I'm a Stingray?

"Can you explain what that different thing exactly is? I almost want to make a deal with that space worm myself." Gerlach followed along half jokingly.

But then he wholeheartedly added, "All of this power... it feels assuring."

Dana put in another attempt to explain herself, but at this point she was almost as clueless as the rest of the group.

So she had to admit, "I don't even know what I'm sensing, on my own green-veins right now. So it's hard to describe anything."

"You're probably just getting used to these changes," The geezer comforted with the aid of a cold fact.

And then had to weigh in, "Eventually you'll understand yourself from one end to the other."

"Or hopefully as fast as you," Dana complimented jokingly.

"Unlikely!" The old fart yelled.

And after he noticed the atmosphere that he created, he came up with a solution that should ease tension.

With a casual tone he swiftly described, "I've created and studied mathematical equations out of scratch, when I was just thirty-days old."

After that point he had to add, "It's fair to say that my adaptability is far stronger compared to the average fish, all thanks to the prime intelligence that I carry."

"Wow thank you," The stingray lady pouted.

And Gerlach finally understood what he truly had said, and for once he felt dumber than the average fish.

His actual intent was to give assurance to the stingray lady. Of course he used himself per scale, for the very effort of comforting the other ~ but yet his intent was highly misunderstood.

So he had to hurriedly explain, "My point is that you should give yourself some time, fine miss. Your situation is more complex than mine."

"That I can understand," The young lady cooperated.

And that was when Gerlach heaved out a sigh of relief. He didn't exactly want to anger a lady who gained power out of purified radiation.

After such a heavy discussion had been put aside, the team decided to head deeper towards this tunnel.

That was their initial intent, and could help to make sense out of this bizarre place.

But as they ventured deeper, Timothy accidentally opened a whole other branch of conspiracy theories.

It was a simple thought but it still packed a punch once he expressed, "I wonder why there was a green crystal all the way down here?"

"What do you mean?" The mantis shrimp questioned, as he tried to process those thoughts.

This was when the hero blew the theory wide open, "That space worm has exploded years ago. And this big hole was ripped open just two weeks ago, maybe?"

"Meaning that this crystal was either there before, or aided the very creation of this tunnel..." Gerlach instantly followed along.

And so the team had lightly fiddled with such a topic, but it was fair to say that the conversation was mostly neutral.

Because neither of them knew what they were talking about, and could just theorize.

The best conclusion that they got, was inevitably related to powers that they simply couldn't understand.

The space worm had been massively powerful, before it fell from the sky and shattered.

That and whatever has desolated this reef was powerful too.

So it was no surprise how the whole team thought about such involvement, or cooperation of massive power.

Even if the space worm had nothing to do with this, that block of crystal was powerful enough to create such a massive hole; it sounded reasonable.

But neither of them were exactly sure. Most of them were likely wrong anyway.

However. Their thought process was utterly shattered, once the team met with yet another danger that this massive tunnel featured.

What crossed their path now, was rather different in comparison to what they have seen so far!

Most of the team were spooked out by a figure, that seemed tremendously elongated in physique.

Their first thought was that they were being attacked by some massive sea-snake, but this creature seemed a bit more complex than that.

The gravelly features were as noticeable as this opponent's size. There was no doubt that this creature, was a spawn of the overall disaster.

But there was another feature on this beast, that managed to spook the team a bit harder than in a normal case.

There was a line of red light which ran across the plausible enemy's spine!

This light seemed almost transparent, and behaved like short horse-hair.

Paired with the fact that this enemy stretched nearly fifteen-meters long, it just wasn't a sight that would be easy to comprehend.

After a few mumbles between the whole team, Timothy was the first to actually talk with this tremendous creature.

He separated from the group for a few meters and shouted, "Big snake thing. Can you talk?"

The team had decided that it was a bit too dangerous to fight such an enormous bastard, so they hoped to find a way around it for once.

A similar holler thundered from the gravell-snake's side afterwards.

It's tone was similar in texture to its skin, but it was also thicker than the average monster; it sent shivers down the whole team's spine.

Through that shout the beast questioned, "I can talk! But what are you underlings doing in my home?"

The stingray hero initially wanted to cooperate even if it was for just a little bit. But the other's claim just seemed too dramatic.

So he had to taunt, "Home my ass. This hole is probably just seven days old."

The hero noticed that the other became swiftly irritated by such a statement, but the hero still didn't want to back down.

Likewise he also weighed in, "What are you doing in our home? Why did you destroy our entire reef?"

"Nonsense!" The other side of the stick hollered.

And then it firmly stated, "I've been down here ever since the sea filled these tunnels with water, tens of millennia ago!"

"No, you're just high on tar juice." The hero proved difficult once more.

And then he readied himself for battle. This beast of an opponent wasn't proving useful whatsoever, so there was no use found in cooperation.