I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 13: Light between a storm

The task is clear, Tim understands it and the motivation tagging along if much fatter than he is, so one can imagine the size.

Squeezing through the one meter long entrance/exit of his den, the first thing that captures the boy's vision is a sardine swooping in the little tunnel to grant a kiss on the forehead.

"Are you lost little fella? Just move away so I can get out. Then I encourage you to go down my den, it's rent free." Tim crackles, joking around obviously but thankfully the fish isn't answering back.

"I don't know the sardine language and you don't know mine either. Oh well, get out of my way." Tim debates with himself mostly and charges forward although with slim chances to bite this fish considering the snug spot.

Finally making it through the tunnel, he spots that the sardine cloud has overwhelmed the area. Whatever they're looking for, it seems weird and at this case annoying.

He can't see anything, swimming around randomly can get him lost. Not that the den is super fancy and such but he has piled up a month's worth of emergency food there.

Looking back towards his den, trying to decide if he should go back in and wait this out, the young stingray spots a few sardines slipping down there.

They will prove perfect as extra points, but there is one perspective that has taken roots in his mindset and now it's blooming. "I have to finish this task, my enemies have to die and soon!"

But then again, he considers the other dangers of swimming in a sardine cloud. "What if I meet another barracuda?"

But then, fairly over confident the boy yells. "Ha! I can kill another one! Would just be extra points."

One thing that aids his motivation at this moment, is spotting the sunlight right on top of this fish storm.

The sun's beams cascade through the gaps that each sardine provides when swimming little as a foot away from each other.

It's less crowded up there so the young Tim most definitely will be able to navigate better and therefore starts swimming upwards, going fast even for the sake of not getting caught off guard by super charging predators.

Making it up there just under a minute, reaching the light and able to see that the ocean's surface is just a few meters away, what captivates him now is the storm of sardines once more.

They've come close around him and seemed to have forgotten the sense of personal space, bumping on the young stingray and such.

Thankfully he isn't mad right now or a few sardines would have been stabbed to death or chewed up too.

But yet it doesn't mean that the situation isn't getting more restricting, he feels the sardines just getting closer.

Touching the boy underneath the belly, squeezing his fins together and even blocking all vision.

The light is gone at this unusual moment and young Tim can't help panicking. "I can't see and I can't move!"

The light finally breaching through the patch of sardines, granting a much better vision now and even less blurry compared to the usual, the first thing Tim notices is a human?...

That and the sun warming up his back, it feels nice. Perhaps the stingray species he qualifies with, enjoys warmth more than cold.

That isn't so important now, as this scene is far out of the usual. Forces the boy to think, "People in Italy can walk on water?"

[You're in a fishing net.] The system interrupts the rage of thoughts, tad sarcastic in a way.

[Try to get out of here before you suffocate. A timer will appear at the bottom left edge of your vision.]

[After the timer runs out, you will start losing health and can die.]

And of course as promised, a small timer, red in colour, appears where it's supposed to and makes Tim think. "Oh that's nice."

[2:00]

[1:59]

[1:58]

[1:57]

"Wait, are you saying I got caught in a net and can die?" Well thankfully he came back to reality and started putting every part of his little brain into use.

[Yes]

"Oh shit, oh no." Tim utters, panicking and even flapping his tail along with the whole body around.

The same human working the net Tim is in, spots the unusual and thinking to himself [translated]. "I didn't know there were yellow sardines with blue dots."

Curious, the young fisherman reaches in for Tim to grab and analyze the 'sardine'.

[1:42]

The moment this human's hand touches Tim's back, the young stingray swings his tail so hard, that a small sardine who was laying over it, flew up for half a foot.

Breaking through a portion of the restriction his body is facing, the young stingray's tail charges forward and strikes the curious human right on the wrist.

"Porca puttana!" The young italian boy shouts, jumping back and flapping his arm around.

Tim was attached to the young man for a moment, that's why he flew off the net and landed 7 feet away on the deck.

The fisherman's panic aided to escape the net, but now he's on the deck and took some damage as well because of the fall.

[Health, -10 bars.]

[1:33]

Wildly pissed, the young man grabs a spear and runs towards the stingray with that prime urge to kill, ignoring the blood bursting out of his wrist.

But clumsy enough, he charges forward too fast and slips.

In that same second, Tim strikes the boy but doesn't manage to cause any damage since his barb bashed through rubber boots fishermen usually wear.

Thanks to that instinctive split second, Tim ends up flying a few feet up in the air and it isn't because he got kicked or stepped on.

[1:30]

His tail clinging on the rubber, Tim got in some way tossed once the boy's back met the deck, as if god wants the young stingray to stay alive.

And this time, Tim lands in the water but can feel his tail hurting for the first time since he reincarnated as a stingray.

[Health -30 bars.]

[Total health bar = 49]

[Emergency tip]

[Immediately seek shelter or health raising food.]