I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 111: Thought out but yet stupid

After a lot of commotion and ear rambling conversations between the masses that took refuge in this very portion of the tunnel, the same shrimp approached Tim closer and stated. "I am the speaker of this shrimp community."

That reference alone was enough to portray him as heavily important, but the hero's face remained firmly unsurprised. Therefore the white-legged one continued, "I have explained to them the offer you had just made."

"Great!" His face finally lit up because the convincing tone interjected a hunch earlier, made the boy acknowledge that the deal is sealed.

The speaker carried a stiff face before contradicting, "It is not so great. See I'm the speaker but not the king of everyone here. This tunnel community alone has 37 tribes, one of them has taken your offer into consideration while the others want to make you a mere pleasure pet."

At first the young stingray didn't understand the term 'pleasure pet', but after recalling the way of ceremonies in the holy tar tribes, it was easy to figure out that this wasn't anything good-willing.

Putting that aside, he focused on the good news and expressed. "That's good enough, I'm seeing a lot of shrimp here so my guess is that a tribe is big."

"It's not good enough." The animal on the other side once more went against the highlight of an expression and explained, "You need to prove yourself worthy to the said one tribe that wants to follow you."

"Let me guess. I need to kill another tribe so they can leave with a big bang?" He knew where this was going and quite frankly was thinking of backing away.

Sure it would be nice to have tens of these species take new residence on the reef but it would take a quick guess to figure out that a single tribe has at least 50 of these shrimp, fighting all of them would be difficult and perhaps not quite worth it.

"We don't do that in this community. To find shrimp like that, you would probably need to sink deeper in the mist." The speaker explained and through those words noticed how he was floating off topic.

With a head shake to fight off other thoughts, he slightly hollered. "Anyway."

And then continued, "You don't need to fight a tribe but rather the same tribe's toughest shrimp."

"That should be easy." Tim answered but the marine animal across had heavily accepted questioning and denial, so a heart-felt speech recited.

"Because you need to prove that your recommendation is backed up by fearsome capabilities, in case the tribe runs into trouble through the near future." Well at least his dialect was thick for a shrimp who perhaps knew a lot of languages.

Wanting to reassure, the young one cited. "I'll do it."

Giving him a long glance to determine if the boy was serious, the speaker opposed. "That's a pretty stupid idea, but I can't do anything about it. You will fight their warrior in a bit."

Turning to the other shrimp, he began yelling in their own language more than usual so the hero just slowly inched away a foot behind just in case these species all decided to attack at once. This way he would at least have a bit more space to flee.

But after seeing the entire room-full of animals calm down, rehearsing the idea of a single one-on-one battle seemed a pretty good deal. As he wouldn't need to build up a feud with any other shrimp community, that is if he was actually sent out to kill an entire tribe.

He became more and more sure that fighting this battle won't have future repercussions that could molest his flat booty.

A group of them crawled to the left and the other to the right, making a clear way that was obviously dedicated to the shrimp warrior who was yet to come. One would almost mistake this kind of behaviour with that of a human, who knew that shrimp would have behaviour skills of an appropriate level?

The bubble-causing sound of a shrimp pushing forward felt heavier by the passing second. It was easier to dedicate attention towards it now that everyone else had synced into complete silence.

After a moment, he finally was able to capture a brief glimpse of the warrior in front. The first noticeable features were a couple of thin blood-red antennas that took root on the nose and slightly curled above its head, perhaps reaching all the way to the other end of its body too.

This... animal actually managed to make Timothy grant attention to these odd legs these species have. He could count 9 pairs of them who were short but capable enough to keep their bodies above the sand flooring.

This one, far different from the other tribes-shrimp, had legs who were covered with red tips, as if it had crawled through blood.

Those facts aside, this entire opponent got close enough for the hero to determine its size. It had to stretch 40 centimetres long and it was fat enough to put the originally slender looking figure of this same species, into shame.

"I'm fighting an opponent nearly 3 times my size... nice." He complained and finally had a brief idea how to use sarcasm too.

But thinking over past battles, his meatless lips synced into a curling smirk before he murmured. "Wouldn't be the first time I kill an animal far out of my league."

As if subconsciously, the rest of the shrimp began forming a ring around the two fighters, soon as the fat warrior had crawled up here. When the speaker approached these two, the ring had almost been formed into a perfect circle. It was evident that everyone wanted to see this big buff shrimp tear the challenger into pieces.

The speaker broke in the deal, "You made a bad mistake accepting the challenge but let's get this over with."

Feeling happier once taking a peek at the bigger shrimp, he continued. "If you somehow manage to kill this big lady in front of you, the tribe will accept your invitation."

"If you lose, well... you die." At this point the speaker felt stupid for explaining this part. "There are no rules. But the question is, are you ready?"

Processing the information, Tim mumbled a question. "It's a she?"