I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 7: Deal

Panicking, although the received damage was minimal. The little one began putting in a pale attempt of sinking deeper in the tunnel, for the sake of avoiding whatever was inflicting pain on the backside. That marvelous barb swung in all directions to hit whatever the problem might be, but that proved ineffective as well!

[Health, -1 bar]

"What the hell is attacking me!" Timmy hollered, finally able to fit his fins through the small tunnel, which in exchange allowed to further sink down.

Now he met with a sharp right turn, but thankfully not the kind of sharp to cause bodily damage. This was some weird coral formation that came along with an even weirder tunnel. He had sunk down over 10 meters now and continued to sink down a bit lower, panic had rapidly enveloped his mind to the point of running low on stamina.

After a short while, the little boy found a semi-sharp left turn. This one stretched for 4 meters only before a bigger opening was revealed, that at least didn't fail to give a bit more freedom in terms of movement.

Well this place was more like a hole, it had similarities to the den he possessed. But this one was submerged below coral, far deeper than any other structure he saw and it was double in size even!

But yet that didn't necessarily make it massive, the structure was just around 15 feet wide and had a partially spherical form.

[Health, -1 bars]

He heard once more before rushing into the just discovered wide-opening, and finally felt something get off his back. Be it by panic or reflex, the boy's barb swung a couple of times and pierced through whatever had caused damage until now!

[Health, -3 bars]

[Green sea-urchin killed. 1 system point has been given to you as a reward]

[Available system points = 31]

[Eating a full grown, green sea-urchin can give the following effects...]

[Effect on health, non existent]

[Effect on hunger, non existent]

[Effect on sleep, +1 bar]

[Effect on stamina, non existent]

Not impressed by the statistics whatsoever, he questioned. "That's a pretty useless urchin, does it give any powers? Like upgrades on speed or anything."

[No, those are all the effects]

"This is shit then, I lost health and can't even see anything here!" Rage was evident in his tone and the reasons for it counted plenty. The darkness was weighing in pressure a bit more than the rest of the issues right now.

Yet he still had a crave to know, "How's my health now?"

[Total health = 74/100 bars]

"That's not so bad... it's not so bad." The blue-dotted menace repeated it, somewhat delusional and this was definitely recognized as a random mood swing.

Trying to plan in advance, he recited. "I just need to get out of here and find leggy crabs, yes yes that should do it."

Making for the exit that was just a couple of meters away, adrenaline was forced to meet a sudden spike. Because the way out had been blocked by a species far larger than him! It was a full grown eel, possibly stretching 1.5 meters long!

Beautiful at least and he could even recognize what exact species this monster was, a moray eel. Such a fine beauty can kill the little boy with just a single bite, it would be stupid to fight against that fact.

Surprisingly not attacking, the elongated creature actually spoke out a question. "Do you want food?"

Absolutely shocked that communication towards other animals was possible, with a faint nod he answered. "Uhhh... yes kinda. I need marble crabs for something."

[Marble shrimp] The system corrected, becoming a tad sick of the young one's memorisation capabilities.

"No no, I need marble shrimps." The stingray corrected, hoping that the eel wasn't pissed off along the way.

Still fascinated, the 30 day old fellow didn't even allow the eel to speak thanks to enthusiasm. "You can speak my language? You can speak stingray?"

"A couple stingray languages, yes. You all aren't so complicated." The eel answered but the latter couldn't figure out if this was a taunt or a warm and peachy compliment.

Getting straight to the point, the long species weighed in. "I can tell you where to find marble shrimp, but you have to get me out of here first."

Staggered by such a bizarre demand, Tim pointed out the obvious. "How can I even do that? And how did you get stuck down here?"

Willing to talk since loneliness had struck strong for a long while, the moray deciphered. "I'm here for 6 months already, because hundreds of sharks came to the reef for a feeding spree. I survived by killing any shark that was small enough to fit through this tunnel."

Finally finding a way to relate here, the small one gave out a loud sigh and stated. "I hate sharks!"

Getting back to the point, this possibly new friend reminded. "Me too but I gotta get out of here. The sharks have left a week ago but now I'm too big to fit through the tunnel."

Wanting to find a solution, the sea-pancake offered. "Oh... do you want me to eat the coral? I have great jaws."

Liking his enthusiasm but not the idea that came along with it, the eel contradicted. "No no that would take forever. You have to find Drake the mako-shark, he knows how to get me out of here."

"Uhhh... I think that one tried to kill me." The latter pointed out once rethinking the biological name, of which the said species carried.

Not willing to blame a shark for trying to feed, the elongated one excused. "Yeah he does that... but that shark is my friend and has been in the reef before the feeding spree."

Trying to avoid this weird task but aiming to evade death down here as well, the sea disk described. "Your friend hates me, he got attacked by another eel while chasing me."

"I'm Harold. Yell my name and he will hear you out for a little while." Well this plan became a bit better but it didn't exactly lower all risk factors, which managed to cause a bit of nervousness. "Tell Drake where I am, he knows what to do."

Trying to assure that this task won't go in vain, Timothy reminded. "Okay okay. But you will help me find the leggy crab things, right?"

Sure of his own capabilities, the bigger animal weighed in. "Of course, I know at least 6 spots where they usually stay."