| The Long Journey Home - Chapter 1 I hope you have enjoyed the story so far, I must admit myself that it is not all that good of a story. To this day not a soul can say why the fish swam south. Perhaps it was instinct, or perhaps it was luck. But either way, our school formed by necessity herself chose the correct direction; at least at first. They swam for hours, with Bala Shark in the lead. Being the fastest fish, he found himself having to slow down occasionally so that everyone else could catch up. Betta was the slowest, but the little fish put forth the best of effort, and the others paused when the Siamese fighter needed a break. They all had a hunch that Betta would find any nearby bloodworms the first! With the storm driving the water at a furious pace, our pack of exiles dove deeper and deeper, with only Betta and sparklz100 the dwarf gourami running to the surface from time to time to catch a breath of air. The rest of the school would wait patiently for their return. As the hours went by, the fish began to realize that they were becoming just a wee bit hungry. With no food readily available in the water, they plunged all the way to the bottom, as Zaurusman had an idea. "If we can get to the bottom and find some food there, we can dig it out for everyone to eat!" He nodded to Fishyface, and they approached the substrate together. They reached the bottom soon enough, but only to discover that the floor of the lake was covered in dense algae. "I don't eat that," Zaurusman the clown said. "But I know someone who does!" Suddenly Herman swam forward. "I can tackle this," the pleco exclaimed! Zaurusman waved a happy fin and did the loachy dance with Fishyface, swimming up and down, up and down, up and down in glee. "Well I'm starved and I ain't eaten that" exclaimed Jack the Jack Dempsey. "I need some minnows or worms or something". Relax said Herman if I found something to eat then you all can find something. Out of no wear came a native Catfish and tried eating Betta! He failed to eat Betta but instead got punishment in return. Herman sucked onto his face and covered his eyes while Jack began biting him ferociously. When the Catfish finally broke free Jack already had his meal (Catfish fins)."Well I don't think he'll be back very soon," said Jack. After that distraction the team headed onward in search of more food and new territory. Sparklz the dwarf gourami then went up for air, he found some mosquito larva, he called out to the other fish "Hey guys, there some food here?" Everybody rushed up to get some whether they liked it or not, but at least it was something. "What's that?" asked Titanicus the Guppy; something was approaching them. "It's a...It's a.... Piranha!" yelled Dagny, "Save your self!" The Piranha was hungry and looking for a tasty meal, he was looking for the slowest and it was Betta, Betta was trying to swim away as fast as possible, when Betta notice it was chasing him "Ah! Help!" yelled Betta, Bala Shark and Jack heard Betta's cry for help and gave pursuit of the Piranha; they didn't know what they could do. The Bala Shark decided that he would ram the Piranha, while Jack would try to bit the fins of the piranha. "Umfish, give us some help!" The Bala Shark called, Umfish was a Tiger Barb and they were known to nip fins. Umfish raced up with the other two pursuing the Piranha. The Piranha had opened it's mouth to take a bite, but the Bala Shark rammed his side to throw him off, but the Piranha still pursued Betta. "Don't eat me!" cried Betta, CRUNCH! The Piranha changed course a bit, because Jack took a fair chunk out of his caudal fin, which made him mad. He forgot about Betta and was now after Jack. Jack and the Piranha took pokes and bites out of each other. The other fish watch as the battle continued, when suddenly the Bala Shark rammed the Piranha in eye which did some damage. Causing the Piranha to decide that it was not worth going after this group of fish. So the Piranha swam away quickly, Umfish pursued him further, but was called back by the Bala Shark. Jack was in obvious pain, Betta swam up to Jack and said "Thank you, you saved my life." "Your welcome, Ouch that hurts!" replied Jack, Bobar swam forward looking a bit perturbed and said "Jack, this doesn't mean we're going to have to pull you along does it?" Everybody got a little chuckle out of that. "Well I might need someone to kind of watch my back in case that crazy Piranha decides to circle around or something," said Jack in a humorous manner. "Well that's two fish I've herded off with assistance, I guess I'm some sort of bodyguard being the toughest fish here" exclaimed Jack in a somewhat boastful way. Betta was still breathing very hard after her sudden ambush. "Where did that goober come from?" asked Herman. "It looked like he came from that fallen down log over there" exclaimed Betta. "We better stay clear of there", said Titanicus the guppy. And the group headed on. Unfortunately, not everyone had done as suggested. Zaurusman and Fishyface the clown loaches spied the log too, and immediately thought of their beloved bamboo chutes. With a flash of fin and a wag of tail, both were soon streaking towards the reminiscent home, with Betta trying to keep up. "They going to the log!" Betta exclaimed, and the others quickly did an about face to try and catch the duo. Bala shark beat the others, and overtook the two clowns. "What are you DOING?" he asked. "Can't talk, swimming at top speed," muttered Zaurusman. Fishyface only nodded. The two approached the log quickly, and entered immediately. Inside the log a gruesome sight met them. Numerous fish, obviously dead, had been swept into the log by the lakes' undercurrent. They grimaced at the sight. But then ... worms! Lots and lots of bloodworms! Jack partook in the interests of adding to his recovering strength, and Bala ate his share as well. Zaurusman and Fishyface did their loachy dance all over again, then devoured as many bloodworms as they could eat, their bellies bulging from the mass. Betta took a short while to catch them, but went absolutely nuts eating and eating and eating. No worm was safe from this beautiful fish! Meanwhile Herman, who was satisfied with the live food after a couple bites, began grazing off the algae on the substrate. When they were done with their meals, they finally pressed on. Bala again took the lead and played scout, while the others hung behind with Betta. Herman skimmed the bottom of the water below them in search of anything of interest, and Jack swam as well as he could given the fin damage he'd sustained. Oh, how he missed his master's stress coat! After this high protein meal, however, it would only be a short time before his fins would be re-grown. Zaurusman and Fishyface, being the timid clowns that they were, cast glances in all directions as they swam, flexing their erectile spines to make sure they were ready should another big fish come and try to make a dinner of them this time! It was because of this watchfulness that they spotted the earthworm first, at the end of a long, thin line that appeared to run up and completely out of the water. They were about to take a big bite when Betta went shooting down from above where the fish had taken in another swallow of air and observed the surface of the lake. Betta shouted "Don't do it - it's a trap!" Betta tried to warn them but Zaurusman was transfixed in almost a trance type state by the worm. As soon as the clown went to take a bite Bala rammed him out of the way bumping into the worm, which gave the fisherman above the surface a "bite" sensation, and one of them set the hook. All of the fish saw the worm go up and out of the water. "What were you thinking?" asked Betta. "It looked so tasty," exclaimed Zaurusman. "Well we better proceed and find a place to rest at night because it's starting to get dark" said Jack. So they went on foraging and exploring until they found the perfect place to stay... Soon after that as the fish were continuing with their journey, they ran into a tough and scary looking fish. "I'm Brutus and I'm a Knifefish, none shall continue forward unless you pay the toll!" "Your crazy to think that we'd give you something to pass" exclaimed the Bala Shark. "You are crazy to think that you will be able to get by without paying the toll," Brutus said, "What is the toll anyway?" asked Fishyface, "Some food" said Brutus. "What?" Jack said, "We've had trouble find it ourselves." "If you don't pay the toll, I'll have to eat one of ya" said Brutus, "What?" Zaurusman said. "Now Brutus, we just want to get back to our home," said the Bala Shark, "Well, you'll have to pay the toll," said Brutus, "I'll give you 2 minutes to find me a decent size meal or I'll start coming after you." "Just a second, we'll have to discuss this," the Bala Shark said. "What are we going to do?" asked the Bala Shark, "We can food in 2 minutes, I say we just try and run passed him." "But what about me?" asked Betta, "I'm too slow." "Well, Herman and I will stay with you," said the Bala Shark, "But somebody must help Jack along." "Hey, I don't need any help I---" exclaimed Jack. "Jack, your fin has a big bite our of it, you'll be slower" the Bala Shark said, "Oh, all right," said Jack. "All right, I'm going to have eat some of you," yelled Brutus. "You'll have to catch us first!" yelled Herman. Brutus went after Betta first, but he notice the Bala Shark and Herman push her along, he changed his mind and went after Fishyface, Fishyface made a quick turn left and went through some plants and lost Brutus. Brutus the turned to Dagny, Dagny did his best to try and lose Brutus, but Brutus stay a few feet behind, Titanicus came to help his buddy Dagny and swam right in front of Dagny, throwing off Brutus, who started chasing Titanicus. Titanicus decided to go through the plant's like Fishyface, but he got tangled in the plants, he tried to get out, but couldn't make it. Brutus was closing in.... |
              
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