I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 36: Recruitment and solidarity (4)

As the enemy twirled a couple more times, Tim didn't bother waiting for a proper introduction and charged once more, swimming right under the fish's belly and delivering a couple of blows.

But yet it wasn't enough to bring this orange eye sour down, as it began to chase Timmy. He could hear this animal clapping it's jaws, that signified a grand fact. This was no clownfish, they can't be that dangerous.

Well it seemed thin like one, although not as long. To which he teased mid battle, "Catch me if you can, flat flipper!"

And then slapped his own fins against the water, giving a huge burst of energy not to just swim up, but to turn upside down.

The enemy greeted the scene by tickling the young man's back with the tip of the row of scales it carried.

In that same giggle, Tim swung his tail and managed to land a couple more blows. While the enemy just swam up, taking a few seconds to realise that it got bamboozled.

As the overgrown orange flipper took his time to turn around, he saw the blue dotted, yellow stingray charging at him in full, furious, 3 mp/h speed.

Collision became the prime and aimed option, as Tim aimed to return the favour but not with his tail.

The young boy's head struck the enemy right against the waist, fish waist would be an appropriate name to use here.

And henceforth, the enemy was pushed a foot away after the first second of collision. The momentum pushed the orange fish another foot away, although a lot slower. Making him meet the yellow coral coated wall, although it was much more anti climactic.

From his limited point of view, Timmy saw the fish flipping upside down, showing no signs of movement. Making the boy think, "I'm a bull! You thin orange peel! Muhuhuhahahahahahaha!"

And then he went ahead to take a bite on the 40 cm long enemy, his little stingray mouth couldn't really consume much. But the prime aim was understanding statistics.

[Blacktipped grouper identified and killed, 14 system points have been rewarded.]

[Total system points = 19]

"What!" Tim couldn't help yelling as the commotion he caused, let out little stingray generated bubbles. "I take everything bad I've said about you, system. That's a lot of points!"

[Blacktipped groupers are dangerous. They have rows of teeth which only raises the risk factor, not to mention the scales on their backs.]

[Their size also contributes in to getting more points.]

[Eating an entire adult grouper grants the following statistics.]

[Effect on health, +5 bars]

[Effect on hunger, +15 bars]

[Effect on sleep, non existent.]

[Effect on stamina, non existent.]

At this point he felt more than grateful and a bit smarter for doing this job for the crabs, but yet he was resistant. "That's pretty good but I can't eat now. We have that starfish task you know."

[The groupers are still dangerous. So system recommends eating this carcass for health. The starfish task can be pushed for a little bit later.]

At that point, Timmy felt an urge to poop, so he did and heard the system notify. [Hunger bar = 0/15]

That being heard, he decided that waiting to eat would become a dumb idea. He can't remember right what happens if the hunger bar remains 0 for a while, but one thing was certain, it can't be anything peachy.

So while avoiding the several pointy scales on the carcass' back, Tim dug his little jaws right in the belly of the loser and chucked a chunk down, even feeling it how it went down to his stomach.

A lot of munches later, he finished the grouper body and the only thing that remained was the short fins it had and the scales that showed no nutritional value. They were bones, why bother wasting time with them?

[Health bar = 82/100]

[Hunger bar = 15/15]

[Sleep bar = 32/35]

[Stamina = 12/15]

"Nice, I'm recovering. Too bad I won't be able to eat the rest of these flat flippers down there... but it would be better if there weren't more of them." He felt cocky about the success that was just achieved, but...

The system said something about these fish having a row of pointy teeth, and Timmy does not want to know how that felt like. After all, his health hasn't even reached 100 yet ever since Alba attacked him.

...

He had swam through the left tunnel for a few minutes now, and it was fair to say that the foot wide tunnel didn't always share the same width.

A specific point that took a lot of his time, was squeezing through a part that was half his size. That signified an extremely small portion to slip through, but he made it by squeezing his fins closer and struggling a bit to pass.

While the following portions weren't so big either, half a foot perhaps but he managed to slip through those portions without a problem. The only particular barricade was having to swim slower, since there was less space to move completely freely on.

The tunnel so far was a hectic 30 meters long, truly unusual but he doesn't really want to take time and question nature's architecture. He wasn't an engineer, but just a simple stingray, looking for some crabs.

A few meters more, he swam into what we can call an opening. But it was far too small compared to the entrance he had left behind.

This opening was half a meter wide and a meter long, would be a perfect place to nap on really considering how deep in he had followed this narrow tunnel.

As he took time to observe this room's cobblestone carved surroundings, he heard tails flipping at the other side.

Therefore his gaze fixed right forward, and he spotted one of the same species he just had killed. It's nose striking black in colour and anger raging in its eyes, letting out a couple of bubbles too.