Prologue: The Krakens' Calling

It began at the bottom of the sea. There was a massive school of bright blue jellyfish, swimming across what would otherwise be an empty abyss. As they swam near a wrecked ship, their light shone on it, displaying the tarnished, rusted state it had endured. Wrecked, sunken ships are rare, but unfortunately not uncommon in the world. However, the same cannot be said for what lurked within.

There was a gigantic creature, which wagged its tentacles behind the sunken ship before zooming around it. After a moment, it opened a big blue eye, peeking inside of it. The glow of its gaze illuminated the hull of the ship before it went away. When the eye was gone, a small creature swam just outside. It was a little creature, much more so than the one that swam near the ship.

It had purple tentacles on top of its head, with two of them in the front at shoulder-level, and the ones behind it at back level, and the entire base of the body was bright pink. And it had little small stubs for ears on the sides of its head. It had a small smile on its face, trying to contain the laughter with its blubbery hands.

The small pink creature swam out of the ship and paddled along. It kept the smirk as it swam away. But moments later, it was met with a giant green hand, hitting smack-dab right into it! The same hand clutched the small creature and pulled her up to its large face. It had lime green skin, shoulder pads, and 8 tentacles, with two of them acting as arms and six being the legs. The "hair" was sticking up as though it was meant to be spiky. The bigger creature looked as though it was about to attack when suddenly…

"Got you."

The bigger creature had an older feminine voice, like it belonged to a wise sage brittles with battle. It used one of its arms to tickle the smaller creature, getting a giggle of a girl out if it. The size of its finger covered the whole body and pressed down on the small creature. It must've been very ticklish, because it was laughing so much so hard. The little creature was finally able to speak when the tickling stopped.

"Come on, Grandmamah! It's not fair! You knew I was hiding."

Grandmamah had a gentle smile towards the little one.

"Of course I did, Pearl. It's the name of the game, isn't it? If you weren't hiding, what would be the point?"

Grandmamah placed Pearl on one of her shoulder pads, and Pearl held tight onto it with her blubbery hands. She swam away from the sunken ship and deeper in the ocean as Pearl complained.

"You know what I mean! Sometimes, I wish you'd let me win…"

Her Grandmamah gave her a slight noogie with the tap of her finger.

"Ah, but failure is just as effective a teacher. It's how you learn things, Pearl. You learn what you did wrong, and you improve on that. So you never, ever, make those mistakes in your life again!"

Grandmamah went tense at that last part, like she was ready to attack anything that came near her. Pearl went nervous as she crouched down on the shoulder pad. She caught on to the girl's panic and tried to calm herself down. She took a deep breath and spoke softly.

"Sorry about that, dear. Away, rage. But you know what I mean, right?"

Pearl sadly sighed in defeat.

"Yeah…"

They continued their swim as Pearl looked ahead to see a castle up ahead. It was glowing bright blue with many towers arching up with a gate in the middle while there were tentacle-like pillars at the bottom that supported it. The gate had tentacle motifs around it, like it was a mouth The duo went up to the gate, and it glowed bright green, opening up for them. Upon entering, they ended up in a large, blue room with many other gates surrounding it, and there was also a throne at the center of it. While Grandmamah sat on the throne, Pearl floated down onto her lap and looked at her with her curious sapphire eyes.

"But how come the Krakens can't go to the surface?"

Grandmamah looked down at her young child with puzzlement.

"Now, why would you want anything to do with those crust-dwellers?"

Pearl held onto her hands a bit anxiously as she tried to come forward.

"Well… I just wanted to see the princess."

Pearl's answer clicked for her Grandmamah, and a look of realization showed up on her face.

"Oh. Well, it's not that simple, Pearl. The choice is up to her to answer the call."

"But who's calling her?"

Grandmamah chuckled at her sweet, innocent question and held her hand down to her for her to climb onto it.

"Oh, my sweet little guppy granddaughter. Let me explain to you… the Calling of the Kraken."

Pearl climbed onto Grandmamah's oversized hand as she regaled the tale.

"The ocean is a mysterious world, one that land-dwellers can only begin to imagine. They would think that they knew what lies beyond the surface. And even then, humans knew more about the surface of Mars than the floor of the ocean."

Pearl tilted her head.

"What's Mars?"

"That's… another story. But they don't quite know this one. For instance, the sea creatures that live there. Despite the many textbooks and dictionaries that showcased many of them, there was still a lot to learn, especially when it came to the very creatures they imagined. The truth was, they imagined them wrong. Take the mythical, mighty, giant Kraken. It's been often portrayed as the villain, the monster in every story; bloodthirsty monster, sinker of ships, drowner of sailors, you name it."

Pearl had a confused and horrified look on her when she heard the examples.

"But we don't do those things!"

Grandmamah had to pause the story to give her two cents, a look of disbelief on her own as well.

"Right?! Where are they even getting this?!"

Grandmamah cleared her throat before she went on.

"Anyway, in real life, the Krakens are majestic creatures, noble protectors of the sea."

Pearl's eyes widen in intrigue.

"Really?"

"Yes. But those humans don't know anything about that. I mean, if somebody figured it out, they would've been called mad!"

She chuckled at that with a laugh before she had a solemn frown on her face.

"Then again… it's happened before."

Pearl took note of her sad look. She couldn't understand how her, the Warrior Queen, the Ruler of the Seven Seas, could be sad.

"You see, Pearl, even the Kraken had their first fight. And like many others, it made our moment. And they're often the most personal. That first fight was against.. Cthulhu."

Pearl gasped at the very mention of his name. She seemed too familiar with it.

"You mean… the Boogeykraken?"

"Oh, yes. The very same…"

As Grandmamah went on, her blue eyes turned into fierce red eyes. And eventually, she became the very monster she spoke of. His whole frame was covered in shadow, but the red gaze of his eyes showed much of his tentacles, which hung from his mouth. It was sweeping in a cave, placed at the center of what looked like an underwater city.

"He was as old as the sea itself, a vile god that drove humans mad if they so much as took a look at that ugly geezer in the face. But that's not the worst of it. He used to command all of the sea creatures we face today. And he did it all in the mysterious place called R'lyeh."

With a deafening roar, the alleged Boogeykraken rallied all of the creatures into war, urging them to swim to the surface with a simple command. Examples have varied from a dark purple eel-looking creature with sharp teeth and horns sticking it from its chin on the sides, followed by a strange creature that looked like a sea monster from an old 40's movie.

"That includes the Leviathans and the Umibozu, among others."

And up above the water on a stormy day, there was also an emergence from above water where a tidal wave seemed to rise up. But that "wave" turned out to be a waterfall. And just on top of it was a being with hard yellow skin with glowing markings on her, along with glowing red eyes.

"And let's not forget the worst of them all: the Mermaids."

The mermaid kept a vigil with a deranged smile as the Leviathan and the Umibozu surfaced up beside her. The former of the two creatures took notice of a boat sailing up ahead.

"Together, their brand of chaos created what is commonly known as the Devil's Triangle."

The Leviathan smirked, flashing its fangs as it submerged itself back into the water and went close to the ship faster than a speeding bullet. Once it was within range, the Leviathan lashed out at the ship's hull, its claws tearing straight through.

On the surface, the captain and his crew barely withstood the resulting shockwave, though many men ended up overboard as a result. His first mate looked upon him with worry. He had a long-sleeved white tunic with light brown trousers.

"Captain Thursten! We have men overboard! And the boat's hull has been breached! We're taking in water fast!"

The captain turned to his first mate, his determination unfazed. He was wearing a dark navy blue coat with a brown shirt over it and dark blue trousers.

"Something must've attacked us. Tell the men below to man the cannons and stay frosty until the water gets to their ankles. If they find anything monstrous, shoot it down!"

While the First Mate, although timid, went to relay the orders to his men, they remained unaware that the Umibozu was making its move. It was taking advantage of the opening the Leviathan created on the hull. It was a sizable enough hole for it to slip through. At the hull, the first mate went to the men at the bottom and relayed the captain's orders to them.

"The captain says, 'man the cannons and stay frosty!' If you find anything monstrous, shoot it down until the water gets to your ankles!"

Given their odds, one of the crewmen didn't think it wise.

"Yeah, and why shouldn't we just abandon ship?"

The first mate and the crewmen all looked at the naysayer with a mortified expression. He was the only one oblivious to the creature behind him!

"What?"

Suddenly, the Umibozu dragged him from behind, dragging him through the crack and into the sea along with him. The crewmen were easily frightened by this maneuver and rushed up ahead to the upper deck. The first mate was paralyzed by the sight of the creature, so he ended up being dragged out of the ship. And it was just in time, too. As it turned out, there were several more where the Umibozu came from.

Up above the deck, the captain was perplexed to see most of his crew desperately trying to man the lifeboats. He looked to his first mate and tried to get a report.

"Lighthouse, what's going on?!"

Lighthouse, still having a frightful daze, tried to speak up.

"M-M-Monster… we saw a monster, Captain!"

Thursten had a very weary look on him. Whatever it meant? He didn't wish for it to harm his crew.

"Monster…? Everyone, man the lifeboats!"

At that moment, one of the crewmen was already ahead of him. He was pulling the ropes up desperately to jump on the lifeboat and paddle away to freedom. When the boat was level with the deck, he jumped into it along with many others and lowered it to the ocean before he swam away. The only ones left behind are Thursten, Lighthouse, and a few of his crewmen that couldn't make it to the lifeboats. But as they were swimming away from the apparently doomed ship, the sailors noticed the mermaid. It had flowing blonde hair and a fishlike tail. And there were two more beside her: one with purple hair, and another with an orange color.

"Ahoy, sailors~"

If it were possible for the sailors' eyes to turn into hearts, they would've done so already.

"Shiver my Timbers…"

The other two mermaids got their attention next.

"We can save you from the monsters~"

"Just swim over here~"

The crewman that was paddling the boat swam towards it without hesitation. With safe, reassuring voices like hers, why wouldn't anybody?

"Aye, aye, maladies~"

Confused, Thursten looked to where his crew were swimming to. His eyes widened when he saw what was actually on the rocks.

"Men! Swim back right now! Swim back!"

Unfortunately, his warning came too late. By the time they heard it, they were already near the Mermaids. One of the crew turned back and mocked the captain.

"What should we go back on the sinking ship for, dear captain? These beautiful ladies might-"

He turned back around, only to be met with a much scarier appearance of the three of them. They had sharp teeth, and their eyes were completely red. They let out a scream before the mermaids pounced on them and dragged the crew down to the ocean below, completely helpless at their mercy. Thursten and Lighthouse were utterly terrified to witness the drowning. Save for a few of their men that stayed, they were on their own. The first mate looked to his captain with a fearful gaze.

"What do we do now, Captain?"

Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do. They were likely to drown eventually. And the only support they had was sinking fast. And as if things weren't bad enough, the crew discovered that several Umibozu burst out onto the deck, ready to grab their prey. Even the Captain was becoming afraid of what would happen…

Down below in the ocean, the Leviathan eyed hungrily on the ship, and it was about to deal one more blow.

"The Devil's Triangle was an unbreakable maneuver that none of their prey could escape. That's where we came in."

Suddenly, before the Leviathan could attack, it was hit in the undercarriage, making it sent flying away from the ship. The Umibozu that were outside the ship noticed this and became puzzled. Suddenly, the Umibozu were shot down like birds at a shooting range from a sudden blast of light from their eyes. Then, the silhouette took notice of the mermaids that were drowning the sailors. It obviously couldn't risk hitting their victims, too. So, it went with a more direct approach.

The figure went barreling right at the mermaids and shoved them off like bowling pins. Then, it carried the sailors in its massive arms, twirling its tentacles to rise up before clamping them together to lurch itself upwards.

On the surface, the ship's crew felt a tremor through the ocean. Pearl can make a guess about what happened.

"Was it us, Grandmamah?"

"Yes, Pearl! It was the Mighty Kraken!"

Suddenly, the Kraken rose up, splashing water with its massive entrance. The Kraken roared as it lurched the tentacles near the ship and latched onto it, forcing the crewmen and the Umibozu to back away to avoid being hit. And then, the tentacles recoiled, slapping the Umibozu off of the ship and into the water. Thursten looked at the Kraken with awe when he saw what it did to the creatures. He was perplexed even further when its tentacles dragged the ship closer to it.

He looked up at the Kraken, seeing its massive size for himself. It was colored dark blue with blue eyes. And its hair had two locks near the face, one each going over the stubs, and it had a ponytail as well. The Kraken set the sailors onto the ship gently, all of them coughing out the seawater that got into them. Lighthouse widened his eyes.

"What kind of creature is that…?"

The Kraken simply lowered its head to answer in a soft, yet powerful feminine voice.

"I'm a Kraken. It's nice to meet you."

Thursten gasped softly as he approached the Kraken, overcome with an overwhelming sense of relief. It looked close to the captain as he tried to think of the words.

"I… words can't describe how I'm feeling. Even I can't at the moment. But… Thank you. For what you've done for my crew."

She smiled back at the captain and gently closed its eyes as the human placed his hand on its face.

"At that moment, it actually seemed like it would be possible for humans and krakens to work together. Eh, not that we needed to. We were perfectly fine on our own. But then… he came."

Suddenly, there was a massive thunderstorm, the sound of cracking thunder filling the air as rain struck upon them. The Kraken had a frightened look as an ominous chanting came. The captain and his crew saw how frightened it was and grew worried.

"What's wrong?"

Before the Kraken could answer, there was a sudden gust of wind that blew over them. And along with it came a booming voice.

"You have gone too far this time, Tritania."

Instinctively, the Kraken named Tritania turned around and held her arms out, as if to shield them, and just in time. They were suddenly showered by two red lights that glared upon them. She turned to the humans and tried to warn them.

"Whatever you do, don't look! Just keep your head down, close your eyes, whatever you need to do! Just don't look at him!"

Thursten had never seen the Kraken in such panic. It made him wonder what could possibly invoke such fear out of it. Unfortunately, two of his crew didn't listen.

"Look at what?"

"Yeah, what got you so…?"

The moment they stared into it, they saw exactly what she told them not to look at. They saw the gaze of his red eyes meeting them. And there was only a brief flash of lightning that exposed the whole body, which was composed of a human caricature with two draconian bone-like wings on its back. Their eyes turned bright red, and they started screaming at the top of their lungs, completely out of their minds.

They even acted pretty loony. Thursten, Lighthouse, and the only crewman who didn't look were completely aghast at the result. And it got worse when they started to convulse unnaturally. Eventually, they both perished, fixing out their last screaming breath before they fell dead. Thursten gasped with utter terror in his breath.

"Cover your eyes! All of you!"

As the humans covered their eyes from looking at Cthulhu, he glanced down at the rebellious Kraken.

"I have allowed your kind's foolishness long enough, Kraken. Swear your fealty to me, and I might be willing to forego your punishment."

But Tritania stared daggers at Cthulhu, not willing to back down.

"But your Great-Great Grandmamah told him we would never kneel to a tyrant. Her exact words, actually."

"We would never kneel to a tyrant!"

"Then it is war."

Cthulhu swung one of his massive tentacles from his mouth right at Tritania, knocking her aside from the ship. Left without any protection but to spare themselves from the madness, Thursten and his crew had no way of knowing what to do, especially when the ship was starting to sink again.

Tritania saw Cthulhu getting ready to strike down on the ship, his red eyes glowing brighter. And unfortunately, she couldn't stop him from tearing the boat in half with one strike of his tentacles!

Pieces of the ship were strewn about all over the ocean, and Thursten, Lighthouse, and the only crew member they had were sent flying as the bottom half of the ship sank to the depths below. And unfortunately, they had a brief glimpse of Cthulhu's tentacles before going into the water. Thinking quickly, Tritania swam under the ocean, zipping past Cthulhu's pitch black legs to grab the top half of the ship and began to act as a custom motor with her lower tentacles moving it.

She noticed Lighthouse and Thursten floating above the water. She managed to scoop them up with her arm and set them on the captain's deck near the steering wheel. Tritania was making sure they didn't fall off of it. Then, she stared right at Cthulhu and her blue eyes glowed bright with rage as she stared at him.

"This war… is over!"

Tritania put her pedal to the medal so to speak, going faster and faster until a heavy sound of impact can be heard throughout the ocean, along with the roar of the demon that would normally sound like a death knell.

"Then, like a guided missile of rage, Tritania impaled the sunken ship right through Cthulhu!"

Pearl grew a wide smile, believing she knew what came next.

"She actually killed the Boogeykraken?!"

Grandmamah chuckled sadly as she continued.

"Ah, if only it were that simple… no. He's the one thing that can never be killed. But, it did put that ugly mug to a couple centuries' worth of sleep."

Cthulhu groaned in pain as he went down along with the sunken ship as Thursten and Lighthouse were in Tritania's palms. The Deep One glared at the Kraken with a livid fury despite his eerie chuckle.

"You've fought bravely, Kraken. But this world… is already mine."

With that, Cthulhu was completely submerged, and the humans she rescued were unconscious. Whatever passes for the Kraken's heart sank when she feared what he'd done to them. As luck would have it, the storm cleared up away. And with it came salvation in the form of shore.

"Tritania had won the first major fight any Kraken has ever had. It was our moment! But… we weren't able to stop him in time."

"How, Grandmamah?"

Tritania set Lighthouse and Thursten on the sandy shore. But a moment after she put them down, Lighthouse woke up and saw the Kraken again. But he wasn't awestruck like before. He seemed positively frightened.

"Remember what I said about him driving humans insane? Well… it worked too well."

"AGH! Monster! Get away from me!"

Tritania looked positively stunned when his first mate shouted at her, the one who saved their lives with such contempt.

"Hey, calm down. I saved your life, remember? You can tell him, right, Captain?"

She looked down at Thursten, hoping that he'd convince his first mate. But he didn't appear to move at all. Was she too late to save him after all?

"Captain…?"

Tritania became very afraid of what had happened. Did Cthulhu kill him with madness like he did the others…? Lighthouse noticed his condition, too. But his fear turned into hatred. And he took it out on the one who tried to protect them… and failed.

"You…! You killed our crew! And you killed my captain! You'll pay for this, Kraken! I swear on my family name, we'll have your head for this!"

Hurt by Lighthouse's words, Tritania fled from them heartbroken. She submerged herself into the water and went as deep into the ocean as she could.

"As punishment for our defiance, Cthulhu made the Krakens look like monsters to them. That's how it all started. And we've never been up to the surface ever since."

Pearl's face saddened at the thought.

"That's really awful, Grandmamah…"

Grandmamah gently stroked her head with her finger as she nodded sadly.

"Yeah, I know. People will fall for anything these days…"

Then, Grandmamah beamed a confident smile to lighten the mood up again.

"…but, it was also the day we realized our destiny, Pearl."

Pearl looked up at her with a sad, doubtful look.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! With Cthulhu gone for a nap, his minions tried to take the throne for themselves and have all the power. And we couldn't let them have their way with the creatures in the sea or the humans. So, what do you think Tritania did about it?"

Pearl widened her eyes in realization, and she had a hopeful smile again.

"She created the Kraken Kingdom!"

"Yes, Pearl! She took a huge responsibility that was passed down to every royal, to heed the call of the Sea and to protect its wonderful creatures. No matter what the challenge, the sea will always need a Kraken, and a Kraken will always answer the call."

Pearl gazed up at the skylight with awe as her Grandmamah rose up to it. Then, she floated down to her granddaughter and looked upon her.

"And someday, Pearl, maybe you can answer the call, too."

Pearl gasped at the thought of it. Being there with the princess and being by her side, helping her protect the sea creatures. It sounded like the best thing to ever happen to her. She looked up at the skylight with hope.

"Someday…"

Little did any of the Krakens know that outside, there was a Leviathan, glaring at the castle from afar. The sea beast snarled before it swam away from the kingdom under the cover of darkness.

After what felt like hours, the spy found his way to the underwater city of R'lyeh. In opposition to its heyday, it looked more like an aquatic ghost town. That said, it wasn't entirely dismal. Even with the large, dank cave in the center, the light shining on it provided it some beauty.

The Leviathan swam towards the shadowy cave, stopping just at the entrance. The spy was admittedly timid to confront his master. He knew all too well what the Deep One was capable of.

"Master Cthulhu, I have news."

In response, two glowing red eyes opened and shone down on the spy. A low growl could be heard from the cave, sending chills through his vertebrate.

"I take it you've found the Trident of Oceanus, Mythos?"

Mythos took a nervous breath before he answered.

"Yes, Deep One. The Leviathans have located it with the Mermaids. It is trapped in the Well of Seas. But thus far… there has been no success in retrieving it."

Cthulhu's growl grew louder and angrier before he was suddenly grabbed by one of the tentacles, crushing him with it! The creature groaned and gagged from the pressure.

"Once again, you have failed. And I must contemplate how to exact pain for your disservice…"

Mythos strained under the pressure, trying to think of some way to convince Cthulhu not to torture him.

"F-Forgive me, Deep One. But why is this Princess creature so important? And those Mermaid narcissists, they're nothing but a trifle…"

Cthulhu slammed Mythos to the floor before releasing him.

"You have no idea how important they both are."

Mythos groaned, trying to recover from the harsh blow Cthulhu dealt to him. But even in the shadows, he wasn't entirely displeased.

"The mermaids have a debt they've owed me for 15 years. If they should choose to disregard it, then they're a trifle… But maybe this princess, this… Kraken, can still be of service…"

Mythos tried to get back on his good side, feeling as though he may be replaced.

"I-I have it handled, Great One. I assure you."

"Yes… but if you fail…"

Cthulhu started to laugh demonically as his eyes glowed bright enough to display his full form again, stretching out his bone-like wings.

"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha! I can still get what I want!"

There was no mistake. Cthulhu is certain of it. And one way or another, this Kraken Princess is the key to it all. And she may not have a clue what her future held…

A/N: I'm sure you've all been wondering what I've made this fanfic for. Well, it's actually my own personal take on Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken. To be honest, I really liked the film. Still, I feel like it could have been a lot better, too, especially with the lore. We knew about their rivalry with their mermaids, and they've namedropped the various creatures, like Leviathan and Umibozu. But it didn't really expand on these creatures. I got that it was mostly centered on the war between Mermaids and Krakens, but it would've been interesting to see them fleshed out, even if it's only in flashback.

And for another, I won't spoil it for you all, but I will say the twist was a bit of a let-down. I think Chelsea would've been fine as her own villain. On the other hand, though, I kinda liked how well Chelsea and Ruby got along despite being Mermaid and Kraken. Either way, I will make my own changes with Chelsea in this story.

There will also be a couple of new characters in the story, one of which was already introduced in the story. In case you're confused, no, she isn't Ruby's sister, but instead Uncle Brill's daughter. And as you can see, Pearl (ideal voice would be Isabella Abiera, or Hazel from Infinity Train) has her heart set on being the type of Kraken to answer the call like her Grandmamah and the fabled Princess. I figured her introduction would be a good way to show how the Krakens knew about Ruby without having met her yet. Plus, they do have a good bonding moment here.

And finally, we get to the whale in the room: Cthulhu. Since he's been regarded as a god, it would make sense that he would have sovereignty of the seas as such, commanding all of them like his minions. And of course, upon defeat, he punished the one who defied him, the Krakens, being vilifying them into the monsters humans believed they are today. And like it or not, that truth is bound to upset a few Krakens. And like it or not, Grandmamah may yet be one of those people.

In any case, he's certain that the Kraken Princess will help "get him what he wants". What exactly, I won't say, but I think you can gather the rest. And it will be helpful for you all to know that the angle I plan to have for Ruby Gillman will be similar to Trollhunters, but without that awful ending of Rise of the Titans. In fact, Trollhunters inspired me to come up with this idea, so thank you Guillermo Del Toro! Two thumbs up, really. There will be more coming soon this Fall, and I sincerely hope you will enjoy this story. :)