KrakenKid

I huffed impatiently, watching the light fade from the horizon. The sun, though no longer in sight, though it still provided a few rays, but those were fading fast. I might have been relaxing before, but now I just couldn't.

"You take so long!" I complained, glancing up at the black and white figure. A giggle emitted from them. "I'm almost done, just give me a minute!" They called back.

My arms crossed and I slumped back against the dark leafless tree. Even if it looked like it should be dead, it still bore fruit, and pretty good ones at that. "You said that an hour ago! If you aren't going to accept my help then at least go a little faster!" I hollered back. For at least an hour, Cody had climbed up the tree and was collecting the black fruit that we ate. I offered again and again, but he kept refusing my help, always insisting he could do it on his own. I managed to stay sane through entertaining myself with simple things like watching the schools of fish pass by.

There always seemed to be some kind of fish around the area.

"Hey, slow and steady wins the race." I rolled my eyes at the comment. "Not always..." I murmured. More time passed and I had enough. "Are you done now?" I heard them laugh and the sound of feet dropping down besides me. I lazily faced the penguin, seeing that smug smile on their face. "Yeah, yeah. I'm done, we can go home now if you want."

I stretched my body while I stood up. A yawn escaped my lips. Peeking over where the sun once was, the light had faded almost completely, and the moon was climbing the sky. Out of the corner of my eye, young Cody journeyed forward, but I could not compel myself to move once I saw it.

"Whoa." My yellow eyes were filled with a beautiful sight. In Atlantis, you could never see the sky or sun in person, the light would come and go just like it through the power of the Nexus, but the actual sun was never there. I never thought I missed out on anything and while I was up here, the sun was nice but I could live without it. However, I was proven wrong when I noticed how the sky looked at night.

Billions of tiny but stunning lights lit up the dark, filling the dark blue with something new. Some were tiny while other much bigger, and there was no pattern to it at all, but I was left speechless. The surface was much different than I thought, and this was definitely one of the perks.

"What? The sky? It's like that every night." My eyes widened and I whipped around to him. I stared for a moment before speaking again. "You see this every night?" I gaped at him. His eyebrow raised but the amusement in his face was undeniable. "Yeah man! Every single night. Have you not seen it?" I didn't look at him, returning my sights to what could only be stars. I had heard about them, but hadn't seen them in a very long time. I had completely forgotten what they looked like. "In Atlantis, you can't see any of the stars or the moon. We still have day and night, just nothing like this." Cody seemed surprised. "You like them that much?"

I nodded, still watching them. He stood by my side and did the same. "I guess they are kinda pretty tonight..."

Eventually, I teared my eyes away from it, now realizing how late it was becoming. "We should probably head back..." I suggested lightly. Cody agreed and we started to find our way back, and by that I mean Cody showed me where to go and I followed.

The night air was getting colder by the second. I briefly checked around us to make sure that we were safe. Something flickered to my right. Shooting my eyes in that direction, I gazed across the rocky floor of the ocean. I slowed down.

Something was wrong.

"Penguin!" I hissed, keeping my volume low. Cody paused for a second and came closer when I signaled him to. "Stay close and look around. Tell me if anything seems off to you."

Both of us didn't say anything for a long time. More flickers of something moving appeared but I never got a good look. I still didn't know what we were dealing with. "Kraken?" A soft voice whispered. "What?" I spoke in the same tone of voice. "I noticed something..." I perked up. "What?" I asked immediately. "What is it?"

"Kraken... There's no more fish."

The sentence meant nothing at first, I just blinked and searched the area. He was right but I didn't quite get it. "No more... Fish?" I mumbled to myself, trying to get it through my brain. What did that even mean? No more fish? Why would the fish be gone in the first place? Questions plagued my mind, the statement was odd, like it was somehow a puzzle I still had to solve. A darker figure passed by, quick but still noticeable. It wasn't human.

Suddenly, it clicked in my head. "Oh no... Cody! Keep an eye behind me, I think I know why all the schools of fish are gone." The penguin's breath became irregular. I examined all around for signs, hoping that somehow I wasn't right. "Calm down kid, I need your mind to stay sharp. Don't move too much." As I spoke the words, it appeared and my heart dropped. "I was right..." My voice trailed off as the child's back pressed to mine.

It was a shark.

It had a gray body with a white underbelly. It looked to be basic, but a little smudge of white on the tip of the dorsal fin told me that this wasn't the only problem.

The creature circled the pair of us. It was at a distance but slowly started to close in. I locked onto the being, seeing it make sharp turns and the belly of it rubbed against the floor of the sea. The only sounds was the shark swishing through the water and the breath of the child besides me.

Suddenly, it charged, swimming straight at Cody. They try and pick off the weakest. I remembered that from when I had to deal with some way back when. It might have been fast, but my body was made for swifter movements. I curled my arms around the penguin and juked out of the way, just before it hit the target. I skidded to the side, still holding the paralyzed child in my arms. I set them down behind me, using my own body as a shield for them. "Stay back." I ordered, then faced my opponent.

The shark was not happy with me spoiling their attack and stayed low to the ground. It circled around me and Cody, the whole time I always made sure that I was in its line of sight, never letting it look at the kid. Cody was weirdly silent, most likely didn't have anything to say.

It lunged again, but this time at me. I leaned heavily to the side, causing it to pass right by me again and this time, I had a shot. I smashed my tentacle right into their gills, getting a jerk from it. However, this only seemed to aggravate it more. A sharp turn caught me off guard but I swept the penguin out of the way, only putting myself back into it's view. My agile body pulled me back, but it bit right into one of my main arms. I cried out and used my other one to punch it swiftly in the eye. The being seemed to gasp in pain and I was free from grasp.

"KrakenKid!"

Cody cried out to me as my blood seeped into the water. Even if I was in pain, I waved it off. "I'm fine." I spoke through gritted teeth. While the shark was dazed, I used it's previous tactic to my advantage. I sprang forward and wrapped my body around it.

It paused for a moment before thrashing around, trying to shake me off. Though the skin of it was rough, I held on anyways, refusing to give up. Maneuvering my body, I lifted my body weight off the shark while still holding on, then slammed it all down and caused its head to smash into the rocks. The shark stopped, no longer conscious.

I sighed, finally letting go. I panted, a little worn out. It had been a long time since I had to fight without a weapon. Lucky for me, my last big fight wasn't too long ago. In fact, it was right before I got here.

The kid scampered to my side as I covered my wound, doing my best to stop the blood flow. "That was amazing!" He exclaimed loudly. I chuckled. "Thanks." Cody peeked at my wound, nodding to himself. "I think I have a first aid kit back at the base." He told me, making me smile a little more. "That's great but," My eyes shifted. "It's not over."

The brown eyes blinked. "What? But you took out the shark, how is it not over?" I sighed, shaking my head. "That was a whitetip shark." His eyebrows rose, not getting it. "So?"

"Whitetip sharks hunt in packs."

His eyes widened and I continued. "I just leaked blood as well, which means not only are they nearby, but they'll be coming right for me. We got to go, now."

It was too late. Whitetip sharks started to pop up out of nowhere and lunged at me. I dodged the first three, but the last one came from behind and nicked my side. It wasn't too hard, but it managed to do it in the same place that the Cody from my time did and it opened right back up, letting more blood merge with the water. They only became more hungry.

"Climb onto my back!" I ushered the penguin and to my delight, his actions sped up. With him on my back, I swished around, moving through the pack with easy, now not having to worry about protecting Cody as well as dodging and keeping myself alive.

These sharks weren't as intelligent and I moved past them. "Go ahead! The mountain is over there!" The child informed me while I moved. I nodded, huffing. He wasn't too heavy, but adding onto the fight alone with the shark and now running from these one's was getting to be a little more than I could handle.

As the mountain grew closer, the frenzy of sharks seemed to speed up, or maybe I was slowing down. Either way, I wasn't going to make it just by booking my way up there. I had to be smart about this, instead of just attack impulsively like I normally did. I had no one else to fall back on, this was all me.

I dropped off the small black and white body, then pointed to the opening in the cave. "Get back in there and hide. I'll hold them off."

The brown eyes turned sad. "How are you going to keep them off without dying?"

It was a valid question, and I had no idea how to answer it. A memory came back to me as I checked behind me.

"Are you sure this cave is completely stable? I'm not too sure about the entrance..." Cody laughed at the question. "It's fine!" I still wasn't satisfied. "But-" I gazed up at one of the more larger stalactites. "It's fiiiiiine!" He waved it off.

"Get into the cave, I think I know what I'm going to do."

Though his expression never faded, he still listened and left.

I faced the horde of sharks, narrowing my eyes down at them. There was at least six to eight, it was hard to tell. The largest one was in the front, most likely the Alpha. He charged, causing the rest to follow.

His body shot forward, but I juked to the right, then again as one of the followers tried to catch me off guard. When it came to speed, I was the faster, but there was more of them and my stamina wouldn't last forever. Even as I ducked out of the way, I could feel myself becoming more sluggish. I wouldn't last much longer.

Every time I moved away from them, I stepped up another part of the mountain, getting myself higher and higher while also not getting hit. It was working.

I glanced up, seeing the tiny Cody watching me, his eyes full of what could only be worry. I wasn't too far away now. "Cody! Get into the- ARG!"

I had taken my eyes off of the sharks for too long. The Alpha struck, and chomped right down on one of my lower tentacles. The teeth dug in and took most of it right off, only leaving a stub. I screeched in pain, but still gave Cody several signals to get in the cave. He did as I said, horror never left his eyes.

Pain flowed through my whole body, my own blood seeping into the water, but I had to keep going to live. The sharks advanced, but I was only a couple feet away from the entrance now. So close!

I activated the last part of my plan. Seeing the penguin safe inside, I sprang up to the largest stalactites closest to me and found enough strength to break it off, injuring my other tentacle in the process, but it worked.

A low rumble sounded throughout the area and the rocks began to fall. I whipped around just in time to see the Alpha, who lunged for me, get stopped by a huge chunk of the ceiling. I turned my attention to the kid in front, smiling at him. I had saved us both.

I rushed forward, but something hard collided with my head. I dropped to the floor, watching the brown eyes become shocked. I felt my head hit the ground,

Then everything went black.

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I really liked how this one turned out! Sorry about the cliffhanger... Well, not entirely sorry but you get the point! I had to do quite a lot of research on sharks to complete this!

I hope you liked this chapter! I had a lot of fun with it. Be sure to comment and tell me how I did and goodbyeeee!

--JustAnAltantisWriter