tThe old leviathan wasn’t scary anymore. Grimm was bigger than it’s one eye, though she wasn’t sure that it was a leviathan any more. Her primary proof that it was not an organic being was that when she ran into its sides, it made a heavy CLANG from contact with her horn and tusks.
All she got was bruises.
Still, she enjoyed exploring it, and continued it think of it as a leviathan. Recently she had discovered the lockers in its belly. She often wondered if her insides were like this: all sorts of compartments each carrying something important. Some of the old leviathan’s compartments had bottles and bottles of water, but something about them wasn’t right. Some contained fish, but they were almost unbearably salty. Some contained metals, but she didn’t care about those. She left them outside the leviathan and swam off for a new adventure.
There was a forest of Creepvines nearby, and so she darted among the stalks to chase Hoverfish. She was noticing she had to eat more- where a couple of peepers used to sustain her for a day, she was needing to rely on finding whole schools of fish. She preferred spadefish now, and even those were hard to find enough of. As if responding to her grumbling stomach, there was a loud rumble from somewhere above her. A splash echoed through the water, as if something big had fallen into the ocean. Grimm turned, looking toward the source. She barely had time to dodge the mouthful of teeth coming at her. She rolled and turned to face her attacker- a beast almost half as long as her, pale green with purple spines, and a mouth with teeth to rival her own. It’s mouth was much bigger than hers, despite its overall size. She’d seen it on a faded piece of paper inside the old leviathan: a Stalker.
She ducked again as it came back at her, and this time it went for her tail. She pulled away as fast as she could, and the Stalker flung itself toward her instead with a loud snarl. She screamed back, shocking herself with how loud it was- the sound was almost demonic, as if it had come from a creature much bigger than herself.
The Stalker broke stride, turning and swimming away as fast as it could. Grimm puffed up in pride- surely that counted for something in this scenario. She wondered if the old leviathan would be proud of her. Then she remembered she was starving, and went away to find more food.
Her hunting wasn’t very successful, however. She returned to the old leviathan quietly, and hungrily. To her complete surprise, she discovered the Stalker stealing the metal. It seemed more at peace when it wasn’t trying to eat her. As a peeper swam past, the Stalker snapped it up quickly. Grimm was so enraged that she wanted to eat it instead. After all, it was a bit shorter than her… suddenly, she had an idea.
She scrunched up her face, trying to remember how she had done the terrible roar from before. It occurred to her that she had never had to do such a loud screech before. Maybe if she yelled as loud as she could… She sprang up, planning to attack from above. The stalker was busy collecting metals, and too lazy to notice her shadow.
She yelled as loud as she could, it coming out more like a loud screech than the bellowing roar she had done earlier. Luckily, the intended effect was the same- the stalker turned, looking for the source. Grimm dove toward it, slamming her face into a space in it’s spines as hard as she could. It was at that moment that Grimm realized that she had not thought this part of the plan through. Normally, a bite was all it took to kill her prey, or a deep scratch from her claws. But the stalker’s hide was thicker, it’s bones tougher, and it’s teeth currently raking into her arm like saw blades.
Grimm heard that incredible, terrifying roar again, and this time it was completely unintentional. She raked her own claws against it’s soft belly, and it released her arm. Yellow blood clouded the water. Grimm realized she couldn’t flee- the Stalker had the scent of her blood, for certain.
The Stalker came at her again, and in that moment she felt her tusks push back as she screamed in fear. As it came closer, her tusks pushed forward, clenching around it’s head before it could bite down on her face. The Stalker screamed as well, and this one was clearly a screech of pain. Grimm had had no idea her tusks were so strong; in a moment of clarity, she applied a little more force, and…
CRUNCH.
Grimm smelled more blood, and the stalker stopped fighting. She shook her head, trying to release her grip, but the stalker just flopped around unhelpfully; it’s jaw completely slack, and blood still oozing out of it’s wounds. She was still staring directly into it’s throat, which was still an unpleasant sight. Shakily, she settled to the ocean floor, reaching up to pry the stalker away from her tusks. She took a deep breath and tried to relax- the action released the fish and it fell to the sand.
Grimm rested her back against the cool side of the old leviathan. “I did it, mom.” She muttered. “I killed it. Did you know my tusks can crush Stalkers?”
There was a mechanical creak as the old leviathan settled.
Grimm took that as an answer. “I’m going to eat this thing, now.”
The old leviathan didn’t object. Grimm thought about saving some for her, but decided against it and tore into the Stalker victoriously. It tasted better than anything she’d eaten in a while.