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The Adventures of Super Squid by Anthony Rainey
One In a swamp on the outskirts of Techno City an Orange Spotted Land Squid crawled toward a discarded radioactive fuel canister. The squid slithered into it. Suddenly there was a bright flash and the squid mutated into a beast eight feet tall! “Well, that was weird,” said the squid. “Hey! I can think much more advancedly than I used to! This is great! Now that I’m like those weird things called humans, I’ll need a name for myself.” He looked around. He thought deeply. Then he remembered the one time he could remember a “human” use a name. The name was Leonard. “That sounds about right. I’ll be Leonard. Leonard the Intelligent Orange Spotted Land Squid,” and he slithered toward the city. Leonard wandered around the city. Soon he became hungry. After observing what everyone else did, he signaled to one of the many sky-taxis whizzing above his head. When it landed he said,
“Take me to where there is food.” “No, what’s a credit card?” “A little plastic card
that you pay people with.” “Over there in that building is one place.” So, ten minutes later Leonard returned with a credit card, with an understanding that if you showed this card to people, they would give you anything you wanted. Soon he was traveling all around Techno City having a great time. (And racking up a mammoth credit card bill.) The last place he went was a holo-theater. Leonard watched the movie about a superhero. Leonard was amazed how closely the superhero’s origins resembled his. As he walked out of the theater he thought, “That guy is just like me! He got mutated too! I even have superpowers like him! He has super strength and I can climb on walls with my suckers and swim really fast! The only difference is he fights bad people. That’s what I should do too! I’ll be Super Leonard the Intelligent Orange Spotted Land Squid! On second thought maybe I’ll just be Super Squid because Super Leonard the Intelligent Orange Spotted Land Squid is just too long.”
Two In a large building a door to a dark room opened. “You called for me, Boss?” “Yes, Minion #12, I called you for a report on the construction on the hover-tanks.” “They’re right on schedule.” “Good. And the laser cannons?” “They’ll be finished tonight.” “Perfect. What about the plasma rifles?” “They’re ready.” “All units will be ready for the surprise attack on City Hall tomorrow?” “Yeah, boss.” “This time my evil maniacal plot to take over the city will succeed, or my name isn’t Dr. Enasni!!! Bwa-mwa-ha-ha-ha!!!! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!” “Uh, yeah, uh, ha ha ha, Boss.” “No! Be quiet! This is my evil moment!!!” “Sorry, Boss.”
Three The next morning, Leonard was enjoying his new job as a superhero. So far he had alerted the authorities to three parking violations, two litterbugs, and some goon who was actually trying to throw out a recyclable bottle! Suddenly, there was a explosion, and everyone began running and screaming. Then a huge hologram appeared. “Do not worry citizens! It is merely I, Dr. Enasni! I have taken over the city!” Everyone stopped running and screaming. One guy yelled, “You again! We thought you had called it quits after your last crackpot scheme went horribly wrong!” “OK, I prefer the term, Evil Plot, and SHUT UP OR I’LL HAVE MY MINIONS THROW YOU IN THE DUNGEON!!!” “What minions?” “The minions in the hover tanks coming toward you!!!” Everyone started running and screaming again. Leonard realized that this was the perfect time to prove himself as a superhero. “O Mighty overlord,” Leonard called. “Where is your lair?” “In Town Hall.” “OK.” And Leonard started heading toward Town Hall thinking about how he was going to defeat his first super-villain.
Four Leonard walked straight into Town Hall. There weren’t any guards. Soon he discovered Dr. Enasni’s evil lair. “Dr. Enasni, I am Super Squid! I have come to defeat you in single combat!” “That’s where my last evil plot went wrong.” “How about you send your champion to fight?” “That’s where the plot before that went wrong.” “OK how about ...” “NO.” “What about ...” “NO!!! Minion # 53 and #34! Throw this freak in the dark and dank prison cell!” “But I don’t understand! I thought all nutty crackpots were supposed to be stupid enough to give the hero a fighting chance!!!” Dr. Enasni glared at him. “Just for that I’m putting you in the dry and brightly lit prison cell!” “You fiend! You know I need a moist environment!” “Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!! Take him away, minions!” “Nooooooo!!!” And Minions #53 and #34 took Leonard away.
Five In the dry and brightly lit cell, the minions had a problem putting Leonard in the energy binders. “How many tentacles do squids have?” said Minion #53. “I think it’s nine,” said Minion #34 “I thought it was eight.” “No that’s octopuses.” “It’s octopi, you bozo!” “It’s said octopuses!” “No it’s octopi!” “Grrrrrr!!!” “Grrrrrr!!!” “Hey! What were we doing before this???” “Beats me.” “You were putting my eight tentacles in those energy binders,” said Leonard. “OK” And the minions put eight of Leonard’s ten tentacles in the energy binders. Half an hour later both minions were getting bored. Minion #53 started teasing Leonard. “Ha! You’re so weird and you can’t catch me, ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Then he lunged close to Leonard. “I don’t think you should be doing that,” said Minion #34. “But I’m clearly helpless in these energy binders,” said Leonard. “Yeah, see he’s stuck in ... what the!?!?” WHAM! BAM! With one of his tentacles Leonard slammed Minion #53 against the wall and with his other free tentacle grabbed his laser gun. He then shot Minion #34’s laser gun out of his hands. “I surrender!” yelled Minion #34 as Leonard shot the energy binder projectors to free himself. Leonard got out and said to Minion #34, “Lead me out of here and you won’t get hurt. You wouldn’t want me to grow even more tentacles, would you?”
Six As Minion #34 led Leonard
out, Leonard noticed that there were many other cells. “Yeah, that’s where we keep all the people who break Dr. Enasni’s weird laws until he’s sent back to the insane asylum.” “Wait, you mean he’s done this sort of thing before???” “Oh yeah, he takes over the city about once a month. But this is the longest he’s ever remained in power.” “But it’s only 12:45. He took over the city at 9 AM,” said Leonard. “Yeah. I know.” “So, anyway, the people in those cells don’t like Dr. Enasni?” “I don’t like Dr. Enasni. I’m only his minion on the weekend. The rest of the time I’m a soda jerk. You’re asking so many stupid questions about Dr. Enasni. Have you lived in a swamp or something for the past 10 years?” “As matter of fact I have. Now free the prisoners in those cells.” said Leonard. “What?” “You heard me. Get those people out.” said Leonard. Then he added, “Or else.” “Wow, you’re almost as good as Dr. Enasni at motivating me. The prisoners will be out before you can say Jibertywinkers,” said Minion #34. “Jibertywinkers,” said
Leonard. “Lead them outside. I want to make a speech to them so we can defeat Dr. Enasni and free the city!” Outside Leonard began making his speech to the prisoners ... almost everyone in the city. “Citizens of Techno City! I am Super Squid! If we all work together we can beat Dr. Enasni! Here’s the plan! You people over there! You’re Alpha team! You over there! You’re Green squad! You over there! You’re Delta unit! Alpha team, capture Dr. Enasni’s evil lair! Green squad, fight the his minions around the city! Delta unit! Come with me to get some rocket-jets! Now everyone together, one big battle cry!” “Whoo-hooo!”
Seven In his evil lair, Dr. Enasni was furious. He was losing control over the city. People were ambushing his minions, tearing down the statues of him that he had had erected, and generally making his job as a evil dictator miserable. To top it all off, that weird squid thing was leading the rebellion. Dr. Enasni knew from experience he didn’t have much time left. “Minion #88, where’s that squid!?!?” “He’s in a stolen rocket-jet, sir.” “Good! Minions #27 and #95! Get my emergency rocket-jets ready! I’ll shoot that squid down and end this rebellion!!!” In a different part of the city Leonard was leading a bombing raid on a hover-tank factory. Suddenly a blast of laser fire came out of nowhere and almost hit his rocker-jet! “Delta Leader come in, this is Delta 2. It’s Dr. Enasni and two of his minions!” said one of Leonard’s wingmen. “Delta 2, you take care of the minions and I’ll go after Dr. Enasni!” “Roger.” Leonard and Dr. Enasni chased each other through the city, weaving in and out the skyscrapers, launching missiles and shooting their lasers at each other. Leonard fired his laser cannons at Dr. Enasni. Dr. Enasni swerved out of the way at the last second, and the laser blast hit the city jail and blasted down a wall. “Ooops! Hopefully we won’t need that jail any time soon!” said Leonard. Dr. Enasni took advantage of Leonard’s momentary distraction and fired his missiles at Leonard’s rocket-jet. They were direct hits and Leonard’s rocket-jet began spinning out of control! At the last moment Leonard leaped out of his rocket-jet, and grabbed on to Dr. Enasni’s rocket-jet! “Open up!” said Leonard, banging on the cockpit. “Bwa-ha-ha! You’ll never break that! It’s poly-glassi-plexi-steel!!!” Leonard held up a screwdriver and began unscrewing the windshield frame. “What! No! Hey! You can’t do that! That’s cheating!” yelled Dr. Enasni as the windshield fell away. “Face it, Doctor. I have you now!” “All right, I guess you win...LOOK OUT!!!” “Where! What!” “Sucker!” yelled Dr. Enasni as he ignited his jet-pack and flew away. “Look out!” said Leonard. “You're about to crash into that building!!!” “Ha! You think I’m going to fall fo ...” CRASH!
Eight “Super Squid, on behalf of Techno City, I thank you for defeating and capturing Dr. Enasni!” said the Mayor of Techno City. Everyone cheered. “Also, I’d like to present you with this “Defeat Dr. Enasni” medal, 1st Class!” “Thank you, Mr. Mayor!” said Leonard. Everyone cheered. “And now Super Squid, I propose that you become the official Super Hero of Techno city,” said the mayor. Everyone cheered louder. Everyone cheered the loudest. Later after the ceremony, Leonard took a walk with the mayor. “Mr. Mayor, why are those workers taking the statues of Dr. Enasni into warehouses instead of just tearing them down?” “Well, in a couple weeks or so, Dr. Enasni will take over the city again. So to make it easier on everyone, we just put the statues in storage.” “Where is Dr. Enasni, anyway?” “He’s safely locked up in
the City Jail.” “Oh. Right.” The mayor’s view-phone rang. “Hello?” said Mr. Mayor. “Mr. Mayor! Dr. Enasni just escaped through a gaping hole in the wall!!!” “Oh, er, well ...” “Hey!” yelled a man running up to Leonard. “Are you Leonard the Intelligent Orange Spotted Land Squid?” “Why yes I am, do you want a autograph?” “No, I want you to pay your credit card bill!” “Credit card bill?”
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