Anti Ben 10 Ch.3: The Krakken
After their adventures over the last few weeks and the lucrative deals it had brought them, Max decided it was time to take a small break and spend some of their well robbed cash, much to Ben and Gwen's delight.
Even though they had only stopped in a small town, the kind of lazy place where the locals, and the cops, don't care where you're from or who you are as long as you've got money to spend in their stores, they did find a well stocked boutique. The place had seen better days and the owner looked positively delighted to see them.
"Bought the place in the 80's" He said to Max as Gwen and Ben looked around at the merchandise, deciding what was worth buying, and what was worth just taking. "Town was going through a real boom then. The coal mines. Everyone came here for everything. Then the market dropped out and now everything's tied up in this place and the banks at my door. Summer tourists are the only thing keeping me from going under."
"A crying shame." Max nodded sympathetically. He patted the guy on the shoulder, distracting him from Gwen, who was reaching over the counter and grabbing a few pairs of earrings to slip into her pocket.
Ben pulled a couple of tee shirts off the rails. They had security tags on but he'd learned to remove them before he'd even started school. He slipped a couple into his backpack and held onto one. `First rule. ` Grandpa always said. `Cover your tracks. If you buy something, they're less likely to think you're taking other things. `
"Hey Ben, Check it out." Gwen called him over from the other side of the store. Ben glanced over at what she was pointing at. At some point the storeowner must've thought selling stuff other than clothes and jewellery might have improved his business. He was also stocking a large array of gadgets; all slightly dated but still ok if you like the bottom of the market, toys; all cheap, and all kinds of sports and home goods. The thing that had caught Gwen's eye was a set of six drinking glasses that looked like beer bottles with the necks cut off.
"Red-neck city or what?" Gwen laughed.
"Hey c'mon it's just the right gift to bring a little class to the trailer park." They both laughed.
Gwen eventually moved off to look at some of the range of skirts and bathing suits while Ben stayed behind to brows over the old-fashioned metal lunchboxes, portable barbeques and birdhouses. Then his eyes froze as he saw something that didn't suck. God only knew how it'd ended up in this backward little town but the dust on the box showed that it'd been here a while.
"Micro digital video camera." He said with a cruel smile growing on his face. "One inch long, records sound, two hours battery life, memory card included, up to one hour recording, includes clip for attachment to belt or computer monitors." His smile grew wider. "Or maybe a place in the corner of the shower where Gwen won't see. Then if that video should accidentally find its way to the Internet, onto a site where people will pay me good money to see that video, what can I do?" He held the box under his arm as though he indented to buy it, looking for the right opportunity to slip it into his bag.
Max nodded along sympathetically while the store clerk continued to talk about his money worries. All the while he kept one eye on his grand kids. He didn't really approve of petty thievery; the Tennyson's were better than that. However he allowed it this once. It saved him spending a fortune on all the stuff they wanted to get.
He patted at the pocket of his shirt. It felt oddly empty. "Got any cigars?" He asked, interrupting the clerk in mid sentence. The man blinked and stared, as though he'd forgotten Max was a customer and not a therapist.
"Oh, yeah, sure." He turned and bent low to opened a drawer in the counter. Max helped himself to a pack of gum and a box of matches from displays next to the till. As the clerk turned back with a tray bearing boxes of cigars, all different brands, he glanced at a small portable radio next to the till. "You mind if I put some music on?" He asked, as though Max was the one in charge of the store and not him. Something about the guy just gave you the idea that it would be good to ask for permission before you did anything.
"Go ahead." Max said. He grabbed a few boxes of the most expensive cigars, tossing the money down in front of the clerk. You had to buy some things, then storeowners wouldn't think you were stealing others. He loosed one cigar from a pack and pulled a cigar cutter out of hid pocket and cut the tip off the cigar, using the matches he'd just taken he lit it. The clerk didn't even notice Max was using his own merchandise right in front of him.
A light jazz song came through the radio. Almost as soon as it had started it was gone and a voice replaced it. "Alright children." A smooth voice that could only be achieved by years of maintaining the right amount of cigarettes and alcohol. "You're listening to WGXR, from the mountains to the beaches we're here for you. Little news and weather before we play some more tunes for you. Today's weather will be clear and sunny. Tomorrow will feature light cloud but no rain is expected. The football team of Petesville High won against their rivals from neighbouring Monroeville. And finally, a little out-of-state news for you. Police are still baffled by the events which took place in Washington D.C. Which featured more sightings of the alleged aliens. This time the freaky-beings were seen fighting around the Washington monument against, get this, a giant bird and a dinosaur. A doctor Animo was arrested on the scene and is being held pending a psychiatric evaluation. Police are also eager to speak to some possible witnesses, who were last seen in the area of the alien fight driving away in a large RV."
Max almost choked on his cigar as he heard the last part of the news. So the police were looking out for them. Not as suspects true, but searching was still searching and he didn't like it. The best thing to do was lay low for a day or two. Once the fuss started to fade they could move on. The question was, where to go? Somewhere quiet and out the way but he could still take the RV and have at least some fun with the kids. When they got bored they were almost more trouble than they were worth.
He looked around the store, hoping for some kind of inspiration. Then he saw it; a large cardboard bookcase displaying maps and guidebooks to nature spots all over the state. "Hey buddy." Max said,, nodding to the display. "Where's the best fishing this time of year?"
.**.
Purchases made, and a big surprise waiting for the storeowner the next time he took note of his inventory, Max ushered his grandkids into the RV and was off. The only thing Max told them about their next destination was that they "will be stayed there a couple of days." to which they gave their very predictable replies. Ben said "Well there'd better be something to do."
Gwen said, "Well there'd better be cell-phone coverage."
They seemed quite satisfied with the lake. Or at least, they didn't complain about it straight away, which was a good sign. The place had a pretty good view. There was even a small marina with a bait store a little down the shore.
After an evening meal of ostrich burgers, which so far was the most normal meal they'd had, Max got things ready for the next day while Gwen texted her friends and Ben decided to go swimming.
Running and jumping off the wooden dock Ben shouted "Cannonball" as he flew through the air he curled tight into a ball and splashed into the water, letting himself sink nearly to the bottom before swimming to the surface. "Ah! There's nothing like relaxing after a hard days work" Ben said to himself as he lay on his back and floated on top of the water
"Like you know what hard work is" Gwen shinned a torch from the boardwalk onto Ben. It was getting harder to see things in the ever-darkening twilight. The water had to be freezing, she didn't know what Ben was thinking jumping in. If Ben could think that was.
"Hey I'm a busy guy. Nerds to beat, people to cheat and things to eat. Not too mention bitches to annoy!" Ben splashed water over Gwen making her scream in anger.
"You bastard, you know how much these clothes cost?"
"Two blow jobs and a grope of your tits?" Ben laughed cruelly. "Come on Gwen, you should be used to being wet." Ben laughed as he splashed more water at her. "you know, cause you're a whore"
Gwen spat at the dock, trying to get rid of some of the lake water that had accidentally gone into her open mouth. "Just great." She seethed. "I'll probably get something now. Who knows what slimy, disgusting creature's are in this water" Gwen ran her flash light over the water and stopped as it hit Ben "most horrible thing I've ever seen" turning she started to leave.
"Ha ha" Ben laughed sarcastically. He yelped as he was suddenly pulled under the water Ben coughed and spluttered as he thrashed in the lake. "What the? Gwen, some things got me!" He cried out as his head disappeared under the water, leaving nothing but a few ominous bubbles behind.
"Oh like I'm gonna fall for that" Gwen said knowingly, turning back round to where Ben was supposed to be but saw nothing but bubbles bursting as the reached the surface. She shone her flashlight onto the lakes surface but the water was deathly calm. Her belief that it was a joke started to fade.
"Ben?" She asked the darkness nervously.
Suddenly something large burst out of the water, its skin was slimy and green looking. It roared loudly as it reached out towards Gwen. She screamed and tripped as she staggered backwards. The torch flew out of her hand, landing on the dock. It's light shone into the eyes of the monster, showing its face, revealing Four-arms, grinning like an idiot, covered in water plants and reeds.
"BEN!" Gwen screamed furiously as she picked herself up. Ben laughed in his deep four-arms voice as he pulled the weeds off his face "You god-damn asshole!"
"You should have seen your face" Ben laughed cruelly. "Priceless. I wish I had a camera."
"You are so dead when I tell grandpa!" Gwen muttered as she stomped away, cursing under her breath.
"I can't believe she fell for that." Ben laughed as he continued to pull the plants off his body "A monster in the lake, what a dumb bitch."
Hearing something move behind him Ben looked over his shoulder. The water splashed and a huge shadowy monster rose out of the lake. Bigger than he was, taller than the trees. This beast could give trucks a run for their money. The giant leviathan roared at him furiously. "No fucking way!" Ben thought as his jaw dropped.
The creature in front of him was giant even compared to Four-Arms, attached to its head, near its huge gaping mouth were two thick tentacles, or perhaps arms. One of them shot out and wrapped itself around Ben's waist. It was thick as a tree trunk and shockingly powerful. The tentacle threw him over the monsters head sending him flying through the air and splashing down into the middle of the lake. Breaking the surface Ben gasped for breath as he looked around desperately for the monster. A tentacle wrapped around him again, pulling him under into the freezing cold depths. Struggling against the tentacle, his lungs demanding air and three of his arms pinned to his side Ben struggled and fought against his captor the best he could. The tentacle pulled Ben up to the monsters head. It was so huge that he couldn't fit it all in his field of vision. Ben found himself staring into one huge eye the size of a manhole cover, staring back at him with an otherworldly coldness. He strained hard with all his might and finally broke free of the tentacles powerful grip. Ben punched the eye the best he could under water. The huge shape of the beast reared back from him, it's full appearance hidden in the shadowy black water. Ben felt something like a truck slam into his back, throwing him up and out of the water, sending him flying up into the air and crashing into the shore in front of the Rust Bucket.
He lay still on the ground for a few minutes. Ben still couldn't believe what happened. He had just seen a giant lake monster, just been attacked by a lake monster, and just punched it right in the eye.
"I am so fucking awesome!" He said to himself. He stood up and looked out at the water in case the beast decided to come back for round two. There was nothing out there though but the inky black waters of the lake.
Opening the R.V's door Ben stuck his head in, which was all he could fit in as Four-Arms, and shouted "I just punched a giant lake monster, in the fucking eye!" He looked from Gwen's and Max's sleeping bodies. He did not receive the impressed stares he was expecting. He received a pillow to the face, at his head from Gwen.
"Check my Twitter for current events," Gwen complained sleepily "then you'd remember you already tried that one on me." Pulling her covers over her head Gwen rolled over and ignored him in the hope he might go away.
"But I'm not joking this time, it's eye was nearly as big as me" he shouted as the watch started to beep
"Give a rest Ben." Max complained. There was a sudden noise of beeping and a flash of red light. "Come in and and get to sleep." Max yawned as Ben, now back to normal, climbed into the RV. "You'll need plenty of sleep for our fishing trip."
"Fishing?" Ben complained.
"Right." Max said with a yawn. "The fishing is good here. Rule one; when you pick a hiding spot, make it somewhere you'll enjoy." He rolled over and a few minutes later he started to snore quietly.
.*.
"It's true, I punched it and it threw me right in front of the R.V" Ben tried desperately, again, to convince Max and Gwen but they weren't listening.
"I'm sure it was just a big fish" Max said, casually waving him aside.
"Big fish?" Ben stared in disbelief. "It had red glowing eyes! It grabbed me in a tentacle."
"Give it a rest dork." Gwen snapped at him. She was no good at manners most of the time but this early in the morning she was practically inhuman. "We didn't buy it last night and we're not gonna buy it now." She pulled her jacket tighter around her and glared around at the fog hanging over the lake. "God grandpa, couldn't we stay in bed a little longer?"
"Best fishing is around dawn." Grandpa said. He looked up and down the marina and spotted the boat he'd hired for the day. "Give it a chance, you'll like it. It's the best thing to relax when you're laying low."
"I'd rather be on a beach, working on my tan." Gwen complained.
"How can you not believe me? I have a watch that turns me into aliens, but a monster in the lake, that's unbelievable?" Ben shouted as he held up the watch.
"Oh sure advertise it to the world why don't you?" Gwen growled angrily as she slapped Ben around the back of the head "Give the damn fish story a rest dweeb. No one cares."
Rubbing the back of his head Ben walked on ahead. He couldn't believe they weren't taking him seriously. Once he'd reached the boat they'd be taking for the day he looked into a bucket sitting on the dock next to it. Huge and slimy worms wigged around. Grinning evilly he reached in and grabbed a handful. As Gwen got closer he thrust them in front of her face. "Breakfast?" Ben laughed as Gwen screamed in shock and disgust.
"Ugh gross Ben!" Gwen took a step back. Ben laughed, grabbing one particularly fat and slimy specimen he threw it at her. She jumped back as though she'd been electrocuted. It landed on the dock where she'd been standing a second ago. Gwen looked ready to throw up as it wriggled around until it fell through a hole in the wood and down into the lake. She looked ready to punch Ben as he dumped the rest of the worms back into the bucket
"What the hell grandpa? One worm's enough," She pointed at Ben who scowled back at her, "What's with the bucket full?"
"Bait" Max smiled as though he hadn't seen the brief confrontation between the two.
Gwen backed away a few more paces. "I... Think I'm gonna skip the fishing, and catch up with some of my friends instead" She said as she pulled her phone her phone out of her pocket. "One of them must be awake by now."
"If you want, but you don't know what you're missing" Max called after her as she walked away.
"Oh I think I do." Gwen muttered to herself as she waved over her shoulder. She continued on, holding her phone over her head in an attempt to find a bar of signal.
Turning to the boat Max called to the man on it "Captain Shawl?"
"Who wants to know?" The man asked without turning around.
"I'm Max Tennyson. I charted your boat for the day." Max placed a hand on Ben's shoulder as he pulled out a cigar.
"Well then what are you waiting for? Written invitation?" Straightening up Shawl turned and faced the pair. He was pale, with long sideburns and a couple of day's worth of stubble on his face. Max and Ben could see one if his eyes was made of glass. His real eye was brown but his fake eye, which had a chip in the iris, was green "I haven't got all day."
Ben looked at the fake eye for a second before smiling and saying "Cool." This obviously wasn't the reaction Shawl was hoping for as he muttered "bloody kids these days" as he headed to the front of the boat.
.*.
As the boat slowly moved through the water Max watched the scenery go by and took deep puffs of his cigar. "So, any thing interesting to catch out there today?" Max asked looking over his shoulder at the captain.
"More than you can imagine." Shawl said half to himself giving the way he said it a slightly mysterious tone to it "Looks like your grandson is using his breakfast as chum"
Looking to the side of him he saw Ben hanging his over the side. Max placed a hand on his back. "You OK Ben?"
Looking up Max saw Ben's face was fine, he was even smiling. "Yeah, just keeping an eye out for the lake monster. Not gonna catch me off guard this time" Raising his watch Ben showed he was ready to press the button in a seconds notice
"Now Ben this is suppose the be a fishing trip, not a monster hunt" Max sighed as he lowered Ben's arm.
"It's called the Krakken" Shawl's voice rasped out, Ben and Max looked at him but he didn't glance at them as he continued to talk, "been on its tail for years." From the pocket of his shirt he pulled out a picture and handed it to Ben. The picture itself was out of focus and the so-called Krakken wad nothing more a blob with a shape baring minimum resemblance to the thing that attacked Ben last night.
"If I could only see it again." Shawl said gloomily.
"Yeah?" Ben asked, handing the picture back, some excitement growing in his voice. "What'd you do? Catch it? Sell it? Make a fortune?" His eyes practically sparkled at the thought of piles of cash such a creature could make.
Shawl looked surprised, as though Ben had said something rude. "No, get a picture of it. A good picture this time."
Ben's jaw dropped. "What?" He said in disbelief.
"Then people would see it and know." Shawl said, turning back to the wheel and staring out at the lake. "Know I wasn't crazy. Know I didn't lose me eye in some drunk accident!" Leaning in close Shawl stared Ben right in the eye and said, "Some folks say my rudder ain't quite right."
"Why doesn't that surprise me" Max said to himself.
"But they'll see." Shawl said gruffly, pulling back from Ben again. "I'll show 'em all one day. Sightings go back hundreds of years on this lake. Some people say its just a myth, but I can take you to a spot where I've seen it with my own eye, that is if you've got the stomach for real adventure." Looking at Ben and Max Shawl had a slightly mad look in his good eye.
Looking up at Max Ben had a look on his face that made him look like a teen girl about to squeal after meeting her favourite boy band "I... Guess so" Max said unsurely, Ben pumped his fist into the air and whispered,
"Yes, round 2 here we come."
As Shawl made for the middle of the lake he showed Ben the equipment on bored "Sonar, Hi-Def video set up, Ultrasound. I got it all and I will find it. Mark my words, it can't hide forever! Then we'll see who's crazy! They'll all see!"
Grabbing Ben by the life jacket Max dragged him away from Shawl. The captain seemed to not notice and continued to mutter away to himself. When they were at the rear of the boat Max pulled out a cigar and lit it. "Ben I don't want you to get your hopes up, I don't think Shawl has both oars in the water."
"Why?" Snapped Ben, pushing himself away from Max. "Just 'cause he saw the Krakken too? It tossed me around like a salad grandpa, and I'm going to repay the favour." Drumming his finger on the screen of his watch before he turned and walked away. It didn't help Ben's argument that Shawl was still talking to himself.
Shawl sailed on toward the centre of the lake. Where he claimed he'd once seen the Krakken. But something ahead caused him to cut the engines so suddenly Ben was almost tipped overboard.
Ahead of the boat was a long line of buoys that hadn't been there the day before. The line of buoys stretched from shore to shore, and each one was tied together by thick yellow tape with the words 'Do Not Enter' printed on them.
"Do not enter? What's going on?" Shawl asked as he brought the boat to a stop.
"Looks official" Max moved to the front of the boat to get a closer look. "perhaps we should turn back." The last thing he wanted was to attract any attention from officials and, possibly, the police. It tended to ruin the whole concept of laying low and staying off the radar.
Shawl came striding out onto the deck of the boat, as though the closer look would reveal the new barrier to be just a mirage."Nonesense, this is my lake and I go where I want." He growled. He opened his mouth again, to probably complain more, but he was cut off by a loud foghorn.
All three of them turned to see another boat approaching, a large white fishing yacht that seemed like a luxury cruise ship compared to Shaw's rusting schooner. On the side of the ship it bore a great logo that spelt out F.O.F.
"Fof? What's fof?" Ben looked at Max.
"Beat's the heck outta me." Max admitted. He tossed his spent cigar butt over the side and into the lake.
A person appeared on the deck of the boat, a megaphone in his hand. He wore a wetsuit and had a beat-nick beard. All three on board Shaw's boat disliked him immediately. He just had the air of someone who wanted to do good deeds. Which meant getting in the way of people like themselves.
"Fishing boat, stop where you are" The man said through his loudspeaker as the boat pulled up beside them
"Who do ya think you are?" Demanded Shaw. "Telling me to stop my boat on my lake."
"I am Jonah Melvill," he said with a little smugness and a lot of pride in his voice. "founder of Friends Of Fish" Jonah said, dropping the megaphone once he was close enough. "We've closed this area of the lake for an important environmental study, you'll have to turn your boat around."
"You can't just close off bits of the river you damn fish hugger!" Shawl growled, angrilly shaking a fist at Jonah.
"Actually we can." Jonah said, with more than a hint of smugness. "We have official clearance for this study from the forest ranger service, the environmental protection agency and even the local sheriff's office. We have all the paperwork right here if you'd like to come aboard and look at it."
Shawl's pale face grew slightly red. "Why you lousy, no good-"
"It's quite alright." Max said loudly, interrupting Shawl before he could really get going. "We'll take your word for it. We'll be turning back, just like you asked."
"We will?" Shawl and Ben said together.
"Well since I charted the boat" Max pulled out a cigar and lit it, inhaling a deep puff "I believe that puts me in charge, doesn't it captain? So if I say we leave the area, then we leave the area."
Grumbling and scowling Shawl stomped off back to the wheel of the boat and slowly turned them around, throwing dirty looks to the environmentalists as they pulled away.
"But what about the Krakken?" Ben asked, Max simply shook his head.
"If you want to keep looking, it'll have to be somewhere else. Personally I'd rather just fish." Then he lowered his voice so Shawl wouldn't overhear. "We don't want to cause any trouble, or attract any attention. We're supposed to be laying low, remember. The last thing we want is to have environmentalists calling the police because we're encouraging our captains crazy delusions."
"Crazy...?" Ben stopped himself and stormed away from Max. He couldn't storm very far in the small boat, but he went as far as he could. Why didn't anyone believe him?
Shawl continued fuming as he sailed his ship away from the environmentalists. His grumbling was interrupted by sudden beeping from his sonar. Looking at the screen he saw a large dot moving towards them quickly. Bigger and quicker than any normal fish. "The sonar, we've found something!" Shawl shouted.
Max poked his head into the cabin and stared at disbelief at the approaching dot on the screen. Any second he expected it to break up, to be a school of fish, but it stayed, and continued to come toward them. Ben looked over the stern of the boat and could make out a huge shark-like fin sticking out of the water "or something found us, look!" He yelled, pointing it out Max and Shawl looked at where he was pointing.
"The Krakken!" Shawl shouted as the fin dived under the water. Looking over the side of the boat into the lake Max and Ben saw a huge shadow right under them and as it moved ahead of them it kicked up the waters making large waves rocking the boat. Ben and Max staggered around on the deck. Ben almost fell overboard. "It's heading for the docks!" Shawl yelled as he fought to control his ship.
"Gwen!" Max said, grabbing Ben as he nearly fell overboard.
Back at the docks Gwen was sitting on the edge of the wooden dock as she talked to one of her friends on her new phone "Yeah, missing the parties, like, totally blows. But it's not, like, all bad cause my grandpa, like, got this new phone and its totally awesome, you know? Oh and when you see my new earrings, you'll just die" Gwen laughed. "Huh, yeah my asshole of a cousin is travelling with us... what do you mean do I think he's cute? He's my cousin course I don't think he's cute. Why do you think he's cute? Hello?... Hello?" Her friend had hung up. "Well that bitch is straight off my Facebook friends list, don't want my social standing to go down"
Back on the boat Shawl had turned the throttle to full to try and keep up with the shadow. He pulled at a rope over his head several times, sounding the ships horn to try and the people on the boardwalk.
Putting her phone away Gwen scoffed to herself "What's that asshole doing now?"
An enormous creature burst out of the water. Green, slimy looking skin, two large thick tentacles coming out each side of its mouth, a few pointed teeth, easily the size of a man, and what looked like blue eyes. It threw its massive head back and screeched loudly. Lunging forwards it smashed the board walk straight down the middle sending Gwen and a few other people flying into the water. She broke the surface a second later, sucking in a lungful of air. "That's not Ben." She panted fearfully. The creature turned and roared loudly at the frightened people, panicking in the water and trying to swim for safety.
On the boat, Shawl looked through a pair of binoculars and shouted "It's the Krakken!" He shouted triumphantly. He glared at Max with a mad glint in his eye "it's real, it LIVES! They can see it! I told them! I TOLD THEM I WASN'T CRAZY!" He was so worked up he was practically doing a jig on the spot.
"Sail now! Gloat later!" Max yelled at him. Shawl stopped his jumping around and returned to the wheel. Max turned to Ben and lowered his voice slightly "You'd better get out there and save Gwen. Or you're the one explaining this to her mother by yourself."
Ben had a vivid memory walk at a brisk pace through his mind, as it ended it turned to face him and said 'nice knowing you kid!'
Shaking it from his mind Ben leapt over the side of the boat and activated the watch. "Ripjaws, to the rescue" Ben said to himself as he dived underwater. Slamming the screen down the flash of light came.
The first clue he had that something was wrong was the fact that he couldn't breath under water. He swam up to the surface in a panic. Bursting out of the water Ben looked at his hands "Hey!" He said in a raspy voice "I said Ripjaws not XLR8, stupid watch." He bashed the side of the symbol on his chest in frustration.
The Krakken screech again Ben saw it dive through the water, going after the group of people that were swimming for their lives. and right at the front was Gwen, terrified beyond belief that the monster was chasing after her and more than a little pissed her new clothes and phone were wet.
"Shit, still gotta save her. Oh well, here goes nothing." Ben said as the visor closed over his face and he kicked the water as hard and fast as he could.
As Ben started to move faster and faster he felt himself start to rise out of the water until he was actually running on top of it. He staggered and zigzagged around as he fought for balance. It was like trying to run on a water bed.
Gwen swam as fast as she could but as the splashing and screams of the people behind her ceased she knew the Krakken was getting closer. Risking a look over her shoulder she screamed as she saw it was practically on top of her. Its jaws were open, a gaping casm of darkness ready to swallow her up, and getting closer.
A split second before the jaws of the Krakken closed around her Gwen felt herself get grabbed and yanked out of the water. She looked up into XLR8's covered face and started to cough up the water that was setting up home in her throat. As Ben reached the beach he skidded to a halt and let Gwen fly out of his arms and slam into the wet sand "You so owe me. You owe me big for this." He laughed as she sat up
"Fuck you!" She coughed furiously. She padded her hands over her body, checking for injuries and that her belongings hadn't fallen from her pockets. She double checked her earrings were still there, they were. "My clothes are soaked and my phone is ruined, AGAIN!"
Out on the lake the Krakken roared as it splashed down on the lake. People caught in its huge wave screamed as they were tossed around. Ben crashed his claws tightly and turned to the lake again.
"Where're you going?" Gwen demanded. She grabbed her shirt and twisted the hem, water streamed out and trickled to the ground.
"Where do ya think I'm going?" Ben rasped at her. "There's a giant monster over there." He pointed out at the lake. "I'm gonna kick it!" He raced off, throwing sand up into Gwens face as he shot off.
"You bastard!" She screamed, grabbing a big rock, she threw it at Ben who zoomed off back over the lake.
As he raced over the water Ben saw the Friends With Fish boat helping the few people who were still alive out of the water as the Krakken drew closer "Oh no you don't." Ben yelled up at it. "We got a score to settle bitch" Ben raced faster as he moved in between the Krakken and the boat. The Krakken roared furiously, swinging its giant muscular tentacle down. Ben tried to dodge out of the way and skidded, almost fell. Fast as he was the water was just too unstable for sudden turns. The tentacle, the size of a city bus rammed into him, sending him flying up into the air.
"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPP!" He screamed. He twisted and turned as he fell through the air.
The people on board the F.O.F ship yelled in surprise as Ben crash landed on the desk of the boat. The ship rocked violently, a couple of people almost fell overboard and back into the lake. Jonah revved the engine high and powered the boat away from the Kracken before the beast could attack again.
Ben clutched his head, groaning loudly as he picked himself up. The whack from the tentacle hadn't been much of a problem, it was the landing that really hurt. He looked left and right and noticed he was getting odd looks from the people on the boat. "It ain't over yet, bitch!" Ben thought to himself..
"Are...are you...ok?" A person wrapped in a thick blanket asked him nervously.
Before Ben could answer the Krakken burst out of the lake in front of the boat, screeching as it saw Ben. Jonah yelled and threw the boats engines into reverse. The bow sank deeply into the water for a second before bobbing back up like a cork. The boats engine spluttered loudly and died out. It had stalled.
The Krakken leaned closer to the ship, Shooting its tentacles at Ben. He moved so fast he was almost a blur, ducking under one tentacle and leaping onto the other. He charged up the tentacle and to the Krakken's face and at super speed he stabbed his clawed hand right into its gigantic blue eye. The Krakken screamed in agony, falling backwards and down into the water. Ben leapt clear just in time and landed back on the deck of the boat. "HA! That all you got?" He shouted as it vanished under the surface of the lake.
"What are you doing?" Jonah shouted as he ran up to Ben. Ben raised the face plate of his helmet to fully show off his alien face, grabbed Jonah by his shirt and slammed him into the wall of the boats cabin.
"Finishing a fight it started" Ben growled.
Jonah pushed Ben back, looking at him furiously. Ben found a large chunk of annoyance raising in him. The man was being threatened by an alien he had just seen take down a giant lake monster and he was still standing up to it. He was either brave, or an idiot.
"But that's the first of its kind we've ever seen!" Jonah said hotly. "And you try to make sushi out of it?"
"Do I look like I care?" Ben yelled, bringing his claw that was covered in blood close Jonah's face.
Suddenly the symbol on his chest started flashing red and beeping. Without saying another word Ben leapt off the boat and raced back towards Shawl's "got to make it got to make it got to make it." Ben repeated to himself as he charged across the water "got to make..." There was a final beep, a flash of red light and Ben found himself flying through the air. He bounced as he hit the water, like a stone skimming over the top. With one final splash Ben let himself float to the surface of the water, luckily he'd landed near Shawl's boat "...it" he groaned as he spat out some water.
"Man over board" Max shouted as he saw Ben floating in the water "Shawl, Ben's fallen over board, bring the boat around."
Shawl came out of the cabin and looked at Ben, grabbing a lifebuoy he tossed it into the water. "Come on lad. Let's get ya back to land. I got some celebratin' to do. Some apologies to be heard." He laughed as he pulled Ben aboard his ship. It was almost disturbing. Ben much preferred him crazy and grouchy than crazy and happy. Shawl returned to the cabin and powered the motor to head back to shore. "Let's hear them call me crazy now! Let's hear what they have to say this time!"
...***...
Night had fallen fast as the sun had decided to look away from the adventures on the lake and see what the other half of the planet was doing. While most people would be sitting down for dinner, the campers and fishermen of the lake were hurriedly packing up their stuff with as much haste allowed, then driving away as fast as they could. Only Max, Gwen and Ben decided to stay behind.
They sat around a camp fire blazing away in front of the rust bucket. Gwen and Ben were wrapped in thick blankets. Ben was still shivering, despite drying off and the fresh change of clothes. Gwen had changed and was currently fighting to stop her hair frizzing up, a brush in one hand and a hand mirror in the other. The lake water was playing hell with her hair. What she really needed was the chance to treat it with her conditioner.
"That was the thing from last night," Ben said again, for what had to be the tenth time. "The thing I punched in the eye" Ben told Max. "Looks like me and captain Shawl were right"
Max handed Gwen her cell phone. He'd taken a look at it in case it could be dried out and made to work again. It couldn't, the thing was totally kaput and that meant she'd insist on a new phone.
"Just because I was wrong about the Krakken, doesn't mean I was wrong about Shawl." Max answered as he lit up and took a long puff on a cigar "The man needs help. Doctors and psychiatrists. I want you to keep away from him, he's dangerous."
Standing up Ben let the blanket drop to the ground "Hey I'm the dangerous one here! Shawl's just a guy no one wanted to believe. You're just being stubborn 'cause you were wrong!" He pointed a finger at Max.
"Yeah, gotta wonder its like dealing with that." Gwen chimed in, glaring at Ben "Fucking idiot." She muttered under her breath
Sticking up his middle digit at Gwen Ben kept his eyes on Max "Look that thing started a fight, with me. I always finish my fights, with me winning! I'm going to beat it then chop it up for caviar"
"Sushi." Max said as he tossed the cigar butt into the fire. "Chop it up into sushi, caviar is fish eggs."
"Suishi, Caviar, god damn fishsticks! I'll tear the damn thing to pieces." Ben argued back. "Nothing attacks me and gets away with it."
"Short sighted." Gwen muttered as she finally gave up on her hair, deciding it was as good as it was going to get.
Ben rounded on her, "What?" He snapped at her. Gwen just looked up at him smugly.
"Well think about it." Gwen said, her smile growing more annoying by the second. As though there was something really simple and obvious that Ben wasn't getting and she was enjoying rubbing his face in it. "That monster is pretty unique. I've been searching online and found nothing. Even that Jonah guy said it's a never seen before creature. He'd know. I found a lot on him. Environmental websites rave about him, apparently he goes around the world protecting rare wildlife, he's done and stopped more poachers than anyone else on record. Marine biologist, big environmentalist. All kinds of charity work and animal conservation around the world; your basic holier-than-thou asshole!"
"The point, Gwen?" Ben said irritably.
"The point, Ben." She said just at irritably. "Is that if this thing is so special and so unique then someone, somewhere, will be willing to pay a huge amount of money to get it. Scientists, collectors, maybe even some aquariums."
"Now hold on." Max said sternly. "Gwen, you cannot be suggesting we try and catch this thing? It's way beyond us. The monster is bigger than a truck. I don't think any of Ben's aliens can handle it."
"I'll give it a try." Ben said eagerly.
"We don't need to fight it Grandpa." Gwen said, with a superior tone. "We got a whole dock of boats full of fishing gear and no one guarding them. We take the nets, tie them together and we got ourselves one huge holding net to keep the monster in place, stop it escaping. Then all we have to do if find a buyer."
"You've given this a bit of thought haven't you?" Max said, sounding impressed. It was a big job, almost ridiculously huge. He didn't have a clue who'd he could call to sell the beast to, but it was a good start. The biggest trick, aside from actually catching the thing, would be to keep the environmentalists out of the way. His mind was already beginning to think of ways to do that. Ways that involved rope and hostages.
"Low down no good fish kissers" Shawl growled as he staggered past the fire light. There was the scent of booze coming off him.
"Captain Shawl, what is it?" Ben asked as he stood up.
"The nerves of those environmental punks" Shawl rambled with slurred speech to no one in particular. His good eye wasn't even in focus. He only half noticed the Tennysons. "They shut down the entire lake. No one tells me where to sail. I'm not missing out on getting the picture that'll finally prove to 'em all I ain't crazy."
"Everyone knows you were right Captain." Ben said. "Everyone saw the lake monster."
Shawl just shook his head loosely. "Naw, they'll just deny it. Ya need a picture or they'll all pretend it didn't happen. They'll call me crazy again! So I gotta get back out there. Gotta find the Krakken. Gotta get that picture! Before those damn fish lovers do something stupid like make this whole place one big wildlife preserve! So no one can ever enter it again!"
"Captain Shawl." Max said seriously. "You're drunk."
"What?" Shawl snapped at him. "Naw, I ain't drunk. I might'a had a few drinks. Celebrating. Not every day I man is proven right when everyone's called him crazy for years."
"What I mean to say is," Max continued calmly, even though his patience with the man was wearing very thin. "You should just go home and sleep it off. I'm sure nothing like that will happen. Come back in the morning with a clear head."
"Shut your mouth and get lost!" Shawl snapped back at him. "You ain't on my boat now and I ain't taking no orders from you. If I want to sail on my boat on the lake, then I'm going to sail my my boat on the damn lake. And no one's going to stop me from getting a picture of that damn Krakken!" Walking away, with a slight stagger, into the dark he muttered to himself "no one."
Ben watched him go while Max and Gwen resumed their conversation about how they were going to net the lake monster.
.*.
As the night cooled a thick fog rolled in over the whole lake and the surrounding woods. It was a perfect night for the Tennysons. Under the cover of the night and the fog the three of them moved silently along the dock. Going from boat to boat and collecting everything they needed for Gwen's completely insane idea.
Gwen and Ben moved through the ship, gathering up all the nets and rope they could find. Max was on the next boat over, doing the same.
"OW! Crap!" Ben swore as he stubbed his toe against a huge wooden crate hiding in the dark.
"Keep it down dweeb." Gwen snapped at him.
"It your fault. I told you to keep the light on me. I can't see where I'm going." Ben growled back.
And I told you I'm not your spotlight. I need to see where i'm going."
"I thought bat's could see in the dark." Ben muttered under his breath. He felt around the crate that had assaulted his foot. It felt heavy, there was certainly something inside it. He pushed hard on its top, sliding it open. "Hey, I think I found something."
Gwen grudgingly shone her torchlight to where Ben was standing. Inside the crate were a pile of wetsuits, diving masks and air tanks.
"Good to know you're useful for something." Gwen chided, looking at the air tanks. They were full and ready to go. "Ok, I saw the nets over there. You get these things out to grandpa."
"What? How come I have to do the heavy lifting?" Ben moaned at her.
"Because I said so." Gwen snapped, knocked her torch against the side of his head.
Grumbling and cursing Gwen under his breath Ben hauled the heavy crate off the boat and to the dock where they had collected together everything they had taken from the boats so far. It was mostly a huge pile of netting and rope, but there were also water proof flash-lights and a harpoon gun 'Just in case' Max had said.
Max returned with a large roll of nets under his arm as Ben placed the crate down by their horde of stolen gear. "Great." Max said, peering into the box. "Scuba gear, we can use that. And I saw a motor boat a little further down the dock. It'll be less conspicuous than one of these large fishing boats. Easier to hot-wire too."
"So what's the plan anyway?" Ben asked, leaning against the crate while he tried to get his breath back.
Max looked disappointed. "Weren't you listening when Gwen and I talked this over?"
Ben looked a little sheepish. "Well...most of it, yeah."
Max sighed and shook his head. "Gwen and I will cast the nets in the lake. They'll be tied together to make one large net big enough to hold the Krakken. You'll swim around in the lake looking for its hiding place and drive it towards the shores."
"Me?" Ben gaped at him. How had he missed that part of the conversation? "Why me?"
"I would've thought that was obvious." Max said, taking Ben by the wrist and holding up the alien watch in front of his eyes. "If it comes down to it you can defend yourself a lot better than me or Gwen could."
"And just because of that you decide to offer your only grandson up as bait?" Ben said, sounding offended.
"What's the matter?" Max said, pulling a cigar out of his shirt pocket. "Half an hour ago you were desperate to get into the water."
"Yeah. To beat it up." Ben replied. "Not go fishing."
"Gwen and I will have your back. Just think of the nice fat pay day this'll bring. Forget buying new clothes and a fancy phone. We could by our own island if we wanted."
Ben growled and shook his head. Max had it him right where it hurt; the wallet. "Fine." he grumbled as he marched away to the next boat.
.*.
A couple of hours later a small motor boat drove out into the lake. The fog was still thick and hid them from any prying eyes on the shore; if there were any. The boat drove a few hundred yards away from land before the engine was cut and it came to a silent, gliding, halt, drifting gently on the current.
Ben strapped the scuba tank to his back while Max gave one last check of the equipment to make sure he would breath properly.
"Ok Ben." He said in a serious voice. If Ben didn't know any better he'd think his grandpa was worried. "You know what to do."
"Swim around and look for the place the Krakken is hiding. Then figure out a way to drive it back here. You're going to cast out the nets and when I come swimming by the Krakken gets caught. All we have to do then is keep those friends of fish freaks out the way until we've managed to sell the monster."
"Yeah, sure no sweat." Ben muttered sarcastically as he slipped the scuba mask over his face. "What are we gonna do for the rest of the night?"
"Just hurry up dweeb." Gwen complained. "It's getting cold out here."
"Whatever." Ben said, holding up his middle finger at Gwen. He hoisted himself up on the side of the boat and tipped into the water, giving his legs an extra kick to splash the lakes surface and kick the water up into Gwens face.
"HEY! You did that on purpose Asshole!" She screamed out into the darkness.
Under the water Ben turned on the watertight diving torch. He tightened his grip on the harpoon gun in his other hand. He only had a couple of shots with the weapon so if trouble started he'd have to make every one count. The inky blackness of the cold water pressed around him, making him feel claustrophobic in his tight wetsuit. The torch beam guided him as he swam down to the lake bed.
The bed of the lake was a maritime junk-yard. Anything that had been lost or thrown over the side of boats were down here. Old tires, smashed crates both wooden and plastic, bottles, lengths of rope and even some rusting or rotting wrecks of row boats and entire fishing vessels. He wondered if they'd sunk by accident or the Krakken had been busy over the last few decades.
Ben swam past the junk and over huge kelp forests which had wrapped themselves around almost everything on the lake bed. Almost everything; there was one clear area ahead. It was a conspicuously clear area. Right in to middle of the thickest part of the kelp forest, there was one huge bare patch.
He swam on toward this area, it was too suspicious to ignore. In the centre of the clearing was the wreckage of what had to be either one enormous wooden boat, or the ruins of several boats that had been piled up in this one area. 'Looks like a nest to me.' Ben thought to himself. Was the Krakken here? No. Something that huge he'd spot it easily. Should he wait and see if it came back and then chase it toward the nets? How much air was in the tank on his back?
Something caught his eye in the middle of the boat wreckage. Ben swam closer to get a better look. There were two of them, both the size of space-hoppers, light pink and a little translucent. Ben swam right up to one and shone his torch at it. Something moved inside.
Ben pushed himself away from the thing, swimming up and away from the Krakkens nest and up toward the surface of the water as quickly as he could.
.*.
Gwen and Max were lying the netting carefully in the water. Floats tied to the nets stopped it from sinking, making it into one huge mesh fence that would run across the lake.
"I wonder how he's getting on." Max said, trying to sound casual.
"Well he's been gone 30 seconds and nothings happened. Knowing Ben, that probably means something bad." Gwen replied. She didn't even bother to hide the evil grin on her face. "Wouldn't it just be terrible if he got eaten."
Max's stern expression made the smile fade.
Something surfaced a hundred yards away. They heard it splashing around in the darkness. Max grabbed their torch and shone its light out at the source of the sound.
"Ben?" He muttered as the shape swam closer. Ben moved into the beam of the torch and swam right up to the side of the boat.
"What're you doing here?" Gwen said accusingly. "You should be looking for the Krakken."
Ben glared at her a little but said nothing about it. He simply pulled his scuba mask off and grinned at them. "I don't have to. The Krakken, she's female. And she has eggs down there." His grin widened and an evil glint shone in his eyes. "Pull the nets back in guys 'cause I got a new plan."
.***.
It took less than half an hour to get organised for Ben's idea. First they returned to shore and searched the fishing boats again for containers large enough to hold the eggs. They finally found two of them. They looked like oversized coolers, but they were light and they were watertight so they were perfect.
With the plastic containers on board their little motorboat it was a tight squeeze to accommodate all three of them. They returned to roughly the same spot on the lake where they had been before. They had left the nets behind, which provided a perfect marker in the otherwise featureless water.
Max double-checked his wetsuit and air tank. The skin tight suit did not go well with his large belly. "Ok, Gwen, you stay here and keep a lookout. While Ben and I go after those eggs." Then he looked at Ben again.
"Yeah sure grandpa." Gwen said in a disgruntled tone. She knew Ben had the better plan. The eggs would be easier to move and to sell than the whole Krakken. Not that she would admit it out loud. She was just annoyed that her own good plan had been abandoned so quickly.
"Ready Ben?" Max looked at his grandson
"Ready."
"Remember Ben, go down, get the eggs and get back up here. No waiting around for the monster" Max warned, a look in his eye showing he was more serious than Ben had ever seen him "this payday is too big to let a petty grudge match get in the way"
"I got it, I got it." Ben muttered as he put his mask on and sat on the edge of the boat "Grab and run job. It's not my first time Grandpa."
Together they tipped themselves off the boat and into the water. Gwen looked around the fog saturated lake. "Keep a look out?" She muttered under her breath. "For what? It's not like there's anyone in ten miles of this place after the lake monster attacked."
Max and Ben swam as quickly as they could. While they were dragging a container each. As much as Ben knew his grandfather was right, he was still hoping that the Krakken would show up. He was eager to show her who was the best, above and below the water. Nothing tried to fight him and got away with it.
"Come on bitch" he thought to himself as he slowly swam towards the eggs "I'm taking your eggs but I wanna take you down too."
They reached the clearing of the kelp forest and saw that the Krakken's nest was still deserted. Wherever she was she certainly wasn't in a hurry to get back. She probably hadn't been expecting any company at the bottom of the lake.
Ben and Max placed their oversized coolers onto the ground. Working together using they carefully picked up the eggs one at a time and put them into the containers. They were surprisingly heavy. Ben could feel whatever was inside moving around as the egg was lifted. It certainly wasn't enjoying being moved, whatever it was.
When they had placed the egg into the second container and Max signalled it was time to head back to the surface, with a simple pointing up gesture, Ben nodded and gripped the cooler tightly. When Max turned his back he looked around again, just in case. But he didn't see anything moving through the murky water. He sighed inside his mask and guessed he would have to let this one go. If he wasn't going to get a second chance at the Krakken now, it just wasn't going to happen.
It was hard work to get back to the surface. The containers were heavy now they held the eggs. Max and Ben had to kick doubly hard to reach the surface again. Gwen was on hand in the boat to haul the load on board but it took a lot of pushing, heaving, grunting and swearing before both the containers of eggs were finally in the boat. When Max and Ben climbed aboard the thing rode very low in the water. All three of them were glad the water wasn't rough. Any tossing around would have easily dragged them under.
"Ok." Max said cautiously. His hand strayed to where his breast pocket would be if he was still wearing his shirt. He wanted a cigar. "Let's get these things back to the dock and get out of here before anyone finds out about this. Once we're a safe distance away I'll start making calls about a buyer. I think I know I guy who can put us in touch with the right people." He started the motorboats engine and turned back to shore, considerably slower than the pace he'd used to race out to the area.
"How much do you think we'll make Grandpa?" Gwen asked greedily. Her mind was already turning over the possibilities. There were many malls in America, all with wonderful, precious, valuables to buy.
"Hard to say." Max admitted. "I haven't exactly sold eggs of lake monsters before. Two eggs from a unique, undiscovered, giant monster. With the right buyer and maybe if a bidding war gets going, I'd say we could be looking at six figures; easily."
Both Ben and Gwen's eyes practically shone with excitement. A six figure payoff. That truly was big-league stuff. Only in their wildest dreams had they ever thought about doing a crime that had that kind of result.
"Awesome." Ben said. For once, Gwen agreed with him.
Once they reached the dock and managed to pull the heavy containers of eggs off the boat Max found a small cart they could use to wheel the heavy containers back to the rust bucket.
"First we need to seal these containers so no water escapes. The last thing we want is for the eggs to get damaged. Then we need to get out onto the road as soon as possible."
"Well then I'm sorry to say your departure is going to be delayed!" A voice called behind them. Turning on the spot Ben Max and Gwen saw Jonah Melville standing there. With two large and muscular friends, who were armed with guns.
At the very far side of the docks, a crane, used to load and unload boats, started moving and brought into view a large robotic like suit which was designed for diving. The robotic diving suit stopped overhead and was slowly lowered down until it was just a few feet above Jonah.
"The police are already on their way," Jonah said. "Hand over the eggs now and you'll probably get a lighter sentence."
"You think we're afraid of a couple of guns?" Ben said angrily. After all that work, all that effort, they were not going to be stopped by some activist.
"Speak for yourself." Gwen said. "Personally I like my body without bullet holes, and I like to keep it that way."
"Did you really think that dumb fisherman would keep us distracted all night?" Jonah said, as though they had insulted him.
All three of them looked at him, confused. "What?" Ben finally asked.
"That drunk fisherman. Saul, or whatever his name is. We picked him up hours ago. Claiming he wanted to just get some pictures. We saw right through him. Citizens arrest, then towed his boat back here. Scouting the area for you was he? Or did you mean for him to get caught? Thought you'd make a getaway while we were dealing with him? Well I wasn't fooled. I've been doing this a long time, seen every trick in the book."
"Shaw?" Ben said curiously. "You caught captain Shaw?" He looked over his shoulder to Max who shrugged down at him. Shaw had raved on about wanting a picture of the Krakken, but all of them had thought him far too drunk to even start his boat, let alone get it out onto the lake.
Jonah ignored Ben and continued. "Those eggs belong to the rarest creature in the world. Maybe even unique. You can't remove them from here and sell them as if their produce. They need to stay here and be protected."
"Now buddy," Max said slowly and cautiously. "We don't want any trouble." He didn't look at Jonas but at the guns in his friends hands. What kind of environmentalist had guns anyway? One prepared for trouble it seemed.
"I've been around the world, I've chased off, beaten and gotten some of the biggest poachers in the world arrested. Three small time idiots like you aren't anything special"
"Small time!" Ben yelled angrily. "You don't know who you're talking to!"
Jonah seemed neither intimidated nor impressed. "I really don't care." He said. "All I care about is getting those eggs back where they belong. We'll let the police handle finding out who you are."
Ben scowled and slowly raised his arm. He was just about to press the button on the watch when all hell broke loose.
There was a low rumbling sound beneath the boards, before he could even look around for the noise the planks exploded and he was sent flying into the lake. Max and Gwen ran back from the chaos. Jonah and his men were thrown back.
Climbing onto the dock was the Krakken. It threw its enormous head back and screeched at the sky. Then his eyes focussed on the containers full of its eggs that were with Max and Gwen.
It growled at them threateningly.
"When I tell you to, run." Max whispered to Gwen, hardly moving his mouth. The Krakken gave a loud roar and lunged its head forwards, aiming straight at Max and Gwen.
Suddenly there was a loud splash and something landed on the Krakken face, digging its claws into the tough skin and drawing blood, making the Krakken rear back and roar loudly. It whipped its head from side to side violently but Ben, in the form of Ripjaws, held tightly.
"There's no way I'm missing out on this payday" Ben thought to himself.
Gwen and Max ran as quickly as they could, pushing the cart in front of them and trying to make sure they didn't drop their precious cargo.
"If we can get these to the RV we can still get away from here." Max panted. They rounded a corner, running between two buildings.
"What about Ben?" Gwen asked.
Behind them they heard Ben's voice screaming "Mother fucker!" Followed by a roar from the Krakken.
"He can look after himself." Max said. "The important thing is to get out of here before mommy finds out we're the ones with her babies."
From a door to their left burst one of the gun-toting environmentalists. He glared at them angrily and pointed his weapon at them. "Hand over the eggs!" He shouted.
Max held up his arms in a surrendering gesture. "Okay buddy. Okay. No one wants any trouble here."
Gwen grabbed the handles of the cart and pushed hard. It rammed into their attacker, throwing him off balance. Max jumped forward and punched the guy across the jaw. He fell onto the cart, knocking off one of the containers. It crashed onto the wooden dock, its lid falling open and spilling water and the egg. The huge round pile of gelatin rolled away from them.
Max grabbed the enviro-nut by the collar of his shirt. The man was unconscious. Max pulled him off the cart and left him on the ground. He took the gun as an afterthought. He didn't need the guy waking up pissed and still armed. "Let's get the egg." He called to Gwen, who nodded and ran after the huge rolling jelly ball. Max followed with the cart.
Gwen jumped and raced and caught up with the egg. It was dirty but undamaged. It had been a scary few seconds. There was a lot of stuff that could have damaged it. A broken board, or a stray piece of glass and they would've been left with the worlds most expensive omelette.
"Let's get you back in the box." She muttered at the egg. She took it gently in her hands and grimaced at the feel of it. It felt like holding onto a bag of jello. A very stiff bag covered in thick veins. She was disgusted by the feel of it and wanted to throw it away. "Think of the money." She told herself. "Think of all the money this is going to bring."
Suddenly the Krakken's deafening roar filled the air. It's gigantic form reared up over the buildings and fell on one of the warehouses. The chaotic deafening crash of ripping and tearing, snapping and falling masonry drowned out even the Krakken's scream.
Gwen didn't even hear herself scream as a huge chunk of concrete fell towards her. She leapt back and fell to the ground, dropping the egg, which rolled away from her again. The concrete, as large as Gwen, crashed down onto the egg. It popped like a water balloon, spraying Gwen from head to foot in thick orange slime that smelled like rotting fish.
"Gwen?" Max stared at her. The smell hit his nose and he backed up several steps. "Are you ok?"
Gwen wiped her hands over her eyes, scraping away the thick goop that was congealing on her. She spat some out of her mouth. "I'm alive." She growled. She climbed to her feet and looked down at herself. Her clothes were ruined. She liked this t-shirt. She flicked her hands, sending huge droplets of the slime off her to the floor.
"Come on." Max said urgently. "You can clean up later. We've still got one egg. We need to-"
He was cut off by a loud scream. Not from the Krakken, but from Ripjaws. Max and Gwen looked up to see the Krakken throw Ben with its huge tentacle. He flew through the air sailing off deep into the woods. He vanished into the darkness and they had no idea where he landed. No clue whether he was even still alive.
"Oh shit!" Gwen gasped as The Krakken climbed over the destroyed building, glaring down at them with its huge eyes. Neither Max or Gwen were looking at its eyes. They were far too busy looking at the giant man-sized teeth.
"Grandpa?" Gwen said in a shaking voice.
Max moved slowly, so it wouldn't provoke the Krakken. He reached to the container of the remaining egg and carefully opened the lid. The Krakken's head twitched only slightly as it saw its child-to-be. Carefully Max took a step backwards from the cart. "Run!" He yelled suddenly.
The word was like a starters pistol. Gwen leapt over the chunks of metal and concrete, racing as fast as she could to get away from the monster. Max wasn't far behind, despite being old and a heavy smoker he could still move quite fast. Especially when he was running away from a creature with teeth bigger than his whole body.
The Krakken roared loudly. It watched them go and in its own primal way considered chasing them. But with one last triumphant roar she reached down with one of her tentacles and gripped the egg carefully. Slowly it moved over the broken building and back to the lake. Without even a look back it slid into the water and vanished.
Jonah Melville picked himself up from the tattered scrap that had been his robotic diving suit. Whatever that alien had been its powerful jaws and claws had made short work of his titanium alloy. He clutched at his bleeding forehead, it was a deep and painful gash. He wiped a little blood out of his eyes; clearing his vision in time to see the Krakken sliding back into the lake. He also saw an egg clutched in its huge tentacle. Did it have the other egg, or was that gone? Had those poachers gotten away with the egg? Or had the only thing they had escaped with was their lives? They were gone, that was the worst part. But the police would arrive soon and he'd be able to pass on their descriptions. They would be caught. He was sure of it.
No matter. The creature and her young were safe. He would see to it. Friends Of Fish had a lot of powerful allies. He would have this whole area protected before the end of the week. The Krakken would never be in danger of hunters and poachers ever again.
"You're safe now." He said aloud to the lake. "Safe."
Ben came strolling out of the woods. He was back to human and though he was covered in scratches and grazes he wasn't seriously hurt. He'd managed to find a good soft landing; the tent of a young couple who were camping in the woods. The young couple had also been sleeping in the tent at the time so their bodies had been a pretty soft landing. He wasn't sure if they were ok after a six foot tall fish-man had landed on top of them. But that's what 911 is for.
Max stood in front of the Rust Bucket, looking at Ben with concern and relief. "Thank goodness you're alright." He said as he puffed heavily on his cigar, he flicked the butt of the cigar away as Ben grew closer. He had trigs and leaves in his hair and his clothes were dirty. But at least he was cleaner than Gwen.
"I'm fine Grandpa" Ben smiled at Max. "Can't believe it threw me across the lake, again. Did you guy's manage to get away with the eggs?" He looked at Max hopefully, but Max looked at Ben with a less than amused look on his face.
"No. Just after you left the Krakken got it back." He said sternly.
Ben looked crushed. After all that they had come away with nothing to show for it. "Dammit. That was one huge payday. Wait, it? Last time I checked there are two eggs"
"Just after it threw you away the Krakken smashed the building, one of the eggs was squished, and covered Gwen in fish egg slime" Max explained, he watched as Ben burst out laughing, cheering him p slightly after loosing both eggs
"Please tell me you got some pictures" Ben wiped his eyes "I she scarred for life? Please tell me she's scarred for life"
"See for yourself." Max said enigmatically.
Looking confused for a second Ben then saw Gwen, showered and wearing clean clothes, standing on top of the R.V, before he could ask any questions she leapt from the roof and slammed on top of him, as they hit the ground she rolled off him and onto her feet leaving Ben on the ground, winded.
"You know Ben" Gwen smiled as she watched him coughing on the ground. "This has been a long time coming" grabbing his shirt she pulled him to his feet "and I'm going to enjoy it immensely"
Reacting quicker than Gwen, Ben grabbed her shoulders and swung his head back then slammed it into her forehead, watching as she stumbled back dazed he said "come on then, bitch!" clenching a fist tight he swung his arm back "who's the daddy?" Launching his fist forwards he could barely keep up as Gwen spun an arm up and grabbed his wrist, side stepping she flipped him over her shoulder and slammed him onto the sand. Keeping a firm grip on his arm she twisted it sharply and knelt on his throat, enough for him to feel pain but no permanent damage "who's the daddy now?" She asked as she slowly twisted the arm more until she felt a hand rest on her shoulder, looking up she saw Max
"I'm the daddy," he said "and that's enough"
Shrugging slightly she looked back to Ben "say it" she demanded, raising her knee slightly so Ben could talk
"I wuv you" he rasped as she laughed.
"Your my bitch till the day you die"
They heard sirens approaching. The police had finally decided to arrive. Max ushered the two kids into the RV, deciding that now was the best time to hit the road. Before the police got talking with Jonah and heard a few reasons why they should stick around for, say, 25 to life!