This world just got a whole lot weirder.

The world changed drastically when humans developed superpowers. But people adapted - more or less - because life moves on regardless. A world full of people with superpowers is one thing, but being attacked by a giant sea monster was a whole other ordeal.

The creature rammed the pier from underwater then breached the surface. It tore at the platform, raising its long neck out of the water as it howled into the night. It had a greenish-gray body with pale blue eyes. It had what looked to be tentacle-like appendages sprouting from the corners of its mouth; which was also full of sharp teeth. More tentacles reached up from beneath the water, wrecking the amusement park attractions indiscriminately. The tentacles in its jaws were different from the ones in the water. The jaw tentacles were thick, with stubby finger looking appendages on its ends. The tentacles coming out of the water were red, and looked like the tentacles from a squid; they also had boney spikes sprouting beside the suction cups.

It was pure pandemonium. Park guests ran, screaming in terror even as a few policemen tried to corral them to safety. Things really went from bad to worse when one of the tentacles struck the foundation beneath the Ferris wheel. The wheel tottered as its supports began to fail. Jugo was about ready to grab Elena and make a run for it when the Ferris wheel froze in place as it began to tip over to one side.

Glancing over, Jugo saw Elena with a strained expression.

"I can't hold it for long, it's too heavy!" she exclaimed.

Jugo tried to think of a way to stop the wheel from tipping over, but without its foundation, there was no chance of it staying upright. Holding it up physically was out of the question because of mass distribution. He wondered if he could grab people a few at a time, get them off the wheel, and repeat before Elena lost her grip.

The Ferris wheel passengers started shouting for help and, thankfully, there are good people in this world. A couple of SuperHumans came to the rescue. One man ran beneath the tipping ride, cupping his hand around his mouth to produce a massive air bubble. He blew out several large bubbles then encouraged the people above to jump. A few riders took the leap of faith, landing on what was basically a giant air mattress. Another good Samaritan with stretchy powers used his ability to pull children off the ride so their parents could jump in relative safety.

Jugo wanted to help, but he stayed with Elena in case she lost her grip.

One of the monster's tentacles came out of the water, swinging on a collision course with the Ferris wheel. Knowing it would be disastrous for everyone if it made contact, Jugo threw himself at the appendage, latching onto one of its spikes. Bracing himself, he pulled on the spike as hard as he could, tearing it out of the tentacle. The creature howled in painful fury, shaking the whole pier.

The creature threw him off, but this time, Elena was the one to catch him. After most of the people had gotten off safely, she was able to grab the remaining stragglers who were unwilling to jump. Jugo marveled at her level of control, being able to lift him, herself, and about half-a-dozen other people as well.

She nearly fell over when she placed them all on the ground. Jugo held her upright by her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, that just took a lot out of me," she said. "I think I lost my hat, though," she managed a small smile. Her hat did indeed fly off at some point during the struggle.

The pier was rocked again as the sea monster grabbed the gravity simulator ride with its jaw appendages. He felt sorry for anybody that might have been inside it, because the beast hucked it out into the water.

"We have to go," he said, picking her up since she was too weak to walk.

"What about the people?" she asked even though she could barely keep her eyes open.

"There's nothing we can do for them, we'll have to let the heroes handle this."

Jugo didn't believe that. He just wanted to get Elena away from the monster. I think we already helped enough, anyway.

He dodged and weaved through the crowd as fast as the tight spaces would allow. There were people hurting all around him. Some weren't able to keep pace with the crowd. Some were paralyzed with fear. There were even a couple of children who got separated from their family.

But even still, Jugo kept going, only stopping when he'd safely ferried Elena across the police perimeter. He overheard one of the officers using a radio.

"We need SWAT out here, Hell, we might need the damn national guard! And where are the heroes!?"

Ambulances, fire trucks, and even more police cars were pulling up. One paramedic saw Jugo carrying Elena and gestured him over.

"Is she hurt?" the medic asked.

Elena answered for him after he set her down on the edge of the ambulance.

"I'm fine. I think I just pushed my powers too hard."

As Elena underwent a check-up, Jugo turned back towards the destruction. Most of the amusement park guests had gotten out, but there was undoubtedly still some people in there. The police could do nothing but watch as the sea monster rampaged, tearing up the pier bit by bit. They just weren't equipped to fight something like this. Not for the first time in his life, Jugo started wondering where the superheroes are.

Sky Flair and Chronos were probably still in recovery - thanks to him - but what about the others? There were about two dozen smaller time heroes working in the city. And the Aquabats were in town! This should be right up their alley.

He looked back at Elena, and thought of how she wanted to help more people before getting out. Her father and bodyguard thought of her as dainty, and delicate. Jugo recognized her as anything but those things.

"Hey, medic," Jugo said, grabbing the paramedic's attention as he laid her down in the back of the ambulance. She was out of it. "That girl is Thomas Holloway's daughter, so you better take care of her."

"As in, THE Thomas Holloway?" the paramedic stared at him incredulously.

"Yeah, and I happen to like her a lot, so stay with her until I get back." Jugo started walking away.

"Wait, where are you going?"

He ignored the medic's question.

"If you let anything happen to her, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Jugo wasn't sure what he was doing. He was feeling the rush he usually got prior to a good fight, but this one felt different. It actually felt better, in some ways. So he ignored the policemen when he jumped their perimeter, and charged back into the amusement park. He stared up at the sea monster as it continued to tear through the pier. If it could come on land, then it would be at the police barricade in a matter of minutes.

Never send a hero to do a villain's job. He ducked behind an abandoned game booth.

"Darkwings Rise!"

Armor dawned, the villain turned the corner, running on a collision course with the monster. The Ferris wheel was partially submerged since its support beams were crushed. Darkwing used the part that wasn't underwater as a springboard to launch himself at an angle to rock the monster right upside its head. Or that's what he hoped to do.

The sea beast barely staggered as his fist collided with the monster's curved snout. If anything, he just pissed it off even more.

The monster responded in kind with a slam from one of its jaw tentacles, sending him flying towards one of the remaining rides. Darkwing wrecked the ride with his crash landing. Okay, time for a new strategy.

This thing was stronger than both Sky Flair, and Chronos. From his punch, he could tell that it had a sponge-like layer of skin, meaning it was resistant to physical attacks. Knowing this, he thought now would be a good time to try out the new trick up his sleeve. But just as the villain was about to attack, the monster surprised him by uprooting a piece of the pier, tipping it towards the water. The monster then rose itself higher out of the water, revealing a red lower body with what looked like a black beak buried beneath its squid-like tentacles.

This thing is half-squid!? What is it, a Super Kraken?

The monster opened the beak on its lower body while using its tentacles to tip the broken pier higher. It wanted to eat him! But Darkwing was fine with that, it was a good excuse to get in close.

Then a woman on his left cried out, "Someone save my baby!" She was looking down from the part of the pier that was still leveled. 

Looking over, Darkwing saw a kid hanging on to a light post only a few feet away from himself. You've gotta be kidding!

Against his better judgement, Darkwing flung himself over, grabbing the dangling kid. He intended to swing himself upwards using that same light post until the mother screamed again.

"His twin! Please save my other baby!"

Sure enough, another kid the same age as the one he held was clawing at the upturned board as he slide towards the monster's gaping maw.

Oh for the love of-!

Darkwing let go of the light post, grabbing the second kid with his free arm. With no arms free, he was forced to use his legs to pry open the Super Kraken's beak in an impromptu splits. The monster growled as it tried to clamp down; and he knew his legs wouldn't hold out forever. As he desperately tried to think of a way out of his situation, the Super Kraken suddenly lurched up, throwing him a few feet in the air then catching them within its beaked mouth.

They were in the monster's stomach. Then, just as suddenly, they weren't. For a split second, it felt as if his body had been disassembled then reassembled somewhere else. Next thing he knew, he was back on the pier with two crying toddlers.

"My kids!" their mother sprinted towards him.

The villain promptly thrust the twins into their mother's arms when she got close enough.

"Keep an eye on your damn kids! And get out of here!" Darkwing yelled at her.

She nodded before turning to sprint away. "Thank you!" she called back.

Turning his attention back towards the Super Kraken, he saw it resurface. It had ducked under the water after trying to eat them. It narrowed its pale eyes at him, and he could guess why.

I'm not sure what happened either, but I'll worry about it later.

Its eyes went wide as it released another ear-piercing screech into the night.

Sensing movement beneath his feet, Darkwing narrowly avoided one of its red tentacles as it came stabbing up. The monster continued to stab its tentacles up through the pier's boards, but Darkwing was able to use the split-second warning to avoid them. While he was watching the red tentacles, the monster ensnared him in one of its jaw appendages.

Believing it was now or never, Darkwing turned the feather-like shoulder pads into serrated blades along his gauntlets. With a quick spin, he shredded the Super Kraken's jaw tentacle. The sea beast made a similar cry to the one before; it was a cry of pain.

While he was in free fall, the monster used its remaining jaw tentacle as a whip. The whiplash sent the villain skipping over the water like a flat rock on a lake. When he finally splashed down, he was out in open ocean.

The Darkwing armor wasn't airtight, nor did it provide oxygen. But before he could reach the surface, the Super Kraken was back on top of him with astonishing speed. He braced himself for the monster to clamp its jaws on him, but it just rammed into him instead, pushing him even further out. It then proceeded to slap him back and forth underwater with its tentacles, and its whale-like tail.

The beast wasn't giving him room to go up for air, retaliate, or even ponder its weird anatomy.

After what was basically a gut punch from its remaining jaw tentacle, he realized that this wasn't a hunt. The sea monster wasn't trying to eat him - not anymore, at least - it was intentionally trying to hurt him. This was a grudge match.

Darkwing could feel his lungs constricting, begging for a gasp of air. But the Super Kraken wouldn't give him enough time to orient himself towards the surface. If they were on land or in the air, he could use the same speed method he'd used against Chronos. But the weightlessness of being underwater hindered that maneuver completely.

Like a roll of film in a projector, memories flashed to the forefront of his mind. The first memory was the ability, and fighting style of the hero Octo-Puncher. His power allowed him to multiply his punches, making it seem like he was hitting you more than once. One hit from him felt like eight punches at once.

The second memory was of the Aquabats' underwater theater. They way they elegantly moved within the water, like they were one with it.

Fighting was in Jugo's nature. It manifested in the form of his villainous persona. But any fighter, no matter how strong, would lose in a heartbeat if they neglected to analyze their opponents' moves. Darkwing had soaked in the movements, abilities, and patterns of his previous opponents as well as the Aquabats during their performance.

Like the heroines did in their show, Darkwing twisted with the flow of the water, narrowly avoiding another of the Super Kraken's blows. He continued to move as if he were in his own underwater performance until he reached the underside of the monster's belly. With its squid tentacles spread out, its black beak was exposed. Darkwing didn't have the power to multiply the number of his punches, but he could obtain the same outcome by multiplying the striking force behind his singular punch.

Dark Tides!

The ocean itself seemed to work with him as his attack sent the creature through the surface into the air above. The monster splashed down hard before sinking towards the bottom. But just as Darkwing was about to swim for the surface, he saw something spark on the back of the creature's neck. Rushing over, he saw it was some kind of machine imbedded within the creature's skin. Darkwing plucked it out, then received a shock for his efforts.

Everything went black for a second. Next thing he knew, he was coughing up sea water. He willed his helmet to disappear as he hacked all over the squishy surface he laid on. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he looked over to find the Super Kraken staring at him.

It was the one holding him above water on its remaining jaw appendage. Although, it looked like the other one was growing back already. It just stared at him as he slowly pushed himself up. He then realized he was still holding the object that electrocuted him.

I must have crushed it when it blacked out. It doesn't look to be working anymore.

He looked up at the creature.

"Someone forced you to do this, didn't they?"

The creature didn't say anything back, of course, but it did rumble in a non-threatening manner. He then noticed they were moving closer to the shoreline.

"I can swim back from here," he said, though not certain the Super Kraken understood him. Its pale eyes blinked. "Better do yourself a favor and stay away from humans. They tend to be monsters."

Popping his helmet back on, Darkwing dived into the water. He propelled himself to shore, making landfall somewhere along the beach. It was dark, evacuated by local authorities.

"Feathers Fall."

Jugo's whole body ache. His ribs, which were still a little sore from his battle with Chronos, pained him with renewed vigor. He'd always healed really fast after a fight, but he had a feeling even these bruises would take a while to heal. On top of that, his head pounded like a drummer had set up for practice in his cranium.

Jugo looked at the machine he still carried. Who would shock a sea monster into attacking people?