I haven't really done anything with Minion specifically yet, so this is for you side kick fans! …Or fins? xD Ok, stupid corny pun.

Anyway…

"He said to take a day off, so I'm taking a day off…though I'm not sure if this is the best vacation spot…" Minion said as he stared at the lake in front of him.

"Ick…lake water!" He shook his head, "filthy wild animals..." He made a gesture of which passed for a shrug, and his suit began to emerge into the water. His legs walked in until he was waist deep and once there, his chest opened and was able to enter into the lake. His body suit backed up and sat on the shore.

Minion sighed; it had been a while since he had a lot of room to swim in. Though liberating, it also proved a bit tiresome. Being a similar shape to a piranha, he was naturally wide, but not having much room to swim and being treated as a intelligent being, he was also fed well compared to some other fish.

The water was fairly murky- enough to not see for a good two feet or so in front of him, anyway- which scared him a bit. 'how am I supposed to get back to shore?' As he tried to move toward the surface, he heard a murmur not too far from him. A sort of disturbance in the water that he couldn't quite ignore.

"Hello?…Anyone there?" He felt stupid calling out into the empty water, but it seemed necessary.

In a flash, he saw a long, spotted and sharp-nosed fish fly past him, almost before he could blink. He jumped back, and began to back up into some sticks and brush.

"Look, um…whoever you are…I'm not here for any trouble...I, uh-"

"You don't need to be looking for trouble…" A breathy, snakelike voice replied. The fish emerged through the darkness, giving Minion a better look. He was very sleek, long, and his eyes were set close on a narrow part of his head. Spots ran up and down his entire body, fading into the lighter patch on his stomach. He had five fins, one on top, two on the more front of his body, a more shallow one on his stomach, and a very wide tail in the back. His jaws were massive, jam-packed with sharp teeth and large gills on each side of his head.

And Minion knew there'd be no way of out running him. The elongated fish jerked his head to the side, still speculating Minion.

"You're not from around here, are you?" he asked.

"N-no…" The fish advanced toward him swiftly, sizing Minion up, then smelled the water.

"A piranha? You really aren't from around here are you?" 'You have no idea…" Minion wanted to say, but kept silent, and just shook his head.

"Hmm…it's a shame I have to eat you…you're…clean… and unique, you'd do well around here."If Minion could sweat underwater, he definitely was.

"Oh…you don't want to do that…I've not exactly had the best diet. Ha, you know…who knows what I've ate…really…"

"That's ok, I've not ate much lately…You're nice and plump…you'll keep me going for days…" The fish smiled as he backed up, getting a better angle on Minion. He felt the water make a few swoosh movements, and Minion yelped, recoiled back.

"Not today!" An unfamiliar voice came from out of nowhere. Minion opened his eyes to watch the water stir up around the long fish and another fish, though not as long, it was still a pretty good size. It was hard to make out, but it seemed like the shorter one was winning. It almost looked like it was swimming in circles around the long fish, which seemed impossible. The teeth on the long fish seemed impossible to avoid. The shorter fish was picking up muck and stirring it around the long one, confusing it in order for the shorter to whack him a few times with his tail. After what seemed like an hour, the water settled back down…and the long fish took off.

"You'll regret this!" The spotted, teethy long fish called back.

"We'll see…" The shorter fish commented before backing up to Minion, then turning around to face him. The tips of his tail were black, each black spot coming to a point in each of the spines of his tail. His eyes were set farther away from each other compared to the long fish, and this one didn't have nearly as many spots; about two or three on each side. He was about three times Minion's size, rather then the five or six that the long fish was. His mouth was large and rounded, though he didn't have any teeth. Another thing Minion noticed was a rip in the right side of the fish's mouth, and scars ran up and down his body.

"Who are you?" Minion asked.

"Names' Jack. Are you ok?" Jack speculated him, swimming around him to get a better view.

"Yeah, I'm fine…what was that?"

"The fish that attacked you? That was a pike. Vicious creatures…and they've been taking over. He's been stalking this area for a while now. "

"So…what are you?…why'd you save me?"

"I'm a big-mouth bass; don't worry, I'm not as bad as it sounds. And why'd I save you? Because not many fish have the guts to save other fish; especially when a pike is involved. I've kind of set off to right that wrong." Jack looked him over again,

"Yikes, mate…you've got a pretty good scrape." Jack nodded his head at Minion's left side, and Minion turned (as far as he could) to look, and found that on his left fin, there was a rip.

"Oh…it must've been when I backed into those sticks."

"No prob., we get this all the time. Here, why don't I show you around?" Jack swam closer, steering him in the right direction, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?" Jack asked.

"Minion."

"Well, Minion, we'll have you fixed up in no time. Chloe's first rate when it comes to wounds like this."

"Chloe?"

"Yeah, our little school's village nurse. She's helped fish all around the lake, though she grew up 'round here, so she generally sticks close to home."

"I see…so, um..what happened with-" Jack looked over at Minion, who was faintly gesturing toward his lip.

"I mean is it…"

"Nah, don't hurt no more. I got this a long while back. Fisherman almost caught me…"

"A fisherman?"

"Yeah, a human; they find some… thrill in catching guys like us. I learned my lesson first time 'round. Though that don't stop me from messing with them."

"What do you mean?"

"They'll dangle this curved sharp piece of metal in the water, put some food on it, and hope you're dumb enough to chomp down on it. For some entertainment, I'll sit in some shallow water, where they can see me clearly, and I'll wait for them to throw the metal at me. The second I look away from it and swim away, you hear a bunch of groans from the boat; its great. You know, I'm not one to toot my own horn, but…I'd generally be a nice prize for a fisherman."

"Why?"

"Not much big-mouthed bass live as long as I have, the others get caught and ate when they're young. Its sad, really…they don't learn. Theres not many other big-mouthed bass around anymore…Chloe and I are the only ones in our school. Fishermen take a shine to us, for some reason…"

"That's terrible."

'Eh, it is what it is…can't do much 'bout it, now…" Jack looked over at him,

"So where are you from? Never seen a fish like you before."

"Uh…well, it's a long story…" Minion shrugged (by swiping to the side and back).

"I see...Ah, here we are." Minion looked to find that they were approaching a large tree. It was hoisted right-side up, it's base pushed far down into the sand and vines helped keep it up straight. Minion noticed that the water had also cleared out, giving him a better view of the area and just how deep this lake actually was. Being underwater, all the leaves had rotten out and holes were carved into the base and branches of the tree- making a perfect place for 'fish apartments'. There were also rotten leaves twined between twigs to make enclosed little homes.

Minion's jaw dropped. It had been the first place he had seen this large a gathering of fish…. Or really other fish regardless. He hadn't really associated himself with others before this trip.

Jack smiled over at him.

"Like it?"

"Wow…you guys have thrived here! Being underwater and all, it'd seem like you'd have a greater difficulty with construction, but-" Jack gave him a funny look.

"Being underwater? You say that like its not normal for fish and their villages being underwater." Minion clamped his mouth shut. He couldn't let his savior know his background. Not yet.

"Well, its just the limited resources a lake would have to offer…its just impressive to see a community like this."

"You talk a bit funny, too..where'd you say you were from?" Jack asked, curiously raising an eyebrow.

"Jack!" A feminine voice called. Minion looked to find another bass similar to Jack, though she was smaller, more that of his own size, and her shape was all around more petite. She didn't have any scars, unlike Jack, as far as Minion could tell, and she was a lighter color.

"Found another stray?" She said.

"Yep. You think you can fix him? He's gotten a torn fin. By the way, Minion; Chloe…Chloe, Minion.." Jack said, giving Chloe some space to work and speculate Minion..

"Hello." She said sweetly before looking back at Jack, "yeah, this won't be a problem; I've dealt with worse." She smiled before turning toward the tree. 'C'mon, we'll fix you up in no time. Jack, would you mind staying here?"

"Not a problem, Clos'." Jack turned to move toward a community of branches, and Minion watched as swarms of minnows and other adolescent fish happily approached him.

"Jack! Jack! Where have you been?"

"Beaten up any more pike today?"

"I bet you sent them running!" Minion could hear a few say. He caught up to Chloe.

"So Jack, is he some kind of…Rambo fish protector or what?" Minion asked, and Chloe chuckled.

"Sort of. He's kept everyone safe around here from pike. They've became such a threat, its amazing they haven't taken over the entire lake." Minion followed Chloe into the carved out home in the base of the tree, and she moved toward a hole in her 'wall'. She picked out a few things from the homemade cabinet and floated back over to Minion.

"I've heard about how you and Jack are the last two bass in this school? I'm really sorry about that."

"No, its fine. Things happen." Chloe pressed a lily pad atop of his fin, then wrapped it's vine around it.

"Are you two?…" He drew out the word, hoping she'd get the message..

"What? Oh, no, no…We're not together. It would make sense, right? But… I just don't think it'd work out."

"Why not?" Chloe chuckled again.

"You ask strange questions." She tightened the vine. "So what about you? You're…different. And I've been all over the lake, I've seen most of the fish around here. Where are you from?"

"Not here…" He laughed subtly, looking down at his fin. "Thanks, by the way. A lily pad as a remedy?"

"No. Just a cast, really. It's worked with everyone else, so…you should be fine." She nodded, smiling before turning back to her cabinet.

"So..do you know what happened to Jack's lip?" Chloe froze for a second, then turned to face him.

"He told me a …fisherman got him, but…" It was awkward for him to talk in 'fish' language; the word 'fisherman' sounded just as strange to him as if he were addressing someone next to him as 'that human', instead of 'that person."

"Yes…he's told me the story."

"I guess its not really my business if you don't want to tell me."

"No, no…that's ok." She breathed in, "Well, Jack was caught at a young age; not too far from the village boundaries, actually…" She shrugged, shaking her head. "I'm not that good telling it. He's much better at telling the story. I'm sure if you asked him, he would tell you." There was a loud 'crack' sound, and Chloe shook her head, smiling, "In fact, we could go ask him now."

Jack was actually inspired by a real bass that I could not catch from last week when I was camping. He was really big; if I had to guess, it'd be at the absolute very least 20 in. But he was really weird; he kept coming to the same area, and he would literally look at my worm then swim off…whether it was because he just wasn't hungry (though I'd think they'd go for anything they could) or hes been caught before and knew what it was…I still have yet to catch him. I caught a bigger one then him while I was up there and threw him back…but I really wanted to catch him. Lol Out of respect; I didn't even want to eat or keep him. Though if I did, I don't know how I'd get him in the kayak; he'd pull he all over!