Chapter 3: The Krakken
A bright moon was lighting up the foggy forest below. A large lake could then be seen, surrounded by trees and mist, peaceful and undisturbed.
Well… It was until Drake came running up to the lake and dived into it.
"Cannonball!" He shouts out as he jumps into the lake, making a large splash. He then surfaced and spat out the water.
"Judges say… Yes! PERFECT 10! Yeah!" He imitated a sports commentator, before imitating a crowd woo-ing. "The crowd loves him!" He cheered for himself.
Raine and Gwen sat on the pier watching Drake. Raine smiled and gave a thumbs-up while Gwen sighed.
"A perfect 'dweeb' is more like it," Gwen said from her spot on the pier, shining a flashlight on him, unimpressed with his antics.
"Come on Gwen, It's Summer! Let the kid have some fun. It's not like he's making fun of you right now," Raine argued.
"Yeah. Come on, dive in!" Drake encouraged.
"Are you kidding me? Please! Who knows what nasty slimy things are slithering around in there?" Gwen then shone her flashlight on Drake. "I rest my case." She taunted.
"Okay, that was uncalled for." Raine chided her cousin.
"What's the point of camping by a lake if you're afraid to get wet?" Drake asked as he splashed the girls.
"Knock it off, midget!" Gwen complained before walking away.
"Hey!" Drake shouted as he started flailing in the water. "What's happe-" He then fell below the water as if drowning.
"Very funny, Drake!" Raine said, not convinced in the least bit, seeing as she sees her brother every day and is used to his little jokes. "I'm not falling for it."
Gwen then walked back, a bit concerned as the two saw bubbles rising up out of the water with a look of concern. "Drake?"
Then, a giant monster covered in seaweed rose up from out of the water with a growl. The girls screamed and hugged each other in fear. But, as they dropped the flashlight, the light shone on the monster's face, revealing its only Four Arms covered in seaweed.
"Not funny, bro!" Raine shouted. "How am I still not prepared for the pranks you can pull now with the watch?"
"You should've seen the looks on your faces! Ah, priceless!" Four Arms said as he pulled off some of the seaweed.
"You are so busted when I tell Grandpa!" Gwen shouted as she ran to the Rust Bucket, leaving a very disappointed Raine behind to confront her brother.
"Seriously, Drake. I thought you already learned your lesson back in D.C.?" Raine scolded.
"Chillax, Raine, I was just joking around! No real harm." Four Arms countered. "Besides, remember how Gwen's always using her Quirk on us during April Fools."
"True," Raine noted. "But you should still apologize to Gwen."
"Whatever, But you have got to admit it was a good prank. I still can't believe you two fell for it!" Four Arms chucked.
"Alright, you got me there. But seriously Drake, a monster in the lake? How stupid do you think we are?" Raine asked her brother.
Then, without warning, the twins looked to see a green-scaled monster with two tendrils coming from its mouth and a long neck rising up from out of the lake, causing the two to scream.
"Apparently, not that stupid, sis!" Four Arms replied.
The monster grabbed Four Arms with its tentacle and tossed him a few miles out further into the lake. Before he could get a chance to resurface and fight back, he was grabbed again.
"Hang on, bro!" Raine shouted as she dialed her watch and slammed the core down, releasing a flash of bright pink light.
The watch sank into her wrist and her hand was enveloped in green crystal, which then followed suit with her entire body before it closed in around her head and her eyes turned yellow. Two short crystal spikes grew from her back and her outfit morphed into a pink jumpsuit with the watch symbol on her left breast area. She then struck a pose as she transformed into Diamondhead.
Diamondhead then tossed a few diamond projectiles at the monster, but they just shattered off of the monster's hard-scale body.
The monster then grabbed her as well and dragged her under the water along with her brother. They then looked into the monster's giant blue eye and gasped, letting loose their breath before Diamondhead focused, and grew her blade slightly, causing the monster to let her go due to the pain.
Four Arms broke out of his tendril by struggling out and the two then resurfaced and swam to the shore as fast as they could before running for the Rust Bucket and barging inside, waking up their drowsy cousin and grandfather.
"We were just attacked by a giant lake monster!" Four Arms shouted.
Gwen then threw her pillow at him, hitting him in the face. "Hello, current events. You already got me with that one." She then pulled the covers over her head and tried to go back to sleep.
"But I'm not kidding this time. Raine was there with me, she'll testify to this!" He insisted.
"He's telling the truth! There actually is a monster this time!" Diamondhead said.
"Come on, kiddos. Joke's over," Max said, sleepily.
"But we- '' Four Arms tried to argue.
"Get some sleep. Remember, we have an early day tomorrow for our fishing trip." Max reminded him.
The watches timed out, leaving the two back in their human forms.
"Forget it, Drake. They are not going to listen, We are going to have to try again in the morning," Raine suggested before yawning, stretching her arms up, and going inside, leaving a disappointed Drake.
-x-
The next morning, the four were walking towards the dock with the twins trying their best to explain their encounter the previous night. Max was holding a fishing rod and a cooler for the fish they were to catch.
"No, really!" Drake insisted that the monster from last night be real. "It was humongous with these red glowing eyes!"
"I'm sure it was just some kind of big fish," Max said, dismissively. "That's all."
"Yeah," Gwen agreed. "So give the mega-fish story a rest, will you, 'Captain Dweeb'?"
"He's not lying! I was there!" Raine said. "You know when I believe the same thing, it's probably true."
"Okay, I can expect this kind of behavior from Drake. But from you?" Gwen asked as Raine folded her arms and huffed.
Drake then walked ahead and saw a bucket full of live worms squirming around. He then smirked devilishly, grabbed a handful, and showed them to Raine and Gwen, disgusting both of them.
"Breakfast?" He offered.
"Drake! That's Disgusting!" Raine said.
"What's with the bucket of slimeys?" Gwen asked.
"Bait," Max explained.
"Yeah, well, I think I'm going to pass on the fishing thing," Gwen stated. "I'll stay here and catch some sun instead."
"I think I'll keep her company," Raine said as the girls started walking away.
"Okay. But you don't know what you're missing," Max said.
"I'm pretty sure we do…" Gwen said as the two walked away.
Max and Drake turned to the boat behind them, where the captain was preparing to go out. He wore a beige long-sleeved shirt and a red and white cap.
"Captain Shaw?" Max asked.
"Who wants to know?" The fisherman asked.
"I'm Max Tennyson. And this is my grandson, Drake." Max introduced himself and Drake.
Drake waved hello.
"We charted your boat today for a fishing trip." He explained.
"Well, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation? Get aboard," Shaw said as he turned to the controls. "I ain't got all day."
Drake and Max climbed aboard as the boat left the dock and headed out on the lake.
-x-
As the boat continued on, Max turned to Shaw as he was driving the boat.
"Anything… interesting to catch there today?" He asked.
"More than you can imagine…" Shaw answered, ominously.
He then turned to Drake, who was looking out over the boat and into the water. "Looks like your boy is using his breakfast as chum." He tells Max
Drake had put on a life jacket for safety as he gazed out into the water.
"Drake, you feeling okay?" Max asked as Drake stood up.
"Yeah. I'm just keeping an eye out for the lake monster. That thing's not taking me by surprise this time." He explains.
Max raised an eyebrow at that.
Drake looked out and gasped, seeing a monstrous silhouette in the water.
"There it is!" He cried out. But as the boat passed by, Drake realized that it was not a monster but a fallen tree branch with a discarded cooler stuck in it.
"Oh. My bad." He admitted.
"Now, Drake," Max addressed. "This is a fishing trip. Not a monster hunt."
"It's called 'The Krakken'," Shaw says to them.
"Whoa. You know about it?" Drake asked, surprised.
"It's my business to know about it," Shaw said as he showed a picture he took of the lake. The picture had a shadowy figure under the water as if it were the monster that the twins encountered before. "I've been on its tail for years. Folks say my rudder's not right." He adds.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Max asked.
"Sightings go back hundreds of years on this very lake," Shaw explained. "Some say it's a myth… Not me. I can take you to a spot where I personally laid eyes upon the beast. That is, if you got the stomach for some real adventure." The fisherman declared.
Drake beamed up to his grandfather hopefully and Max sighed in defeat.
"I guess so…" The grandfather finally accepted.
"All right!" Drake cheered.
-x-
Meanwhile, at the docks, Gwen was staring up at the sun while Raine listened to music and hummed to herself.
She looked over at her cousin and sighed heavily before she walked over to her with a sigh. "We weren't joking last night about the monster, you know."
"Oh, really?" Gwen asked as she sat up from her lying position on the docks.
"Before the start of the summer, I would be thinking the same thing as you. But after everything that's happened, especially with these watches, I'm more open-minded now. Even if I didn't see it for myself, I still would've given Drake the benefit of the doubt." She explained.
"Why? You know as well as I do that it's crazy talk to think of a lake monster attack." Gwen asked, dumbfounded.
"Is it?" Raine retorted, making Gwen raise an eyebrow at her cousin's remark.
"I mean, think about it, Gwen. We live in a world where 80% of the population (including you) have superpowers. But despite that, Two alien watches that give superpowers fall out of the sky, allowing me and Drake (who are Quirkless) to become heroes," She explained, showing her watch. "Tell me that doesn't sound coincidental."
"Well… when you put it like that…" Gwen sighed.
"I'm just saying. Strange things keep happening around us. Let's not rule a monster attack out of the realm of possibility just yet."
Gwen rolls her eyes. "I'll believe it when I see it…"
-x-
A bit later, Shaw showed the boys the controls equipped on his boat to help him catch the Krakken.
"Sonar, hi-def video setup, ultrasound, I got it all," Shaw showed off. "And I will find it. Mark my words. "It can't hide forever."
Drake stared in wonder before Max took him aside to have a word from him.
"Drake, I don't want you to put too much stock into what Mr. Shaw says. I don't think he has both oars in the water if you know what I mean." Max advises.
"Why? Just because he saw the Krakken too?" Drake asked with an upset tone. "I'm telling you that and I am not crazy."
-x-
Later, the boat had stopped. In front of them were a few buoys floating in the water, held together with a line that read 'Do Not Enter', which formed a barrier over the further area of the lake.
"'Do not Enter?'" Shaw asked in shock. "What's going on?"
"Looks official," Max said. "Maybe we should turn back." He suggested.
"Nonsense. This is my lake and I'll go wherever I-" Shaw began, before being interrupted.
"Fishing boat," A male voice interrupted. "Stop where you are."
The boys looked over to see a big white and blue boat with a few men. The side of the ship had the initials F.O.F. written on the side in blue bold letters. The men wore blue uniforms with black collars. The leader had brown hair and a goatee and he stepped up to the edge of the boat with a friendly smile.
"I'm Jonah Melville, the founder of Friends of Fish. We've closed this section of the lake for an environmental study," Jonah introduced himself and his group. Then explained why that couldn't move forward. "You'll have to turn your boat around."
"Suppose you make me, fish-hugger?" Shaw questioned the group confrontationally.
"Well, since I charted the boat for the day, I believe I'm in charge. Isn't that right, Captain?" Max asked. Shaw grumbled and reluctantly made his way up the boat.
Shaw sighed in disappointment, knowing that Max was right. He then walked off muttering to himself.
"But… What about the Krakken?" Drake asked.
Jonah laughed at that. "The Krakken? Not that old fish story… Now look, I'm a marine biologist, and anyone who tells you they've seen a monster in this lake is fishing without a hook." Jonah told and his crewmen walked away.
Drake then frowned and sighed.
Later, the Friends of Fish lead Shaw's boat back to the docks with a very disappointed Drake.
Then, suddenly, Shaw noticed that his sonar picked up a blip from under the lake. "The sonar! We've found something!" He calls out.
A fin was scraping the surface of the lake, heading straight for the boat.
"Or something found us," Drake said. "Look!"
They all looked out over the side of the boat to see the fin coming for them.
"The Krakken!" Shaw exclaimed as the fin passed under his boat, revealing its true size and rocking the boat.
The creature ignored them as it moved straight under them. Its fin then retried back under the waves and sped toward the pier.
"It's heading for the docks!" Shaw exclaimed in a panic.
"The Girls!" Drake and Max shouted together, realizing they were in danger.
-x-
As the Krakken was heading for the docks, the girls were resting on the edge of the docks, kicking their feet.
"Aw, Finally, a little sun," Gwen said. "And with Drake nowhere in sight, we can just lay back and relax." She sighed to Raine, both completely oblivious to the rapidly approaching sea monster.
"Drake doesn't mean to cause trouble, he just loves to have harmless fun. Trust me, I have to live with him and he tends to get on my nerves way more than you, sometimes." Raine said, defending her brother.
"You don't think I live with that? Ken tends to pick on me too, you know?" Gwen stated.
"Hey, Kenny's not that bad, he's just messing around like Drake. That's what brothers do." Raine noted.
"But, I have to admit, I really can't imagine my life without Drake. He's literally my other half, we've been through a lot together and always had each other's backs, even through all the rough times. I don't think I would have gotten to this point without him. Other people really can't imagine life without a twin..." Raine explains her gratitude about having Drake as her twin. But stopped when she saw Gwen's face go blank when she said that.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of Eve!" She apologized.
"It's ok, you didn't mean to. But sometimes I feel like I should have been a better sister." Gwen noted, sadly. "Maybe they didn't have to-" She then felt Raine touch her shoulder.
"Gwen, what happened with Eve was not your fault." Raine comforted Gwen. "And they said it was for the best if she was sent away."
"Yeah… maybe you're right." Gwen then sighed as she looked out on the lake. "Wonder if she's thinking about us right now?"
As the Krakken rushed towards land. Shaw tried to warn the dock-goers by ringing the ship's bell. However, few people actually believed the danger.
The sounds of his horn did however make the cousins look up and see the fin.
"How many times does Drake think we're going to fall for this?" Gwen asked.
"Um, Gwen. That isn't Drake," Raine said, getting a worried look in her eye as the Krakken rose out of the water in all its glory and shrieked loudly.
"Definitely! Not Drake!" Gwen shouts worriedly.
The girls then screamed as it smashed the docks, sending the civilians sprawling into the lake. They then resurfaced, the girls among them, their soaking wet hair drifting down in front of their faces.
"Um, Gwen, I hate to say 'I told you so' but... I TOLD YOU WE WEREN'T CRAZY!" Raine shouted.
"Hey, Drake's always done those kinds of pranks in the past. How was I supposed to know that this was the one time he wasn't joking," Gwen said, with a shrug.
-x-
Back on the boat, Shaw basked in the revelation that he was right all along.
"I told you, it's real!" Shaw exclaimed. "The Krakken lives!"
"Sail now, gloat later," Max ordered. He then leaned down to Drake and put a hand on his shoulder. "Someone's got to rescue those people."
"I'm way ahead of you," Drake said, leaping into the lake and dialing his watch, showing the fish icon.
"Ripjaws to the rescue!" He then took a deep breath and ducked under the water, before slamming the Omnitrix. But who came up was not who he expected.
"Hey! I said Ripjaws! Not XLR8! Stupid watch!" He complained about the form he took.
Back at the docks, Raine then looked at Gwen. "Hey, cuz. Think you can help me with those people?"
Gwen's hands and feet glowed blue as she lifted herself out of the water. "Don't worry, I'm on it! Go help Drake." She said as she flew off.
Raine nodded as she activated her watch which showed her version of Ripjaws. "I know sailors always talked about wanting to see a Mermaid, but all I have is a Mermangler?"
She then ducked under the water and pressed her watch, releasing a flash of pink light. But she, unfortunately, came up as someone different.
Out of the water popped out a tall, thin green-skinned alien with purple eyes and 2 long, sharp-bladed antennae that curled at the end. She had double-jointed arms with long 3 fingers on each hand in fingerless gloves. She wore a pink, gray, and black striped skin-tight suit, an armored chest plate, and a hip skirt going on her legs. Her most notable feature is a mechanical pink and black backpack on the back of the chest armor thing. She wore the watch symbol on a headband in the middle of her forehead. Raine called this form In-Vade.
"No! You blasted watch! I requested Mermangler! Not In-Vade!" She scolds her watch, sounding more like an eccentric villain scolding a henchman as she swam over to the shore.
"Sigh… Looks like you leave me no choice." In-Vade sighed as she activated her pack's jet wings.
She then took to the sky, saw XLR8 on the lake, and flew over to him. They then looked over to see the civilians swimming away from the Krakken.
"You require any assistance, Brother?" She asked XLR8.
"No need." XLR8 declined, closing his visor. "I already got something figured out."
"In that case, let us DOMINATE this mission!" In-Vade said eccentrically.
"Here goes nothing…" XLR8 then started kicking his legs rapidly, eventually rising up. He was running so fast that he was actually able to run on the water.
He also splashed his sister several times.
"Ack… Brother… Cease this splashing! This instant! I can't see where I'm flying!" In-Vade said as her pack sprouted laser blasters.
She shoots at the Krakken, and one bolt hits its eye, briefly incapacitating it. In its disorientation, it swung one of its tendrils and it was about to hit Gwen. XLR8 picked up Gwen and ran her over to the shore, safe.
"You okay?" XLR8 asked.
Gwen coughed up some lake water and sighed in relief. "I think so. Thanks for the save."
XLR8 gave her a claws up before he turned around and zoomed out, splashing her with mud.
"Hey! You did that on purpose!" She snapped.
Soon enough, the Krakken regained its sight and started to pick people up to eat them. Fortunately, XLR8 zoomed by as In-Vade picked up one person at a time and tossed them into XLR8's arms and he zoomed over to the shore where they would be safe.
"These people shall not be your food, You overground Catfish!" In-Vade shouted as he swiped a claw at her, which she narrowly dodged. "Excuse me! I AM NOT A PINATA!"
"Get us out of here!" Jonah ordered his crewmate back on the F.O.F. boat, who fired up the engines and engaged the gears, causing the boat to speed away.
Unfortunately, the Krakken took notice of this, tossed the boat it was terrorizing aside, and swam after it.
In-Vade noticed the shadow going after the boat and whistled to her brother. "Brother, we have ourselves a 'Code Jaws'!"
"On it!" XLR8 assured.
The siblings then ran/flew after the boat as fast as they could. Soon enough, the Krakken popped out of the lake and roared. The captain tried to turn the boat around, but not fast enough as the Krakken knocked it aside with its tentacle.
"Whoa!" Jonah exclaimed as the Krakken rushed towards it again.
Just as it was about to destroy it again, XLR8 zoomed in and created a waterspout with his speed. In-Vade the launch a barrage of small rockets at Krakken, forcing it back into the lake.
XLR8 then backflipped onto the boat while In-Vade landed.
But before they could relax, the Krakken popped up on the other side and shredded apart a cannery box, trying to steal a crate that Jonah then ran towards in an effort to protect it.
"No, you don't!" Jonah declared as he leaped onto the crate, hanging onto it to stop it from being taken.
XLR8 decided to help by grabbing the Krakken's tendril and dragging it backward to prevent the crate from being moved, resulting in him kicking up a cloud of smoke into the Krakken's face, causing the monster to briefly let go, making the Kineceleran lose his grip and fall backward.
The beast tried again to get the box, but In-Vade flew up and fired a laser in its face, knocking it back into the water, forcing the Krakken to finally retreat.
"Thanks for the hands... and the feet," Jonah said thankfully as he shook In-Vade's hand.
However, the alien twins couldn't help but feel that Melville was hiding something, finding it suspicious that the Krakken was trying so hard to steal that crate.
"If I may ask, What was so important in that crate that you risked your life for it?" In-Vade asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh... our lunch!" Jonah answered after a moment of hesitation.
His answer only provided them with more questions than answers.
"So you're telling us that you risked getting munched for a few sandwiches?" XLR8 asked.
But before the interrogation could continue, the Krakken's tentacle popped out of the lake and grabbed the tentacle, dragging it into the lake. That was when the watches started to beep down.
"Oh, gotta run!" XLR8 said as he ran away and In-Vade followed soon after. They were then zooming towards the dock with In-Vade squinting.
"Almost there! I think we're going to-" Then, the watches timed out and the two came splashing down into the water with a splash as Raine spit out the lake water. "-make it." She then looked up and they were near Shaw's boat.
Max then spotted his grandkids in the water. "Man overboard!"
"Um, I think you mean twin's overboard," Raine corrected, as she and her brother waded. "And I don't have a life jacket!"
"Shaw! Bring the boat around!" Max ordered as Shaw snarled.
Shaw had been preparing to launch a harpoon into the beast, before being alerted by Max.
"Next time I see ya in my sights, ya won't be so lucky…" Shaw promised as he turned the boat around and tossed a net that the twins climbed up. Raine smiled as she wrung the water out of her hair.
"By the way, I'm Drake's twin, Raine, nice to meet you," She introduced herself to Shaw as they shook hands.
-x-
Later that night, many campers and dock-goers were packing up and leaving the lake due to the Krakken incident, not wanting to stick around a place with the rogue lake monster on the loose.
The Tennysons were by a campfire drying off with the twins having towels around them.
"See, We told you! That was the same monster that tried to munch us last night!" Raine said.
"Me, Raine, and Captain Shaw were right the whole time," Drake said.
"Drake, Just because he was right about the Krakken doesn't mean I was wrong about him," Max advised his grandson.
"You're just being stubborn, Grandpa," Drake complained.
"Yeah, don't you just hate people like that?" Gwen teased.
"We'll leave this one to the experts, kids. Like those 'Friends of Fish" guys." The eldest Tennyson explained.
"You sure, Grandpa? Cause there's honestly something strange about those guys." Raine noted.
"Yeah, who needs experts, when we can bust monsters with the monster-busting devices on our wrists?" Drake questioned, holding up the Omnitrix on his arm.
"I'm afraid this is just going to be the one that got away, son," Max tells him.
"But…" Drake tried to argue but was interrupted by Captain Shaw walking by looking not too pleased, and growled to himself.
"...low-down, no-good fish-kissers!" He cursed.
"Captain Shaw? What is it?" Raine asked.
"The nerve of those 'enviro-punks'! They shut down the entire lake! Nobody tells me where to sail! And nobody's going to keep me away from reeling in the catch of the century! NOBODY!" Shaw said as he walked away.
Later, Captain Shaw went sailing out on the boat despite the shutting down of the lake.
-x-
Meanwhile, Inside the Rust Bucket, Gwen was in her PJs as was Max as she knocked on the bathroom door, which Drake was supposedly in.
"Come on, Drake!" Gwen shouted. "Did you fall in there or something?"
Max then opened the door, revealing the empty bathroom! Max gasped as he looked in Raine's bunk and saw she was gone too.
"I have a good feeling where those two went," Max said.
-x-
On the lake, Shaw's boat came out from the docks when he heard rumbling by the crates. He then looked and saw one of them shaking under the tarp.
"Hey!" He said, grabbing an oar. "No stowaways on my boat, even if you are a filthy rat." He then uncovered it to see the twins were hiding, Raine with a scowl on her face.
"Um, first mate Tennyson reporting for duty… sir?" Drake said nervously.
"I'm not, I saw Drake stowed away on the boat even when we were told not to go! But I knew he wasn't going to listen, So I came to make sure he came back in one piece." Raine explained to Shaw.
"Yeah, she does stuff like this all the time," Drake said. "For as long I can remember she's done this kind of stuff."
"Well, at least I left Grandpa a note," Raine added.
Shaw glared for a moment, but it soon lessened and let them stay.
-x-
The three later went far out into the lake. "She's probably been scared deep by our 'fishy friends'," Shaw suggested as he put on his diving suit and snorkel.
"Only one way to fish her out: Live bait." The captain declared, now wearing a green wetsuit.
"Maybe we should go with you. You know, just in case," Drake suggested as his sister nodded in agreement.
"No need," Shaw said, grabbing his harpoon. "I've got the only help I need right here. Wish me luck." He then dived down into the lake as the twins looked and saw two spare diving suits by the crates.
-x-
Under the lake, Shaw was swimming through the lake to search for the Krakken, scaring off a school of fish, breathing heavily. He was then shocked by what he thought was the Krakken's tentacle and was actually an eel.
He then arrived at a crater on the lake bed, which could only be the Krakken's nest.
Inside, he found a giant ball covered with veins. He analyzed it in thought before two shadowy figures appeared in the clearing.
This startled Shaw and he fired his harpoon at them before they dodged, revealing themselves to be the twins before as he sighed.
"Kids these days. It is exactly why I left my wife," Shaw groans, then gesturing them down to the nest before going up for some air.
But as he went up to his boat, he saw a heavily armed black speedboat pull up to the boat. Before he could react, Shaw was grabbed and thrown violently onto the boat's floor to see a group of men in diving suits.
"Don't you know night-diving is dangerous, old timer?" The leader interrogated the old sailor. "Unless, of course, you went with a friend."
"I work alone. I ain't got no friends." Shaw declared.
"...And with a sparkling personality like yours?" The leader smirked as the twins rose from the water, shocked to see the divers.
"I ain't got anything worth stealing either," Shaw added.
"Ah, but you have us all wrong. What we want is information like what you saw down there?" The leader integrates further.
"Nothin'. Same as always." Shaw lied.
There was a short pause for a moment, before the masked figure punched Shaw to the ground, knocking him out.
"Well... I have to be sure." The masked leader removed his mask revealing himself to be Jonah, much to the twins' shock.
Drake had to cover his sister's mouth to muffle her exclamation as he shushed her.
"Don't give us away, they don't know we're here," He advised Raine, then gestured at their watches.
Unfortunately, the watches were still recharging from when they escaped the Rust Bucket.
So the two were forced to keep watching until they could strike.
"Take 'Ahab' here with us," Jonah ordered his assistants. "Find out what he knows here back at the Cannery."
"We'll come back here later with a mini-sub for the rest of the eggs." He added as he tossed a tracking device to the bottom of the lake down to the nest.
"In the meantime, I think this boat just got lost at sea." He declares as he primes an explosive and throws it onto the boat, destroying it instantly in a ball of fire as they sped away.
The twins then ducked under the water and swam for their lives, narrowly dodging debris and then coming back up to the surface a safe distance away.
As they surfaced, the watches finished recharging and the icons of their insectoid forms appeared.
"You ready, Raine?" Drake asked.
"Don't have to tell me twice," Raine said as they transformed.
-x-
On the F.O.F boat, one of the goons noticed a shape forming in the sky.
"Is that a bird?" One of them asked.
"Nah. Looks like a plane," The other goon argued.
But then, Stinkfly and Cogni-fly flew close allowing them to be seen clearly up in the sky.
"It's a pair of bugs!" Jonah shouted. "Man, the harpoons!"
"We may not be made of steel, But we still kick your butts!" Cogni-fly argued.
"So why don't you just give it up!" Stinkfly shouted. "You're totally busted!"
The goons then pulled out two harpoon guns and fired at the two insect aliens. They dodged and fired a combined goo blast, effectively immobilizing the goons.
Seeing his men have been taken out, Jonah angrily flipped a few switches, dropping charge barrels into the water.
"Incoming!" Cogni-fly shouted before they blew up.
They were able to get through the explosions. Until one blew up a tree, making it fall in front of them and knocking them into the lake in a haze.
The two emerged from the water and tried to fly again. But were unable to take flight.
"Oh, man!" Cogni-fly shouted in concern. "Our wings!"
"They're too wet for takeoff!" Stinkfly realized, looking at their wings.
Now unable to take off, the alien insects were targeted by an angry-looking Jonah driving the boat around the two.
They looked like deer in the headlights, or in this case, 'bugs in the headlights.'
"Let's squish these bugs once and for all!" He says sinisterly. His eyes suddenly light up as they drive away with Shaw.
"Where are they going?" Cogni-fly asked.
Suddenly the water around them began to form a whirlpool around them. A closer look revealed that tons of fish with glowing eyes were making the whirlpool.
"Don't wanna stick to find out!" Stinkfly argued.
They swam away from it before reaching a log and climbing on top of it before flapping their wings in a hurry.
"Come on! Come on! Dry off!" Stinkfly begged as Melville spotted the two with their floodlight. He turned his boat towards them and barreled at them at full speed, ready to finish them off.
Cogni-fly closed her eyes tightly, bracing for impact. "Can't believe I'll end like this."
Barreling closer, one of Jonah's crewmates stood with a turret, firing toward them.
It looked bad for them until Stinkfly spotted a tree branch above them and got an idea. "Not if I can help it!" Stinkfly argued.
"Cogni! Quick! Grap on!" He shouted as he grabbed his sister and he fired a stream of goo from his mouth, sticking to the branch.
He then slurped it back up, reeling him and Cogni-fly in like a grappling hook, pulling them to safety as they landed on the tree branch. Just before the boat could run over them, blasting the driftwood into bits.
"Nice one, Stinkfly!" Cogni-fly complimented her brother's ingenuity. "But still pretty gross…"
The twins look down at Jonah and his men, who they left confused, and begin circling the boat around, looking around with a spotlight, unable to find the bug aliens. They used the tree's covering to hide from view.
However, his search for the insectoid duo was cut short when he saw a fin ducking under the water.
"It's getting too crowded in here," He said, before shining his light on an unconscious Shaw.
"Dump the trash overboard!" He ordered, they did as they were told and Shaw was thrown overboard as Jonah and his crew boated away.
Stinkfly and Cogni-fly finally shook their wings dry and returned to the sky, just as the villains tossed an unconscious Shaw into the lake.
Cogni-fly then swoops in and grabs Shaw with her extra arms and pulls him out before he could sink too deep.
Needing to regroup, the pair flew back towards the campground, as fast as their wings could take them.
"Almost there," Stinkfly noted after spotting the Rust Bucket in the distance.
Unfortunately, the watch symbols started beeping and flashing red. "You gotta be kidding me?!" Cogni-fly complained.
"Not again!" Stinfly shouted.
On the shore Gwen had her binoculars out, trying to spot her cousins as Max walked out of the RV.
"Any sign of the twins and Shaw?" He asked.
"Not yet?" She told him.
Then, they heard a loud recognizable beeping noise. They looked upwards to see the twins, who soon after transformed back in a flash of red and purple.
The twins began screaming as they and the unconscious Shaw fell right out of the sky.
Luckily, they were saved by the awning on the Rust Bucket, which broke their fall.
"Ugh, I hate it when that happens," Drake complained.
-x-
After getting down from the awning. The twins explained the story of everything they had just learned to Max and Gwen.
"...and the Krakken's nest was full of eggs!" Raine explained, finishing the story.
"No wonder she's been attacking everything!" Drake stated. "Jonah must be stealing her eggs!"
"See Grandpa! I knew there was something rotten about those guys!" Raine stated how her suspicions were confirmed.
"And I think I know who Jonah really is," Gwen stated as she showed them a webpage on her laptop.
"I did a little checking on Friends of Fish and found out it's not listed on any environmental website." She notes, showing Jonah has a lengthy rap sheet.
"But I did find this: Jonah Melville isn't a friend to any kind of wildlife. He's wanted in multiple countries for illegal poaching! Authorities consider him a major threat because he has a Quirk that allows him to basically mind-control Animals, making them do whatever he wants! Using his power to capture rare animals and crate them up to sell them to private collectors."
"Huh… that definitely explained all those fish attacking us," Raine noted.
"Crates them up..." Drake pondered before he facepalmed in realization. "Oh, man! I bet that the crate the Krakken took off their boat had one of her eggs in it!" He exclaimed.
"Looks like we were all a little too hard-headed," Max admitted.
"We've got to stop them! They said something about going out to a cannery," Drake informed them.
"All this talk doesn't change a thing," Shaw said, still wanting to catch the Krakken himself. "Mommy or not, that beast is mine."
He then walked out the doorway and motioned the team to follow. "Let's go. I've got a spare boat down at the docks."
Seeing that Shaw was still a 'bit' unstable. The Tennysons then smiled at each other mischievously and then followed him.
-x-
A short while later, they ran to the boat as Gwen dialed 9-1-1 on her cellphone. "It'll take a while for the police to get here," She informed them as Shaw untied the boat from the dock.
As he was about to get on, the Tennysons sped off without him as he held up his lantern.
"What are you doing?! Get back here!" He called out to them.
"Sorry, Captain," Drake called back apologetically.
"You don't know what you're doing! A monster's a monster and I know a monster when I see one!" He rants.
But they didn't listen and sped off, leaving Shaw clenching his fist in anger. However, he shined a lamp around, seeing a much less glamorous rowboat off to the side of the pier, and he took a long, unbroken glare at it.
-x-
At the cannery, the poachers used a crane to pull Jonah out of the water in a submarine mech-suit holding a Krakken egg.
It lowered him onto the cannery dock, as he passed the egg to one of his crewmates, who almost dropped it due to its weight.
"Careful! Or you'll be cleaning up the world's most expensive omelet." Jonah warned as his worker put it into a cylindrical glass container with another egg, before closing the lid.
"After we sell these babies to the highest bidder, we'll be kicking back on a beach in the Bahamas." He declared as he cradled the eggs through the container.
But unbeknownst to them, the Tennysons' boat had pulled up under the pier.
They pulled up to the ladder which Max and Gwen started climbing.
"See if you can find the eggs," Raine instructed as Max and Gwen began to climb.
"What about you two?" Gwen asked.
"Oh… us?" Raine replied.
"We're gonna kick some Friends of Fish tail!" Drake smirked as the pair primed their watches, dialed in their aquatic forms again, and slammed down the cores.
The screen split in two as the very similar transformations commenced.
The watches sank into their wrists and their arms were covered in grayish-blue scales that traveled up their arms and their fingers turned to claws. They then grew anglers from their foreheads. They then grew gills from their neck as their teeth grew and sharpened themselves as the scales finished covering their bodies and their hair turned into a green dorsal fin running down their backs. Drake's clothes turned into a green loincloth-like bathing suit that was only on his bottom half while Raine's turned into a more full-piece swimsuit covering her entire midsection. The watch symbols were on their upper left torso. These forms were known as Ripjaws for Drake and Mermangler for Raine.
But before they could do anything, the Krakken burst up from the water. It smashes through the dock and knocks the siblings out of the boat.
The Krakken was now face to face with Jonah, intent on getting her eggs back from the poacher.
But instead of retreating like a normal person would, Jonah had other plans.
"The bigger the Krakken, the bigger the payday!" Jonah smiled as he ran for his mecha-suit while his men opened fire on her with their guns.
Despite firing round after round at the creature. The shots couldn't pierce its skin and bounced off the Krakken's thick hide.
One of the guards ran inside the cannery to be safe. Just as the Krakken then smacked aside the gunner into the lake.
She was about to retrieve her eggs, but Jonah used the crane-operated mech-suit to swipe them before she could get them.
He then opened fire on her, shooting blue bullets which were actually doing some damage as she began to fall into the lake.
Jonah then tried to reposition himself to get a better shot at the Krakken, until the twins leaped out of the lake and onto his mech's window, encompassing his view.
"You want to mess with monsters?" Ripjaws asked in a gravelly voice.
"Then try us on for size!" Mermangler challenged in a slightly more feminine voice.
The pair then crawled down to the mech's grapple using their claws to grab the egg container. Jonah moved to try to blast them point blank.
But Mermangler responded by biting down on the blaster and ripping it off with her powerful jaws.
Ripjaws then ripped his grip off of the container making them fall out of the mech's arms. So he dove down to try and grab them.
He managed to catch it mid-air, but Jonah swatted Mermangler off and punched Ripjaws in the gut.
They crash onto the dock, making Ripjaws drop the container, which breaks and sends the eggs rolled away onto a loose board. Just a shake would cause them to fall into the lake.
-x-
Meanwhile-
Inside the cannery, Gwen and Max sneaked around quietly.
Max peeked around the corner and saw one of Jonah's henchmen grabbing a weapon.
He then did a game of charades to signify that he was going to go and for Gwen to keep watch.
But below the cannery, the gunner that was knocked over the edge by the Krakken surfaced and took a deep breath. He then swam to the ladder and climbed it back into the cannery.
He then came up directly behind Gwen and Max as they were about to enact their plan and did not hesitate to aim a gun at them.
The two raised their hands and Max moved in front of Gwen but still stayed defiant.
"Okay, buddy," Max threatened, pounding his fist into his open hand. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Unfortunately, the henchman wasn't fazed and simply smiled before walking towards the two menacingly, causing them to back up.
Suddenly, one of the Krakken's tendrils burst through the cannery's side wall. Max and Gwen were surprised by it as were the henchmen.
"Go high!" Max instructs Gwen as he grabs onto a latch for shipping the cans while Gwen uses her Mana to levitate.
They moved forward as the floor underneath them was swept away by the Krakken's tendril, sending the first henchman back into the lake.
As they reached the other side, the other henchman came out with the weapon. But before he could do anything, Max kicked the weapon out of his hands, knocking him to the ground as Gwen kicked him unconscious.
"Is this the easy way, or the hard way?" Gwen asked Max who just shrugged with a chuckle.
-x-
Back outside, all that fighting caused the eggs to shake on their board, ready to fall off any second.
Jonah and the Krakken both dove for the eggs, but the Krakken scooped them with her tendril, saving them.
"My eggs!" Jonah snapped as he tried to go for them again.
However, before he could reach the beast, Jonah was side tackled by the twins, as they grabbed onto his suit's legs.
"They aren't your eggs!" Ripjaws declared as he and his sister tackled him away and they grabbed the eggs and dove into the lake.
However, Jonah was furious that these aliens kept preventing him from getting his payday. and released the crane's grip on his suit. Falling directly onto them as they crashed into the water together.
He then caught the twins and started brawling with them, disorienting them with several quick punches from his heavy metal suit.
"Rescuing babies. Very heroic," Jonah taunted. "But not very smart."
He then snatched the eggs and headed back up with them.
The aquatic duo quickly shook off the beating and regained their senses, they growled and swam back up.
"Rush him?" Mermangler asked.
"You know it, sis," Ripjaws smirked as the two merged their legs together to form a tail and swam up as fast as they could toward the escaping Jonah.
The poacher looked at the eggs greedily as he believed he was about to get away, before a clawed, webbed hand slammed down on his windshield, surprising him as he looked to see Ripjaws on his back.
However, he spun and caught Ripjaws with the back of his left arm, throwing him away, and forcing him to recover and chase him back down.
Unfortunately, he forgets he has a sister, as Mermangler cuts him off and knocks the eggs out of his grip.
Ripjaws caught them in his jaws. Mermangler then swam right towards him and delivered a strong jab into the glass window of the suit as it started to crack.
"You! Do! Not! Steal! Babies!" Mermangler growled, delivering a punch with every word as the suit started to fill up with water.
This managed to push the poacher back, making him swim away.
But that was when the Krakken. Not realizing the twins were trying to help her, she attacked them with her tentacles to slam them both together, causing Ripjaws to lose his grip on the eggs as they went flying out of his jaw.
The Krakken then caught them in her tentacle as the twins recovered on the lake floor.
But the situation got worse when Jonah came back, despite the flooding in his mech suit. He swam in hot pursuit of the mother and her unborn babies, forcing the twins to pursue the poacher once again.
Jonah then opened the right claw of his sub, revealing a weapon that emitted a sonic burst, causing the Krakken to screech out in pain, reeling back as she dropped the eggs.
Jonah snatched the eggs back and tried to swim away.
But before Jonah could even begin to think he'd won, the twins slammed into him. They drag him down to the lakebed until he crashes into what remains of Shaw's sunken boat, completely obliterating the vessel.
However, Jonah somehow got the upper hand upon landing and was holding Ripjaws down to the ground by his throat.
Mermangler then noticed a loose anchor lying nearby, grabbing its chain and swinging the anchor like a flail to smack Jonah with it, forcing him off Ripjaws. Which allowed him to grab the arm and get it in an arm bar.
However, Jonah sent an electric surge through the arm and forced the aquatic alien off of him, allowing him to swim away.
He wouldn't get far as Marmangler swung the anchor like a lasso, managing to grip the suit, preventing it from getting any further, breaking the right arm off the submersible in the process.
Ripjaws rejoined his sister as the aquatic duo tried to reel in Jonah's sub with the anchor, but the Krakken then rushed in and chomped down on the chain, forcing them to let go as Jonah freed himself, trying to swim away.
Ripjaws was quick to catch up and wrestle him for the eggs, but they soon both had to avoid a backhand swipe from the Krakken's claw, forcing them to separate and the eggs to be knocked loose and float freely.
Thankfully, Ripjaws then sees Mermangler suddenly swim in from out of nowhere and manages to recover them in her mouth. She then made a beeline for the Krakken's nest.
Jonah tried to go after him yet again, but was forced to evade the Krakken's claw again and, while he was successful, he was still sent spiraling off course. The Krakken then went after Mermangler with Ripjaws and Jonah just behind in hot pursuit.
As the Krakken reached her nest, Mermangler then placed the eggs down in the nest just as the Krakken arrived with Ripjaws.
He swam next to his sister and backed away to a safe distance to show they had no intent of harming the unborn babies.
It was at that moment, the Krakken finally realized that the twins were trying to save her eggs, not steal them like Jonah.
Pleased with the outcome, she dropped all hostility towards the aquatic twins, simply taking her eggs in her tendrils and cradling them gently, relieved to have them back.
The twins gave a toothy grin at their accomplishment.
But, this light-hearted moment was short-lived as Jonah soon reappeared with an almost psychotic grin on his face, making a beeline for the eggs.
But with his eyes solely focused on his prize, he was blind to the danger right in front of him and the Krakken blocked his path to her eggs.
Before he could even process the barrier before him, the angry mother caught him in her tendrils to hold him in place and chomped down on the head of the sub, causing Jonah's cockpit to decompress and rapidly fill with water.
In an instant, the suit was destroyed, leaving the poacher out in the open and vulnerable to the sea beast whose children he'd stolen.
It seemed Jonah was a goner, but he then smirked confidently and his eyes glowed again. Summoning an army of lake fauna to his side.
He then signaled them to attack. But the Krakken simply gave a simple snarl and suddenly all the animal's eyes stopped glowing and they all fearfully swam away. Leaving Jonah to his fate.
Not wanting to go down easily, he pulled a knife from his pant leg in a last-ditch effort to get the last word against the sea beast.
He thrust the knife towards the beast, only for it to pathetically break against the Krakken's mighty teeth.
Jonah pauses and looks at his broken knife as the angry mother roars, opening her jaws to devour the poacher.
But before the Krakken could eat him, the twins put themselves between the two with his arms spread out defensively, telling her to spare him.
Amazingly, the Krakken understood this, she reluctantly agreed and simply turned back to tend to her eggs.
Jonah exchanges a look with the twins as they both give him a knuckle sandwich in his face, knocking him out.
-x-
On the surface, Mermangler then hung Jonah on a loose wooden plank by the back of the collar of his wetsuit.
"Hang here for a while until the police find a nice dry cell for you," Ripjaws recalled as Mermangler floated beside him with her arms crossed.
They then turn to see the flashing red and blue lights of the police boat. Seeing it was time to go, they backflipped into the lake and as they swam away from sight under the water.
-x-
From the lakeside, Max and Gwen then saw a police boat pick up Jonah from the dock.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Max scoffed, harshly.
But suddenly, Captain Shaw rolled up to the lakeside. "Got one!" Shaw declared happily as he came up in his rowboat revealing he somehow caught Ripjaws and Mermangler in his fishing net.
"I finally got me not one but two Krakkens! The eggs must have hatched. Imagine these two mounted on my wall." He exclaimed triumphantly.
That was when the watches timed out in a flash of red and purple.
Max then chuckled at the sight. "I think your 'catch of the day' isn't exactly as advertised."
Shaw then raised his eyebrow as he lifted his lantern, revealing the twins tangled up in the net as they smiled innocently, lake water dripping from their clothes and hair.
Shaw then removed his hat and shook his head in both confusion and embarrassment. "But I could've sworn…"
-x-
Back under the lake, the Krakken cradled her eggs lovingly, thanking the twins for saving them.
TBC…
Author's note: Let me know what you think and as always. Constructive criticism is allowed. Trolling is not.
Next Chapter: 'Permanent Retirement'
Ok, so similar to 'Ben and Jen 10'. I gave Gwen a twin too, it was interesting to see. But she is going to be much different and I already have something planned for her.
I also named her Evelyn (Eve for short) so her name is similar to Gwen's.
Evelyn and Gwendolyn. Pretty cool, right?
Also if you read that story, and now reading this story.
No… Kevin is an only child here… But he won't be alone in New York.
Jonah-
Yeah even though we don't see him again after this, I did give Jonah.
It's basically a dark mirror version of Kota's Quirk. Instead of connecting with animals, Jonah completely controls them.
But thankfully Jonah never actually bothered training his Quirk, only using it to collect animals and for diversions.
So while useful the control could be cut off with a great shock and the natural survival instincts of the animal kick in.
Aliens-
Now we got Raine's final alien, and yes it's THAT one…
('You know who' will appear. But in the future.)
Raine- In-Vade, Drake- Lank
Species- Irken
Abilities- Sharp Antenne, High IQ, and Tech PAK
Well… I guess that's all for now… see you all in the next chapter.
So until next time. AutoHunter, Rolling out of the hunt.
