I'm a Stingray?

Fairly pissed by the bite sized sea disk's wordplay, the tiger grouper shouted with a bit more energy. "Obey me!"

"No." Tim answered casually but yet sure of himself, eyes closed and mouth raised up with that statement. Fear from this fish had long left by now.

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes! Wait... why am I fighting about this? Prepare to die you little runt!" Well the grouper who sounded smart in the beginning, finally started using its brain more.

The ultimate smart move at this point, was snapping out of that little argument with Timmy. Could have gone for an hour or so if he decided to continue with that game.

Tim could see the massive grouper charge forward, his intent well visible and his lips fat and patty, hiding a row of jaws.

Taking a second to observe his surroundings, Tim could see that the flooring of this hidden den wasn't like any other he had seen before.

There were rivering lines of either natural or fish dug tunnels, nothing that sunk too deep but it provided both of them here, with the chance to slip between these tunnels and mess with the enemy's mind.

Although Tim's recent victories had helped him build up an attitude that would never let him flee, this situation pointed out that a big fish shall not be underestimated.

He wasn't dumb enough to miss out on that fact, so he stood his ground for a while... waiting for the exact moment.

And right when the fish was just a meter away, piercing the water like a fat torpedo at possibly 15 mp/h speed.

Timmy gave out a burst of his own, made sure to specifically slide as close to the ground as possible.

His tail raised up at that same moment, craving fishy flesh. Well he wasn't a zombie but that's what predators usually want.

The tiger grouper's speed was heavily underestimated, Tim expected this one to move like a fat cow. But no that wasn't nearly the case.

Yet again it was proven that speed doesn't always link with agility. As the enemy just kept charging forward like a bus whose brakes had been cut.

The enemy missed to hit or bite Tim, the chances of it in that second had been lowered next to 0.

The enemy was moving so fast that he didn't even manage to point it's head down once spotting that Tim escaped. To do that, the enemy would have to stop and turn around.

But the grave mistake had already been made, as Tim's tail slid from one side of the grouper's neck, through the belly too and parted ways once the tail began to show.

The 60 centimeter long beast had received massive damage, as Timothy's tail had left a bad cut. Thankfully no horrid scene followed after such as the enemy's internal organs falling out, but the damage was still decent.

Tim slipped right in the foot wide tunnel after delivering such a blow, and heard the enemy shout with all his power. "You fucking bastard!"

"Fat cow says what?" Tim yelled back as he ventured through the tunnels, using it half as a hiding spot.

While the other half of his intent was to analyse a quarter of the surroundings if not all. The enemy seemed fierce and powerful although Tim was wholeheartedly harassing him.

"I will rip you in half!" The tiger grouper yelled back, turning around and searching for the little stingray.

These tunnels were coated by layers of dirt and stone, behaving like a ceiling. So it wasn't exactly possible to see Tim, at least from the tiger grouper's point of view.

So the sense of hearing had to be completely relied on, proved a bit more effective as Tim yelled back. "That's a weird thing for a sea cow to say. Aren't you supposed to eat sea grass or something?"

At this point the harassed enemy could sense that the little stingray, had taken one too many turns and slipped 5 meters away already.

Swimming to his left, the tiger grouper laid right over a tunnel that had no ceiling but was just a smooth roundish shift of elevation, acting like half a tunnel.

But yet right in front of where the tiger grouper had laid down, stood a portion of the tunnel that had a ceiling.

Out of which, Timmy rushed out, extremely unaware of what stood as a barricade.

Unable to hit the breaks and go in reverse, he used that built up speed to forge a plan.

Flapping his fins a couple times harder than usual, his tail and lower back hit the ceiling of the little tunnel.

As he put in effort to use the little gap that stood between the ceiling's end and the enemy.

His head poked out first, and then the tail followed, at this point being half a foot close to the enemy, almost lending a kiss.

[Health, -20 bars.] The system alarmed and Tim felt a sharp pain right after on his whole right fin. [Total health = 52/100]

Making him scream, "Oh my god, that hurt!"

The enemy let him go at that second, not for mercy but to take another bite. This fish's teeth aren't razor sharp but pointy instead, so to chew an enemy, it would take a few bites.

Timmy used that second, gave out a little outburst of speed that got him right out of the enemy's jaws.

Using the opportunity and remembering something about weak spots, Tim flung his tail in all directions under just a blink and struck the enemy around the face not once but 3 times!

After swimming a meter away, it took him a few seconds to realise how sore his fin began to feel, but thankfully it wasn't ripped off, so that itself was a big gain.

Taking a peek at the exits/entrances, 3 more orange colours shone, rushing towards the scene.

These fish are unmistakable, blacktipped groupers and they weren't here to help Tim either.