Backstories for a DTA entry! They were too big to fit in the description so now they’re here. I’m too tired to think of another solution right now, so this’ll have to do. Nudibranch: So, Stun used to live in a village near a river, as a normal cat. One day, these ink wolves came out of nowhere and attacked her village. She fled, and got pursued by a couple of these ink wolves. She reached the river that bordered her village, and despite her poor swimming skills, jumped in and tried to swim across instead of attempting to outrun the ink-wolves. She ended up getting pulled under the water and swept away by the current, and washed up on an island made of rock with a cave on it, half-drowned. A crocodile-wolf hybrid named Cody lived in this cave. Cody was a special type of aquatic animal hybrid. He was what is called a “primal” in this world. Primals are quite rare, and have the ability to harness the power of a certain stone and fuse normal animals with a sea creature, giving that animal both a normal and aquatic form! Cody noticed Stun, nearly dead and washed up in front of the cave he lived in, and fused her with a nudibranch that was crawling along the wall of the cave as an attempt to save their life. He succeeded, although when Stun woke up later, they were rather surprised and confused. When Stun noticed Cody in the cave, they yowled at him to explain what he did to her, and where she was. Cody explained what happened, and she began to relax a bit, although they were still wary of Cody. Later, Cody led Stun outside and explained to her that they could shift between her normal and aquatic form whenever they wanted to. Cody then offered to show them the coastal village that was nearby, and, if they wanted, find them a place to live for a while. Stun accepted his offer, and followed Cody to the village, which was located on the shore of a large island nearby. They didn’t have to swim to get there, because the water between the island Cody lived on and the costal village island was very shallow. Cody led Stun to a deserted dock, and explained to her that aquatic animal hybrids like her and himself were extremely rare, and that she should stay in her normal form while in the village so she didn’t alarm anyone, as he grabbed a cape from a crevice under the dock and wrapped it over himself. As Cody was showing Stun through the village, something caught her eye in the alleyway between two buildings. Someone was staring directly at her, and they had glowing red eyes. She sped up a bit, her fur bristling with discomfort. Later on, Cody guided her to a small house near the shore, which was lined with rocky tide pools. This house was quite and set off from most of the village. Cody explained to Stun that they could stay here for a while if they wanted to, and Stun, who thought the house was lovely and had nowhere else to go, said yes almost immediately. Cody told her that if she needed him, the cave island he lived in was within walking distance. He also mentioned someone named Asher, who lived nearby and was apparently really friendly. When Stun finished inspecting the inside of her new house, she spotted Cody sitting on a large jutting rock over a tide pool, watching the nearby ocean. She walked up besides him and sat down. He asked her if she’d like to see the ocean to which she gladly said yes. In reply, Cody shook off his cape and dived off the dock into the ocean. Stun shifted into her aquatic form and jumped in after him. Stun was completely amazed by the vast and colorful coral reef that met her as her eyes adjusted to being underwater. Cody led her around the reef, and she got to see many different creatures or all different shapes and sizes. While Cody was showing her a strange color changing octopus, she heard a noise that sounded like something scraping against rock. She whirled around, and spotted a huge trench. She heard the scraping noise again, and saw a red glint in the depths of the trench. Suddenly, a gray shark dog burst out into the open and swam right up in Stuns face. “Hello there!! I’m Ash! Who are you?” He brightly exclaimed. Stun shrank back, confused for a moment, before timidly offering her own name. “Woah that’s such a cool name!! You must be new! Can I help show you the rest of the reef?” He asked, giving her what was meant to be a friendly smile. Stun glanced at Cody, who was now letting the multicolor octopus climb up his front paw, and turned back to Ash. “Sure!” She replied, with a friendly wave of her tail. Cody and Ash then showed her around the rest of the reef, as well as some cool hidden hiding places, courtesy of Ash. When they came back to the surface, it was well after dark. With the moon shining bright in the sky, Ash and Stun shook off their coats and shifted back into their normal forms. Cody, Ash, and Stun all said goodbye for the night, and parted ways to their own houses.
As Stun curled up to go to bed, she took a look out the window at the full moon gleaming brightly in the night, thinking about the adventures she would have tomorrow with her new friends - End- Shark (written late at night, so beware of typing errors. Also I might rewrite this in the morning if I read it again and it’s nonsensical or just terrible): When he was younger, Ashers parents had died in a fire while he was at the beach, poking around in tide pools. He was very upset when he heard what happened, and angry at himself for not being there to help. He didn’t really have anywhere to go after that, or any friends either, mostly because of his appearance and overexcited personality scaring people off. He mostly slept under rocky overhangs he found near tide pools. He met Cody one night while taking a night walk along the beach, because he found it hard to sleep that night. Cody was sleeping on the beach that night, as he was having trouble getting to his cave for the past few days because of a pack of sharks that were picking on him. Cody couldn’t sleep either, and when Asher stumbled upon him, they started talking with each other. After conversing for a while, Cody mentioned his shark problem and asked if Asher could do him a favor. Asher said sure, as he didn’t have anything else to do, and was interested in how he could help this stranger. Cody explained that he was what is called a “Primal”, a special type of aquatic animal hybrid that has the power to fuse normal animals with sea creatures using a magic crystal, giving the animal an aquatic form and a normal form. Cody finished his explication with a flick of his tail, which Asher just noticed was shaped like a crocodiles, with a fin running along it. Cody asked if Asher would be ok with Cody fusing him with a shark, so he could tell the other sharks to leave him alone. He further explained that he would have to keep his shark form a secret from the other village residents, as aquatic animal hybrids were extremely rare to come by, and weren’t too well-known of. Asher agreed, because well, becoming part shark would be awesome! So Cody dived into the water, and emerged with a small gray reef shark gently clamped in his jaws. Cody held the shark down in front of Asher and told him to place his paw on it. Asher tentatively set his paw down on the shark, and the crystal on Cody’s necklace that Asher just noticed started to glow. Asher closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them the shark was gone. He excitedly looked back at his tail, which was now a shark tail, and wagged it slightly. Cody reminded him of the shark issue, and led Asher to the shore of the area where the sharks were bothering him. He explained to Asher that since he was in his aquatic form, which was part shark, he would be able to communicate with the other sharks and ask them to stop bothering him. If talking failed, though, fighting the sharks would be a justified alternative. After Cody finished explaining, Asher dived into the water. He was met with 6 large gray reef sharks. He gave the sharks a tentative bark, trying to see if they could understand him. They seemed as surprised as you’d think a shark could look, so he then barked at them again, telling leave the dark teal crocodile wolf alone, motioning to the surface where Cody was standing with his tail, and giving a halfhearted growl to show he meant it. Now sharks don’t really make noises, but these sharks did back off a bit, before dispersing. Asher took this as them getting his point, and went back to the surface, satisfied his with himself. Cody was thrilled when he saw how easy it was for Asher to send the sharks away, and told Asher that he was going to head home to his cave so he could sleep properly. Asher must have looked a bit disheartened, because Cody followed up by asking if Asher had a home. Asher paused for a second before explaining his current living situation to Cody. Cody turned back to Asher and told him to follow him, as he walked to the distant village. Although it was late at night, Cody managed to buy a small house near the shore, which was full of rocky tide pools, for Asher. This house was also close enough to the shore that Cody’s cave island was near that Cody and Asher could visit each other again if they wanted. Asher was thrilled to finally have his own house, and was extremely grateful towards Cody. He promised to visit him again tomorrow, as they said their goodbyes and parted ways. - End -
