up by a good foot or so as her head jerks backwards.
>Your feet slap into the tangles and you try to kick against them, hoping that it might have jarred you loose.
>Your feet feel like they are tied up.
>You stare at the tendrils floating in the currents and realize some of them are moving in the opposite direction.
>Your musings are broken by the strange landscape around you starting to drop out below you.
>You watch tiny particles float upwards amidst the alien thickets around you.
>They’re not moving.
>You are.
>Orchid is drifting into the abyss..
>She must have thought you were giving her a sign.
>You spin around to see across her back to where her tail fans out in the distance.
>Swishing far away, the bright, billowing tarp drives you further down into the black.
>You dangle into the air, the insistent pull from her hair dragging you with the sea monster into the depths of its lair.
>Your hands retreat from her horn and you draw increasingly panicked breaths.
>You try to yell for her to stop but it comes out as a whine, masked behind the bubbles blowing out through your regulator.
>You peel it off and shout but you feel something squeeze your ankle.
>Another strand is pulled around your leg.
>You are being pulled deeper.
>A sharp pain on your pressure points.
>You scramble across your belt for your knife.
>Fingers lash across it like a kraken until it finds the familiar switch.
>The knife is quickly unlocked and you brandish it.
>You roll forward, bending your knee against the current pulling upwards to drag yourself close to the problem.
>The pressure is building.
>Your other hand pinches your nose shut but you can't seem to clear your ears.
>In the chorus of blue light you can make out the wire-cutting edge on your diving knife and you bend down to line a strand of hair across it.
>The blade forces along its edge and yet it doesn’t make any progress.
>You wrap your hand around the back of the blade and force it against the lit hair even harder.
>The fiber optic cord slips from your grasp and you shakily grab at it.
>It seems to welcome your hold this time and you wrap it around your hand to pull it taut.
>You try to snap the wire again.
>Flinging your hands away, you reach for a different strand but it seems to slither across your fingers.
>You flinch and let it go, glancing to your flipper.
>The synthetic fin is enwrapped and as you blink for just a moment the mane hairs seem to creep further up your suit.
>You grit your teeth to the agony in your head.
>Why can’t you equalize the pressure in your ears?
>You hold your regulator to your mouth and yawn as hard as you can, your knife lingering in your other hand.
>On the second try your ears pop with a painful squelch. 
>The sting remains but your cavities clear enough for you to not worry about your ear drums bursting.
>The strands stubbornly yank your body, unwilling to give up.
>Like vines, they wrap around your legs.
>Far too thick for a wire cutter.
>You flip your knife around, fumbling it in your grasp before you catch it and admire  the toothed edge that now menacingly points outwards.
>You reel yourself back in to reach for your feet, only to stop abruptly as you realize you have sunken further into the mass.
>Your muscles ache as you retract the other leg away from the glowing lines to try and keep the perfect distance out from the thing trying to grab you.
>A hiss of air passes through your regulator.
>The tugging is not from them towing you.
>You are being pulled inside like jellyfish tentacles latching onto its prey.
>With your off hand you pry at the glowing cords that entangle your suit.
>They don’t give easily.
>You saw as furiously as you can, drawing the blade against the little lures.
>You feel a pressure building up in your ears and redouble the effort.
>You approach from an angle, slipping the blade in between the hairs and letting the teeth rattle against the filaments. 
>In the back of your mind you imagine what it would be like if you puncture your suit.
>You slow down but push the back of the knife’s teeth to bite deeper.
>You squint and bring your face closer.
>You think you see a small mark appearing.
>Your arm continues with the motion until you are suddenly yanked to the side. 
>Some cross between a yelp and some sort of squeal makes your ears ring and your forehead throb.
>Your hands reflexively try to shield your ears even though it is useless.
>In the aftermath you find yourself even further tangled than before. 
>However, the squeeze of the bindings around your feet is entirely absent now.
>A few motes of detritus hover in front of you.
>Orchid must be floating in place now.
>You are unimpeded.
>Released.
>No longer tethered to a giant amphibious horse monster.
>Your buoyancy starts to pick you up, floating you upwards towards the depth from before you were grabbed. 
>The glowing environment retreats, the strands and bulb and horn reaching upwards as the massive head lowers down below and tilts back.
>The kaiju lingers there, a fair distance away.
>The water around you brightens and you turn around.
>Electric blue stares at you fretfully.
>You are left trying to recover from the ordeal, adrenaline starting to run its course.
>You must be blowing through your air supply. 
>You reach to your side and bring up a small device to your face.
>The display on your dive computer isn’t visible.
>Too dark and the blue tinge doesn’t help your night vision in the least.
>It should beep when you need to return but you don’t want to risk it.
>Your fingers feel around the electronic and try to press a few buttons.
>There should be a backlight function somewhere.
>Maybe you weren’t hitting the right ones.
>Orchid watches impassively, face partially hidden behind the dive computer as you hold it out. 
>It’s blank.
>It should beep when you need to return but you don’t want to risk it.
>Time to get back to the shallows.
>There will be plenty of time to rest as you return to the surface. 
>For now, you ascend.
>You press down on the side button from the hose by your hip and hear the rush of air into the BCD across your back.
>It opens and you begin to rise, trying to get a basic estimate of how far you are traveling by watching Orchid.
>That is, until you notice that she is following you.
>You freeze in place, hovering there.
>You probably missed the safety stop depth.
>You look around but don’t see the edge where the tunnel opens out into the Den proper.
>You must have been deeper than you thought.
>You wait, counting the seconds.
>Every so often you listen to Orchid moving her tail or idly kicking her hooves.
>She watches you curiously.
>She is not looking at your face, so much as the rest of you.
>You are about to hold up a hand for attention when you notice your sleeves.
>Your arms are ballooning outwards as you go up. 
>Without the pressure of the depths, the air inside the dry suit has more room.
>It takes a moment to realize that the air in your dry suit is expanding, freed of the compression at depth.
>The creeping cold seems to have dissipated within your suit, if only a little bit.
>Eventually a few minutes pass by and you pump more air into your water wings.
>Time. 
>You continue on, ascending smoothly under the constant noise of your companion swimming close by.
>Your lungs empty of air, exhaling a long stream of bubbles just in case of over-decompression.
>Air expanding too fast in your lungs would not be pleasant.
>Between that and the panic you had earlier, you cannot begin to fathom how much air you have already used this dive.
>Soon, you can vaguely see the light over the door in the distance.
>Not so much the light itself, but the glow over the walls around it.
>You repeat the safety stop process again, letting yourself adjust while you have another weird staring contest with Orchid.
>She never dares to get too close to you, probably worried about catching your leg again.
>Eventually you break the surface of the grotto, kaiju in tow.
>Close by, a horn and pair of ears slides above the surface.
>The rest of her soon follows while you take the breathing regulator off and breathe in the refreshingly wet air of the Den.
>The wet mane and bulbs hang loosely, liquid draining off of her in waterfalls.
>As soon as you make eye contact, her mouth quivers.
“Orchid, I-”
>”I’m so sorry my hair grabbed you!” she blubbers.
>”I’m so sorry! My secondary brain was-”
“Orchid!”
>She goes quiet.
>Did she say secondary brain?
>It was well known that kaiju had that but what did that have to do with her hair?
>You shake the thought away.
>You’re not sure she’d be very good at explaining how that worked.
“I didn’t know you could turn off your lights.”
>”I’m s-oh?”
“How come you’ve never done that before?”
>The kaiju blinks at you for a few seconds before she looks down into the dark where you had just emerged from.
>”I-I kind of like my night light,” she mutters.”
“But why’d you turn them off?”
>She looks away sheepishly. 
>”Darkness is scary. I mean, I know where everything is, but it’s still a little scary.”
>She clears her throat and looks to you and you only.
>”I sort of wanted to see if you would really follow me into there. But you did! You did… and I wanted to see if I could impress you and, and I’m so sorry.”
“Look, Orchid, you shouldn’t-”
>”Hey, you’re back!”
>From the walkway across the chamber, the diving instructors wave at you.
>”Anything happen down there?” the wife shouts.
>You frown at the two from behind your mask.
>Now they’re concerned?
>You were still a new diver and they left you alone in here.
>Now that you thought about it, you must have dropped your knife.
>How were you going to explain that?
>You can hear the kaiju scraping her forehooves together, fidgeting as she looks to you to answer them.
>You raise a thumbs up out of the water.
“Not much!”
>Orchid rolls her eyes at you, but smiles.
>Yeah, sure.
>You approach the end of the dock.
>Cracks run along the remnant of the pier.
>The concrete is damaged from the events of some time go.
>Much of the jagged edges have been smoothed over, worn away until the side is slightly less threatening.
>Orchid follows behind.
>You keep slowly swimming for the dock.
>The kaiju crawls along with you.
>Every so often the booming clunk of her armored hooves behind you overpowers your swimming action.
>She wades through the water with you until a crack and a crunch makes you look behind you.
>Her spotlight eyes highlight a piece of the concrete columns.
>Or rather, what was a piece.
>Now it has been flattened into even smaller rubble, a few pieces rolling out from around the rim of her hoof.
>The rubble crunches beneath her tread.
>”Um…”
“Just keep going.”
>”O-okay.”
>When you start climbing up the ladder, the two instructors haul you up onto semi-dry land.
>It was a beautiful thing after the pit.
>The kaiju follows along
>"I think we got you figured out, mate."
>The wife switches between warily eyeballing the kaiju horse and you.
>"You're onna those adrenaline jockeys, ain'tcha?"
“Starting to think I might be.”
>"Musta been loud down there, we could hear it all the way up here."
“Yeah, it was.”
>"Sound travels right to your head in the water. You can't just plug it."
>”Now let’s go get you out of that suit.”
>The two instructors start ushering you out of the room when a voice calls from behind.
>"W-wait."
>The kaiju sits just off of the walkway.
>Her cheeks were lit up again, framing her brighter lights with a vague coloration that didn't quite match the lighting spread across the rest of her features.
>This was some kaiju semblance of a blush.
>You were sure of it.
>"Are we going out tomorrow?"
>That’s right, you were scheduled to take her out to the beach this weekend.
>Was that really a good idea?
>You deliberate it with yourself for a few seconds.
>Maybe you could go talk to her father about it.
>She hopes you might say something as the silence stretches on.
>"Like on a..."
>She trailed off even though her mouth was still moving.
>She swallowed hard and drew herself up.
>"...a date?"
>Despite yourself a hand moved to the back of your head.
"More like a vacation."
>"A vacation together?"
“Looks like it.”
>She wears a big smile when you wave goodbye for the night, watching you from the shallows.
>You turned back to the other divers.
>”Aw.”
>The couple was holding hands together while you started for the door.
>"That big sheila's sweet on ya."
"Yeah, she's pretty nice."
>You swipe the card and go to exit without looking away.
>"That's more than being nice."
>The solid, reinforced opens with the usual hiss and mechanical clunk.
"Fine, I guess she's really-"
>Your scurry out nearly and walk into someone before you even pass the threshold.
>The second kaiju handler stood outside.
"Jeez, Jack, how long have you been out here?"
>He glances at the security camera feed one last time and holds his hands up in surrender.
>”I'm not saying anything. Oh, except Doctor Geiszler wants you in the security station again. After you’re in normal clothes, of course.”
“Yeah, sure.”
>The door closes behind you, just in time for your flashlight to get nudged hard enough by one of your hoses to flicker back to life.
"Now it works."
>The instructors stop and turn around.
>"Did ya have some equipment problems?"
"Yeah, my light went out and I couldn't get my dive computer to light up."
>The two inspect your gear, handling the computer and the light in particular.
>"You computer's off. See? Still thinks you're underwater. Must've been a dud. Make sure you get another one. You don't want to be diving without a working computer."
>The wife, Cleo, tapped your side.
>"Hey, what happened to your knife?"
"I was searching for 
>"You actually went into that?"
"Yeah."
>"Told ya, Cleo, he's an adrenaline junkie. Just don't do that again without a working light. Dangerous enough with the kaiju; you don't want to be blind at the same time."
>His wife nodded and you followed them back to the impromptu prep room in short order.
>Really, it was just an unused storage room nearby.
>You pick up your bag and head out with the others before a thought hits you.
>After all of this, Orchid still doesn’t know your name.
>You hurry back down the hall, opening the heavy door to the Kaiju Den.
>The room water was still, and empty.
>She must have dived back down.
>You’ll tell her next time.
>With that, you hustled for the elevator and towards the office of the biological science division’s executive member.
>You stepped into the office to a loud accolade from the mousy kaiju expert.
>”There’s the hero!”
“Doctor Geisz-”
>”Just Newt.”
“Yeah, Newt. You wanted me in here?”
>”I wanted to congratulate you on being the first person to dive with a kaiju and live.”
“Uh, thanks but I wanted to ask about-”
>”Oh, yeah, the reason why you ran back into the Den?”
“You saw that?”
>”Well I was wondering why you took so long so I checked the camera.”
>He spun the monitor at his desk around
>”And what were you doing then, hm?”
“Just that I remembered that I never told her my name so I went back inside. She didn’t surface. Must have been worn out.”
>Newt merely grins and moves back to his desk to key something in..
>”That’s more accurate than you think.”
>He turned the screen around again to see a video.
>The recording, marked shortly before you entered, showed the monsterhorse herself, staring at the door.
>Her ears flicked and rotated.
>”He’s going to be here soon,” she said aloud.
>The kaiju started to move, energetically rushing in circles.
>”We’re going to go swimming.”
>You weren’t sure how many knots she was moving, but she was getting faster and faster.
>”We’re going to go swimming!”
>The video paused.
"Doesn't it ever bother you that there are just so many cameras around your daughter? That she has zero privacy?"
>”You don’t get upset at folks for having a baby monitor around their kid, do you?”
>He unraveled a sleeve to show an arm covered in tattoos.
>The dancing patterns and depictions of various kaiju made your head swim trying to pinpoint each one.
>This guy really was a kaiju groupie back in the day, wasn’t he?
>”Put ‘er there!”
“Er can I not?.”
>”Just want to shake the hand of the guy my daughter has a crush on.”
“Please, she does not have a crush on me.”
>The look you got did not say that he believed you, but he waved his hands as if to clear the issue.
>"Whatever you say. But would you believe I had a fish tank for her when she was little?"
"A fish tank?"
>"Even tried to scoop her out of it a couple of times."
>He sighs nostalgically. 
>”I think that's why she likes to play around fishing boats. It's the nets. By the way, that’s important. Don’t let her around fishing boats.”
“Hey, don’t you think this is a little much for one person?”
>”You won’t be alone tomorrow, I’ve already made the arrangements.”
“But still, why me?”
>"Somebody has to be the winner, and my girl thinks you're the one."
"We’re friends, I really don't think that she-"
>"Oh no?"
>The screen flickered to a recording of when you approached the end of the concrete.
>You approached the edge under vigilant watch of the kaiju.
>When you look down into the water for a few seconds, the monsterhorse curls up her lips just a little bit and glares at the other divers.
>They freeze right in the middle of their approach.
>You look up and Orchid just smiles and waves.  
>The video pauses and Newt folds his hands smugly.
>He took a couple of steps until he was right next to you and lowered his voice.
>"So about that beach trip; you don't happen to have any special plans this weekend, do you?"
"Wh-what?!"
>"You, my good man, are going to take her for a walk this weekend."
"So soon?"
>"Hey, let me tell you something. I didn't get where I am now by playing it safe all the time."
"But this is just reckless!"
>"Hey, remember that kaiju brain drift? The secondary brain drift that made me famous and proved I was totally right all along about my kaiju theories? Yeah, that was incredibly stupid at the time. But it paid off. So go get stupid. You seem semi-responsible and more importantly, she listens to you."
>"Congratulations, you're going to be the first person to take a kaiju for a walk on the beach without being mind-linked with a giant robot suit."
>"Just don't let it get to your head."
>"Safe?" he sniffed.
>"I don't know. Guess you'll be tellin' me afterwards, huh?"