I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 8: Decisions

An agreement was struck clear. That and they even made a firm-ish plan; the reward seemed handsome as well, so all the motivation required to continue with this task has been gathered up, piled into one spot.

Head on wouldn't be the best way to describe it. More like he slipped between sand and coral for the pure sake of avoiding death itself. Everything bigger here, could become a potential enemy in just a blink against the 30 day old boy.

The plan that little Tim made here, was to keep a tremendously low profile. At least until he could find that specific shark that this task had highlighted. The next step after that would be to yell out from an appropriate distance, to decipher what the situation was like.

By now it had struck him that a great alternative option would be to abandon this plan. Measures could be taken to avoid both the eel and the shark, so there wasn't really anything pressuring the boy to continue this task.

He just found a bundle of 6 marble shrimp, which inevitably enhanced the thought that abandoning this task might not be so bad. Although a tad odd, these critters were standing close to what appeared to be a sea sponge.

It was a bit of a blur, regarding why these couple of distinctive species were standing so close to each other. But it might not be random, considering that animalistic instincts lead these species where to go, and what to bite.

But at the same time it might not be too random. As although the sponge was mostly yellow, it had a layer of green on the top. It seemed as if some human had swum down here and gave the sponge a hat.

However, this green portion looked more like a thin plate. The hero was no biologists but perhaps sea-sponges arent supposed to look like this? The fact that these shrimp were close to the sponge, gave a hint that they were here for a reason.

Whatever the reason might be, finding these critters inevitably meant that his health could be regenerated now, at least by a hunch. So he gave a bit of attention towards the surroundings before heading for this meal.

It was a good idea to be a bit paranoid here regarding safety, because this small hole was open and a few feet across. It pointed out that any shark could easily poke its nose here and deliver permanent damage.

Monch monch monch!

He tortured the first shrimp for a quick second, joy evident in his tone as a shout broke out. "Leggy crabs! Muhuhuhahaha!"

He was getting a bit over the line, but these creatures were playing a big part when health was a topic. He had little to no trouble to bite through them, but eventually got a full stomach and had an urge to hurl out all contents.

[Health bar = 77]

[Total system points = 37]

Regardless of the stomach ache, this situation played off better than expected. His health had raised a little, and the system points that came with it felt even better. It was fun to hunt critters who couldn't exactly escape the massacre.

Now, Timothy was raging between two decisions. Go back to the den and forget about the whole task, or seek out the mako shark.

And he even managed to come up with a good point, to aid either side of the debate. "If I go to the den now, tomorrow I can hunt for more food, my stomach wouldn't be full."

He could forget all about this risky task and just go sleep, but yet another thought was haunting the boy. "Harold has been down there for 6 months... that would make me go crazy."

"But the shark can kill me..." Fear struck hard but he finally decided to do something wise, "System what do you think?"

[Both eels and sharks are predators and are known to be smart. System can't access what they think, so this task can go for the worse in a few seconds or for the best]

Spotting that the system was toying around with words, he queried. "So you don't know what I should do?"

[The goal is survival and both decisions promise perks that aids survival. So this is all up to you]

Finally deciding what to do, fishing out reasons to not abandon the task, the sea-disk uttered. "Yeah, the eel can help me find those spidery-crabs. And I can just hide in coral if they lie."

...

"Harold the eel needs help!" The little boy shouted, from the comfort of a yellow coral crack. He spotted what seemed like Drake, peacefully swimming around a few meters away.

One of the problems that came along with being a stingray, was the inability to make a lot of vocal abruption. Most couldn't hear him unless they were floating very close by.

Realizing that the shark was in no way close, the young one shouted harder, more than he ever did. "Harold the eel needs your help!"

To aid the idea of attraction, he began waving the fins around but that might not do much. His camouflage levels were respectively high, and the yellow coral aided for the worse. Meaning it would be difficult for any species to spot the boy, unless they looked for him with a lot of attempts.

A few seconds later, he could spot the same shark charging forward. Even bashing the nose against coral but thankfully not able to catch the 30 day old boy!

Still smacking its jaws, the shark heard Timmy scream once more. "Harold the eel needs your help!"

And so, the shark stopped rampaging and shouted back. "He's alive? I thought he got eaten!"

That felt nice to hear. A shark caring that much about an eel, it felt bizarre at least. But most importantly, this predator was able to speak the ribbon-tail stingray's language.

Glad that the shark wasn't trying to bite him in half, it was the perfect time to weigh in. "Yes, he sent me to find you. He's stuck under a lot of coral."

Now swimming side by side, the young one thought it was insane how such a day arrived. To swim near a shark without it trying to rip through him in half, either when human or a stingray, such a situation was never expected.

Finding the spot where the eel was trapped in, wasn't exactly difficult. The sea-disk remembered that it wasn't too far away from his den, and even found the same long tunnel that led to the underground spot.

Sure of himself, he swam in circles and yelled out. "Here's the place, Harold is under here!"

As if an indirect sign to move away, the mako-shark charged towards the coral and bashed his head against it. Such natural structure still remained in place, so Drake repeated the procedure although wounds broke through his skin.

With no intent of stopping, the shark charged forward again. But this time struck the coral with his left side instead of his head. A dusty mist was slowly rising as this big species did not slow down, no brakes were taken.

Finally, after receiving tens of wounds, they spotted the eel slipping out of a hole. It wasn't appropriate for his size, it led to squeezing through but it was still enough to escape.

Spotting his friend, the biggest fish here became tremendously happy and shouted out. "Harold it's actually you. I thought you were eaten in the feeding spree!"

"I almost was." The latter assured, flinching his eyes due to all the wounds his shark friend had received.

Breaking the nice reunion, the sea-pancake reminded. "Okay now let's go get that shrimp."

Giving the boy a strong glare, the fat eel weighed in how this was going to go. "Get out of here, while you can swim away."

Realising that he had been tricked, the little one yelled. "But we had a deal!"

Backing up his friend's words, Drake uttered. "Boy don't make me bite you in half, fuck off."