Reaching the end of the corridor, you open and step through the door along with Puro, left unlocked by Dr. K to save the trouble of going through security again. Inside the lab, you can see Dr. K analysing the data he collected through your body scan. Dr. K hums in fascination, as his pencil scratches upon the sheets of paper.

Upon hearing the door opening, Dr. K glances over his shoulder and spots you. He gets up from his desk and makes his way to you.

“You’re back, I presume the cones are in place?”

“Yep, I placed the cones while Puro is on the lookout.”

“Yes! Puro was on the lookout for any latex that will bully human!”

“Excellent, then everything went without a hitch.”

“...Sort of…?”

Although you can’t tell, you are pretty sure Dr. K is raising his eyebrows, asking for elaboration.

“We did see the big white Behemoth but it was acting funny. It was huddling at the corner of the nest.”

“Did it not see you?”

“Maybe? I honestly have no idea what it's doing.”

“Curious, I should investigate while I have the chance.” Dr. K acknowledges.

“Either way, I am glad that you managed to do this without any incident, I hate to put you through that kind of risk.”

“Well, nothing happened, so it’s no issue.”

Dr. K starts gathering pages and placing them on a clipboard along with a pencil.

“You two remember the directions right?”

“Yep! Human and Puro remember the doctor’s directions! It should be no problem!” Puro answers.

“Alright. Colin, I understand that you may not remember who I am but when you remember a bit more, come and see me, we still have a lot of catching up to do.”

You nod in understanding, as Dr. K makes his way down the corridor to inspect the Behemoth. As he steps through the door, Dr. K speaks out one last time.

“I trust you will keep Colin out of trouble?”

“Of course! Puro will do his best to keep human safe!”

And with that, the door seals shut, leaving you and Puro alone. Following Dr. K’s directions, you continue through another door with Puro by your side.

Puro walks out first, leading the way through the empty corridor as the footsteps echo. Wanting to pass the time, you decide to strike up a conversation with Puro.

“Hey, Puro?”

“Yes human?”

“Why do you always call me ‘human’? You know what my name is.”

Puro tilts his head slightly, his ear flickering before he responds.

“Because human is human. Some latexes don’t give themselves names so Puro often refers to them by their species. It felt natural to Puro to call you by your species name.”

“Huh…”

While interesting, you find the telepathy ability these latex creatures have is such a vital tool for their communication, you don’t think you will ever understand how it works in detail, but that is not for you to find out. It’s not that important anyway.

“And Puro likes to call human, human!”

…do all Latex like to refer to you as human?

‘Doesn’t matter, at least I know they are referring to me.’

“Human look! We are almost at the end of the corridor! The strange doctor said there would be stairs through the door we need to take, right?”

Looking up, you notice that the corridor is indeed close by.

“Yeah, he said to take the stairs down to the containment room.”

Puro pushes the door open, as the squeaking sound of the opening door echoes throughout the stairway. Following along with Puro, you notice that the journey down isn’t too long. You and Puro start walking down the stairs, each step emitting an echo in the stairway.

Upon seeing the exit, you notice that the scanner next to it is broken, while the door barely stands on its hinges, indicating that it was broken through at some point. Curious, you step through the door as Puro follows closely behind.

Inside, you discover the containment room, filled with an assortment of cages, including tanks suitable for aquatic creatures. So far all of these containers seem to be empty as far as the eye can see.

“What do you think they put in here, human?”

“I’m not sure…”

“HUMAN STOP!”

You nearly stumble as Puro shouts.

“What???”

“Be Careful of Trap!”

“Trap…?”

Puro points something in front of you, and following his direction you see the… brown-coloured bear trap with a few splotches of goo next to it.

“Isn’t this the third time we met? Where did you even come from??” You demand the latex disguising as a trap.

…

But you get no response from the strange latex.

“Maybe human should just stay away from trap?”

“Yeah, good idea,” you respond, glaring at the sentient trap.

Going around the oddly placed trap, you continue to explore. Upon closer inspection of these cages, you notice that all of them have a small splotch of goo in different colours, from white, orange, red, brown, etc.

“Seems like they might put latexes in there considering those splotches.”

“That would be a horrible way to contain a latex beast.”

“What makes you say that?”

Passing by a cage, you notice there is a small but roundish orange fox, poking its nose out from the bars of the cage, sniffing the air. Seeing you, the orange fox deforms its puddle into a puddle before sliding through the gaps of the bar, reforming once it passes through.

The orange fox looks up to you with its beady eyes, examining you…as if it is deciding something.

‘No…’

Seeing the fox hunching its legs, you take a step back.

‘Do not…’

“Hey! Don’t touch human!”

The fox jumps in fright, its fur puffing out giving an impression of a round ball before it scatters away. Seeing the fox running away, Puro looks at you with expectations, waiting for you to respond.

“Ok…now I see why it’s a terrible way to contain a latex beast.”

“Yep! Humans would be silly to contain a latex beast in these cages. Maybe they use them for something else?”

“Hmm…”

You try to give it some thought but the lack of memories hinders you from coming up with a firm suggestion.

“Well…besides latex beasts I can only imagine they would put animals in here.”

“Maybe…Humans would likely put animals in here…do you think it's possible that-”

*Snap!*

‘What was-’

*CLANG! BANG!*

Before Puro can finish, a metallic cage crashes upon him, knocking him down and leaving him in a daze, breathing rapidly, whining in pain while slowly recovering from the rather painful event.

“What?!- PURO!” You look up to see that the rope that was meant to hold the cage above was cut.

‘Finally found you…’

A familiar voice speaks into your mind, filling you with dread. Looking to your right, you see a familiar pair of emerald eyes piercing through the dark room as a grey furry creature with white hair and underbelly reveals itself, its tail swishing left and right.

‘Not again…’

The ambushing latex is the female snow leopard Trixie, her hair seems more unkempt than you recall.

‘I had been searching for so long…but I finally found you!’ Trixie says with glee.

Damn…you know that Hunter told you that Trixie is obsessed…but you never thought she would be THAT obsessed! Trixie makes her steps towards you, and the urge to run grows stronger as she gets closer.

‘Ever since I saw you in person…back in that corridor…I knew…I just knew…I HAVE to see you!’

“Human! The device the doctor gave you! Use it!” Puro calls out from his prison.

Listening to Puro’s advice, you recall the taser Dr K gave you.

‘Now that I met you, we can finally- AHH!’

Not letting her take another step closer, you quickly whip out the taser from your pocket and fire at her, missing the shot but enough to make her startle, allowing you to escape.

Throwing the taser at her, you dash in the opposite direction, you take the opportunity to get as much distance as possible.

Unfortunately, the advantage doesn’t last long as Trixie quickly recovers and rushes in pursuit.

‘Hey! I spent so much time looking for you and THIS is how you treat me??’

You ignore her yells, and you scan your surroundings, spotting an airlock door you can use to escape. You don’t care where it leads, you just want to get away from her. Rushing to the exit, Trixie continues her pursuit.

‘Stop running away! Why do you keep running away??’

Rushing and slamming your hand against the button as the door opens. You rush through the door, turning to see the button and Trixie not too far behind. You dive for the button, hitting it as the airlock door proceeds to close. Unfortunately, Trixie just manages to reach out and grab you by the shirt while trying to pry the door open with the other.

Keeping the door open, Trixie uses her other arm to keep the doors from closing, frustration and determination can be seen clearly in her expression.

‘I…can’t let you go!’

In a blind panic, you pry off the attacking hand, while Trixie holds firm, desperate to hold on.

Despite not much room to work with, she grits her teeth and pushes with all her might, refusing to let you go. However, despite all of her efforts, the door starts to slowly gain leverage proceeding to close all the way.

For a moment, you see Trixie’s eyes snap open with fear before…

*SLAM*

“YEEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWW!!!!”

You tumble backwards, a blood-curdling scream can be heard as the arm Trixie used to grab you is sliced off by the door, dangling impiously on your shirt as you crash on the floor.

Frozen in fear, you find yourself unable to move, staring at the door where you witnessed a traumatic event, the fear on Trixie’s face just before the door slams shut echoes in your mind, haunting you.

Eventually, you look down to see the same grey furry arm dangling on your shirt, a stain of guilt weighing heavily on your heart. You didn’t mean for this to happen, you just wanted to get away! You didn’t want Trixie to lose her arm!

Gently pulling the arm off your collar, you look at the severed arm, trying to figure out what to do.

‘God…What should I even do?’

Gently setting the arm down on the floor you slowly step away, not wanting to watch this horrible scenery, you turn and make your way to the other side of the airlock, preparing to exit.

Reaching the end of the airlock you try to forget about the horrific scene with Trixie…but fail. Looking behind you, you look at the severed arm one last time as it…seems…closer.

‘Wait…’

Suddenly, the arm squirms as it moves towards you! It’s alive!

“Oh my…!”

Not wanting to let the living arm get to you, you run to the door, slamming into it in a blind panic before trying to get it open.

“Why are you not opening?!”

You quickly notice the keycard scanner.

‘Keycard! Keycard!’ You mentally yell to yourself.

Fumbling into your pockets, you pull out the life-saving keycard and swipe it through the scanner with glee.

…

*BEEP!*

…

You now have a personal hatred of Keycards.

“You are useless!”

Putting away the keycard, you look back to see how much time is left before the possessed arm gets you. It’s getting closer!

Banging at the door, you try to get it open. Looking at the keycard scanner one more time, you see the familiar ‘security’ button. You madly mash the button, calling for help.

“Dr. K! Dr. K! Pick up! Open the door!”

But there is no response.

“Dr. K! Where are you??”

----------------------------------------

“Curious…” the doctor mumbles to himself, scribbling notes while observing the white Behemoth.

True to what Colin said, the Behemoth is huddling in the corner of the room, shuddering as though afraid of something…but what? What is it that can quell or strike fear into this massive beast? The cones? Possible, though unlikely.

If Dr. K could find the source that quells this mighty being, he might be able to come up with a solution to deal with unruly or unstable Behemoths.

It’s a shame, to discover that Colin has survived the ordeal years ago but with a hefty cost to his memories. Will he be able to recover them soon? Dr. K really hopes so.

But still, he considers Colin to be extremely lucky. If it weren’t for the aerosol, he would not have made it far out of that stasis pod. He can’t help but wonder, he may have heard a bit of Colin’s adventure with these strange creatures, but that was all in a clean slate. A fresh perspective.

But what if he remembers everything?

…

Well…it doesn’t matter now. However he views them is all up to him, that’s not for Dr. K to decide.

“Wonder what he is doing now…”

A security alert pings his phone.

“Unauthorized access request from Colin? Hmm… might as well give him that freedom I promised years ago.”

Whatever it is, he hopes that Colin isn’t doing anything dangerous.

----------------------------------------

“HELP!” you scream to the intercom, still getting no response.

Fearing for the worst, you turn to see that the arm has made its way to you, grabbing your leg.

“AHHH! GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF ME!” You yell, fighting to kick the living arm off as you stumble backwards, your instincts demanding you must get away from the arm as soon as possible.

And of course, that’s when the door opens behind you.

Unfortunately, the blind panic and the distraction of throwing Trixie’s arm off prevent you from seeing where you are going. Windmilling your arms to keep what little sense of balance you have left, the short railing your foot hits quite literally derails that chance.

The sudden splash of cold water washing over your body leaves you in a daze, trying to comprehend what just happened. Realising that you are in a large body of water, you immediately try to get back to the surface, but the living arm blocks your way.

The arm is swimming, trying to keep to the surface while desperately trying to make its way to you.

The sight disturbs you so much that you can’t even make a thought or comment about it.

Maintaining your distance from the arm, you swim backwards as the arm tries to catch up, refusing to let you get away. You look around, finding yourself in a more spacious area, filled with water around every corner. It seems to be an aquatic biome of some kind.

Turning away, you start to swim as you search for a place to exit the waters but find nothing, the balcony is just out of reach.

Suddenly, a triangular…grey object flows past you… with another triangular object…and another…

Instincts tell you to stop as a small fraction of memory surfaces, as a single word whispers in your mind to inform you of what you are seeing.

‘Sharks.’

You can’t recall much other than they are creatures that live underwater. Violent splashes of the water grab your attention, following it, you see that the arm seems to be panicking, swimming on the opposite trying to get away from the-

*Splash! SNAP! Splash*

And just like that, a shark launches itself upwards, catching the arm in its massive jaws, allowing you to catch a glimpse with its many sharp teeth before it snaps shut. The shark then disappears underwater, leaving you dumbstruck.

…

‘Wow! That thing was delicious!’ A voice quietly whispers to your mind.

‘It was? If only there were more…’

‘That doesn’t matter, we still have this creature here.’

‘They are talking about me…’

‘...Did you guys hear that?’

You grit your teeth, they heard you!

‘It can communicate! But it doesn’t seem to be made of latex like us.’

‘Hmm…this sounds familiar…what were these creatures called again? Humans?’

‘Ermm…I think so.’

‘Aren’t humans something we assimilate to get stronger bodies?’

…

You take this as a sign to start swimming for your life. With a sudden boost of energy, you swim as fast as your arms and legs can carry.

‘The human is getting away!’

A splash occurs behind you.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

‘I CALL DIBS!’

You don’t even need to look behind to find out what is going on.

‘WAIT WAIT WAIT!’

But it does nothing to deter the attacking shark, as it rushes to you with its jaw open wide. Unfortunately for you, a creature living on land cannot outswim an aquatic creature.

With its jaw stretched upon, the shark starts to pull your body in, starting with your legs. As soon as your legs enter the shark, your momentum slows down, unable to assist you in swimming as the shark’s body compresses them, disabling them. It feels slightly different from the other transfers you experienced, this one feels a bit more slippery.

Maintaining the advantage, the shark quickly makes its way up to your body, its jaws scooping up your body as it reaches past your torso. You barely comprehend what is happening as the shark looms closer to your head.

Your legs that are fed into the shark make their way down the shark’s body, reaching its tail as it squeezes together and slips into it like a glove.

With a last-ditch effort, you throw your arms to the side as the shark tries to close over your head. You hold your breath, trying to ignore the splashing of water against your face as the shark tries to shake off your grip, trying to finish the transformation.

Seeing that you will not let go, it launches into the air and dives headfirst into the water, as the wave of water splashes over you. On instinct, you cover your face as the shark’s jaw slams shut, sealing you in.

With your body now in its possession, the shark can finish the transfur.

You feel your legs squish together as the shark’s body stretches, supporting its new upcoming body. The tail grows longer as it compresses your hips while the shark pulls your arms to the side of your body.

As soon as your arms reach to your sides, you feel the latex slide into your arms, the goo seeping through your skin and into your body, your arms eventually extending outwards to the sides of the shark’s body. Eventually, it solidifies and connects to the shark, becoming a part of it.

With the transfur almost complete, the shark starts to merge its head with yours, finishing the transfur.

The shark opens its eyes, revealing the shark’s brethren watching on with interest. They swim towards you and the shark as more thoughts reach your mind.

‘How do you feel?’

‘I feel…different. Strange but in a good way. And these things…’ The shark pauses, bringing its new arms in front of it.

‘I don’t know what to feel about them…what were they again? Napoleon has these.’

‘Think he calls them ‘arms’. You use them to interact with objects.’

While the sharks are mingling with your captor, you try to endear the lack of oxygen…you will need air!

‘Guys…I need air!’

‘Did…did you say that?’

‘I-it wasn’t me!’ Your shark captor replies.

‘That sounded like the human…at least I think it is.’

‘I need air NOW!’

And just like that, you feel your captor is responding to the plea, granting you oxygen underwater. You feel relief as the fire in your lungs slowly fades away. Your captor notices and thrashes around in a blind panic.

‘Ahh! Something just happened to me! Was it the human doing this??’

‘I don’t know! I thought you did that!’

‘Finneas! The human is still there! Assimilate him already!’

‘I...I thought I did! I didn’t think he would still be there!’

‘Errr spit it out! Spit it out! Before it does something!’

‘Wait, what are you guys even doing??’

Before you can say anything else, you feel the latex start to pull and separate itself from your body, as though it is being washed off, as your shark captor separates itself from your body.

You feel the goo melt away from your torso..to your arms and legs…as the shark pulls its head off of yours, leaving you in a daze from the sudden separation, leaving you stranded underwater.

Snapping out of your daze, it didn’t take long to realize that you no longer have your supply of oxygen. You quickly make your way back to the surface, gasping for a fresh retake of air the second you can.

‘Finneas! Are you ok?? You still look just like when you…umm…assimilated…the human?’

‘I feel fine…nothing different.’

‘Nothing at all?’

‘Well, besides having these ‘arms’ now, I feel rather fine.’

You rub your head, coming out of your daze while working to stay afloat.

‘Guys? I don’t…ow my head…’

‘Maybe you were doing it wrong…? Maybe the transformation wasn’t finished?’

‘I don’t think so. Everything feels as it should be.’

‘I'm gonna try this myself, maybe you were missing an important step.’

That last bit did not slip past you.

‘You’re all seriously not going to try this again are you?’ You communicate, looking down into the waters.

And sure enough…there is a shark swimming right below you, charging at you at full speed.

‘You have got to be-’

*Splash SNAP! Splash*

And sure enough, just like before, the shark transfurs you, developing its new body just like the previous shark. Finishing the transfur, the shark makes its way to its friends.

‘Did it work?’

‘I think so? I don’t think the human is…’

‘I’m still here…’

‘SPIT IT OUT! SPIT IT OUT! SPIT IT OUT!’

‘WAIT! DO NOT-’

In a hurry, the shark immediately separates itself from your body, leaving you in a worse daze than before. Not wanting to drown, you quickly swim back to the surface again.

‘Please…don’t do that again…’

‘Ok…we have new bodies…the human is still there.’

‘And it can use telepathy!’

‘What do we do? We know how valuable this human is and yet we can’t assimilate him!’

‘I don’t know…maybe we can.’

‘Alright, alright! What is going on over here? Why are you all panicking…and why...are you two…different?’

A much more powerful and stern voice reaches your mind.

‘Breton! You are here! We had just found a human!’

‘A human? That creature up there?’

‘Yes! We tried to assimilate him, but it didn’t work! Although Finneas and I still have this new body.’

‘Hmm, anything else?’

‘As soon as, or at least, tried to assimilate the human, we just heard the human use telepathy! We spat it out just in case it could hurt us.’

‘Wait, the human can use telepathy?’

You decide to add to the conversation, hoping to gain some control of the situation.

‘Hey, I can still hear you all.’

‘See?? Did you hear that?? It can use telepathy!’

‘Could you stop referring to me as an ‘it’? I have a gender and a name you know.’

‘Hmm, sounds like the human is a male.’

‘What do you think Breton? What do we do?’

‘Hmm, well we know he can use telepathy, did you try to communicate with him?’

‘Ahhh…no?’

An uncomfortable silence fills the atmosphere, while you try to hold back a small chuckle.

‘You all knew the human is capable of communication and yet NONE of you tried using it?’

‘...No…’ A collective ‘No’ can be heard in your mind, the sharks finding their lack of insight to be embarrassing.

‘Now I see why Napoleon appoints me to be his 2nd in command.’

‘2nd in command? What does that mean?’ You ask Breton looking underwater, trying to spot him.

‘Alright, let me see this for myself.’

You pause for a moment, trying to decipher the meaning behind Brenton’s words.

‘What does that mean? Are you coming up to talk?’

*Splash! SNAP Splash!*

Unfortunately, Breton has other plans as a much larger shark catches you within its jaw, bringing you in for the transformation. At least this one was a bit more spacious than before.

‘Oh come on! This is the third time already!’ You complain after the process is finished.

The shark ignores you, admiring its new body and arms. Testing his new arms, Breton moves them back and forth, getting a feel for his new limbs. His eyes track his new arms with fascination.

‘Huh, now I understand what it is like to have arms. Napoleon has it easy. And if I recall, this is what is supposed to happen after the assimilation. Are you still here human?’

‘I’m still here.’

‘How are you still here? I didn’t think it was possible, what’s your secret?’

‘Why would I tell you? You all tried to kill me!’

‘We weren’t aware that humans were…intelligent, like us.’

You mentally scoff with annoyance.

‘Look, we came off a wrong fin here. Maybe try this again?’

Before you can respond, you notice a serve lack of oxygen supplying your body.

‘Air…AIR! Need air!’

‘Wait, you need oxygen?? Can’t you breathe underwater?’

‘No!’

‘W-what do I do??’

Just before Breton starts to panic, you feel a mental ‘click’ just like before, before you somehow find oxygen entering your lungs once more.

‘Ok…I’m fine now…I am getting oxygen.’

‘How did you do that?’

‘Do what?’

‘That thing you just did, I felt like my body went into a slight panic and did something. Was that you?’

‘I thought you did that!’

‘No I didn’t…! Ugh…look…there must be something more to this. Surely you must know something about this. How were we able to get a new body without assimilating you?’

You take a moment to calm down, remembering the Elder’s letter and Dr K.’s explanation of the latexes. These sharks clearly don’t know what is going on, maybe they are just going by instinct like the other latexes that caught you.

‘Well, they can’t be worse than Violet.’

‘Who’s Violet?’ Breton asks, testing his new and improved tail.

‘I didn’t mean to say that.’

‘It’s a common mistake in telepathy, especially in young latex. When did you pick up telepathy?’

‘Just today…yesterday? Umm, either of the two.’

‘Just recently?’

‘Yeah…’

‘Alright. So you know what is happening here? How you are still here?’

‘Well from what I heard, you guys would be able to assimilate me, that was until the whole institute was flooded with some aerosol that changes all latex creatures.’

‘Aresol? What’s that?’

‘It is like some sort of gas. It changes how you guys work so that you can’t assimilate humans anymore.’

‘It changed us? How does it work exactly?’

‘I don’t know, sorry.’

‘Alright, but what about this? I was still able to take you in. How does this work?’ Breton asks, gesturing to his new body.

‘I think it’s where you catch a human, you take them in as a host and we both get a stronger better body without assimilating me, and I can be let out later on. Latexes seem to call this ‘transfur’.’

‘Transfur? That is a strange name for this.’

‘That’s what I thought!’

‘And you say ‘other’ latexes do this?’

‘Everyone in this institute yes. Except for those who were outside of the institute when this happened, they can still assimilate me.’

‘Latex from the land? The outside world?’

‘Yeah? What about it?’

The shark pauses, gathering his thoughts.

‘Well, you seem to know quite a lot. If you know something about the outside world, perhaps you can help us.’

‘Help you? What do you mean?’

‘You have vital information that our leader Napoleon should know. In which case I should take you to him immediately.’

‘Hey hey! Wait a second! I didn’t ask for this! You guys are bringing me into this!’

‘But didn’t you fall into here? You made quite a splash along with that strange arm thing.’ A shark comments.

‘I was trying to get back to the surface!’

‘But the way to the surface is quite a long swim.’

‘From what I seen, you will need air.’ Breton adds in.

‘Not to mention you aren’t the best swimmer, you won’t last forever.’

You want to make a comeback, but you have nothing for the defense. The sharks got you on the ropes.

‘But still, I didn’t-’

‘Hold on human, listen. How about we take you to Napoleon, tell him what you know, and then we can see about taking you back to the surface safe and sound? What do you say?’

To start to consider Breton’s offer, not seeing other options.

‘Not to mention, we are kinda saving your life here.’

‘Finneas…’ Breton says sternly, making the shark flinch with regret.

‘I suppose I have no other choice.’

‘Great! You will have no regrets, I assure you.’

‘I really hope so,’ You sigh in defeat.

‘No, you won’t human. And besides, something tells me this isn’t the first time this happened right? You have been, ‘transfurred’ as you call it right?’

‘It happened a few times.’

‘Then this won’t be any different. You get to live and swim like a shark!’

You blink at Brenton’s thinking. Well, he isn’t wrong, you get to experience what it is like to swim underwater freely without the heavy burden of surfacing for air every few seconds. Looking through the shark’s eyes, you realize the potential once-in-a-lifetime experience before you.

‘Well, living underwater would be a first.’

‘That’s more like it.’ Brenton communicates, before mentally preparing for something.

‘COMRADES! Form up! We are reporting to Napoleon immediately!’

Breton swims deeper underwater as the sharks form up behind him, following in his direction.

‘Let’s move out!’

While Breton takes control of the body, you are left in surprise by his sudden change of tone, having a sense of authority.

‘I didn’t expect that change of tone.’ you communicate to Breton as the connection with the other sharks is fading away, leaving you with just you and Brenton on the mental link.

‘I am Napoleon’s second in command. I have to act like one after all.’

‘I recall you saying that name, is he like the leader or something?’

‘Correct. He is the leader of these waters.’

‘The whole place?’

‘Everywhere!’ Breton confirms, swimming through the depth with ease.

‘So what should I do when I meet him?’

‘Just keep calm and answer his questions and you will be fine.’

‘Ok.’

Happy with the answers, you focus on watching the scenery before you. Through the quiet waters, you see a school of colourful fish swim past you and the other sharks as you all swim deeper underwater.

As you go deeper underwater, you see giant green…grass? No wait, that’s…seaweed…Seaweed along with some strange colourful-looking rocks sprouting from the rocks below.

You then see an underwater cave, as you and the sharks start diving towards it, not sure what to expect. Going through the entrance, you eventually settle at the bottom of the depths as you take in your new surroundings.

There are a lot more colourful rocks and seaweed, along with a large hole in the ceiling, beaming down a ray of light into the cave. There are schools of fish in many different colours and sizes along with a few more sharks. In the center there is a…wait…what on earth is that?

Before you rest a strange-looking anthropomorphic otter latex, donning pure white fur all over its body, sitting upon a throne made up of stones put together, with a hint of boredom. It has two pairs of arms and a singular pair of legs similar to that of a human. It also has a small snout along with a beady black nose and it has small circular ears on top of its head. It even has a white tail, resting upon the arm of the throne.

Not only that, he seems to be rather large, reminding you of those towering heights of those behemoths you previously met.

The latex takes notice of you and the sharks’ arrival, his boredom fading away as he smiles welcomingly. Sitting upright, he prepares his welcome as…

‘What the…’

As it sits upright, two pairs of tentacles sprout from behind this otter’s back, revealing a paw at the end of it, giving a loose impression of an arm. Is this otter part squid as well?

‘Ahh, my Second in command returns already! I assume you bring news? You seem different, and are those arms? You developed some arms!?’ The otter speaks, a sense of power and authority evident in his telepathic voice.

Breton lies low upon the grainy sands along with the other sharks, kneeling before this strange latex.

‘Yes Napoleon, I have brought some interesting findings.’

This piques the otter named Napoleon’s interest.

‘Go on…’

‘W-wait, I thought Napoleon was a shark.’

‘No, Napoleon is a Squidotter, his body makes him perfect to be a leader.’

‘Why not a shark?’

‘We don’t have arms like yours. We are severely outclassed by him. Why should Napoleon be a shark?’

‘I just thought maybe-’

‘Breton? Who is that you are talking to? I don’t recognize him and yet he seems to be coming from you. What’s the meaning of this?’

Before you can communicate, you feel Breton push you away from the link, stopping you from communicating. You feel Breton rise up while the other sharks’ remain put.

‘My scouts have uncovered a peculiar creature on their expedition, a human to be precise.’

‘A human? These creatures that give us a new body when assimilated?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘Ahh, excellent news! I assume you used the opportunity to develop a stronger body fit for a commander!’

‘I am humbled you think so! Although…’

‘Although…?’ Napoleon edges on.

‘The human was not assimilated despite the procedure.’

‘The human is still here? And he is with you as we speak?’ Napoleon asks, doubt clear in his voice.

‘It’s true! I went to take him, got this new body and then he just used telepathy! We were freaking out when we heard it! We thought we were doing it wrong and tried again but no! He is still there! We couldn’t decide what to do until Breton got here!’ One of the sharks that transferred you spoke up excitedly.

‘Finneas!’ Breton scolds, as Finneas slams his paws against his snout in response.

Napoleon examines from his throne, seeing the similar changes on the shark.

‘I see. If a human can provide means of a better body, WITHOUT being assimilated in the process, we could upgrade the whole army! This is wonderful news!’

‘U-upgrade an army?!’ You mentally yell, but none of the sharks nor Napoleon himself heard you.

‘There’s more.’

‘No…’ Napoleon says in disbelief yet with excitement.

‘The human seems to have information about the outside world, and how he was able to survive the assimilation.’

‘Breton? What do you mean by the human having information exactly?’ Napoleon asks with confusion.

‘It turns out that humans are actually intelligent and capable of communicating with us.’

‘With telepathy?’

‘Yes, Napoleon.’

Napoleon leans back on his throne, taking the time to process the information about the human race and valuable information of the outside world, that practically just landed on their laps.

‘Intelligent humans, wasn’t quite expecting that. But information of the outside world as well? Dropped right into our domain? This is the best news I have heard thus far! Breton! Allow me to see this human at once!’

‘I can only provide the link sadly, the human needs air to survive, so I had to slightly adjust my body to provide him the necessity. Although I am not sure how I did it, admittedly.’

‘Ahh…no matter, let me reach out to him.’

Breton then swims to Napoleon, standing before him as he rises from his throne. Breton offers his paw as Napoleon reaches for it with one of his tentacles, wrapping it around Breton’s paw.

You then feel a much stronger link connecting with you just like Breton’s, and shiver as you feel Napoleon is observing your mind…and your body, getting a picture of who you are and what you look like.

‘There you are human, you can hear me, yes?’

‘Yes.’

‘Very good! Breton here tells me you have some valuable information, I am keen to hear what you have to share.’

‘Me not being assimilated?’

‘And the outside world.’ Napoleon adds, removing his tentacle from your and Brenton’s arm, but maintaining the mental link.

‘Umm right. The only reason I wasn’t assimilated was that you and others were hit by some aerosol that was flooded in the building, it was created to make the latex unable to assimilate humans but allow them to transfur, just like me and Brenton here.’

‘Aerosol?’

‘He said it's some kind of gas.’

‘Hmm…perhaps that’s the same gas from years ago that polluted our waters? We all went into a frenzy as we became infected one by one. We weren’t quite sure what happened to us, nor remember much before then. We made plenty of theories and speculations.’

‘You all can’t remember anything?’

‘Only who we are, and small glimpses of the past. We remember seeing humans feeding and observing us. Did you create this, Areosol?’

‘I didn’t make it, someone else did.’

‘How does it work specifically?’

‘I don’t know…’

‘Hmm, no matter. What about the outside world?’

‘I only know a few things.’

‘Only a few? But don’t you live in the outside world!?’

‘I was frozen for years, I have amnesia! I can barely remember anything!’

Napoleon leans in slightly closer, looking directly into Breton’s…no…your eyes…as if judging to see if you are telling the truth. You feel a sense of weight weighing on your mind before it passes away.

‘Seems you truly can’t remember anything.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Never mind that, do continue. Share what you know.’

Although you find it unsettling that this otter apparently did something, you continue to avoid causing further trouble.

‘Well I know there are a few towns out there, despite the virus. And I know there is some latex out there too.’

‘And?’

‘And um…there might be a town nearby? I was looking to get outside so I can see other humans like myself.’

‘You already said there are towns.’

‘I don’t know what else to say. All I know is that there are humans and latexes out there.’

Napoleon leans back, taking in the news.

‘A shame, I was hoping for a bit more than that,’ Napoleon comments, showing his disappointment.

‘However! Regardless of the lack of information, we still have a valuable asset.’

‘Asset?’

‘You of course! With you on our side, we shall improve our army, and take over the land!’

The Squidotter’s declaration left you speechless, what did he say? ‘Take over the land’?

‘You are not saying that you are planning to invade are you??’

‘Hmmm invade is a strong word, I prefer the term…aggressive establishment.’

‘That’s invading! Why would I help you invade my home world??’ You yell angrily at the Squidotter.

The atmosphere goes dark as you feel the tension and nervousness building from the onlookers as Napoleon’s prideful smile turns into a frown. You feel Breton pull his arms behind him, as he pinches himself. Sure enough, you feel that pinch, and you understand its meaning.

Keep quiet…don’t make him angry.

‘You have some guts to speak to me like that, understandable…but rather foolish.’

Realization of what you just did dawns on you, the stern look from the Squidotter sending chills down your spine.

‘Do you not understand how little power you have here? You are surrounded by me and my subjects, you could not possibly take us on. Even so, you are already being held hostage by my second in command.’

Napoleon leans closer, asserting authority while bearing a superior aura.

‘And last but not least, you cannot survive under these pressures…’ Napoleon says, booping your and Breton’s snout with his paw-like tentacle.

‘All my second in command has to do is release you and you will be without air. And judging how deep we are…’ He looks up through the hole in the ceiling in his throne room, making you follow his gaze just to see how right he is.

‘...You are definitely not going to make it.’ Napoleon leans back into his throne, maintaining a sense of power.

‘So why not, reword what you said into something more…agreeable?’

…

…

…

‘I…will help you…if you promise not to hurt anyone,’ You reply, saying the last part in haste, fearing that you are invoking his wrath.

The tension fills the air, as Napoleon stares into your eyes. You feel as though you are awaiting judgement. Every latex in the room waits with anticipation, expecting the worst to come.

…

…

…

‘Excellent! Glad we have come to an agreement!’ Napoleon cheerfully replies, his paws and tentacles clapping together with satisfaction.

The sudden change in tone surprises you, but you feel ever so thankful that you are not going to die.

‘Napoleon, what should we do now? Now that we have the human with us?’

‘Simple! I want you and the human to use this ‘transfur’ and create a body capable of walking on land. If you are able to create arms like mine, you should be able to create legs. Human, you do have legs after all right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then this shall be your new assignment! I expect you and Breton to cooperate well for this one.’

‘Yes, Napoleon!’