The dolphin nervously glanced around before she turned to face the kraken again and repeated her question. “[Do you want to keep hunting or not?]”

Henry quickly sent a message to Maurice. “[We could just leave after. Go hunt somewhere else. What do you think?]”

Maurice clacked his pincers. “[Yes! Adventure! Also like you said, maybe it’s dangerous to stay around. We can keep doing what we’ve been doing.]”

With that, Henry sent their response to the dolphin, who clicked in annoyance. “[Took you long enough. Follow me. Quickly.]”

Henry wished he had an eyebrow he could raise. Why is she in such a rush?

Oh well. Shouldn’t matter much. Henry picked up Maurice and swam after the dolphin.

She exchanged a couple of clicks with the dolphin posted near the entrance, and then they were through.

As he swam after her through the twisting tunnels, Henry listed everything he needed to look into. He had notifications waiting for his attention, and he should actually eat soon. He had a few cuts of everything they’d hunted, and he was looking forward to whatever he could pick up from them. His Skill slots might be limited, but he had plenty of slots open in his Traits.

As they neared the exit of the tunnel, Henry whispered to Maurice. “[Keep an eye out. Just in case.]”

He didn’t expect the dolphin ahead to be leading them to an ambush–which might explain her brusqueness–but it wouldn’t hurt to be safe. As Henry followed, he pulled out one of the large fangs and began encasing it in bone. Minutes later, the trio surged out of the cave, but the dolphin didn’t stop just yet.

Henry eyed the dolphin as he worked on his weaponized limb, watching her as she bobbed and weaved through the reef formations while occasionally swimming to the side to glance behind.

Once his clawed arm was ready, he asked, “[Soo. Is there a spot in particular you’re taking us to?]”

The golden barrier of the current stretched infinitely to his right, and for a moment Henry thought he could see some of its curvature, though he was probably imagining it. Still, he kept an eye on his surroundings. His blood clone was already out, trailing and watching for pursuers–dolphins or other–while Maurice and several Octominds were on high alert for movement.

She glanced back, and Henry caught how she furtively looked behind him. “[We’re… uh… close,]” she said after a moment. Then she huffed, bubbles escaping from her head. “[Keep up!]”

And with that, she beat her fluke and surged forward, and Henry followed.

Wait a second.

She kept looking back. She wasn’t using the sonar ability Moon had been using non-stop. She was in a rush.

Also… was she actually that old? Clearly, she was low C-rank, considering the single question mark he saw when Identifying her.

Henry felt his observations slowly, painfully slot themselves together in a somehow familiar but still surprising possibility.

“Oh for the love of… [Are you running away from home?]”

The dolphin’s movement stuttered, but she refused to turn. “[N-no. We’re just hunting. That’s it.]”

Henry stared at the dolphin. That might be the absolute worst and most unconvincing lie Henry had ever heard. Even Maurice could do better. Glancing down at the crab, Henry saw his eyes slowly scanning the surroundings, mostly unaware of what was transpiring.

The dolphin furtively looked at him, then, slowly, swam closer.

“[I’ll protect you. If you two come with me. I’ll help you level,]” Stormsong said, looking past Henry. “[You’re better off leaving anyway. You weren’t that safe with the pod.]”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Hmm? “[What do you mean? And won’t your pod come after us–and you–if you leave with us?]”

A stream of bubbles shot out of Stormstong’s blowhole. “[You’re safe as long as you help and you agree with everything Sundots says. Otherwise you’re kicked out of the pod. In your case, I don’t know if they’ll bother,]” she said, voice dripping with contempt and barely suppressed rage. Then, as if she recalled her current position, she quickly added a tinge of urgency in her voice. “[Do you get it? So let’s go! They’ll catch up. They probably already know I left. They could be here any minute.]”

Henry agreed and Stormsong shot forward, though still stayed close enough in case of danger. Henry quickly explained everything to Maurice who, Henry was sure, was mentally frowning when he responded.

Telepathic Sense had come a long way since its early days. Still not as sensitive and discerning as Maurice’s ability, but Henry was sure he was detecting more than just words out of the telepathic messages he was getting.

“[She’s going to travel with us? But she’s not nice! She’s rude! But good thing we left, right? Unless she’s lying to us. Do you think she’s lying? Is this a scam? Do you think the others will chase after us? I think we can win. But not against Sundots. His name sounds pretty, though.]”

Henry sighed. From time to time, Maurice would slip back into that rapid-fire mode where he’d just bombard Henry with questions without giving him a chance to answer any. Fortunately for both of them, Henry had now more than one mind to keep track of his scatter-brained friend.

“[She’s an intelligent being, and it’s not my right or responsibility to tell her what to do. Once we’re a bit further from the pod we’ll talk to her about politeness. We’ll set some ground rules. Maybe she is lying, but I think she just wants to run away. Doesn’t seem like she’s getting along with the pod, but then again, she’s a free person. If she’s not lying, we dodged a bullet and we can be on our way. If she is lying… Well, we were going to leave anyway, so no harm there. If we get chased, we can probably win. I think. But I’d rather not kill them, unless they try to kill us. And yes, Sundots’ name is pretty.]”

Henry felt like a young student who just got called on and gave every correct answer.

Maurice was looking up at him, frozen for a moment before he threw both claws up. “[You can keep up with me! I don’t have to slow myself down anymore!]”

The large yellow eyes blinked before they focused back on the crab. This little gremlin. “[What do you mean slow? Me having to use Octominds to keep up with your little distracted ass doesn’t mean I’m slow.]”

Maurice clacked a pincer. “[I’m not distracted! I can just think about a lot of things at once!]”

Before Henry could respond, two of his Octominds blared a warning in his mind, which felt… very odd. It wasn’t pain or a sound, but like some sort of mental poke that broke through whatever had been occupying his thoughts.

Those two Octominds were responsible for piloting the blood clone. Back when he’d gotten the Skill, he needed a few more Octominds to keep a strong connection to the clone. After the mind’s upgrade, two were largely enough, and the picture they were sharing with him was crystal clear.

Around a hundred yards behind Henry, a shark was smoothly and seamlessly swimming along the seabed. It was somewhat flat, with a pattern that made it hard to see if it wasn’t for its constant movement and shifting. Its flesh kept changing color, camouflaging the predator as it tracked its prey.

Henry used Identify through his blood clone.

[Carpet Shark (C) - Lvl ??]

“[Carpet shark is following us,]” said Henry to both Maurice and Stormsong, who swam back and glanced behind them before moving forward again.

“[It’s not worth it, ignore it.]”

Henry looked at the shark through his clone and hesitated. This shark could have something compatible with his abilities. He should be able to take it down fast enough… but then again, they were supposed to be putting some distance between them and the dolphins.

“[Are they common around here?]”

Stormsong slowed and tilted her head at him for a moment. “[Why?]”

No reason to lie here. “[It might have cool abilities I can copy.]”

The dolphin stared at him for a few seconds, mouth open while bubbles slowly flowed up from her head before she closed her rostrum and shook herself up. “[Yeah, they’re common. Now hurry. We’re still too close.]”

Henry exhaled and picked up the pace but, as the clone began overtaking the shark, an idea popped in his head.

His clones could use Skills.

Henry mentally smiled as he began shifting his Octominds around. “A whole new world of possibilities.”

A quick telepathic check told him the shark was as dumb as a rock. So, taking control of the clone by shifting more Octominds toward the process, Henry’s clone dove toward the shark, limbs crackling with electricity.

He had to be fast. The shark needed to be killed before the clone could slip out of his control range.