Hooks

Chapter 13: Gummy

Coral City was beginning to look apocalyptic. There was debris and dirt everywhere. Fish spent most of their days hiding in their homes as they cried and worried about their lives. I continued swimming down Coral City as I passed by all of the familiar houses and buildings. Eventually, I reached the end of it and I floated in front of a sign that read "You are now leaving Coral City. Why would you wanna do that? It's great here!"

The mayor...I thought to myself. Coral City was changing so quickly without a true leader. As I left Coral City I began wondering where the mayor had swam off to. He was a dangerous threat to the city and I hoped that Coral City would be okay when I was gone. I didn't want to leave but I knew that I had to. Without me, Coral City was doomed because there wasn't any other fish willing to step out of their comfort zone.

I had been swimming for hours it seemed.  I had looked everywhere for the Hookmasters. I had been trying to spot shiny metallic all day but had no luck. Just when things couldn't get any worse, I watched as a large shadow began to consume me. I slowly turned around to see what was behind me and to my horror, there was a giant bull shark waiting to make me his next dinner. I screamed and began swimming away from him as quickly as I could. He chased after me and I continued swimming faster and faster as I tried to escape from his menacing jaws. Ahead of me I saw a small cave and I lunged for it. I swam inside the cave as fast as possible and the shark stopped. He steadily brought his face closer to me. I stayed put as I cowered with fear hoping that this wasn't the end. The shark began to open his mouth and let out a loud roar. That's when I started laughing. The shark had no teeth. He wasn't scary at all.

"Was that supposed to be scary?" I said laughing uncontrollably.

The shark looked at me sadly and his eyes began to water.

"Nobody is scared of me!" he said as he began bawling.

"Oh...I'm sorry little guy...I didn't mean to make you cry..." I said as I tried to make him feel better.

"I'm not a little guy! I'm a big bull shark! I'm supposed to eat fish! I'm supposed to be scary! I can't even scare a minnow!" he said as he continued to cry his eyes out.

"I think your mouth looks good..." I said.

"You think my mouth looks good. Okay...so you're into old fish now?" he asked sarcastically as he wiped away a tear.

"Oh no...I didn't mean to offend you. Are you old?" I asked.

The shark began crying even louder as he flipped his tail back and forth.

"How old do I look to you?" he asked frowning at me.

"I don't know...30?" I asked.

The shark's crying seemed to somehow get louder.

"Sharks only live till 30!!!" he screamed in agony.

"20, 20..." I said quickly changing my mind realizing that I had chose the wrong number.

"I'm 21..." said the shark as he wiped away another tear.

"I'm Mark. Mark the fish. What's your name?" I asked.

"My name is Gumbert...but fish call me Gummy for short," he said.

I chuckled at him.

"Your name is Gummy?" I asked.

"Yeah, is there something wrong with it...?" he asked as he lowered his head down.

"No, it's just rather fitting," I told him.

"So what is a fish like you doing out here?" he asked me curiously.

"I'm trying to save my people in Coral City. They are in great danger," I said.

"In danger of what?" asked Gummy.

"Hooks..." I said looking down at the ocean floor.

"Hooks? Oh yeah! I've heard of those! Those are the small, metal, curvy things right?" he asked.

"Yes!" I said surprised that he knew what I was talking about.

"Aren't you scared of hooks?" I asked him.

"Hooks? Oh, no. Hooks are not a problem for us sharks. As a shark, cages are what you have to worry about," he said.

"Cages?" I asked him.

"Yes. Humans like to catch sharks in cages. I lost one of my best friends due to a cage. Poor Toothy..." he said as he began crying again.

"You sure do cry a lot..." I said.

"So? Sharks aren't allowed to cry? Are you making assumptions based on shark masculism!? " he said as he rolled around in the water and crying some more.

"Gummy, no. It's gonna be okay. We both seem to be going through some trouble. Why don't we stick together?" I offered.

Gummy perked up and gave me a big toothless smile.

"You mean...we could be friends?" he asked.

"Sure!" I said happily.

Gummy started to twirl and dance around in the water as he quickly whipped his big tail back and forth. Then, for some reason, he slowly stopped and started to look sad again.

"What this time!?" I asked him impatiently.

He looked up at me with his deep, sorrowful eyes.

"Well...I've never been friends with a fish before. Usually I just try to eat them..." he said as he started to tear up.

"It's no different than any of your shark friends right? I'm just smaller." I told him.

"Hey, I guess you're right!" he said.

"So what are you looking for exactly?" he asked me.

"Hooks, robots, and a psycho mayor catfish," I said sighing.