Shark Wars by Ernie Altbacker

when the chop-chop is rough. When they get used to the waves, they say their landshark legs have turned into ‘sea legs.’ Get it?”
    Gray understood very little of what Goblin was saying. Barkley would have definitely known. Maybe he should have paid a little more attention in Miss Lamprey’s classes. In any case, an answer wasn’t required.
    â€œDid you know sharkkind used to talk with the humans? They even use some of our words!”
    â€œAww, come on,” Gray said before he could stop himself.
    But Goblin didn’t get angry. “No, really. These homewaters have been led by great whites for thousands of years.” Goblin thumped him on the head with his tail in a joking way. Gray didn’t mind, though, as the shiver leader was talking and listening to him. That was something that Atlas never did. “In those days the entire Atlantis Ocean was part of an empire that ruled with an iron fin over all the seven seas.”
    Gray was fascinated. He listened as Goblin told him that an evil and corrupt mako empress by the name of Silander ruled everything from her giant kingdom in the Sific Ocean, which was a hundred times larger than Goblin Shivers homewaters. She ordered her brutal, armored squaline , which meant “fish soldier” in an ancient landshark language called Latin, to collect food from the shivers until everyone was starving. “ Squaline is also where the concept of the Line comes from,” Goblin noted. “But good sharkkind in the Indi, Arktik, and Atlantis oceans rose up against her empire. Riptide was formed back then, and it teamed with tattooed Indi Shiver to strike the first blow in a long war.”
    Gray was hesitant to interrupt but asked, “Tattooed Indi Shiver?”
    â€œNo, they’re called Indi Shiver, and they have tattoos.” Goblin saw that Gray didn’t understand and explained further. “They mark themselves with designs on their bodies by having urchins crawl along their skin and release acid.”
    How cool was that? It was the most interesting story ever! Gray listened, totally captivated as Goblin described the pitched battle between armadas of sharkkind and dwellers on each side in the South Atlantis that broke Silander’s power. It was fittingly called the Battle of Silander’s End. After she lost, her own Line sent her to the Sparkle Blue. Then those sharkkind fought among themselves over who would lead, and the empire crumbled, never to rise again.
    Gray just gaped. He couldn’t believe he had never heard of this before. What kind of school was Miss Lamprey leading? They spent a month studying plankton! But Gray knew it wasn’t her fault. The Caribbi sea was off the beaten path, and she probably didn’t know anything about the Battle of Silander’s End. Or maybe he wasn’t paying attention that day in class. It was definitely one or the other.
    â€œSo, are there still big battle shivers with armadas of sharkkind?” Gray asked.
    â€œNo, they all splintered into smaller ones like here in the Atlantis. Some say Indi Shiver has a new pup king who wants to be emperor of the Big Blue. They say he’s already taken over the Arktik.”
    Gray gasped. “Is it true?”
    The great white chuckled. “No. These stories bubble up every now and again. Ten years ago, a South Sific shiver was supposedly conquering everything. Somewhere far away, there’s probably a story about me wanting to be emperor.”
    â€œDo you?”
    The great white waggled a fin, pointing. “Can you guess how this part of the Big Blue got its name?” Goblin asked. Gray didn’t know, and the story the great white told seemed even more unbelievable and made him forget his question. The Atlantis Ocean wasn’t named after sharkkind after all. It was named for landsharks who called themselves Atlanteans! They lived on a faraway island. All the shivers, even when they fought each other,