The Battle of Riptide

by EJ Altbacker

  Gray was dumbfounded. He just clicked his teeth, not knowing how to answer. Barkley came tearing over and gave Gray a fin bump. He had obviously been told.

  The news traveled fast, and pretty soon everyone, even Snork and Yappy, were back. The colorful sea dragon was actually silent for once.

  “Are you surprised?” Sandy asked Gray.

  “Definitely, Mom. Definitely.” Gray wanted to accept Quickeyes’s offer, but something nagged at him.

  It was Striiker who brought what was troubling him into focus. “I’m happy for you,” the large great white began, “but right now, with everything that’s going on, you can’t be a member of two Lines! Your loyalty has to be to just one.”

  “Your friend is right,” said Quickeyes. “I wish he wasn’t. But it’s your choice.”

  “Rogue will respect whatever decision you make,” Mari added.

  Sandy swirled her tail to get everyone’s attention and announced, “Either way, Coral and Rogue should be allies. If any of you are in trouble, you can always come here.”

  “Are you serious?” Shell asked. “Really?”

  Onyx gave the bull shark a slap on his flank. “Any friend of Gray and Barkley’s is a friend of ours.”

  “Well?” asked Barkley.

  Gray wanted to say yes. He really did. But Goblin was still out there. If Gray joined Coral Shiver, the evil shark might attack his family again. Gray wouldn’t take that chance. But before he could tell everyone someone else spoke.

  “He cannot!” said an oddly accented voice. “He promised himself to me.”

  Everyone started as Takiza seemingly appeared from nowhere and settled into the center of the council discussion. It was a moment before anyone could speak.

  “And who are you, exactly?” Quickeyes asked.

  The tiny fighting fish ruffled his fins with a flourish. “I am, exactly, Takiza Jaelynn Betta vam Delacrest Waveland ka Boom Boom.”

  “Huh. I pictured him bigger,” Onyx mused. Takiza featured prominently in the story of how Rogue Shiver had stopped Goblin and Velenka’s plan at the Tuna Run. When Gray had told the story, he could see that the members of Coral Shiver didn’t totally believe him. Now their disbelief was replaced by amazement.

  Quickeyes swam up to Takiza. “You’re really him? The same Takiza who Gray said saved a family of turtles? The Takiza who saved a whale calf from fifty makos when my father’s father was a pup? The same Takiza who stopped a tidal wave from washing away an entire reef between the AuzyAuzy and Zeeland land masses? You’re that Takiza?”

  The little betta bobbed his head and snapped his filmy fins straight out for a moment. “The same.”

  “Why do you want my son?” Sandy asked, her nose and chin barbels vibrating.

  “He is my apprentice. He must come with me for training.”

  “Training for what?” Mari prodded.

  “Why, to defeat Finnivus Victor,” Takiza said matter-of-factly. “After Finnivus declares himself emperor, of course.”

  VELENKA TRIED TO CONVINCE GOBLIN THREE times that they couldn’t hope to survive an Indi Shiver assault fighting snout to snout. A scouting party had confirmed the armada was camped at Razor Shiver’s old homewaters. Of course they were. Ever since the Tuna Run, it seemed as if Goblin Shiver had been caught in a whirlpool of misfortune. First, their plan to get rid of Razor was blocked by Gray and Rogue Shiver. After the Tuna Run, Razor Shiver had launched a series of successful attacks against them. And now that Razor and his bulls were gone, a new and much more powerful force—the Indi armada led by King Finnivus—had taken their place and threatened to annihilate Goblin Shiver. Indi continued to send out large patrols from their new homewaters, but they were content to stay close to that area. For now.

  “Ha!” Goblin had snorted. “They’re scared to come out!”

  Velenka knew why Indi Shiver wasn’t interested in probing their defenses. Indi could crush them anytime. When Goblin had ordered an ill-advised ambush, the outnumbered Indi patrol didn’t even pursue after absolutely mauling Goblin’s forces. The tattooed mariners hadn’t been surprised for more than an instant. Their defensive formations and lightning-quick counterattacks easily won the battle. Ten Goblin Shiver sharkkind had been killed, with just six getting back to safety.

  If only Goblin hadn’t made it back, Velenka thought. But he had and insisted on getting ready for the father of all battles, as he called it. The situation was hopeless.

  “Where are we going?” Goblin asked.

  “Hydenseek,” she answered. Hydenseek was an area inside Goblin Shiver territory just off their homewaters where big fish hunted the small fish that gathered in and around a thick field of blue and green-greenie.

  “Pfaf!” he snorted. “If I wanted seaweed, I’d order it at Slaggernacks. Let’s hunt the open waters.”

  “You go if you want.” Velenka gave him a smile and a friendly swish of her tail. Encouraging him to go was taking a gamble, but she didn’t want to reveal that she had an agenda, so she acted nonchalant. If Goblin left right now, Velenka would have to come up with a different plan. As it was, she’d waited two nerve-jangling days for everything to click into place. Indi might come for them tomorrow, so she had to act today!

  Thankfully, the great white flicked his crescent tail in annoyance but followed. Velenka led him into Hydenseek where the greenie grew denser and denser.

  “So, you might as well start,” Goblin said.

  “Start what?” Velenka asked.

  “Talking me out of what I’m planning,” Goblin grumbled.

  The last time she’d tried to do that, Velenka thought the angry great white would send her to the Sparkle Blue. “I’m done with that,” she said. “Swim your current. I know I won’t change your mind.”

  “Finally!” He laughed. “I’ve worn you down.” He snapped up a fat mackerel that was too slow in recognizing the danger Goblin represented.

  Velenka wasn’t going to end up like that mackerel. “Something like that,” she told him as she angled in a slightly different direction.

  “Where are you going?” he asked. “The greenie’s too thick there.”

  “I think this way is going to be lucky for me,” she replied. “But if you’re scared, I’ll meet you later.”

  The great white followed, of course. He was so predictable.

  It was only a few tail strokes later that she heard Goblin grunt in pain. Velenka turned and saw he didn’t realize what was happening. Finally, the great white recognized the blue-ringed octo hanging on to his tail, bending it back onto itself.

  “Can you believe this?” he said. “The little flipper is attacking me! Me!”

  Velenka remained silent as the octo hung onto Goblin’s tail, injecting him with its poisons.

  “Krillfaced coward!” Goblin shouted. He slammed his tail against the nearest rock. One octo, even a blue-ringed octo, wasn’t enough to kill most full-grown sharks. Certainly not one as big as Goblin. No, it would take more than that.

  So Velenka had arranged for more.

  A dozen stonefish floated up from their hiding places in the moss-covered rocks below where they had been waiting for days. The toxic dwellers stung Goblin on his belly and by the bends of his fins.

  Goblin screamed in frustration as the stonefish kept low and underneath him. He mashed a few with his serrated, triangle teeth. He received a huge sting in the gums when he scored one bite. “Oww!” he yelped. “This is why I never come here!”

  Velenka realized she should have been saying encouraging things. Or acted scared for him. Velenka was doing neither—because she was the one behind the attack.

  And with one look into her black eyes, Goblin knew it, too.

  “Traitor!” he shouted. The great white darted forward, but she was quicker, avoiding his lunge. The poison was wor
king. And with the octo entangling his tail, bending the top half downward, Goblin couldn’t swim at full speed. But his rage provided a momentary edge. He almost caught Velenka with a quick rolling turn, but she dove underneath a coral lattice, and he got a mouthful of rock for his efforts.

  “I’ll ki-ki-kill you,” he slurred. The poison was working. But she hadn’t left anything to chance.

  The delicate box jellyfish floated eerily through the water toward Goblin. How it moved, she didn’t really know. This cube-shaped jelly was the most toxic predator in all the Big Blue. Goblin stiffened as if he had swum into an invisible wall when the jellyfish stung him in the gills. The stonefish below his belly struck at will—Goblin’s futile snaps no longer worried them.

  The box jelly continued stinging, now floating over Goblin, attached to him by more than twenty translucent tendrils. It was a terrible sight, but Velenka couldn’t look away. She had never heard of jellies dealing with sharkkind or dweller, even in ancient times. That Gafin could offer its services was remarkable. She would have to be careful in dealing with the urchin king.

  With a last audible hiss, Goblin rolled belly up. The great white was paralyzed and dying but stared hatefully as Velenka glided toward him.

  “I tried to tell you,” she said. “But you wouldn’t listen. Do you think everyone is so eager to die for your honor? No, we’re not.”

  Then Velenka bit Goblin in the gills.

  As she swam away, small fish and crabs gathered to eat.

  IT HAD BEEN THREE DAYS SINCE THE SPIRITED discussion with Takiza at the Coral Shiver homewaters. The ancient betta insisted Gray come with him right that minute. He wasn’t big on explaining anything to Striiker, whom he called “a shark with chowder for brains,” or even to Quickeyes, the Coral leader.

  But Takiza did answer questions from Gray’s mother. Through her, the little betta had managed to convince everyone it was a good idea for him and Gray to swim off together. Gray believed it was a good idea, too. He had been so excited to train with the mysterious and powerful Takiza—fish of legend! What an honor! Gray thought he would travel with his new teacher for a few days, all the while learning cool, mysterious secrets!

  That was then. Now, he was miserable.

  “Again!” Takiza bellowed. Gray followed the lightning quick Siamese fighting fish through a forest of razor sharp coral spires. “Faster!” The spires, while colorful, were hidden by curtains of greenie growing from the ocean floor. Takiza was training Gray in waters much deeper than he usually swam. They were in an area two days east of Goblin Shiver territory, almost smack in the middle of the North Atlantis Ocean. If they continued a few more days, they would reach the lower edge of the Atlantis Spine, the huge mountain range that formed the guiding landmark of the Tuna Run. If they went a few days farther than that, they would be hovering where the tuna actually swam.

  The Big Blue was very deep here, almost at the point where it became known as the Dark Blue. But even at this depth, which Takiza said definitely wasn’t the Dark Blue, it was uncomfortable and gave Gray the shivers. He wasn’t sure whether that was from the colder temperature, the eerie darkness, or the water that physically pressed against him. Gray hadn’t believed that the water was actually squeezing him until Takiza explained that the weight of all the water above them caused that feeling.

  And yet this depth was nothing, apparently. Gray could see the ledge underneath his right flank fall away into total blackness. Takiza told him that this giant hole in the ocean floor was called the Maw. It did kind of look like a huge mouth that would eat you if you were foolish enough to swim there. Inside the Maw was where the Dark Blue actually began. Supposedly, only prehistore nightmares lived in the Dark Blue.

  Gray hoped Takiza wasn’t going to make him go any lower—or especially into the Maw. The blackness terrified him. As it was, the sun was only a pale afterthought, a wan light far above the chop-chop that he felt more than actually saw.

  Gray heard a muffled crack as he was shoved by the fierce current into a coral spire, snapping it in two. He winced as Takiza glided over.

  “No, no, no!” Takiza yelled in a surprisingly strong voice. “Why must you swim like a pregnant sea cow? You are sharkkind, so swim like sharkkind!”

  Gray could barely speak at this depth because of the strain against his throat. Mostly, he just took the abuse in silence. But there were times, such as now, when he got frustrated. Gray wanted to shout, roar even, but the best he could do was whine in a high voice. “I’m trying!” he squeaked. The pressure also made him light-headed and loopy, which was one of the reasons he kept running into things.

  “Make your way around the coral—not through it! Takiza scolded. “These spires take centuries to grow, and you are wrecking them in a single day as you bumble this way and that! Why, Lochlan didn’t snap this much coral in an entire year!”

  Gray ground his teeth together. Takiza had brought up the name Lochlan many times since his training began. Apparently, Lochlan had been a favorite student of Takiza’s and was now the leader of AuzyAuzy Shiver. Takiza even called him “my golden apprentice!” Though he had never met the shark, Gray couldn’t help disliking him. Muck-sucking teacher’s pet, he thought.

  “Again, Nulo!”

  “Yes, Shiro!” Gray answered. “Shiro” meant teacher and master in some ancient language. Takiza insisted being called this when they were training. Gray was “Nulo,” which was a combination of student and nothing. He began swimming the course again.

  On the second day of training, Gray pitched a fit and tried to leave. Takiza didn’t let him. “You gave your word to me,” the betta told him. “Once accepted, it is not yours to take back!” Gray would never fight the little fish—Takiza had saved everyone’s life at the Tuna Run—but instead he started swimming away.

  Big mistake.

  Takiza dragged him back by the tail, commenting, “This is for your own good. It hurts me much more than you!” Somehow Gray doubted that. When he made the mistake of struggling, Takiza spun him around until he threw up! That was the last of Gray’s rebellions.

  “Can’t we take a little break?” Gray asked now. “I’m tired.”

  “No, you are not. Megalodon do not tire so easily.”

  Gray stopped, flabbergasted. “You know I’m a megalodon?”

  The betta flicked his fins in annoyance but answered, “It’s as plain as the overly large snout on your face. I also know you were put in the Big Blue as a force of change. You are special, but if you rely on your gifts without seeking to improve yourself, you will fail. And you cannot fail!”

  “Put here by who? Do you know my parents? What gifts do I have? And why can’t I fail?”

  “No questions, Nulo! They are unimportant at this moment! What is important is obeying what I tell you to do!”

  Gray felt his voice go up, and he whined, “But I’m hungry and scraped by the coral, Takiza—I mean, Shiro. I don’t want to be special. All I want to do is eat and sleep!”

  The betta flicked his fins again as his eyes blazed. “You complain endlessly! You are soft and coddled, whining like a vain puffer fish at the merest discomfort. And you have no idea whatsoever of your true potential. Now swim the course or I will once again thrash you!”

  Gray forced his aching tail to stroke left and right. He wouldn’t get any answers right now, and he didn’t want to be spun around again. Gaining speed, Gray used the wickedly cold and fast currents to his advantage just like the betta had showed him the day before.

  These currents had a heaviness the ones above lacked. It was tougher to get in or out of these as the water flowed through the coral spire field and fell downward toward the Dark Blue. Takiza told him this was because water heading down had an entirely different weight and thickness. Lighter and thinner currents moved upward, while the heavier ones traveled downward. Takiza also said that all current
s, no matter if they felt level or not, moved in one direction or the other, rising or falling. This was how the Big Blue cleansed itself, apparently.

  Gray only knew it was hard to swim here.

  Coral spires whizzed by on the left and right. Gray twisted and turned, instinctively leaving a heavy current that was rushing too fast over the edge and sliding into a slower one to brake himself without actually using his fins or tail.

  “Excellent!” Takiza said, swimming upside down in front of his left eye. “Use your lateral line to feel the obstacles in your path.”

  The lateral line was another amazing thing Takiza had taught him. It was that buzzing feeling Gray got inside his head when he couldn’t see but knew something was there. Sharkkind used it instinctively to hunt, Takiza had said. But to truly master it, you needed to practice and exercise its power.

  “Don’t rely on your eyes or your nose! Both can be fooled,” the betta commented as he deftly dodged a thick rope of greenie. Gray’s weight snapped it, and Takiza shook his head. “Never swim through things you can avoid.”

  “But, Shiro,” Gray said, panting. The water felt thick pumping through his gills. “If I can go through something, isn’t it faster because I’m swimming in a straight line?”

  The frilly fish nodded, thinking. “That is true, except for . . .” Takiza trailed off as he adjusted his position upward.

  “Except for what?” Gray wheezed, just before smashing snout first into a giant coral spire, which didn’t give at all. For a second, he was paralyzed with pain, the current pushing his back and tail up against the coral.

  Takiza shook his head and nudged Gray’s stunned body into an area where the current wasn’t about to sweep him off the ledge and into the Maw. “Except for the inevitable fact you will lose any time you have saved when striking an object thicker than even your very thick head, Nulo!”

  Gray saw glowing motes swimming and winking everywhere. “Pretty,” he mumbled, before taking a much-needed nap.