Odyss Explores the Deeps...of the Lake: Crab Hunting

I can’t believe I let it get away, Odyss thinks to himself as he swims away from the lake’s outer banks. 

Earlier, Odyss got a little too overconfident in his abilities to catch prey while swimming after a deer swimming across one of the narrower areas of the lake. Instead of immediately chomping on the deer as it crossed, he took his time, swimming behind the deer slowly. While he fooled around slowly chasing his prey, his mind drifted off, dreaming about what life would be like outside of his lake home. Before he knew it, however, his prey was running away. 

Running away. While he was busy daydreaming, he completely missed his prey reaching the shallows. He botched his own hunt, by playing with his food, drifting off and daydreaming instead of finishing the job. 

Well, I guess I have to try to find food another way. Maybe I can find something deeper down, I haven’t been down there in a little while.

Odyss swims away from the bank as he splashes hard with his tale, annoyed with himself. He follows along with the bottom of the lake, descending as it descends. While swimming, Odyss notices something odd. Something he hasn’t noticed before, a cave. He’s never really explored a cave before, them not being very common in this lake. He ponders going into the cave instead of his original idea of scouring the lake bottom, but decides against it.

Maybe some other time, he thinks to himself. He descends further, rummaging through the patches of grass as he goes. Small fish swim out as he begins to swim through them, but they’re too fast for him to reactively catch them, especially when he’s unaware. Alas, he found nothing substantial in the grass. Odyss was trying to find any fish nests, but he saw no such thing.

Onwards, deeper he goes. Before too long, he reaches the bottom, and discovers….not much. Some old rotten logs, rock formations, the rare and occasional boat wreck. Nothing particularly eye-catching. At least, at first that’s what it seems like; but as Odyss swims around the bottom he begins to notice something. Crabs, way more crabs than usual.

Hmm…I wonder if I can catch any of these crabs. The occasional shellfish meal isn’t a bad thing, he thinks. Acting on this, Odyss finds an empty patch of sand on the bottom, and digs a hole. Once he finishes, he swims off to collect some crabs.

The first one he finds is a little too agitated to catch, pinching at him if he gets too close. Odyss might have tough skin, but a pinch from a crab is still rather painful. Soon, however, he finds a crab that isn’t as agitated. He picks it up in his jaws, not killing it, as fresh crab is best crab. He takes it back to the gathering spot, the hole he dug out earlier and sets it down, carefully so that he doesn’t get pinched. He swims away to find more. 

Once Odyss brings back his second catch, however, he notices a small problem. The first crab is gone. It seems as if, while he was out searching for another crab, the first escaped.

Hmph, I guess the first crab was smarter than I gave it credit for. Let me make the hole a little deeper. Odyss digs out the hole a bit more, making the walls steeper in the process. He deposits his second catch, and swims off to find more. Again, when he returns, the previous catch is gone. Odyss deposits the crab he is carrying in his jaws, then looks around for his escape artist of a crab. Nothing. Not one sign of the crab.

I really don’t want to lose more food today if I can help it. Odyss looks around the seemingly barren landscape for something he can use to help prevent the escaping crabs. He looks down at his hole as the third crab is crawling up the wall. Right before it reaches the top, Odyss quickly swats it with his tail and knocks it back down to the bottom. 

Hmm… Odyss ponders. Then, as sudden a lightning strike, he has an idea.

The Walls! I need a better wall! Odyss looks around at the bits of wood and rock lying about the lake bed.

That’ll do, I think. He heads off to collect some materials as fast as he can. When he returns the crab is gone, again, but that’s okay. Less things to worry about as he upgrades his gathering hole. Using wood pieces, rocks, and whatever else he can find, he creates a perimeter around the top of the hole.

Now let’s try this again, He thinks, satisfied with his work. He swims off once again to collect more crabs. This time, he hopes, they won’t get away.