It stared unblinkingly at the immortal group. Its sharp eyes seemed to gaze down at them albeit its small stature in comparison.

Hector looked nervously at the creature “it's like judging me dude.”

“What do you mean, it’s a cute ball of fluff. A sweet little thing” Thoth replies as he gestures towards the animal.

“No, I swear to you, it is judging me.”

“You’re overthinking things, it’s harmless.”

“Since you like it so much, we’ll just give it to the Egyptians then,” Hector crosses his arms disgruntled as the animal is added to the system.

A few hundred years later, “Guys they’re….uh worshipping it.”

“As they should, this cat- creature- thing is a wondrous treasure,” Thoth declared pompously as he stroked the cat who swiped at his hands.

“It just tried to hurt you!! How is this not concerning” Hector cried out in despair as he watched the demanding creature gesture for more food which Thoth happily served.

“Have you no shame man being in servitude to something you helped create.” His statement was left unanswered as the god lied down and used a feather to amuse the little creature.

Meanwhile, Artemis despaired at the so-called evolution from beast to domesticated animal. “What have they done to you!!” she voiced out distressed as she held the cat up by the armpits. Such a vicious creature dwindled down to a mere lap animal.

“What of their claws !!”

“They still have those,” John answered as he took a paw in his hand and gently pushed onto it revealing the sharp weapons.

“Bah, these claws can barely hurt a dog, how could it take down a wildebeest with such tiny things.”

“They aren’t supposed to?” he replied in a slight questioning manner.

Artemis furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, “then how would they survive in the wilderness?!”

“Well technically their main food source would be small creatures like rats but technically they are supposed to be companions for humans.”

“And how do you expect this small innocent animal to hunt with a human when everything else in the forest, jungles and grasslands are at least twice its size?”

John sweated profusely, “well, you know maybe the humans could…...take care of it instead.”

The goddess of the moon frowned displeased. “So it is useless. No matter then if it cannot defend itself I might as well have it be a good bait,” she announced as she stalked away to find John’s sister.

“She wouldn’t” John whispered to himself before shaking his head in resignation, “no she would. She really really would.”

And so, with a few tweaks here and a promise there, Artemis was able to attain longevity in the form of multiple lives for cats. The number in total being 9 before old age would reap the soul of the animal from its physical body. Some believe the number 9 was chosen because it represented completeness but in reality it was because it was the flip side of 6 which when written three times consecutively represented the devil, another pseudonym Lucy sometimes went by.

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This was of course not including the fact that the sheer amount of bad luck and accidents a cat would have to get through before it used up its 9 lives meant that they required either the luck of the devil or the fortuna’s ire.

Other animals like the cat created by the various eternal being’s each had their quirks and oddities taken from their creator, causing much fanfare within the group and earth itself.

“Okay so it’s a bird” John deadpanned.

Athena folded her arms in displeasure “It is not just a bird.”

“You’re right, it’s a big bird with a cute, large head and eyes.”

“It is a creature built for hunting at night” Athena huffs indignantly “it lives in darkness, others fear its silent power as it swoops in and captures their prey.”

“Oh please, what is there to be scared -....” the animal proceeded to spin its head 180 degrees to look straight at John. “AIIIEEEEEE!!!” he screeched in a high pitch tone that shattered a few ice glaciers.

Brahma wanting to get in on the action brought out his own creation from whatever depths he pulled it from. Nuwa looked at the creature in equal parts fascination and aversion as it wiggled around on the ground.

“What in all of black matter have you made?” Nuwa questioned the other immortal, her eyes gazing back and forth between Brahma and the creature in suspicion.

“It’s like a worm but BIGGER” he declared, his grin stretching from ear to ear.

Nuwa pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation, “what does it do?” she stated simply. Brahma hummed innocently in reply. “Don’t play coy with me Brahma, what monstrosity did you create.”

“Aww it won’t harm nobody, look it doesn’t even have any arms or legs.”

“If you think for one second I am dumb enough to assume that you made a harmless creature then you must believe I am daft, deaf and blind.”

Brahma hoisted up the animal into his arms and let it’s body stretch towards the other being, “don’t be like that Nuwa, look at its face. It couldn’t hurt a fly. Just give it a pet.”

Sighing Nuwa looked at the critter as it blepped, eyes wide and shining, “Fine. FINE!! I’ll pet the creature.”

She then proceeded to reach out towards the creature carefully and was but a few millimetres away when suddenly, as swift as lightning, the creature struck and engulfed Nuwa’s arm in its mouth. “AAAAHHHHH” the goddess of humanity screamed.

“AAAHAHAHAHA” Brahma cackled in delight, as he stroked the anaconda’s body with a devious smirk etched in his face.

Then came the most interesting animal ever created.

"John, we've all made some weird looking fishes but that is definitely not a fish."

"It's a different kind of fish" John insisted vehemently.

"Yeah, no. I agree with the rest of them John, that weird looking thing is not a fish" Lucy said as she looks tiredly at John.

"Look I'm trying my best here okay!! I just want to shake it up a bit. It's been nothing but fin, gills and scales lately and I just wanted some originality."

"Uuuh guys, where has John's fish gone" Nuwa pointed as everyone began frantically looking around for the weird John fish.

"Dude" Hector said, grabbing everyone's attention, "your fish is in a tree."

Everyone looked incredulously at the said tree particularly the said fish in the tree and back at John then back at the tree.

Slumping his shoulders down in resignation John sighs"Ok so, it's not a fish."

"I like it, let's call it Gary" Aphrodite proposed.

"Why do we need to give it a name, can't we just call it fish 2.0" Hector grumbles out.

"To be fair, we gave all the different types of fish names so it deserves to also have a name" Saras pointed out.

"I don't like the name Gary" John said stubbornly as he continues to watch his fish climb on the branches of the tree.

"How about Steve then? " Lucy added as she looks amusedly at the fish.

"Can we please give it a proper name!!!"

"Ok ok, calm down John. We'll figure something out."

Hector grins cheekily "Well since Aphrodite likes it so much how about we name it after her and call it Aphe."

Cocking an eyebrow Aphrodite looks at Hector displeased " I may have said I liked it but it looks nothing like me at all."

"Okay, then just drop the h and call it an ape or something."

"Are you really just going to insult me like this."

"No wait guys, that actually sounds decent," John said, inspiration shining in his eyes.

"Really, you too John. I thought you were better than this" Aphrodite huffed out, her arms folded and she glares at the two next to her.

"No but hear me out. It's the first of its kind right. So we'll call it like First Ape or like like….." John's sentence drifts off as he tries to think of some other word to use to name the weird fish.

"How about prime like primeape. After all, it's the first of its kind and undoubtedly will become very important" Saras says trying to placate the angry Aphrodite.

"PRIMEAPE!! GENIUS!! That's a fantastic idea. We will call it a primeape." John looks proudly at his creation " I'm sure he will do great things one day."

Flashforward a few million years later as the group looked down at the raging war occuring between humans.

"They grow up so fast."

This was how the prototype design for the development of humans began. The prototypes were not the sharpest tools in the shed.In fact, they had no shed and took a long time to learn how to make tools. Hence, why they were dubbed as the neanderthals.