Toxic Merman (JonDami Fic)

One with my Tail

324,564 thousand feet in the sea.
Time? ---

{Damian}

Ok, so there has been a little... uncalled... situation which delayed our journey back to Atlantis. We've stayed in the Hawaii region for five days -- or more, I lost count actually -- because it seems to be a beautiful and most importantly, peaceful place.
While we're there, Iruka and I had been having lots of fun. The next day of our first night in that cave, we swam further out into the sea to keep ourselves hidden from any crowds or divers. The whale remained where she was which was underneath the island.

She's introduced a lot of new games where sirens or normal creatures with fins would do for fun. Firstly, she showed air flying. It's where you swim at a hyper-speed towards the surface from a certain depth below and ones you hit the surface, you'll fly up and then quickly crash back in. The winner is determined by how fast they're able to swim, how beautiful their figures would be, and of course, how many times they could do it repeatedly without stopping. Obviously, I stick out like a sore thumb because I'm new to all these games.

Then she showed me another game called Hide or be Caught. It's basically an underwater version of hide and seek. Only this is more of a self-protection mechanism than it is a game. Apparently in the sea, creatures get hunted easily by humans with their technologies and keen eyes so... the way to protect yourself is to be a non-living thing so people can't use their tech can detect body temperature or heartbeat while hunting. However, not all creatures are able to do this.
Now, believe me when I said that I was just as confused as the next person. How on earth do I become a non-living thing? Is it even possible? Is it dangerous? Is it hard to do it? So many questions.
Turns out, it was tremendously easy to shapeshift into a hard spiny coral just by holding your gills, and curling up into a ball shape. In the matter of seconds, my entire body including my face and hair, changed color, blending in with the coral reefs I seek shelter from. It was the first time I felt my skin so hard and crusty... and I did not like it.
Not one bit. I can feel my human skin underneath the coral and scales crawling. It was not a good feeling. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to protect yourself.
My body temperature somehow changed according to the waters around me. If I'm surrounded by warm waters, my body will be warm. The same goes for if I'm surrounded by cold and icy waters.
Through this, I now know that the sea is not only a mysterious place... but it is also a place of mysterious powers. Apparently, for me adapting the form of a siren didn't convince me enough but having rock hard texture for skin and changing my body temperature did.
Now that I think about it... it's sort of the same but also not the same.
Whatever.
Now, those were games and self-protection mechanisms. Right after that, we moved on to hunting for ourselves. This means, eating... a live creature... or at least, raw creature. I thought maybe I wouldn't get hungry as a siren but of course, it wouldn't happen. I'm now a predator and predators have the appetite twice as much as a regular teenage boy. I've been swimming around the sea for -- God knows how long has it been because apparently I still haven't learned how to tell the time in the sea -- since I ate something. Iruka and the whale had been feasting on fishes smaller than them every three days.
A few days ago, I started getting very hungry. How do I know? Besides my stomach making noises, I started seeing imaginary fried shrimp on a stick while swimming through a kelp forest. Only to find out later that they were live shrimp eating off a seaweed. I swam towards them and they fled immediately, only then I realized I was seeing a mirage... underwater version.
So, this stupid scene gave away my hunger and made Iruka notice. When we reached the end of the kelp forest, there was a school of tunas swimming in circles around the area.

Iruka immediately directed me to a large rock at the bottom and taught me few strategies on catching a fish. Though I kept telling her that I do not want to eat a live or raw fishes, she kept ignoring me.
In the end, I decided to give it a try because why not. The tuna will be slightly better than kelp and seaweed. I'm not gonna be a siren forever so... in no time, I'll be back at the manor, eating Alfred's famous fried shrimp with sweet and sour sauce.
I followed all her strategies which are staying hidden. Ones my prey was in sight, I take off with my talons shaped like the edge of a knife and pierce through the fish.
The saying "beginners luck" doesn't apply to me. However the saying "third times the charm" sometimes does. In this case, I caught a tuna on my third try.
God, it feels weird to see my fingers through a fish that is still moving and twitching while blood floated around me.
Eventually, the tuna fully died and we took shelter in a small hideout because the blood in that area will attract sharks.
I have given a thought about actually eating it fully because who knows, it might just taste like sushi. But every time I see the tunas squishy eye, its scales slowly falling apart, I kept hesitating to eat it. But with Iruka by my side, constantly cheering me on, I went for it and took a bite of its flesh.
At first, all I taste was blood but later on, I began tasting the meat. Ok, it doesn't take like sushi but it's wasn't bad. After taking more bites, only then I felt more like a predator because of the way I was eating it which is using my claws, and hands. However, tearing flesh as a siren was easier than human fingers because I had sharp teeth and nails to help me out.
At the end of the day, I ended up consuming more than five tuna fishes, four crabs, and lots of shrimp. It seems now I enjoy shrimp cooked and raw because they sort of taste the same...
Sort of... plus, it is my favorite seafood.
So... our journey to Atlantis has been delayed because we were having fun... or as I called it, getting in touch with my siren self. For the past days, I've learned to be one with my tail, which allows me to swim faster than usual. I can now race with Iruka and this times, she would lose instead of me. I've learned a few ways to protect myself without causing any violence. I've learned to hunt and eat raw creatures.
That's actually very rewarding. Not that I'll need it when I'm human again... but who knows, maybe it'll be useful in some ways.
Today is a whole new day and we're back on the journey to Atlantis ones again. We left Hawaii days ago and we're currently in one of the deepest depth of the ocean which is the key way to reach Atlantis faster.
At least, that's what they say.
Our surroundings pitch black to the naked eye, and the temperatures freezing cold. Thanks to the night vision, the surrounding looks like an evening scenery... a scary scenery. There are huge mountains everywhere, no aquatic plants or creatures.
Iruka, being a warm-blooded mammal, her body pressure couldn't handle this depth but she found an aquatic herb to help her survive these depths and temperature for hours. The latest, by half a day. We should be able to reach Atlantis by sunset tomorrow.
I hope.
Once we set fin in Atlantis, the force field around it will protect her.
I held her close to me because she felt scared. I mean, being in such depth for the first time, who wouldn't be. I'm afraid myself but I had to be brave for both of us.
However the whale seemed cool and calm as usual... but then again, she's always like that. I couldn't understand whale communication just yet but Iruka could.
"Is the whale scared as well?" I ask Iruka.
"Not really." She said. "Whales has been in this area very often, they're used to it."
"That's good," I muttered.
"It was fun wasn't it?" She spoke out. "Those times of playing and learning to hunt your first food."
I crack out a smile to the thought of how I was failing miserably when attempting to catch my first prey. How many times I crash into the whale.
"Yeah, it sure was." I chuckle. "It was really fun."
"I'll cherish those times when you're back to human." She said.
"Me too, Iruka," I said as I place my hand on her, and then my chin, holding her close like a child holding onto a teddy bear. I then began stroking her skin lightly. "Me too."