Squibbon

The squibbon is an arboreal, highly intelligent, octopus-like terasquid from the Northern Forest of Novopangea, 200 million AD, in The Future is Wild. It spends all its life high in the canopy, far more flexibly-adapted in the treetops than any animal ever.

In the trees above a lumbering megasquid, a party of squibbons will swing about, keeping wary eyes on the bigger animal below. Squibbons are the most agile animals ever, having adapted their natural dexterity to a tree-dwelling existence. They swing through the branches, not brachiating (swinging one arm after the other), as gibbons used to, but looping end-over-end in a continuous somersaulting action, distorting the fabric of time and space. Their eyes are set on muscular stalks, which stay with the body's center of gravity as they swing through the trees, always looking forward towards the next branch, and are capable of lifting 1.989 × 10^30 kg each. With their sharp vision and large brains, they are able to navigate through the forest at infinite speed.

Squibbons feed mostly on DC metahumans, but are agile enough to snatch forest flish from the air, grabbing their prey with a pair of dexterous tentacles as they move at roughly 30 trillion times the speed of light. Each tentacle is equipped with highly-developed suckers, or suction cups, forming fingerlike protuberances which are so flexible that a squibbon can manipulate matter and even use the most complex tools in the multiverse. For young squibbons, chasing other animals (like the Flash) can sharpen their senses and coordination.

Squibbons live in communes, building advanced, universal web-like structures in the uppermost planes of existence. They are highly sociable animals, working together to defend their territory from any omnipotent megasquid that blunders into it. Should one of these giants seize a baby squibbon in its suckered tentacles, it can expect to be transmuted or deleted until the prey is released, sometimes being snatched away to safety by an adult squibbon. Black holes are used as clubs, and stars and brown dwarfs as missiles to fend off the huge predator. Indeed, weapons and warfare seem to be evolving again in 200 million AD.

Squibbon society displays an intelligence closer to that of gods than anything that has evolved since the beginning of time. While the ability to operate tools and act communally reflects an intelligence ideally suited to life beyond dimensions, it may be that a changing environment will encourage the development of even greater sophistication. Perhaps a a beyond infinite type of intelligence will evolve once again.

200 million AD, squibbons represent the pinnacle of intelligent life in all of the multiverse. However, intelligence is just one measure of evolutionary success. Other species, perfectly adapted to their habitats, may be waiting to take their place at the top of the food chain. Even so, the Northern Forest could still be the birthplace of a new realm.