I'm a Stingray?

Fighting that eel was quite a rollercoaster of emotions but yet the young man doesn't regret it regardless of the health lost because of it.

Losing that health although it was already low, felt like a dim compensation when we consider the soothing taste of revenge.

Harold now had several holes in him, that was enough to fulfill a quarter of the revenge he wanted to take. But seeing that stingray die tingled Tim's revenge senses further.

This case can't be closed now until Harold dies, that fat slithery bastard has to die, according to the demand thundering in the young man's subconscious.

But that's something to deal with in the future, he still wasn't tough enough to kill a whole eel and would take time to reach such a criteria.

As for taming the raging decreased health, he found a couple of marble shrimp which provided instant ease on the slight numbness he felt throughout the entire body.

It didn't fix the whole problem but now it's easier to move around at least.

Valuing detail, the system announced. [Total health 57/100]

"That's good enough I guess." Tim murmured once meeting the end of the patch that depthened in dark blue colour.

A prime thought took root in his head, repeating. "So much for spying, I have to go back to the den for food."

...

Slipping through the long entrance that connected the den with the sea, the first thing that captivated Timothy's view was Marlo who screamed. "Congratulations!"

And over 10 fish in the den behind the shark, as well echoed. "Bravo!"

Obviously, they're cheering at Timmy the small stingray. But yet it didn't make it less confusing, staggered the boy even.

"What do you mean?" Tim questioned, finally forming a theory that he was spied on.

"Your friends here told us what you did to Harold the eel." Marlo broke the confusion, his tone echoed satisfaction, the few fin swings showed it too.

Finally spotting the 4 stingrays he saw earlier, Tim sighed and joyfully spoke. "Oh so you brought them here? Good, it's dangerous out there I tell ya."

"Thank you for saving us."

"You were so fast!"

"Thank you!"

"Harold will never bug us again."

"I doubt that, he's mad now."

"So? Tim can kick his tail again."

The group of 4 stingrays muttered between their selves after they approached Tim, all of them well intended obviously.

Liking all the praises but wanting to get at the food pile asap, Tim cutted it short. "You're welcome, can't let stingrays get killed now can I?"

"We're not just stingrays, we're your siblings." One of them weighed in, feminine by tone.

Afterwards she swam closer and greeted. "I'm Haze."

"Hi Haze, I'm glad you consider me close but we aren't siblings." Tim uttered, trying to be nice with this lady.

"No you are our brother, we remember your scent." Another one of the said siblings insisted, male by tone. "Don't you remember us? I'm Philip."

"I really don't... almost died once so that can be what made me forget." That was the best excuse Timothy could think of, he can't be yapping to them about a system or reincarnation.

Another thing, he didn't really wanted to fight this claim. Stingrays can have siblings as well although he really didn't remember anything. Tim is no marine biologist, but it's no surprise for fish to have a lot of siblings in one liter.

"Oh... I heard mom mention something about fear making us stingrays forget stuff... this is normal." Another stingray added, female by speech.

Wanting to be helpful, she added. "I'm Patty and that's your brother Snoopy."

"Hello Patty and Snoopy, I'm Tim as you heard. I'll try to remember everything so please give me time." There is no reason to fight all of this especially with food standing as a prime thought.

"You'll remember... we're all that are left. You saw Gummy die, Harold killed him." Haze explained, her tone showed grief although power as well.

"A lot of sharks attacked us and killed mom, 7 of our siblings as well... it was so hard to see them die." Philip added, dug himself in the sand after to avoid emotion.

At this point, the rage that was shunned down by that continuing pain, poked its head out again and forced Tim's word to thunder. "What?! Those bastards! Drake did it, didn't he?"

"What's a bastard?" Patty murmured, a bit confused but grasped that it's nothing good.

"It wasn't Drake." Marlo interrupted, wanting to weigh in facts. "It happened when all those sharks came to feed here."

"He's right, those sharks are long gone by now." Haze assured, although not liking that fact either.

Wanting to comfort these siblings who most definitely have suffered more than him, Tim uttered. "You're safe here, I'll protect you and so will your friends here."

"That's right." Marlo interrupted once more, handing out a speech as that's what he does best. "Most of this tribe has lost their families to sharks... including the smaller sharks so we can relate."

...

Meeting his siblings was nice without a doubt but right now Tim has other issues, like pushing the physical pain away. So the young man dug his face into the pile of fish meat, specifically scoping out either sardines or marble shrimp.

He would try the other fish but doesn't quite know what effects they bring, his health is already low and risking it here would be a bad idea.

Thankfully the whole tribe has been busy bringing in food here, Tim could find 20 more marble shrimp here, not so hard for a shark to bring them here come to think of it.

However he can't eat them all without risking gut damage, so he ate as much as he could and yielded 6 more points of health.

[Total health = 63/100]

"Oh well at least the pain is gone." Tim thought, tad angry that the health hasn't gone over 70 yet.

It going that high would kill almost all risks but he wasn't yet blessed with such a gift.

After Tim was done feeding, Marlo approached him and felt honoured to announce. "Your skill is just... extraordinary, I need you to do something important. We can call you a qualified survivor... that's how skilled you are!"

"Spying worked peachy for me, I found out that Harold wants to find this den, he called it a hideout though." Tim deciphered once recalling the fact.

To that, Marlo the reef shark instantly replied. "I know, that's why we need you to do something far more important."

"I'm all fins... or ears, whatever." Tim cited, feeling tad numb.

Getting into depth, Marlo pitched. "We have good relations with most of this reef, but we didn't touch a few sides like the far north. The enemies want us all dead so I need you to go to the far north and recruit more fish, and of course spread out our solitude with the other fish there."