Hooks

Chapter 21: Another Town Meeting

"Mark! Are you okay? Mark!!! Wake up!!!" screamed a crying, urgent voice.

"Gummy? What happened?" I said softly.

I had a big headache and my vision was once again blurry.

"You were stung by an electric eel mate! Those bloody brutes!" said Kambara.

"Kambara, you're okay!" I said.

"Of course I'm okay mate! I told you, I'm an Aussie! You learn to just rub some sand on it and move on," he said as he examined my sting making sure that I was okay.

"But doesn't it hurt?" I asked curiously.

"Of course it hurts. But that's not going to stop me. You've gotta learn to just power through the pain! If you can't learn that you won't get anywhere in life. The sea can be cruel and troublesome due to people like your town mayor," he told me.

"The mayor! Where is he?" I asked frantically as I swam around in circles still trying to regain myself.

"I saw him escape the robot and swim off. I don't know where he went but that doesn't mean we won't find him!" said Kambara.

"We need to call a town meeting! Where's the equipment?" I asked looking around.

"Right here! I grabbed it after you got stung by that electric eel!" said Gummy smiling.

"Gummy, great job! Thank you!" I said proudly.

"Awe, don't mention it," he said blushing.

Gummy handed me the equipment and I found a button that turned the small machine on. The equipment was rectangular with a sphere attached to the top of it. The top sphere was black and covered with hundreds of dots that were the same color. I then began speaking to it and to my relief I listened as my whole voice boomed and echoed through Coral City.

"Town meeting! Town meeting! Attention Coral City, I need every fish to meet up in the chamber for a town meeting!"

I continued calling out to the town and the three of us swam out of the mayor's house. I watched as all the fish swam quickly to the meeting. They all seemed frightened and probably thought that the mayor was behind everything.

"Town meeting! Town meeting!" I yelled again.

Swarms of fish rushed to the chamber.  Our plan had succeeded.

"Crikey! It's working!" said Kambara with surprise.

"We did it!" said Gummy cheerfully.

"Not quite yet Gummy. We have to get to the chamber before the mayor beats us to it," I said.

"Well what are we waiting for!? Let's go! Mark, get on my back! Gummy, follow me!" said Kambara.

I got on top of the massive crocodile's back and we began to soar through the water. We started passing by all the terrified citizens as we raced to the chamber. Kambara weaved in and out of coral and plants as he glided through the water. Watching Coral City pass by so quickly made me realize just how beautiful it really is.

Eventually, my thoughts were interrupted when we approached the large underwater canyon. I quickly swam up to the front stage as I prepared to inform the town of what was going on. Then, to my horror, I realized that the mayor had already beat me to it. He smiled at me, winked, looked at the city of fish and then began:

"Citizens of Coral City...I am sure you are all probably worried sick right now and are wondering why I called this town meeting. I have recently found that we have an even more dangerous threat than hooks in Coral City. Mark. Some of you know Mark. He probably served some of you at Golden Coral before he was fired that is...Mark destroyed my home, left his family, and destroyed every robot fish I made that was once capable of saving Coral City," he said.

The city was buying every word the mayor said and seemed in shock. Their mouths were all wide open and some seemed devastated.

"That's not true! Don't listen to him! He's lying!" I interjected.

"Oh Mark...nice of you to show up. But haven't you done enough? You don't belong in Coral City," he said.

The mayor's words stabbed into me. I couldn't let him get into my head. I knew the truth from the fake. I had to be brave.

"The mayor is lying to all of you! His robots killed fish too and I left my family to save Coral City!" I said hoping that the city would believe me.

"Mark...tell me something. Did you get fired for lying? Because you're really good at it," said the mayor smiling widely.

"I'll prove it to you! I'll prove it to all of you! The mayor is the bad guy, not me!" I said angrily.

"Mark, I want you to leave Coral City now...and I never want to see your horrible face ever again," said the mayor. He pointed towards the exit and started pushing me away from him.

"What is your problem!?" I yelled frustrated.

Kambara then swam on to the stage and everyone screamed.

"Don't worry! He's a friendly crocodile!" I said.

"Uh...mate. I think we have a bigger problem on our fins," said Kambara looking up.

Just then, a large shadow covered the whole chamber and the citizens all screamed in panic.