Hooks

Chapter 16: The Surface

We all watched as metal debris floated around in the water. It was a robot...but not anymore. I looked up and to my horror, I saw hooks everywhere. There was so many just dangling in the water as they waited for their next fish victim.

"Mark...I'm scared!!!" screamed Gummy as he cried again.

"Well I'll be! We found the metal clankers!" said Kambara.

I looked around me and noticed that we were surrounded by robotic  fish. The robots all stared at us with red, flashing eyes. One of them swam towards me and I watched as the mechanical gears turned in the water and it moved it's tail and fins back and forth. It projected a red beam of light on me and scanned me up and down.

"Scanning...scanning...Mark detected. Bomb engaged. Activating in 5...4...", started the robot.

"AH!" I said screaming and swimming away as quickly as possible.

"3...2...1..." said the robot.

There was a big explosion that set off in the water throwing Gummy, Kambara, and I all backwards once again.

"What in the bloody blazes!?" yelled Kambara.

Gummy started bawling his eyes out.

"I'm gonna be a pufferfish!!!" he said howling.

"Guys, we have to figure out a way to get rid of these robots!" I said.

"This might just be the saltwater talking mate but I may have an erdea!" said Kambara.

"What is it, Kambara?" I asked him.

"Well maybe I could use my large chompers to bite through the fishing line and grab a hook. You said that these robots attract to hooks so if we herd all of them using a hook maybe we can lure them all to their death!" he said proudly.

"Kambara, that's perfect! Grab a hook!" I said.

"Ight, I'll give it a burl!" he said.

Kambara grazed over the surface as he waved his tail back and forth. He swam over one of the hooks, opened his big mouth, and snapped down on it breaking the line in half. The hook began to slowly fall to the bottom of the ocean.

"Gummy! Quick, catch the hook!" I said.

"Got it boss!" said Gummy as he dived down after it. I watched as Gummy opened his big, toothless mouth and caught the hook perfectly in his mouth. He then rose back up to the surface.

"Good job Gummy! Now, Kambara, I need you to grab the hook and hold it by the line dangling out of your mouth. Can you do that?" I asked him.

"Why, do kangaroos live in Australia!?" he asked me.

"Uh...I don't know?" I said wondering what he was talking about.

"Aye mate! They do!" he said back.

"Am I the only one that can't understand half of what he's saying?" asked Gummy quietly as he leaned over to me attempting to whisper.

"Aye mate! What did you expect? I am a crocodile! I came from the Australian current and I have been living here ever since!" he said.

"Gummy, look out!" I said as a robot fish approached him quickly.

Kambara reacted quickly and used his big, scaly tail to defeat the robot. I watched as all the damaged circuits and wires floated through the water. There were still several robots swimming near the surface.

Kambara then dangled the hook in his mouth and started swimming backwards as his tail rocked in the water back and forth.

"Here fishy, fishy, fishy! Come and get it you dipsticks!" yelled Kambara.

The robot fish all turned around and began scanning the hook.

"Hook detected," they all said in unison.

I watched as the herd of robot fish all began gathering up one by one. They formed a huge cluster and Kambara was now surrounded by them.

"Scanning...scanning....hook detected. Bomb engaged. Activating in 5..." they all began saying.

"Swim away Kambara! Hurry!" I yelled.

"Believe me Mark. I'm an Aussie. I know what I'm doing," he said.

"3...2..." said the fish.

Kambara dropped the hook and dove down faster than a seahorse. I watched as his large snout and tail plunged down in the darkness. The explosion was massive and even though Gummy and I were pretty far from it, we could still feel the heat radiating onto our bodies. The explosion seemed to be in slow motion and I watched everything happen so suddenly before my eyes. The explosion seemed to have caught Kambara's tail. Gummy and I both waited eagerly for him to come back up to the surface but there was no sign of him. Gummy began to cry.

"I liked him!!!" he yelled bawling.

"I did too...but I think he risked his life for us," I said holding back a tear.

The sea was now as quiet as it could be.