### Chekhov's Monster, First Encounter
For several days I walked around puzzled, deciding what to do. Would I really follow Will's advice, and if so, who should I turn to for help?
The solution was found suddenly, or rather, it swept past me itself at a huge speed, even by my standards—my eyes caught only a vague mirage in red tones, that's how fast this guy was moving. And at that moment, not only did a crazy idea dawn on me, but the resolve to do it also appeared.
"Hey, wait!" there was no time to think, I acted impulsively.
Although it was already useless to shout; the only reminder of the recent presence of the Russian runner was a haze of water splashes, belatedly rising above the water and stretching from one edge of the horizon to the other. Yes, I forgot to clarify, this was in the ocean, during one of my workouts. Still not having time to think over my actions, I rose above the water and flew after the runner.
And, of course, I didn't succeed. That's Red Rush—he's too fast for me. The attempt to catch up with Oleg—that was the name of the Russian member of the Guardians of the Globe—was doomed to failure from the very beginning. He probably didn't even notice me; sound waves are much slower than him and me.
Damn, that was such luck! What is the probability that he would run past me in such a place, and exactly at the moment when I rose from the depths to breathe oxygen? This is the ocean, not the city center, and not even the site of a major incident to attract the attention of one of the Guardians, unless...
Oh crap, that sleeping monster—it's exactly in the direction the Red one ran. Perhaps that thing woke up and decided to visit its species' historical homeland. And this means that other Guardians might be there—if the threat is serious enough for a general assembly. And where the Guardians are, there are media helicopters. In this world, there are media outlets that specialize specifically in disasters and superheroes, and apart from cool equipment, they often employ guys with abilities who are desperate enough to broadcast their reports right from the battlefields.
The risk of exposure is quite high, but my father definitely can't be there—he's in space again. This time the threat wasn't directed immediately at Earth—just two belligerent alien races clashed in dangerous proximity to our system. Not very prudent of them, they should know that the system is under the influence of the Viltrumite empire and for violating borders, especially during a battle, punishment will follow immediately. It's their luck that Nolan is still playing the role of a good guy for Earth, and is unlikely to start a massacre in such close proximity to the planet.
In general, I decided to check anyway if that underwater monster was the problem, and soon enough I saw confirmation of my fears. True, the monster hadn't reached the coast of Japan yet, but decided to take a bite out of a passing ro-ro ship loaded to the brim with Japanese cars. The ship, and most importantly its crew, did not appreciate the guest's visit, but couldn't stop it in any way. You don't need the assault rifles of their escort group here, but something dozens of times larger—to match the opponent. That is assuming they are facing a relatively normal animal, without supernatural qualities, as sometimes happens... in the latter case, the Japanese need to urgently summon giant mechas and schoolchildren from their homeland.
And yes, it was the same big guy I had left alone during our last encounter. He seemed dangerous enough not to hope for a quick and quiet victory, and yet I didn't remember anything related to his rampage in my past life. That's why I hoped he would sleep a little longer until I could act more openly. Guess I was wrong. Maybe I forgot something or just missed it, or maybe this time he was provoked by something that wasn't in that timeline.
Last time I couldn't get a good look at him—just a vague silhouette in the black-and-blue haze of an almost three-hundred-meter depth. Now he appeared before me and everyone else in all his glory. And it was a very strange creature. By its body structure, it didn't look like an underwater resident, which it undoubtedly was, but like a giant bald gorilla with green skin. Bone growths stuck out from the creature's back, like on some herbivorous dinosaurs, but the most remarkable thing, and the only one that connected it with the ocean, was the presence of six tentacles—four large, quite classic ones, like an octopus, and a pair of smaller ones without suckers—around its mouth. And not like Davy Jones, instead of a beard, but conversely from the maw and higher, instead of a face. Well, and the absence of eyes, perhaps, could also be considered a sign of deep-water origin.
Oleg—that was the name of the Russian super—was darting between the ship and the shore of Japan, six horizons away, pulling surviving crew members and passengers off the ship. He didn't even try to attack the monster itself, just saved people—he's really good at that. Apparently, such durable and large-sized creatures are too tough for a speedster, so he decided to leave the battle to his colleagues more adapted to such things. Only these colleagues were nowhere to be seen, and the monster itself began to notice something was wrong—that its strikes at the little human figures missed every time—and was getting enraged by it.
He's not making it in time. That's obvious. The coast of Japan is three hundred kilometers away, which is very significant considering the size of the crew—the beast will tear the ship apart faster. Oleg, of course, is fast, but not that fast, and... he's getting tired. While at first I could barely distinguish a shadow from his movements, now I can quite see a silhouette. And the monster, however it navigates in space without eyes, also senses something. A pattern began to emerge in its movements—it tries to hit the runner when he returns to the ship.
"Where is everyone?!" I scanned the horizon, but saw neither heroes nor even media helicopters.
The plan was to avoid major messes and keep a low profile, but... sigh, this isn't how I pictured my debut... certainly not in a diving suit. But no longer in just my trunks either—let's consider it lucky.
I couldn't wait any longer; I had to decide, because the Russian speedster himself was already walking under the shadow of death in his desperate attempts to save the victims. Accelerating properly, I rammed my body into the creature's neck, hoping it would turn out to be more or less normal, and I would be able to break right through the soft tissues.
But that would have been too good. Alas for my luck, the monster's soft tissues turned out to be not nearly as soft as I had hoped. Its hide and the muscles underneath were harder, and by a lot, than the hardest stone, because any stone would have turned to dust upon impact with me; here, however, it felt like only my bones and innards turned to dust.
But the blow did not go to waste; since I couldn't pierce the monster's hide, all the momentum was transferred to its body, and this was enough to knock it back into the water from the ship's deck. This gave me a little time to recover after the collision and check the integrity of my humming bones.
It seems nothing is broken, but that hurt, damn it. My hands are shaking.
"Oof, good hit, kid!" the speedster appeared on deck again; he managed to chatter at a barely audible speed and breathe heavily at the same time. "I don't know who you are, but that was right on time! I was starting to get tired. What idiot even thought of transporting people along with cars?"
Then from under the water came the beast's roar, so indignant and deafening, and then it surfaced itself—not completely, only its head with tentacles stuck out above the water—and headed for the ro-ro ship again.
"Oh, shit!" the hero swore. "And I thought you were going to help me with the evacuation..."
And he disappeared again, returning to saving people.
"So you're leaving this thing to me, then?" I asked, already into the void.
And, as if hearing me, the Kaiju turned its eyeless muzzle toward me, perking up its... um, tentacles, while it even stopped swimming towards the vessel.
"Um, hello?" I tried to establish contact. "How about we settle this peacefully and, um... swim our separate ways?"
"GR-A-A-A!" the creature answered me quite eloquently, obviously recognizing me as the offender, and started working its paws again, this time quite confidently paddling in my direction.
"Great..." I say to myself, starting to lead the beast away from the ro-ro ship and looking around: is anyone flying here?
And he is not too agile in the water. Especially considering his seemingly marine origin.
The next second, the monster, which had seemed quite bulky and slow to me, decided to prove that I shouldn't have underestimated it. The facial tentacles of the beast, which was almost forty meters away from me, suddenly shot in my direction at a very decent speed. They turned out to be elastic enough to lengthen several times over.
"Easy!" I still managed to fly out of the shrinking ring of flesh, and then, after making a few evasive maneuvers, rushed at the beast myself to bring down another mighty blow on its head—where the tentacles end.
The monster's head obediently went under the water, but I again experienced this feeling of the uselessness of my attacks—it's too tough, damn it! It's strange how I never heard anything about this monster in my past life. Or maybe I'm overestimating myself and I'm just too young for this battle yet; anything is possible.
Motherf...
One of the tentacles caught my leg before submerging, tightly gripping my skin with a sucker—the fabric of the suit was no obstacle at all against this crap.
I, of course, tried to free myself, but even its suckers turned out to be just as abnormally rigid and durable as its hide. All I could do was grab a bigger gulp of air before the involuntary dive. Already underwater, I felt the insistent tentacle entwining my body; it was so thick that in the end it bound me from shoulders to knees. Well, that's it! Now someone's going to get hurt!
I tensed up, intending to tear the mass of muscles wrapped around me in the most ruthless way possible, but instead I only felt my bones cracking, and oxygen being squeezed out of my lungs... what the hell? I can't overpower it? This thing... it's stronger than me... more precisely, there's enough strength in one of its tentacles to make me bulge in vain from exertion. It pulled me toward its maw.
How can this be? The very first reckless heroic impulse brought me face to face with such a powerful beast. There shouldn't be even a dozen of these on the whole planet! God, what a hideous maw... I don't want to go in there!
Come on! This time I engaged not only my muscles but also my ability to fly, trying with all my might to distance myself from the unnaturally round, remora-like maw of the monster. And I started to succeed; whatever absurd strength the muscles of this monster possessed, it was not too heavy for me. Certainly not underwater.
The tentacles stretched like strings, trying to hold me back in my attempts to return to the sky, but I still broke through to the surface... and then it got harder. I dragged half the carcass out of the water, but I couldn't take off with it.
"Damn you!" I was angry, straining upward with all my might, but the ballast was too great, and my strength is not infinite.
I was already starting to get tired, because even before all this, I had been exerting myself for a whole hour with underwater training at depth. There's no way I can take off with such a carcass...
But just when I had almost resigned myself to the fact that, like in that joke, I would have to find another way out, a battle cry familiar from news broadcasts reached my ears. And the next moment, the most warlike woman on Earth crashed down on the beast's head. And the crash, of course, was accompanied by a signature mace strike to the impenetrable skull.
The beast let out another roar, this time quite a pained one, and loosened its grip.
Finally! I rushed to break free from the terrifying embrace and, flying about a hundred meters away, looked around. In addition to War Woman, who had saved me from the prospect of repeating Baron Munchausen's feat, the Immortal had already arrived to deal with the monster, and on the very horizon, from the direction of the Japanese islands, the first press choppers appeared.
The former president, meanwhile, snatched one of the cars off the ro-ro ship's deck and tested its crash safety by throwing it into the monster's maw. The car didn't pass the crash test—one tentacle was quite enough to crumple it like a tin can—but it momentarily distracted the monster, allowing War Woman, who was struggling with the tentacles, to breathe easier. And the next second, the Immortal joined her fight, now independently.
It looks like they can handle it here, and it's time for me to take my leave.