"KID!"
Suddenly a booming shout from behind froze them all.
"What did I say about going in the lake alone?!"
It was none other than Grandpa Max who had woken up, while searching for his grandkids, and arrived near the lake.
Now He stood at the shore, arms crossed, his usual cheerful face stern.
Ben, still floating in the water, grinned sheepishly. "Uh… maybe?"
While Gwen slowly sank chin-deep into the water like a guilty crocodile.
"Out. Now." Max jabbed a finger toward the shore.
Rio sighed, already swimming toward the dock. "Alright, alright. We're coming out."
With shoulders slumped, the trio dragged themselves out of the water, Max's glare softened slightly as he took in their guilty expressions– like fallen watermelons.
"The Lake's deeper than it looks, and there's no lifeguard for miles." but Max still grumbled, arms crossed. " if we were back at home, You would have been grounded for at least 2 weeks,"
"Now Dry off and get changed," he ordered, though the edge had left his voice. "We're going fishing."
The trio exchanged glances. They were here to have fun not to sit all day in front of a pole, but one wrong word, and Max might actually ground them.
Five Minutes Later
Inside the Rust Bucket, the mood was funereal.
Ben flopped onto the couch, his hair still dripping. "Fishing. Fishing. Might as well watch paint dry."
Gwen tossed him a towel. "Could've been worse."
Soon Max hurried them along, clapping his hands "Move it, kids! Breakfast is ready. The fish won't wait all day."
Finishing a quick meal of cereal and toast. Max led them toward the dock, holding a fishing rod in one hand and a cooler for the fish they were to catch in the other.
On the way towards the pier, Ben walked ahead, head lowered in disappointment.
Ahead on the wooden boards lay a bucket full of live worms squirming, seeing them he smirked devilishly before grabbing a handful and showing them to Gwen, disgusting her. "Breakfast?"
"Aaahhh"
Gwen screamed seeing the squirming worms in front of her face. "Oh, Ben. Gross!"
She turned to Grandpa asking "What's with the bucket of slimies?"
"Bait," Max explained in a matter-of-factly way.
"I mean, what else did you expect when he invited us to go fishing?" Rio asked her.
"Yeah, well, I think I'm going to pass on the fishing thing then," Gwen replied while feeling nauseated. "I'll stay here and catch some sun instead."
"Okay. Hehe. But you don't know what you're missing," Max said with his usual grandfatherly chuckle.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure I do," Gwen said as she walked away.
Max then turned to the boat behind us, where the captain, wearing a beige long-sleeved shirt and a red cap with a bit of white was preparing to go out.
"Captain Shaw?" Max addressed respectfully.
"Who wants to know?" The man immediately replied, quite rudely.
"I'm Max Tennyson. And these are my grandsons, Ben and Rio." Max said as the kids greeted the man right after him. "We charted your boat today for a fishing trip."
"Well then, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation? Get aboard." Shaw said as he turned to the controls leaving us behind. "I ain't got all day."
Max and the duo climbed on board as the boat left the dock and headed out on the lake. All of them put on life jackets for safety,
After some distance, Max turned to Shaw while the man was steering the boat.
"Anything interesting to catch there today?" Max asked, smiling.
"More than you can possibly imagine," Shaw answered coldly before turning to Ben, who was looking out over the boat and into the water. "Looks like your boy is using his breakfast as chum."
"Ben, are you feeling okay?" Max asked, prompting Ben to stand up.
"Yeah. I'm just keeping an eye out for the lake monster." Ben calmly replied, "Rio told me earlier that this lake has a monster, that's at least 10 meters long", to which Max just raised an eyebrow.
"WHOA,"
Suddenly Ben shouted, pointing towards an object in the lake, "There it is".
As the boat closed on it, what appeared was just a tree stump with a box stuck on it. Looking like a serpent from afar.
"Oh, my bad," Ben murmured, looking at the true thing.
"Now, Ben." Max addressed him directly. "This is a fishing trip. Not a monster hunt."
"It's called the Krakken," Shaw announced as he barged into the conversation.
"So, you know about it?" Rio asked, turning around, playing his role, and faking surprise.
"It's my business to know about it," Shaw said as he showed a picture he took of the lake.
The picture showed a shadowy figure with two tentacles near its mouth under the water, "I've been on its tail for years. Folks say my rudder's not right."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Max asked, slightly concerned.
"Sightings go back hundreds of years on this very lake." Shaw began explaining to anyone asking him. "Some say it's a myth. Not me. I can take you to a spot where I personally laid eyes upon the beast." he stopped, looked towards us, and flashed a creepy smile "That is if you got the stomach for some real adventure."
Both Rio and Ben looked at Max with puppy eyes and a smile, full of requests to agree.
"I guess so." Grandpa Max obliged, sighing in defeat.
"ALRIGHT," the Duo jumped, high-fiving in between.
A bit later, Shaw showed them the equipment on his boat to help him catch the Krakken.
"Sonar, high-definition video setup, ultrasound, I got it all." He said proudly. "And I will find it. Mark my words. It can't hide forever."
While Rio was taking mental notes of the man's equipment, Max took the kids aside to have a word with them.
Max stated "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."
"Why? Just because he also believes in the Krakken?" Ben asked with skepticism.
From the side, Rio added in a neutral tone. "Ben Grandpa is right, this caption Shaw looks a bit miswired in his head",
Then turning to Max he continued "But Grandpa it's also true the universe is so vast that we shouldn't be ruling out anything out of the ordinary."
Just then the boat came to a stop and Shawn's shout came from the front.
"'Do Not Enter?'" Shaw exclaimed in shock which quickly shifted into anger. "What's going on?"
"Looks official," Max said. "Maybe we should turn back."
Shaw turned to face Max, his face reddening as if Max had just insulted the sailor's mother. "Nonsense. This is my lake and I'll go wherever I-"
"Fishing boat!" A male voice suddenly came from the side of the boat. "Stop where you are!"
The boys looked over to see a big white and blue boat with F.O.F. written on the side in blue bold letters.
The boat was manned by men wearing blue uniforms, right then a man with red hair and beard 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 explained with a kind smile. "You'll have to turn your boat around."
"Who's gonna make me, you fish-hugger?" Shaw immediately retorted.
"Well." Max interrupted in time, to de-escalate the situation. "Since I charted the boat for the day, I believe I'm in charge. Isn't that right, Captain?"
Shaw sighed in disappointment, knowing that Max was right. He then walked off muttering to himself a few curses.
"It's a pity we won't be seeing the Krakken," Rio said just to get a reaction out of the fake environmentalist.
Just as he had anticipated, Jonah laughed at his remark. "The Krakken? Not that old fish story again. 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."
Saying so, he turned around, returning to the captain's cabin.
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Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is to your liking. Sorry if you expected more details. Also sorry if you felt it was still too much detail.
If these chapters are a mess of grammatical errors, please point it out and I will try to fix it.
Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.