Jim's world tipped upside down for a second and then righted itself with a big splash. The dizziness wore off quickly and he looked around in a daze. At first glance it seemed that the tank had suddenly expanded to three times its normal size, but after further inspection he realized that they must have somehow changed tanks.

He started turning around to study the tank when he saw a glimmer of gold out of the corner of his eye. He turned his attention towards this and saw a huge golden monstrosity speeding towards him. "A fish!" He gasped in fright as he frantically searched for a means of escape. Even though none of the tribe had ever seen a fish, they all knew of them from the frightening descriptions in the ancient texts.

A Sea Diamond floated nearby and he propelled himself onto it and activated it. It burst off in a gust of bubbles just as the fish's cavernous mouth snapped shut where he had been a few seconds ago.

The fish wasted no time in continuing the chase. Its mouth opened once again as it closed on him. He glanced anxiously behind himself as the inrush of water into its mouth caused his Sea Diamond to be slowly sucked into it.

He used to be a Sea Diamond racer in his youth and knew a few tricks. He spiraled out of the way and quickly jerked up, ending up behind the fish. The fish swiveled around, extremely confused, as he turned off the engine and activated the portable radio that came standard with every modern Sea Diamond. It was a bit broken, probably from when they switched tanks, but it still worked perfectly.

"Is anyone there?" He whispered desperately into it. No matter how good he was, he wouldn't be able to avoid the fish forever. His only chance was to hold out until armed backup arrived. Hopefully he wasn't the only alive Sea Monkey in the tank; if so then it wouldn't be long until he was joining his dead colleagues in the Realm of the Gods.

"Yeh, we're here! Just hang on a sec, sir!" The voice blurted out of the speaker at an incredibly high volume. He believed it was the voice of Colonel Freddie, but there was quite a lot of distortion so he couldn't be sure.

He winced and looked over in the direction of the fish. It hadn't noticed and was still searching for him. "keep your voice down," he whispered harshly.

"What?! I can't hear you boss, talk louder!" The reply was even louder than before and this time the fish noticed. It spun around and charged, hardly giving him enough time to activate the engine again.

"Son of a ..." He started muttering as he zoomed off with the fish literally snapping at his tail. He dived and twisted, somersaulted and looped, but still the fish came straight for him, ignoring all the other Sea Monkeys who got in it's way. The radio blared as he desperately tried to lose the fish. "Sir, um, there's a meeting in the small castle that's near the side of the tank."

"I'm a bit busy if you hadn't noticed," he shouted angrily, "can I get some help here."

"Why would you need.... Oh. Boss?"

"Yes?!" He grated.

"Are you the one being chased by the fish?"

"Yes!"

"Ohhhhh. So you need help?"

"I'm going to kill you, Freddie."

"Was that a yes?"

"Yes!"

He took a few deep breaths so he could concentrate on maneuvering. He glanced over the dial displays and saw that all the fuel was nearly gone. He swore and started diverting all power to the engine while still trying to avoid the fish. He succeeded and gained an extra minute.

Just as it was starting to run out and was slowing down, the fish seemingly lost interest. He breathed a sigh of relief and watched to see what had distracted it. The distraction was two grenade-launching Sea Diamonds concentrating their firepower on the fish. Freddie was on one of them. The fish roared in anger and charged Freddie. He dodged out of the way but didn't manage to get totally clear. The fish's fin struck his Sea Diamond and wedged itself in the machinery. He was dragged along as the fish angrily shook around trying to get him off.

He knew this was very dangerous and tried to dive free but in the panic one of his legs was jammed. He knew what he had to do. Sullenly and carefully he set the two grenade launchers to overload and started revving the engine for a sudden burst. Jim watched in horror, powerless to prevent what he knew was about to happen.

Freddie changed the Movement Status to Forward and ripped free of the fin to smash straight into the side of the fish near where there was a giant crack that kept on opening and closing. There was a huge explosion and the water surrounding the fish turned blood red as the crack turned into a gaping hole.

Jim dropped his head in sorrow and said: "Goodbye Freddie. Your bravery will not be forgotten." He lifted his head quickly when he felt a current of water hitting him only to see an incredibly grumpy fish darting towards him. He just sat there in absolute shock, paralyzed to the spot.

Just before he was about to be eaten, an incredible force hit him and knocked the air out of his gills. The world blurred for an instant and all he could make out was that he was moving . Then the world materialized fully once more and he realized that he was on the other grenade-launching Sea Diamond. Lieutenant Alfred, a soldier he didn't know very well, was riding it. "With your permission, Sir, there is a meeting in the castle which they wish you to attend," Alfred said.

Jim laughed and said "Permission granted, Alfred. Remind me to tell General Stevens to promote you."

"Yes, sir."

He laughed again and relaxed until they arrived at the castle. He dismounted and swam hurriedly into the central hallway of the castle. Everyone of importance was already there. Wacko, chief scientist, looked up from his portable computer. His technicians were working on the mainframe, probably trying to get it running. "Hello, Sir. Would you like a briefing?"

"Yes. As detailed as possible."

"Okayyyy........ Now, Obviously we're not in our tank anymore. I believe that this is the world created by the Gods for the fish and that we have been placed here as a present to it."

"Do you have any evidence to back this up? Or is this just some wild theory?"

"We have been monitoring the conversation of the Gods for a while now. Most of it is unintelligible, which is understandable, but here is a fragment that I based my assumptions on."

He pressed a button and a high-pitched voice came out of a speaker attached to the computer. "Mommy, mommy."

Another deeper and feminine voice replied. 'Yes, honey?"

"Daddy got me a fish. It's so cool. Can I feed my Sea Monkeys to it?"

"I don't think that's such a good...."

"But the manual says they like Sea Monkeys and they're boring and dumb anyway."

"That's all very well, Dear, but ....... Oh dear!"

Wacko pushed a button and the conversation ended. "What do you make of it, Sir?"

"I agree with you. The gods have created a fish and no longer need us flawed beings, so they gave us to the fish as food."

"So what do we do?" Asked General Stevens.

"I need more information before making a decision," replied Jim, "First, is this water fit for living in?"

"Not yet," replied the Health Minister, "But once our machinery is working again, which won't be long, we'll start changing it. In current conditions we can live in this water for a day at the most before developing adverse symptoms."

"Get working on it." The Health Minister swam out to begin work. "Now, what is the condition of the fish?"

"It is mortally injured and will die in a day, maybe longer. Even now, it is sluggish and weaker. It depends on certain circumstances," answered Wacko, looking at some graphs on his computer.

"How many Sea Monkeys has it killed?"

"Twenty if you include Freddie."

"Then we can't wait any longer. It has to be destroyed before it can harm anyone else."

"Are you sure that's wise, sir?" the Religion Minister asked, "The God's will be extremely angry if we destroy it."

"I know you're the expert and I don't mean any offence by this, but I think you're wrong. I believe that if we kill the fish the Gods will see that we aren't flawed and are one of their greatest creations. Who agrees with me?"

Everyone slowly put up one their hands until the Religion Minister was the only one who hadn't and then he too slowly put up one of his hands. Jim smiled.

"Will concentrating our firepower against it work?" His question was addressed to General Stevens.

"No," General Stevens replied, "We're out of grenades and the lasers don't even hurt it."

"Then we'll have to find some other way. Wacko, give me a full briefing about this tank."

"Yes, sir. We'll it's approximately five times the size of our old tank. The bottom is covered with a substance called Gravel. On one of the sides is some type of hole which sucks everything into it and they don't come back out again. We've lost five Sea Monkeys to it. Then there's th..."

"That's it. Jack?" Jack was the chief Mechanic who looked after the supplies and oversaw the construction of things.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Can you construct a Sea Diamond with an incredibly powerful laser but with the same speed?"

"Shouldn't be too difficult. But it's going to use up fuel like a fat Sea Monkey eats up algae."

"That doesn't matter. I'll only need it for a short while. How long is this going to take?"

"If you want it done as soon as possible, then in half an hour."

"Good. Go to it." Jack hurriedly left. "Has anyone seen Tom the racer around?"

"He's dead, Sir," someone answered.

"Damn! Guess, I'll have to do it then."

"Do what, Sir?" Asked General Stevens.

"If I told you, you would never let me do it. Can your men hold out for another half an hour?"

"Yes, sir, but it'll be touch and go."

"Once half an hour is up tell them to stop firing. This meeting is adjourned."

They all swam out to organize they're selected jobs except for Wacko. "Excuse me, sir, but I think I know what you're doing and ...." Wacko began before being interrupted by Jim.

"Don't waste your time, Wacko. No matter what you say, I'm still doing it. I'm the best rider around and the only one capable of pulling it off. Relax, I'll be fine," Jim said.

"I sure hope you're right," Wacko muttered as Jim swam off. He was ignored.

The next half an hour was the longest period of time in Jim's entire life. He swam backwards and forwards, brooding over his plan. When Jack finally contacted him a few minutes ahead of schedule he had nearly tired himself out, yet he still managed to rush down and get ready. He activated the mean-looking Sea Diamond and drifted slowly towards the fish. He still had two minutes and didn't want to waste fuel.

He watched as the soldiers fearlessly attacked the fish even though they knew they would do no damage. At the appointed time they stopped firing and just dodged. It was his cue.

He blasted in at full speed with his huge mounted laser blazing. The fish forgot about the soldiers and went straight for him. He sped off with the fish following closely behind. He led straight to the hole that sucked everything into it, which Wacko had recently christened "The Shredder".

When he was so close that he could feel its tug, he came to a stop. The fish thundered closer and he waited. He had to have split-second timing if this was to work. As the fish got right on top of him he tried to activate the engine. But it stalled. It seemed that the mechanics hadn't had time to do a proper job.

He looked at the fish's gaping maw that was about to swallow him and his life flashed before his eyes. He just sat there mesmerized like he was in his earlier encounter, as death came for him. Then something snapped inside him and he dived for safety. But instead of getting free, he was sucked towards the Shredder. He struggled against the current but it was too strong and he was slowly sucked towards his death.

The fish came straight towards him and this time there was triumph blazing in its eyes. Well, there was until the current made it overcompensate and miss him. He saw the fish dart past, its speed amplified by the current, and then smash into the Shredder. And there it stayed, wedged firmly in, as it screamed in agony.

The Shredder was blocked so the current stopped and he swam slowly away while laughing in triumph, until he smashed into the side. It really hurt.