I'm a Stingray?

There were a couple of tunnels to choose from before the sea pancake made his escape, but at that split of a second he didn't really want to be picky and took the one on the left.

Now this one seemed smaller but that can work out in the long term as the right one was wide enough to fit these slender tunafish in. But the left one is half of that size, horrible for these fish to swim through but perfect for young Timothy.

The boy did not want to figure out just what would happen if he slowed down to relax, or stalk the enemy. Without a doubt, that would be a horrible idea so he just kept going.

Eventually, the yellow coated stingray made it out of the tunnel and met the very starting point of this whole underground structure.

It was the smaller room whom was coated with rivers of yellow coral and had a completely yellow ceiling as well, perfect for a den come to think of it.

But that's not what he was here for, instead the kiddo just rushed out of the hole at one edge of this ceiling and faced the underwater architecture that stood identical in shape.

Comprehending a quick glance of his surroundings, the boy felt as if he was high again as a particular piece of being was rushing across the water.

Staggered and scared, Timmy muffled. "How the hell?"

The figure got a lot closer under just a couple of seconds, helping the boy confirm what can be picked apart from delusion. "That old hag came back from the dead?"

Feeling absolutely stiff, unwilling to accept such a fact, panic struck the little boy's heart at an impactful manner for once after a long time.

The only thing he could utter and repeat beyond reason, was. "No no no no no..."

Through that panic, the 3 foot wide enemy took victim any water in front or around her, piercing the masses with envious speed.

Fast no doubt but yet slower compared to what she could achieve before the crabs beated her into submission earlier.

No one would make a fuss about that however, the old lady took so many shots against the spine. On the contrary it was more concerning how she was alive at the moment, it just doesn't make sense.

As she got just 10 meters close, Tim could hear the beast yell out. "The holy tar demands your soul!"

Just a couple of blinks later, Tim heard a large crash right underneath him but felt too scared to open his eyes and see.

This was the first time where he got so scared that, moving fins was rendered as an option that he couldn't take.

Opening his eyes, the boy gazed around a little bit, flapping his fins to check. "Am I dead?"

But as the sea disk peeked down, he could see the massive anglerfish's body jagged in coral. That coral ceiling of which hid this den from the rest of the world was broken into a thousand pieces ranging from massive to atom sized.

He could also see 4-5 slender tunafish bodies captured in this crash, most of which were heads who showed absolutely no signs of life.

Upon further inspection, he spotted a species whom he did not expect here at all but at the same time wasn't surprised.

Directed towards the species, he thanked. "This is the second time you saved me, Osira. I'm so glad you completely ignored my orders."

"Friends don't give orders to friends." The lady blacktipped grouper answered, carrying a smile but he could notice that the lady was tad mad.

At this point, scared to go against whom absolutely disorientated a seemingly undying enemy, Timmy repeated. "Right right right."

But then heard the friend here yell, "Follow me before she recovers, again!"

...

They had dashed about 300 meters from their starting point, specifically trying not to leave the north territories here, since the task of recruitment was still active.

Absolutely tired at this point thanks to continuous sprinting, Timmy could hear the system alarm. [Your stamina is bad enough to go below 0, slow down.]

Gazing at orange fish's sluggish swimming, he could easily figure out that she was tired as well. So an idea had to be pitched, "We need a place to hide right now, there is only so far we can swim under a short time."

Although tired, Osira couldn't appreciate such quitter attitude and therefore had to answer. "No shit genius but it's not a good idea. We have barely gotten away from the enemy, we can be easily found."

Slightly offended although not at all because of the primary offense, the boy contradicted. "You can easily be found, I'm yellow and so is all this coral."

Although tired, she had all the energy necessary to bite back... with words. "Those blue dots will stand out like a swimming shrimp, you'd be tuna food."

Although dumb as a twig, the boy was smart enough now to understand the base motive behind the lady's words, which was the urge to survive and succeed.

So cooperation became key for both sides of the stick to achieve their way of things. "Okay. We swim a bit more and then we hide, it's the best idea."

To such an idea, all the lady wanted to do was nod. And furthermore she wanted to use the energy to swim further, but to the stingray she pitched. "You're used to hiding, look for a good spot as we swim."

"Okay, sassy fins." The boy answered, trying not to lose a bit of good will that had built up in his conscious these couple of minutes.

And then decided to illuminate that good will by the aid of speech, "You're a crazy little orange fish but I never saw someone this brave, you faced death twice and got me out of it as well."

"As bizarre as it may sound, I have respect for you so it would be stupid to let you die." Heart warming, kinda but at least she was brutally direct.

Happy but yet confused, the sea pancake asked. "Uh why do you have respect for me? I almost killed you in the grouper den."

Bringing the main point here and what hung on her conscious the most, she weighed in. "But yet you didn't, although you could. Maybe you were just lazy but I'd like to call it mercy."

Deciding to be brutally direct like her, Timmy assured. "It was both, glad I didn't kill you though. You're a boss!"