I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 101: Family talk

Being surrounded by family felt good although the connection he had with them was close to being considered non existent. It's hard to connect with fish he barely knew for 10 days, but the warmth was still noticeable even though they were underwater.

The radiating warmth imprinted on his conscious enough that even dreams were better, but it was cut short as the system woke him up with a repetitive alarm before the snooze session stretched almost 2 hours.

[Your hunger is dangerously low, find food as fast as possible.]

As Timmy opened his little eyes, still unaware of his surroundings, the system switched the alarm almost at an instant.

[Food spotted and identified but you need specific ones.]

[Look for health raising food. Last time you ate a barracuda and it raised your health.]

A great reminder for a little boy who woke up drowsy enough for most of his surroundings to appear like a blur and unfamiliar. It made sense as his sleep bar was already low and he barely slept for 2 hours.

Haze was the first to point out his nonsense by citing, "The hell are you waking up for? Just lay down and relax."

It took a couple of tries before the boy acknowledged her existence, but after a few more seconds he had gained more awareness of everything and was able to reply. "Foody food."

And after realizing what he just said, the sentence was enhanced by another. "I feel extremely hungry."

The barracuda carcass thankfully wasn't so far away and no one else had thought of eating after such a disaster so it was in all ways good for the hero.

He took a few bites off the barracuda, and Philip announced a few seconds after he swam close by. "You like that ha? We killed this one, it was a long ugly battle."

Biting food had actually aided to wake up faster, perhaps it was the bit of chewing that demanded more attention of his surroundings?

Thanks to that very fact, he was able to reply after swallowing another bite. "Let me guess, it was Haze's idea to hunt this big-ass fish?"

"Yup." Patty assured and wanted to add what could have been restricted in her emotions for a while, "She yelled a lot before I was convinced, very loud."

To such a sentence, the marvelously brave Haze had an urge to point out. "Ain't my fault that you're scared."

"Scared? No. She's logical rather than going to fight a 1.2 meter long maniac with jaws, well at least I am. Only joined you bastards because I didn't want more of my siblings to die." Snoopy explained a greater portion of the battle, the preparation about such a hunt became a tad more clear at least.

But it still made the hero speak out with the intent of a light tease, "Your attitude really doesn't fit your name."

Wanting to protect his unfortunate name, Snoopy spoke out. "Our mom and dad picked me the worst name, you can't blame me about that."

"Well it isn't easy to name 14 children." Philip reminded, but the thought of family roots managed to sync the 4 siblings into a sour mood that illuminated only through their square of conversation.

What they heard afterwards was just the hero chewing through his meal with speed that accelerated after each bite. He stormed through the carcass as if the last time he ate was a month ago, he barely was that old.

The system decided to explain a portion of her own after the boy became almost awake, [As you noticed, hunger was stronger now than ever for you.]

"No shit." The boy thought out and then decided to question the idea after a chunk of meat brushed around his lips, "Why am I so hungry? I doubt that my sleep bar has been restored at this point."

[It's lower than before]

To such a claim, he couldn't help raging through that pea-sized head. "The fuck? Are you broken?"

[No]

[The wounds you have will drain your hunger, sleep and stamina a lot faster.]

[The reason behind such a setback is solely for your wounds to heal faster.]

Although he didn't understand half of it, young Tim was still aware enough to ask a question. "So, these holes on my fins will eventually disappear?"

[Ask your siblings]

His eyes opened up a bit wider as he instantly questioned, "Hey guys, how do my wounds look?"

Snoopy eagerly bounced in the conversation after that point and deciphered, "I could have been seeing some odd delusion but as you slept, a good portion of your wounds slowly regenerated as if you were some kind of fish god. I swear that bones were slowly growing back."

"Weird." The young hero answered and kept such a face that illuminated a true sense of uncertainty, but truly inside he was growing a smirk.

And immediately asked the system, "So that's what you meant?"

[Yes]

[Your body is sucking out all energy for those wounds to heal. It's normal in nature but in your case it's quicker and actually regenerates lost tissue, bone and muscle.]

This situation was still difficult for the young boy to understand so he spoke a language that seemed all too familiar, "So I should eat?"

[Yes]

[Eat that barracuda until you are full and fall asleep again.]

After just a few minutes, the young man had chopped enough meat to fill that little stomach of his and was ready to drop in a food coma. Those related stats themselves being already low had definitely aided the idea.

But before he emerged into what his siblings would henceforth label as not-so-boring slumber, the system had to announce. [You have obtained another 6 points of health from this eating session.]

[Total health = 55/100]

After that little spike of excitement, slumber was quick to catch on and forced the young man to only let out a few words that were related to said spike but barely made any sense. "My health is be yes good."