Chapter Text
He should have been paying closer attention.
He knew these waters. They had been his hunting grounds for as long as he could hunt for himself, rising up from the deeper, darker waters at night to where prey was more plentiful. Sharks were easily fended off if you knew how to do it, and he'd tussled with the beasts before. A solid smack to the nose or two usually did the trick. Some fish had stinging spines or made you sick when eaten, but he knew what they looked like, or what parts were safe to eat if you were desperate enough. He thought he knew how to avoid danger in the water.
But a boat was a different kind of trouble. A boat made the water churn and the current change its pull. A boat was confusing and disorienting no matter how many times a creature encountered one. This boat in particular was fast, and overwhelmingly loud. It was much too fast to outswim, and was already speeding away when he realized that he'd been struck. Dizzy and dazed from being pulled through the current, the pain only registered when he saw the blood in the water— his blood. Twisting around to inspect the injuries was agonizing, and he froze for a moment as his head pounded. There were multiple deep gashes along his back and tail, and his fins were torn to ribbons. He choked as the metal tang of blood filled his mouth and flowed through his gills.
Fighting through the fog of shock in his head, he knew he needed to get out of there. The sheer amount of blood was sure to attract every shark in the area, and he could feel himself weakening— far too weak to fend them off. Even if the wound was fatal, he much preferred bleeding out on the sand over falling prey to a shark. Killing their prey before beginning to eat was a mercy they hadn't the capacity to understand.
Thankfully, he was near land. There was a little cove nearby that he knew well, it was quite useful for trapping schools of fish to pick off and eat. He could see it nearby, breaking the surface of the water to find his bearings. He began to swim towards it, as fast as his battered body could manage. As he reached the beach and the adrenaline in his system ebbed away, a wave of exhaustion slammed into him hard enough to make him tremble. He had just enough strength to drag himself up onto the sand and collapse, the tide lapping at his tattered fins and washing away his trail of blood. It wasn't often he found himself on land, only to rest occasionally after a particularly draining hunt, and never for very long. He always liked the humming song of the crickets and the cicadas. Aside from the part where he was most likely dying, the evening was quite pleasant. He closed his eyes. The night air was cool, the sand was soft, and the pain began to ease as his consciousness faded away.
As the sun rose, Komaeda made their way towards the secluded little beach. There was a little cluster of tide pools at one end— for a marine biology student such as himself, it was a perfect place to get some work done. One of their current assignments for their coastal ecology class was to observe and record the activities of the wildlife of a given area, and the little cove they'd stumbled upon by pure luck at the start of the year seemed like the ideal spot. The surrounding area by the water’s edge was rocky and difficult to cross, and he’d only found it at all after getting lost trying to attend an outdoor lecture one of his professor’s was holding near the main beach.
Stopping to put her belongings down and catch her breath after clambering over the rocks, Komaeda wipes the sweat from her brow and looks across the beach. He pauses at the sight of a dark shape in the distance, looking to be some kind of beached animal. Much too big to be a seal. Maybe a shark? A small whale? Was it dead, or just lying still? Perhaps against their better judgment, they begin to approach. She hums, clicking her tongue somberly at the deep wounds along the creature's back, and the sand clumped with blood. They'd seen plenty of photos like it during their studies, and it made their heart sink. Boat propeller injuries were no joke, the poor thing. Other than the creature's wounds, its markings were unlike anything he'd ever seen before on something this size, a mottled dark gray-brown body, with bright red spots dotted along its sides, and translucent red fins. Dead or not, this mystery creature was fascinating, and they were desperate to get a closer look. Komaeda squints, heart skipping as she swore she could see its flank rising and falling as though it were breathing. If it were still alive, it was going to need help, and fast.
…Whatever it was.
Far too deep in thought to pay attention, Komaeda trips on the sand, losing his footing momentarily with a yelp. To her shock, the creature shoots up in a panic and whirls around at the noise. It flares dark red frills on its neck at them and hisses threateningly, making them stumble backwards. Now that they can see the creature's upper body and had a better view of it overall, it was... absolutely nothing like anything they even knew existed at all. Its torso was chubby and humanoid, tapering into a long, eel-like body and tail, and it propped itself up with powerful-looking shoulders and arms ending in clawed, webbed hands. Huge, round red eyes stared at her with suspicion as it opened its jaws and hissed. Its teeth were wickedly long and sharp, forcing its mouth to hang slightly open even at rest. A mop of long, jet-black hair fell down its back and shoulders, tangled at the ends with dried blood and sand. Its movements were stiff and halting, and even from this distance Komaeda could see the pain clouding its eyes. Putting their hands up, they slowly back away, speaking soft and low.
"H-hey, whoa, it's okay..." He soothes, his heart pounding as he circles around the creature to get a better picture of its injuries. It eyes them cautiously, intelligently, and they briefly wonder if it could understand them somehow, at least in part. "I'm not gonna hurt you, you're alright. It's okay. Oh, you poor thing..." Whatever it was, it was very frightened and angry at Komaeda's presence— not that she could blame it. As badly as they wanted to help, they very much did not want to upset this strange creature with its sharp claws and mouth full of needles. Telling someone else about it seemed like a bad idea— in stories, that always ended badly for the strange, never-before-seen creature. Hopefully they wouldn't have to figure out how to sedate it on their own. It scowls, and Komaeda is snapped out of his thoughts and nearly collapses in shock as the creature opens its mouth again and, with a low, raspy voice, speaks .
"I don't appreciate being spoken to like a fry , thank you."