Shaw's boat was following the F.O.F. boat back toward the docks.
"Beep-Bee!"
In between, Shaw's sonar unexpectedly found something. "The sonar! We found something!" Shaw shouted, noticing a dot moving across the screen of his sonar.
"Or something found us," Ben replied, pointing behind the boat. "Look!"
Looking over, They saw a massive fin, easily six feet tall, sliced through the surface of the lake, coming straight for the boat.
"The Krakken!" Shaw announced like he had seen a mythical creature.
The watched in horrified massive fin went back under the water's surface, gliding directly under theur boat, ignoring them as it moved straight toward the docks.
"It's heading for the docks!" Shaw exclaimed, quickly understanding its actions.
"Gwen!" Max shouted, realizing the girl was in danger.
——————
At the docks, Gwen was still resting on the edge of the docks, kicking her feet carelessly over the water as she basked in the warm afternoon light.
"Aw, finally a little sun," Gwen said excitedly. "And with my big-mouthed cousins nowhere in sight, I can just lay back and relax."
"Honk-honk!"
Shaw rang his boat's horn to warn the people on the dock.
Startled by the boat's horn ringing out, Gwen looked toward it. Her eyes widened in terror not because she saw the approaching boats , but because she saw the massive fin surging through the water directly toward her position.
"W-what's that?" she exclaimed.
Her question was answered seconds later as the Krakken from the water, its muscle's defined and its scales glittering in the Red sunlight.
Gwen screamed, her scream and joined terrified shouts of the other civilans, as the Krakken smashed the docks to splinters, sending the screaming civilians flying into the lake.
Back at the ship, Shaw was using a telescope to see the Krakken, shouting in a fervent manner. "I told you, it's real! The Krakken lives!"
"Sail now, gloat later!" Max ordered, interpreting him, his mind focused solely on rescuing the people now struggling in the water.
Then he looked toward Rio, nodding at him—a silent message passed between them.
Seeing his grandpa's actions, Without hesitation Rio leaped over the boat's railing, jumping into the water.
Inside the water, the Omnitrix flashed.
In a burst of light, he turned into a sleek, reptilian alien—with a long tail and two black balls in its feet.
"Zoom!"
Closing his visor, Rio disappeared in a blur over the water.
He was running so fast that he was actually able to run on the water's surface faster than the water could give way beneath him.
Just as the Krakken almost ate Gwen whole, Rio snatched her mid-air, snatching her from certain death and dashed to shore.
"You okay?" Rio asked, setting her down.
Gwen replied, coughing up some lake water, "I think so. Thanks for the save."
Rio gave her a claws-up before turning around and zooming out in a blur.
The Krakken, finding that it had bitten into nothing, started to pick people up seemingly to eat them. But each timeit came close to a person—
"Whoosh!"
Rio zoomed by and picked up the person before zooming over to the shore to place them where they would be safer.
----
"Get us out of here!"
On the F.O.F. boat, Jonah ordered his crewmates, who fired up the engines and engaged the gears, causing the boat to speed up.
Unfortunately for them, the Krakken took notice of this, tossed the boat it was attacking aside, and swam after them.
Seeing it change direction, Rio quickly completed the rescue opration before turning around and sprinting after the F.O.F. boat and the Krakken.
Sometime in the chase, the Krakken submerged in the water only to pop out near the boat and roar. The captain tried to turn the boat around but was not fast enough as the Krakken knocked it aside with its tentacle.
Just as it was about to destroy it, an alien zoomed in and created a strong waterspout with his running, knocking the monster back into the water before effortlessly backflipping onto the boat.
The Krakken quickly recovered and popped up on the other side of the boat, trying to take a crate. Jonah ran toward it, protecting the box. "No, you don't!"
The alien also ran forward, still interested in measuring himself against the massive creature.
He grabbed a tentacle and ran in reverse, pulling the Krakken back before circling back and rapidly kicking it in the neck, knocking it back and forcing it to retreat deep within the lake.
"Thanks for the hands... and the feet," Jonah said as he shook the alien reptile's hand, totally fine with his inhuman appearance.
"That crate must be really important for you to risk your life for it," the alien remarked, raising his visor.
"Uh... yeah, it's our lunch," was the best words Jonah could come up with.
"You are a terrible liar," the alien grinned.
"SPLASH!"
Then, without warning, the Krakken's tentacle popped out of the lake and grabbed the crate, dragging it into the depths.
"Oh, a pity for the sandwiches—gotta run!" the alien said before disappearing in a blur.
Rio then zoomed toward Shaw's boat.
Noticing the old sailor taking aim to shoot at the retreating beast, Rio made a split-second decision. He deactivated his transformation by pressing the Omnitrix insignia, making him come splashing down into the water.
"Oops! Help!" he shouted, getting Grandpa Max's attention.
"Man overboard!" Max announced, turning to Shaw.
"I lost my life jacket!" Rio said while pretending to almost sink.
"Shaw! Bring the boat around!" Max ordered as Shaw snarled in acceptance.
"Next time I see ya in my sights, ya won't be so lucky!" Shaw said as he turned the boat around and tossed a net for Rio to quickly climb up, dripping.
"Sorry, Captain," Rio said, but Shaw merely ignored him.
Then Rio turned to Max, who appeared genuinely worried for him.
Finally, the Grandpa and grandsons reached the shore. Reuniting with Gwen, they went back to the RV, ready to pack up and leave.
By the time they reached their temporary campsite, evening had begun to settle over the lake. At that time, a lot of campers were leaving the lake due to the incident that had happened.
While the others were packing up, Rio sat by a campfire drying off with a towel around him just to sell his acting.
"Captain Shaw was right about the monster," Ben suddenly declared, breaking the tense silence and prompting Max to look at him.
"Just because he was right about the Krakken doesn't mean I was wrong about him," Max advised while still concerned. "I want you to stay away from that guy—he's trouble."
"Won't argue otherwise," Rio just shrugged. "But that doesn't disqualify his statement about sighting the creature long before and no one believed in it then."
"Rio is right," Ben backed him.
"Yeah, of course he is," Gwen mocked, dropping an armful of camping supplies, and looking at us.
Before Ben could say anything, Captain Shaw walked by and growled to himself, "Lowdown, no-good fish-kissers."
"Captain Shaw? What is it?" Max questioned the angry man.
"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!" Shaw announced before walking away.
Looking at the retreating figure, Ben asked Max, "Grandpa, should we also go with him?"
"Ben! Didn't you hear what I said? That guy spells danger," Max immediately reprimanded him. "We'll leave this one to the experts. Like those Friends of Fish guys," he continued, allowing no further discussion.
"Grandpa, hear me out," Rio called, tuning his phone to give everyone a view of the screen. He continued, "I made the AI do some checking on Friends of Fish, and it's not listed on any environmental website. And my AI did find this."
On the screen were pictures of the red-haired man named Jonah. In one picture, he was holding an exotic fish; in another, he was holding a rifle and stepping on a rhino, along with other incriminating photos.
"Jonah Melville isn't a friend to any kind of wildlife. He travels around the world poaching rare animals, then crates them up and sells them to private collectors."
"Earlier, when I helped them, the Krakken specifically targeted their crate, which means the 'Friends of Fish' guys must have captured something precious to the Krakken. My most probable guess, considering the size of the crate, is that it was the Krakken's child."
Turning to Max, Rio said in all seriousness, "We've gotta stop them, If they continue provoking the Krakken like this, they could not only enrage it beyond reason but potentially drive it to its death. A mother protecting her young is dangerous enough - but a mother driven to desperation?"
Listening to all this, Max's face was filled with contemplation, while Ben nearby was suddenly ignited by a hero's passion. "Grandpa! We have to save it!" he said, urging Max.
"I know, Ben. But the question is—how?" Max replied, still deep in thought. He knew they needed to act, but also understood the dangers of rushing in unprepared.
"By boat," Gwen said simply, her gaze flicking to Rio.
A slow grin spread across Rio's face. "And I just happen to know where we can get one." In one fluid motion, he stood up, moved the stuff inside the RV, and took the family toward the deck.
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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.