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savesharkwars · 2 months

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The Curse of the Seazarian - Immortality AU

The Seazarian lives forever, and Barklay struggles to cope with this reality.

AU background: This AU has the Seazarian (Barklay) live forever, unless he is killed in battle or steps down from his position. (I tried to pay attention to shark lifespans, by the way. But it’s hard though because a lot of species in Shark Wars don’t really exist anymore.)

Note: I made most of this while listening to The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives, so listening while reading may improve the experience or something, I dunno. (Also, if Barklay’s out of character, it’s because he’s immortal and grieving, and totally not because I haven't read this series in a bit.) Also it’s really short, but it was more for the experience than the word count.

Words: 1,078

(End notes and fanfic under the cut.)

Barklay swished his tail softly. The water around him brought a warm current, filling his gills with the oxygen he needed to keep living and his nose with the scents of the ocean just outside of the Seazarian’s cave. (No matter how many seasons and seconds ticked by, it never felt like it was his.) The arching pillars that ribbed the walls, which his court (may they shine with the Sparkle Blue) had refused to leave broken, often felt more like the bars of a cage.

And it had only gotten worse after Gray had died.

But it had been bad enough already! Hadn’t it? His advisors and co-leaders, already adult sharks before the war had even been fought, slowly dropped away from him. First the ancient makos, their oversized fins frozen forever as the current of a new blue tore them from him. Then the tigers, their striped sides, once so powerful, without a hint of movement before his crying eyes. Then went his other advisors, and though they put up a raging fight against death, eventually even the last Great White was gone.

It was fine, he still had his closest friends. Even if Gray was far away from him, and Velenka was usually busy with the Ghostfins, they were still here for him to lean on. (Though his preferred messenger, that wonderful flying fish, Eugene Speedmeister, had been lost to the sands of the deep blue long ago now. …and how deeply he missed that friend.)

Barklay swam in a small circle on his throne. Since the rest of the leaders were off in their own oceans, he was alone here. The swim back to Coral Shiver waters was simply too far for a small shark like him, and though he would love to make the trip once more, sometime in the future, the decisions that surrounded him kept him rooted in place. (Strange that someone with such power and knowledge, even if it was shared among so many others, had no home to return to.)

Because this cave, even with all its improvements, was never going to be a home to him.

Home was among his friends, and it was simply impossible to be among them now. Those that had already passed on, those who were no longer his friends, those that were too far away to swim for. The fight was useless.

It was impossible to be with them all again.

…of course, it always feels useless to meet someone still living until they are gone. Then you see every chance you had to see them. Chances that were no longer valid. Times that were over and up.

Gray.

His first friend.

His best friend.

The bravest shark he’d ever met.

He was gone.

Barklay’s heart shattered at the news. And, surrounded by a crowd of the surviving Shiver leaders, he wept. With him, they cried. But it didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel like they meant it. Even with his every attempt to make the leadership position shared, some sharks could never accept that the Seazarian wasn’t absolute. So, when he laughed, they laughed, and when he cried, they cried. There was no emotion in their tears, and that only made Barklay’s loneliness grow. (It grew like the maw of some deep sea cavern, or like the glowing magic or an evil time long past.)

An evil time that now only seemed to have existed in his memory.

A couple of moons later, the message that Velenka was gone reached him. (And to be honest, it felt like his very soul had split in two.) But if it hadn’t done so already, the answer to what had killed her, certainly did. A training accident. A training accident with the group that he had begun.

In a fit of rage, he disbanded the Ghostfins.

To Barklay, time didn’t matter anymore. The currents that pulled through the cave felt cold now. Now that he knew that not a single one of his beloved friends were out there to enjoy a current in the ocean he lived in, what warmth was there to feel? Through the small crack in the ceiling, lights flashed. The moon, the sun, a particularly bright star, he could no longer care to tell.

It was only when shadows passed over him that he felt at home.

And though he did not wish to die, he longed for the end. He longed to see his friends again. His gills ached with the strength of the emotions that shot down his body. From nose to tail tip they held him, wrapping him like a drifting strand of greenie around a meal from Slaggernacks. (Did that place even exist anymore? He’d stayed in the same spot for so long that the outside world barely held meaning to him, even though his heartbroken decisions were a vote towards changing everything about it.)

He wished that he could contact his friends.

He wished that Eugene Speedmeister could fly over from the Sparkle Blue and deliver him a message. He wished that Velenka, leader of the not-so-newly destroyed Ghostfins, could protect him from the horrible pain that shook him. He wished that Mari, though she was long gone even before his plight had begun, could take a swim with him. He wished that Gray, his best friend until the Sparkle Blue was polluted with too many bodies to leave room for more, could save him from his curse.

He wished for all of his friends, Snork, Lochlan, Striker… He wished that they were here with him. He wished that they could be his co-leaders and advisors, instead of this new batch of sharks he hardly knew. He wished he could feel their fins drag over his spine, if only once more. He wished that he could be with them, whether they came to him or him to them, it did not matter. He just wanted them back.

Barklay wished for so much, but deep down, he knew it was useless.

That was the curse of the Seazarian. (Though he knew that if one good thing had come from his plight, it was that at least no one else had to suffer. How could he step down if it meant that someone else would be cursed to his reality? How could he name another shark to his position, knowing what would happen to them? He couldn’t.)

And he knew that.

It simply wasn’t his time to go.

Hope you liked it! XP

#implied animal death #barklay sw #shark wars #fanfic #whump #my post

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savesharkwars · 2 months

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Grind your teeth until they snap, my dear - Soulmate au

Gray’s soulmate turns out to be someone that he absolutely doesn’t want to be matched with. Unfortunately though, there’s nothing he can do.

*Also, this AU is about the middle of the series, except they don’t beat Finnivus and Hoccu is never an issue. At least not in this fic.

Not very fun fact! I wrote two pages of this and then it deleted itself! :D I cried for an hour. Also, I’m planning to write two more soulmate AUs that aren't this dark if you don’t like this sort of thing, lol.

Words: 1,339 Cw: Animal injury, sorta suggestive (oops), age gap, implied death

(Fic and end notes under the cut.)

Gray grit his teeth together, feeling frustration, confusion, and rage cloud his gills. Frankley, he felt just like he had gotten his head stuck in a bucket again, only this time it was much worse. This time there was no Prime Minister Shocks, no mother to trail a comforting fin down his spine. No, this time there was only the crushing cold of reality. He had made sure of that.

And who was ‘he’ again? Why, no one special of course, just the emperor of Indi Shiver, or, if you were to know him by some other name, the bloodthirsty enslaver of the whole big blue. Finnivus. And unfortunately for Gray, the evilly grinning tiger shark before him, that bloody emporor, that evil conqueror, well, that shark just so happened to be his soulmate.

“Well!” Finnivus said, sounding pleasantly surprised, “This is a shock!” He was circling just out of Gray’s biting range, looking at him like he was a piece of meat. Gray let his teeth show, he didn’t very well like the feeling. Finnivus smiled at him, his tail flickering back and forth. The tiger shark’s eyes flashed hugrilly as he took in the greenie ropes that held Gray’s tail in place. The young megalodon was shaking with anger, he wanted to kill the evil emperor, but he couldn’t even get close enough to take off a tailtip. Rage clouded his eyes as his ‘soulmate’ trailed hungry eyes over his shaking fins.

“I do think that this is somehow poetic, seeing as you were once a rogue that would have been better off as my dinner” Finnivus continued, laughing as he lifted higher into the water to swim over Gray, who thrashed in his bonds. Gray tried to reach Finnivus with every muscle in his body, but the greenie ropes wouldn’t budge. The Indi Shiver crabs and lobsters had done their work well enough to restrain even him.

“I know that we’ve had our, ah, disagreements in the past,” Finnivus sounded nearly giddy with excitement, “But surely you will come to appreciate my greatness! Everyone does eventually.”

“And if they don’t you kill them,” Gray hissed, falling still once more as he gasped for breath, “You’re a monster, I could never appreciate anything about you.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth though, he regretted them. He hadn’t meant to speak. He had been trying to be annoyingly silent because he knew that Finnivus loved to talk, but the rage that had been boiling in his stomach had finally won, tumbling out of his mouth so fast that he couldn’t even try to stop it, but he did do his best to save face with a snarl.

Finnivus wheeled around to look at him, and though his eyes flashed with rage that turned Gray’s blood to ice, his smirk returned quickly. The emperor raced forward in a flash of stripes and tattoos, and, somehow knowing that Gray was too freaked out to bite him, pushed the two of their noses together, sneering as he spoke. “You’re going to have to, seeing the position you’re in currently,” He waved a fin at the greenie ropes that chained Gray in place, “Unless you want it to get your fins trimmed of course, that can always be arranged.” Gray wanted to say something back, probably a super smart statement like, ‘not if I kill you,’ but somehow his mouth felt dry of words. His gills flared as his breathing sped up, and based on the smirk growing on Finnivus’ striped muzzle, he wasn’t doing a good job of hiding his fear from his eyes either.

“You’re wrong to insult me,” Finnivus sneered, waving his fins as he spoke, possibly in a way to cover up how childish his words had been, “And you know just as well as me that soulmate ties are unbreakable, you must stay with me.”

Trying to recover some of his pride, Gray growled out an insult, but Finnivus only laughed, swimming back out of Gray’s range again to continue to speak. “It’s such a shame what happened to your little friends,” His eyes traced half healed scratches and bites of Gray’s blue flanks, “Maybe if they had just let me take them they wouldn’t have had to die.”

Gray froze in the water, pure anger making it nearly impossible for him to even hear Finnivus’ next words. As he spoke, the tiger shark waved his fins, “I’m sure this all has been quite a shock for you Gray, as it was to me in the beginning, but I’m sure you’ll be able to enjoy it with time-”

Gray attempted to lunge forward, but was held back by the greeine ropes once again. Finnivus’ eyes widened for a split second, but Gray couldn’t even be proud of scaring him before he recovered.

“Not yet though, I take it?” Finnivus swam behind him, lifting higher into the water above the young megalodon, “Well, as I said before, you’ll come to appreciate my greatness eventually, they all do.”

Finnivus waved a fin again, but this time it seemed purposeful, and Gray's eyes caught onto more crabs scuttering up the walls of his holding cell, and with muted horror he saw the greenie ropes that they held. He began to thrash in his bonds, trying to break free, just trying to throw the little buggers off, but couldn't slow the Indi Shiver workers as they strengthened his bonds. Tightening the ropes until he let out a defeated groan of pain, going mostly limp in the water. (But running out of air was not an option, as Finnivus had been smart enough to put him in a room with a cold current running through it.)

Finnivus smiled proudly at his work, continuing to circle around Gray as he admired what he had done. Stupidly though, since Gray's energy had shifted from his tail to his teeth, the emperor let his tail swing just within Gray's biting range. And this time Gray wasn't planning on letting his chance go to waste.

Unfortunately though, when Gray lurched forward, his tied tail yanking against the ropes so hard he was sure he pulled it right off, he had only managed to get a tiny bit of flesh in his jaws. But he didn't have enough time to register the fact that a few of his teeth had snapped with the strength of the bite when a force like a landshark boat slammed into his side.

Gray cried out in pain, but the ropes around his tail made it impossible to return the attack. They were so tight now he could hardly even turn to watch as Finnivus’ eyes glowed with pure rage.

“You’re going to be like that, to someone as accommodating as me?” The emperor snarled, his no longer perfect tail tip leaking blood into cold water, “I could do much worse, but since you were my soulmate, I thought I’d spare you.”

Gray growled, “Do your worst, I’d never be your soulmate willingly.” (After all, what did he have to lose? His family, his friends, his home? No, they were all gone.)

Finnivus smiled an insane, evil grin, and Gray’s blood turned into stabbing shocks of ice in his veins. “It’s a good thing it doesn’t have to be willingly then,” The emperor said, his voice sweet, “It’s a good thing that someone as amazing as I am would give you so many chances.”

He swam in close again, but Gray’s aching side kept him from attacking again, even as Finnivus brushed flanks with him. “Grind your teeth until they snap, my dear,” he whispered, “I’ll give you chances until you realize your place.”

Gray shivered as Finnivus pulled away from him, turning his eyes down rather than watch as the cannibal headed for the exit. But right before he was gone, he turned, eyes flashing with that same hunger as before. “But don’t you worry Gray,” he sneered, “Fin trimming is still a possibility if you try to run.”

I LOVE THIS CONCEPT. AHHHH

#age gap #suggestive #animal injury #implied animal death #gray sw #shark wars #fanfic #finnivus sw #badendshipping

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savesharkwars · 2 months

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Greenie Patches and Love - Flower Shop AU

Sandy works are a greenie shop, and she can't help but fantasize about who she wants to be buying bouquets from her.

AU background: This is an AU where Sandy works in a ‘flower’ shop that sells greenie ‘bouquets’ and stuff like that. It takes place before she has Riprap and Ebbie.

Notes: Sandy has the night shift because apparently Nurse sharks are nocturnal?? Aw! Also, if my seaweed growing patterns are wrong don’t get mad at me. XD I’m not a marine biologist and do not live near the ocean.

Words: 1,575

(End notes and fic under the cut.)

The sandy brown shark moved slowly through the water, watching the different kinds of greenie wave in the current as she passed by them. They had been grouped into different little growing areas based on what sort of greenie they were, and she felt herself smile as she saw the beautiful rainbow morph and move around her. Some sharks just called them all “greenie,” but she knew better.

Incredible plumes of Red algae that burned like the run, seagrassess that seemed to offer their image to an endless enclosure rather than the small one they had been placed into, giant golden kelp with gorgeous flowing leaves that seemed to dart back and forth just like the little fish that sought refuge inside their sky reaching vines. It was all incredible! (And Sandy couldn’t help but do an excited turn as she thought about them.)

She had been assigned to greenie picking duty for the most recent bouquet, after her coworker had taken the order and decided that Sandy’s keen eye and quick teeth were perfect for nipping the greenie into a pretty shape. (Her coworker, in contrast, only took orders for seasoning. Her skills were more suited for crushing than cutting.) The thought of her coworker reminded Sandy of the question always running through her head. Did her clients ever use a pretty bouquet as seasoning? Depending on the greenie, it might be cheaper or more expensive that way.

The thing was, bouquets weren’t always all that popular, since most sharks turned up their snouts at something so non necessary, so as Sandy picked a clump of bright green gutweed from a high rock, holding it in her jaws carefully, she began to wonder about the sort of shark who may have requested such a thing. Maybe they were a thoughtful shark, buying a greenie bouquet for a parent, or a child, or maybe even a lover. Her fins twitched as she lay a puff of red algae on her growing pile of supplies. She imagined receiving one of these bouquets herself, just as thoughtful as it was beautiful and tasty, and felt her face warm with flustered embarrassment at the thought.

She shifted the gutweed so it was like a nice wrap around the red algae puff, and then carefully moved the whole thing to an alcove with very little current. This way it would not be disturbed as she went to grab the other requested greenie varieties. (Her brain felt scrambled from imagining receiving such a gift, but she had the sense in her to remember to keep it safe as she worked.) She patted it with a fin and imagined it was the shark her mind had conjured up. He (because he was a “he” in her head) was strong, with tough flanks and sharp teeth, but he was kind too! He’d gotten her a bouquet from such a good shop because he truly loved her just as much as because they tasted great as you brought them home. Very thoughtful!

Sandy twirled in the water as she swam upward, aiming to get the top of some giant golden greenie. She thought it was both the most beautiful and the most delicious of all the greenies, which explained why it was so popular. (It also made it awfully convenient that it was so huge and so plentiful in the lands behind the shop.) She reached the top and felt moonlight speckling down on her flanks from beyond the chop chop as she took the top portion of the greenie in her jaws, careful to severe and not to chew, and hurriedly brought it back down to her unfinished bouquet. She couldn't have her made up shark wait, now could she?

She attached it carefully, and then swam a few tail strokes to grab the last requested variety of greenie. This one was as red as the puffs of red algae, but as floaty and thin as the golden greenie. But despite being similar to her beloved giant greenie, she could not find it in herself to like it, not anymore. A long time ago, back when her son Gray was very young, he had gotten stuck in a patch of the stuff. He had been so scared, and while he’d never really been small (big pup), he’d looked so weak that she’d actually gotten angry at the greenie itself. So, as Sandy quickly tore some red greenie away and swam back to her bouquet, she decided that her made up shark would care about pups as much as she did.

He would never let Gray be scared. He would save him even faster than Sandy had! Her mind drifted as she began to work the plants into the bouquet, and she found herself wondering if he’d be good at other things relating to pups.

Sandy felt her face flush as red as the greenie in her jaws. She finished the arrangement in double time, tying it firmly with a long strand of seagrass before speeding back into the shop. He swam towards her coworker, who was chatting with the customer at the counter, and was about to head back out for some cooldown time when her eye caught on the customer in question.

Her jaw dropped and the bouquet floated slowly and dramatically to the sandy floor. He was the shark she’d imagined! (At least, in the looks department.) He was a nurse shark like her, with smooth scales, a powerful looking tail, shiny eyes, and the cutest barbels she’d ever seen. She hadn’t noticed him when he’d placed the order, since it had been passed to her from her coworker, but now it was clear that she wouldn’t be able to treat him with such indifference anymore. (She wasn’t even sure she would be able to pick up the bouquet again, she was suddenly so flustered.)

“Um,” she stammered, deciding to give it her best shot, “Sorry!” She pushed her nose under the bundle, pushing it higher in the water and towards the customer. “Didn’t mean to drop that,” she laughed awkwardly, and her eyes darted between the bouquet and her coworker, “I trust it’s to your liking?”

The customer laughed a good natured laugh, and Sandy’s gills fluttered slightly as she choked in a gasp of water. Before Sandy could say anything else, her coworker nodded at her. “I already took care of payment,” she said, and then added, with an ultra annoying smirk, “I’ll let you take care of the rest.” In a flourish of bubbles, she turned tail and swam for the back exit, which Sandy absolutely did not appreciate.

Once the spectacle was over, the customer nodded, gently picking up the bouquet in his jaws and giving Sandy a pleasant wave of a fin. Sandy felt like doing an actual barrel roll when she saw that, but was able to restrain herself for long enough to nod in thanks for the compliment.

But instead of leaving the shop, as she had been expecting, the customer just awkwardly floated towards a side wall. Sandy felt like she was going to explode, but she swore that it wasn’t just her imagination that the pretty nurse shark before her seemed to be acting a bit nervous. Did he want to ask her something?

“Did you want anything else sir?” she stuttered, swimming over the counter in what she hoped was a natural looking gesture, “Another bouquet perhaps?”

He hesitated, but then let the greenie fall when he opened his jaws to speak. “No thank you miss,” he said, causing the unmistakable feeling of flying fish fins fluttering in her gut, “but you are quite talented, you know.”

Sandy blushed. “Thank you,” she said, still fighting a losing battle to act nonchalant and not like she was going crazy, “that’s very appreciated from, ah…” She paused, and probably blushed even harder, but her embarrassment was saved as the customer interrupted.

“What’s your name?” He asked abruptly, his tail flickering nervously behind him.

Sandy opened and closed her mouth a few times, just like the little guppy fish that Gray had always shown so much interest in chasing, “I’m Sandy!” she finally squeaked out, “What’s yours?”

“I’m Coral,” he said, awkwardly swimming forward in order to rub flanks with her.

Though it was very much an awkward gesture, Sandy had hardly finished short circuiting by the time he had pulled away and begun to talk again. “I live over by the sunken land shark boat,” he continued, digging his snout under the fallen bouquet to pick it up once more, “you can be drop by for breakfast tomorrow, if you want,”

Sandy’s mouth dropped open, but she did her best to cover her shock with a playful quip. “Well Coral,” she said, trying not to shriek with joy, “As long as my bouquet isn’t on the menu, I might just do that.”

He laughed, and even though his mouth was full of greenie, he managed out a muffled, “I might just have to change my plans then,” before he slipped out the door.

Sandy might have floated there for the rest of the night, but it seemed that as soon as Coral was gone, Sandy’s coworker materialized behind her, laughing. But Sandy didn’t care! She had a very fun breakfast ahead of her, and she was not going to let anything get her down, even friendly teasing for the entire remaining duration of her shift.

Is this a bad time to admit that I have NEVER read a Flower Shop AU before...?

#sandy sw #my post #fanfic #shark wars

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savesharkwars · 2 months

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Blue Greenie Race

In Cabin Daily: “Try writing in a genre you've never written before, whether that's mystery, romance, fantasy, etc. 400 words minimum, and you need proof ^” Me: Ah yes, Shark Wars, the perfect Chic lit.

Genre chosen: Chick Lit. I have never written this genre, so of course I made it ‘easy’ for myself and wrote Shark Wars “Chick Lit”. I don’t even know if that’s possible, given that the series is primarily for what I can only assume are 4th grade boys with really good taste. But I tried!!!

Note: I guess this is an AU where Mari doesn’t die??? Also she’s fairly out of character, but if that’s what I have to do to do the daily right it will be that way.

Tw: Heavily implied past animal death

Words: 1,628

(Fic and end notes under the cut.)

Mari flipped her tail. The effervescent green water that surrounded her felt warm against her scales. She knashed her teeth together happily. It was good to be home. But she felt a heaviness in her chest as she looked around at the familiar coral spires of her home. Many of her friends weren't able to feel that warmth, at least not without a twinge of multicolored sparkles courtesy of death.

So many amazing fins and flippers had been lost in the battle… So many wonderful fish she would never know the names of. So many wonderful fish that would never see their homes again. She felt water rush through her gills. To make it worse, Barklay had stayed behind in the Atlantis, appointed leader by the shark that was swimming right next to her. Barklay had been a good friend, and even though he had promised to come visit whenever he could, Coral Shiver was simply so far away from the Atlantis.

At least she had Gray.

The young megalodon was around her age, but you wouldn’t guess that just by looking at him. His blue flanks stretched on for at least double her own body length, and his tail wasn’t even included in that equation! But despite this, Gray was her friend …and nothing more. (Even if she sometimes wondered if they could be.)

She flicked her tail in an annoyed sort of way. Trying (and failing) to push the embarrassing thoughts away. Thankfully her face wasn’t all that red, so when Gray looked back at her in confusion, she didn’t seem all that suspicious. She smiled at him somewhat awkwardly, fighting to keep the blush off her face. “Just got a bit of greenie tangled in my fins,” she lied, “That’s all.”

Gray glanced around them, clearly not seeing any of the mysterious greenie that she spoke of, but took her answer anyway. “We can swim up a bit if you want,” he offered, lifting a tailstroke upward, “The greenie probably wouldn’t be a problem that way.”

Mari stared at him, not sure if him going along with her very obvious lie was worse or better than what would have happened if he had caught her on it. “Uh..” she said, flicking her fins to join him, “Sure. Thank you.”

Gray grinned and turned away from her, his gills rippled. “You’re welcome,” He said, “That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Yep!” She said, fighting for her very life to drag her eyes away from the sharpness of his teeth and the piercing blue of his eyes, “For sure!”

Gray laughed at that, and she found herself giggling along as well. In fact, this momentary joy carried her on light fins all the way back to the center of the Coral Shiver homewaters. Distracted by the new -yet familiar- sight of the telltale coral spires and short blue greenie, she gasped.

“I thought Hocuu destroyed this area?!” She exclaimed, shooting her gaze around herself in instinctive worry, “How-?”

“How’s it all here?” Gray echoed, looking around in the same way she was, “I guess the spell wore off after he died…”

Mari found herself smiling, reminded again of how that terrible frilled shark had failed out of their lives forever. (Privately, she hoped that he was somewhere in the Sparkle Blue, getting beat up by Takiza all over again.) Of course, the memory of what he did was horrific, but the fact that he was really gone made it a bit better.

“When we get to the Sparkle Blue,” she said absentmindedly, oblivious to the confusion that adorned Gray’s face at the suggestion of their deaths, “Will you help be chase Hocuu into whatever darkness exists there?”

After a moment of pondering the question, Gray finally spoke (and she was glad when a laugh bit at the edges of his words), “Of course! Maybe we can have a makeshift Tuna Run… with him as the tuna!”

She whipped around to see him, previously unaware of the possibility of the idea. (She did have to admit that it sounded quite good though.) Gray only laughed, clearly encouraged by the expression on the thresher's face. “Or maybe we could make him into our royal food seasoner…”

Now it was her turn to laugh. “Gray,” she asked, “Why would you need a royal food seasoner in the Sparkle Blue? And what makes you think that he wouldn’t take the chance to poison us?”

“Why not?” Gray asked giggling like a pup, “If we’re lucky it will be a while before we even know what the Sparkle Blue is like. Why not fantasize about embarrassing Hocuu?”

She had to agree with that, but slapped him with the back of her tail anyway. Just like a megalodon, that idea right there. (She didn’t say the words out loud, but for some reason, she felt like Gray knew what she was thinking. Panicked for a moment, she wondered if mind reading was among the powers that Takiza had taught him, before she remembered that it most certainly was NOT and she was totally fine.)

She flicked her tail and sped a bit ahead of him, shaking off the worry with a breath of fresh seawater. “Let’s race to the blue greenie!” She yelled, looking back over her fin at his slightly surprised face. But as his eyes shifted from confused to determined, she felt her heart beat an urchin’s spine faster, “It’ll be fun!” She added, trying to mask the expression that she was sure was on her face, “On the count of three?” She paused, silently asking if that was okay.

Gray nodded and swam to match her. “One,” he said, staring at the blue greenie with a little bit too much concentration.

“Two,” Mari echoed, flipping her fins a few times to stretch them.

“Three!” They said together, speeding off in the direction of the blue greenie. Thresher sharks were very fast without even trying, so Mari was surprised when Gray began to plow ahead of her. (And yes it was ‘plowing’, you don’t get to have that thick of a tail and not be accused of plowing through the water.)

She grit her teeth and sped up her tail strokes, fighting to pull ahead of Gray against the current which she (only now) realized was against her. (Gray was a bigger shark, so it didn’t affect him as much.) In no time at all though, she was ahead of him, speeding at nearly ten tail strokes per second towards the “finish line”.

She reached it in no time at all, and immediately had to pull upward so as not to get tangled in the greenie as soon as she touched it. Flipping over in the water, she watched as Gray reached the greenie, crashing right though it and scarring more than one colorful fish into the ocean around them.

Ignoring the fact that her gills were definitely working harder than normal, Mari laughed. “Slow as always, huh Gray?” She teased, swimming over to him and running her tail along his spine (sort of like the way a mother shark would).

Gray spat some sand out of his mouth and wheeled around to look at her. He was grinning (sharp teeth shining in a way that sent a shiver down Mari’s own spine). “Not as slow as you!” He said, clearly ignoring the fact that he had lost. …but not by very much, “I really scared you when I pulled ahead!”

Mari rolled her eyes and swam a few tail strokes away. “Sure,” she responded playfully, “And that greenie really scared you when you swam nose first into the sand.”

Gray swam after her and Mari was shocked to note that the distance that had taken her three tailstokes only took him one. “Well, I guess the real winner here is the greenie then.” He said, jokingly, “Because if I scared you, and it scared me, that makes it the scariest.”

“We were going for the fastest,” she laughed, “And the greenie is definitely the loser there.”

Gray nodded seriously, as if this was in any way a conversation that deserved such a reaction. “And that makes you second place.” he said, and Mari didn’t even care that the sarcasm wasn’t very evident. (Something about his voice was just… very pretty there.) But Gray looked a little bit sad about his joke, and before she could even say anything back, he added, “And me in third.”

“Doesn’t that just put me in first then?” She laughed, swimming back towards the center of the coral circle, “If you're in third and the greenie’s in last?”

“Well-” Gray started, cutting himself off with a giggle, “I didn’t want you to be in first, and I didn’t win, so you’re in second place.”

Mari rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the way that Gray was making her heart soar. “That’s just like a megalon,” she said, out loud this time.

Gray laughed, “And it’s just like a thresher to beat me in a race,” he paused for a moment, before continuing with an even softer voice than he had been speaking with originally, “I am quite fast for a shark as, uh, big cartilage as I am.”

She felt her heart soar as she grinned, “I believe that! You really did get ahead of me for a moment there.”

As he continued to joke, Mari felt her focus waning. She wanted to listen, she really did, but that was sometimes hard when her best friend was also one that she wanted to rule a Shiver with. Not as a royal line, but as a combined leading force. Together. For as long as the Big Blue would let them, she wanted to be together.

Uhhh... if anyone read this I hope you liked it.

#implied animal death #shark wars #fanfic #mari sw #gray sw #sweetrougeshipping #my post

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savesharkwars · 2 months

Text

Knock 'em dead.

Lochlan is dying, and Gray finds it hard to let go.

Main Cabin Daily: “I’m on the fence about this daily. Just kidding - but imagine if I were actually sitting on a fence, pondering this daily. Today’s daily is about idioms taken literally! Choose a common idiom and write at least 300 words about a story in which it is taken literally for 400 points. You can earn an extra 100 points for sharing proof.” Idiom used: “Knock ‘em dead”

Note: This is a slight AU where Lochlan dies in a different part of a battle, lol.

Tws: Animal Death and implied violence (but nothing near as bad as Shark Wars, which is intended for children, making this okay for Scratch) Words: 706

(Fic and end notes under the cut.)

Lochlan forced a smile at Gray, even as his fin steamed blood into the already reddened waters. “I’m okay mate,” he lied, “Just let me rest a moment…”

Gray clearly knew that he was lying, if the shine in his eyes and the nervous twitching of his tail were any indication. "But Loch," he started, sounding like he was about to cry, "We need you to lead the charge against Finnivus!"

Lochlan tried to push himself forward, but wasn't able to get very far. (His tail was missing part of the tip, and one of his fins was completely gone.) He was lucky he was even able to breathe, but thankfully there was a current brushing through the waters, prolonging his conversation with Gray "No, no you don't," he murmured. He wasn't even in pain, just a simple happy calm as the waters of the Sparkle Blue began to float before his eyes, "You can do this-"

Gray cut him off, slamming his tail against the seafloor and sending huge plumes of sand to whoosh past them, sped along by the same current that kept the water drifting through his gills. "But it doesn't matter if I can," now he was really crying, "I just care about you!"

Loch grinned, and though it was a little bit forced, it was at least a little bit genuine. "Well, that's really nice of you mate," he said, his breathing labored as the current suddenly shifted a bit, "But we have to win against Finnivus, and I'm just another shark-" he cut himself off with a labored cough, "-in the long run."

Gray (who was still crying) rolled his eyes and swam a bit closer, clearly intending to push Lochlan to safety, "But you're the king of AuzyAuzy Shiver , and I'm not even from that ocean! How am I meant to lead your shiver? I don't even know your battle commands!"

Lochlan shook his head, "That's not true, Gray," he forced his broken fins to move a little bit, "You were just as good as any of the sharks in my line, and besides, you wouldn't just be leading my shiver, but your own too."

Gray froze, his tail twitching with emotion. He didn’t seem to have thought of that.

Lochlan laughed, and it hurt, but it was worth it. “Come on mate! You aren’t telling me you really forgot that?!” He broke off to cough, “You being the leader would be just as good as me leading them, your shiver is in there too you know.”

Gray choke laughed, “But Rouge Shiver is only six sharks-”

Lochlan interrupted him, slicing what was left of his tail feebly through the water. “‘Still a Shiver, bud-” Gray once again rolled his eyes, and then fought back a sob as Lochlan continued speaking, “-So it’s your job to lead them to fight back against Finnivus.”

There was a pause as the greenie wavered in the reddened water.

“You really think that?” Gray murmured, his voice slow and sad.

Lochlan nodded, even though it was hard, “Totally! But if you want to do it, you’re gonna have to get back into the battle soon,” he turned his head upward, watching as other sharks spiraled down through the water around them, “They need you, mate.”

Gray looked up as well. Watching in silence and letting the din of the battle overwhelm his senses. He knew that Loch was right, he knew that all he said was true.

He closed his eyes.

“Go, Gray.” Lochlan said gently, using his broken fins to propel him an urchin spine closer to the young Megladon, “They need you.”

Gray nodded, and slowly turned back toward the battle, but stopped dead in his tracks as Lochlan spoke one last time.

“Oh, and Gray-” he said, his voice weak but so strong , “If you see Finnivus, knock him dead for me, alright?”

Gray nodded and turned toward him, and Lochlan was glad to see the shark’s face was determined and angry. “I promise, if I get my teeth on Finnivus, it will be the sweetest blood I’ll ever taste.”

Lochlan grinned at him, even as the blue megalodon sped away. That was exactly what he had needed to hear.

Hope you liked this as much as I struggled to make the dialogue make any sense at all.

#fanfic #whump #my post #shark wars #animal injury #animal death #lochlan sw #gray sw #spoilers

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savesharkwars · 2 months

Text

One of those Days - ‘Coffee’ Shop AU

Mari, who works at Slaggernacks, runs into a new shark at the bar.

AU background: This takes place after the final battle, making Gray a very popular shark across most of the Big Blue, but Mari and Gray have never met. Mari was injured in the same place that she died in canon, but in this AU she didn’t die. So now she works at Slaggernacks, knowing Trank from who knows where.

Note: Characters (especially Gray) may be out of character, also I made a couple things up, so, just bear with me here. Also, I wrote this for a project where I wrote different tropes for this fandom! So stay tuned I guess.

Words: 2907

(Fic and end notes under the cut.)

Mari flicked her tail to the beat of the song. Whoever this new band was, they were good . Of course, that’s what she expected from a group hired specifically by Trank. He understood the place in a way no one but his boss did, and now that his boss was busy elsewhere (she’d heard whispers of a rare greenie smuggling going on in the Indi Ocean), Trank was in charge of the place, and boy was he good at it.

Being alright friends with her (at least, as much of friends as a Thresher Shark and a Stonefish were ever going to be in a place worked mostly by other dwellers), Trank had allowed her to take the job, and she was thankful for that. She didn’t really need a job, so it wasn’t like he had changed her entire world or anything, but she had been in need of a bit of extra fish, so it certainly didn’t hurt. (And after her injury in the battle, hunting was pretty much off the table for the foreseeable future.)

She flicked a fin, feeling the old scars stretch her skin in painful ways. (But ways that she had come to accept as normal nonetheless.)

She would have preferred to work pretty much anywhere else. (Heck, she would have endured the teasing and rudeness of the Seazarian’s court to this. Though she had heard it had gotten better after a Dogfish had taken over the previous Megladons.) But she would’ve been lying to say that the place hadn’t grown on her at least a little bit.

Being run mostly (or entirely, depending on who you asked) by dwellers, it was one of the most accepting places she’d ever been, even if fights and shady business were just as common as a delicious meal. Which, trust her on this, were very common in a place with cooks as amazing as Slaggernacks’.

She let her brain come back to the present, feeling a slight warmth cross her face as she realized that she hadn’t been paying attention to her job. She turned a quick circle, but was glad to see that none of the tables seemed to need her help at the moment. (She’d been lucky with her daydream timing, she supposed.)

She gave the water one slap of her quick thresher tail and glided back to the bar area. (It was called a bar just as much because it had been constructed out of a railing from some sunken land shark boat as what they served there. Being one of the two or three sharks on the list of employees, she had been one of the people assigned to moving the rail, that’s how new it was.) She had to get back to work quickly, because judging by the placement in the song that the whales sang, the current fish manning the bar had been due to take a break a few minutes ago.

She slid through the water effortlessly, dodging a passing tigershark (he still had the remains of a half eaten tuna fish hanging out of his mouth) and a crackling electric eel with relative ease. She hardly even noticed the soft pause in conversation as a newcomer made his way through the door, his flanks getting momentarily stuck in the skinny cave opening. Finally though, she managed to get to where she was meant to be.

“Sorry,” she murmured, nodding apologetically to the pufferfish behind the counter, “I got a little bit sidetracked, I’ll take over now.”

Thankfully for her and her not-yet-poisoned blood, the yellow and black fish didn’t seem all that annoyed, nodding back to her and swimming away with a burst of bubbles. She looked out across the restaurant, checking to see if anything bad was happening. (There hadn’t been trouble for pretty much the whole day, and if the eel and tigershark were anything to prove it, they were just about due for their fair share of trouble.)

But when she looked out at the customers, passing over each other without a care in the world, the only thing that caught her eye was the newcomer she had barely seen early. She felt one of her fins twitch involuntarily as he was led to a free table. ‘Is that a megalodon?’ she wondered, her mouth flopping open embarrassingly as she watched his tail nearly knock over a table, ‘If so, does that mean that he-,’

She shook her head, dismissing her thoughts of the megalodon commander of the winning side of the war. She had to get back to work, this was no time to be staring at random customers! That’s the kind of behavior that got people into fights, and if her missing fin tip was any indication, she wasn’t really ready for a fight.

But as she continued to work, taking orders from the customers back to the cooks in the back caves and mixing various sharks soupy messes of greenie bits, she couldn’t drag her mind off of the newcomer. (But strangely enough, she didn’t seem to be the only one busy thinking about him, as he was quickly getting surrounded by other customers. She would have called for people to split them up, but when she’d taken a quick peek over at him, it became clear that he was smiling as he talked with the others.) Somehow, it seemed like he knew the other sharks, and in the back of her mind, an electric tingle buzzed.

Had she been right when she had thought of the former general, and former Seazarian, of the Big Blue? She’d heard a lot about that shark, of how he’d given up his position to his dogfish friend, about how he was skilled in the ancient skills of Takiza, and of course she’d heard of his incredible plans back in the war. She had been in the fight with him, after all. Even if she actually ended up as a part of the ghostfins, there was no escaping the stories of Gray, the youngest general the Big Blue had ever seen.

She gave her tail a quick flick and sent herself gliding a bit closer to the throng that was quickly forming around the newcomer. (There was no harm in that, right? The other employees, mainly those camouflaged among the rocks and greenie patches on the ground, were doing just the same thing. And besides, no one was coming up to the bar, they were all busy seeing what was going on as well.)

Mari strained to hear what was happening, but nothing sounded off or especially interesting. Just a bunch of friends meeting up for the first time in what seemed to be forever. And when the group began to disperse a few minutes later, leaving her to deal with customers once more, she could only assume that that was all that had happened. A meetup of friends who had met up by accident, pulled together by a shared love of seasoned fish.

But when she saw who her next customer was, she nearly snapped a month’s worth of teeth clean out of her jaws.

It was the newcomer, and she was absolutely sure of his identity now. From the cut in his dorsal fin to the way he carried himself, he was unmistakable. Yep, there was no doubt about it, this was Gray, the renowned general and former Seazarian of the Big Blue. (And Mari felt her skin turn an awkward shade of pink as he swam in front of her, checking out the menu.)

“Uh,” she stuttered, feeling nothing like herself as she struggled through her words, “What would you like to order, um-,”

“Gray,” he grinned, giving her a stained tooth smile as he nodded politely (but Mari doubted a mistake in her ears when she heard an awkwardness to his voice), “I’d like the golden greenie shake, if that’s possible.”

She nodded, swimming somewhat shakily as she made her way to the supply cave for the golden greenie, “Anything else?” she called over her shoulder, “We have seasoned sea bass for half price today.”

He sounded interested as he responded. “What kind of seasoning?” he asked, and when she turned around with the golden greenie, he had produced a small stack of nondescript brown fish and a couple of tuna from Tyro knows where, “I usually like the spicy fish.”

She smiled and got to chewing up the greenie as she nodded, “You’re in luck,” she said between bites, “We just got a supply of rare Indi spices just this week,” (she did not mention the fact that these spices were very possibly smuggled in illegally), “And I hear that they’ve cracked out the box of pepper from the nearby landshark sinking.”

Gray looked even more interested, thought about it for a moment, and then nodded, dropping his fish down onto the railing (they floated a small bit upwards before Mari was able to grab them). “Will this be enough?” he asked, politely, catching the fish she hadn’t managed to grab with a spare fin, “I could go get more if it’s not-”

“No this is plenty,” said Mari, her voice muffled as much by the fish in her mouth as by a sudden shock of embarrassment as she caught her mind wandering. (She couldn’t even force herself to repeat what it had said to her.) She turned to the payment cave and put the fish down, “I believe your golden greenie is done, by the way,” she said, trying to cover for her mind’s momentary slip in focus, “Would you like a rock slap with it or are you fine with collecting it yourself?”

She gestured with her tail to the mix of greenie that floated in a glob between them. Most people just slurped up their shakes at the bar, but some rathered to bring them back to their tables, and a small rock was the best way they had figured out so far, as it kept most of the greenie from getting out into the water, while not looking too ridiculous at the same time.

Gray appeared to think about it (just enough time for her to shout the order down to the cooking cave), but just nodded before opening his jaws and swallowing the clump of greenie whole.

It wasn’t an unknown approach, but as Mari’s fin twitched involuntarily and a warm blush filled her skin, she couldn’t help but feel that there was something impressive about the way he had done it. (At least, she had to make herself think that, because if not there was absolutely no excuse for the sudden feeling that filled her.) I mean, really who gets a crush on someone because they ate a random mash of greenie quickly?

Mari shook the thoughts away, feeling the water grow warm around her as she swam back into the current that ran through the place. Gray was grinning, and she felt her heart beat faster as nodded approvingly. “You’re good at making those!” he said, but there wasn’t a hint of surprise in his voice, it was like he had expected her to be good, “It really felt like a shake, and not just a glob of greenie.”

Mari laughed. That’s all it was really, a glob of greenie mixed with just a hint of flavoring. (But she was happy to hear that someone thought otherwise.) “Thank you,” she grinned, “I gave it my best shot.”

Gray smirked at her, and her gills gave a tiny stutter. “How long have you been working here?” he asked (And was it her imagination or did she catch a flicker of nervousness in his voice? The kind of nervousness an awkward teenager who was just putting on a big front would display?)

He swam a bit closer, until his snout was clean past the rusty railing. “Because I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before…?”

Mari flushed and swam backward slightly, waving her fins as she excused herself. “I’ve only been working here a little while,” she admitted, swishing her tail a few extra times than was strictly necessary as she headed towards the storage cave, “I got into a bit of trouble in the big war and-,” she disappeared, and when she appeared she had a hunk of greenie in her mouth, muffling her speech, “-it never was really the same for me.”

She lifted her injured fin, and Gray’s eyes widened as he saw the damage across it. (The Indi Shiver doctor that had treated her had told her it was lucky that she was able to keep upright at all, and based on Gray’s expresion, it was clear that he was having a similar thought process.)

“It’s not all bad though,” she reassured him between chomps of the greenie and spices, “I got my chance to defend the ocean, and now I’m working at a really interesting joint.”

Gray laughed, and Mari’s smile turned ever so slightly upward when she heard him. “You can say that again!” he grinned, backing up slightly (probably to get a better current through his gills), “I could count all my teeth and still not have enough for the number of fights I’ve seen happen in here!” He grinned, and then his face fell, as if realizing something. “Not to be rude of course,” he hurried, ”And I was exaggerating.”

Now it was Mari’s turn to laugh, and she spit the mash of greenie out into the water around them (a preparation for a next customer… and an excuse to keep talking), “No no,” she reassured him, feeling her odd urge to blush growing ever more as he spilled more and more of a clumsy personality to her, “I know. I grew up way away from here, and I swear it’s like every five minutes there’s a new thing to worry about.”

He smiled, but it was suddenly distant, as if he was remembering something that he wanted to bring up to her. “I grew up in Coral Shiver,” he admitted, and Mari felt a shock of surprise (for one thing, announcing where you lived was not a regular thing to do in a place like Slaggernacks, and for two, Grat was a much larger shark than those expected from the comfy shiver of Coral), “But I had to, uh, take some time away.”

He looked embarrassed, and as she swept the greenie shake out of the way and into the collection cave, she tilted her head, intrigued. “Why? What happened?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t prying too hard (but she would be lying if she didn’t say she wanted to know everything she could about this odd shark.)

“I got kicked out,” he admitted, suddenly sheepish, “Me and my friend Barklay.”

The name was familiar, and Mari was suddenly reminded of the fact that the shark in front of her seemed to be a Megladon of some kind. (And that he bore a striking resemblance to the general of the collective armada that had fought against Hoccu not too many months before.)

But out loud she only asked, “Kicked out? How?!”

He shook his head, as if dismissing an embarrassing memory, “That doesn’t matter,” she muttered, “And it’s stupid anyway.”

Mari looked at him, but her mouth curved up and into a grin anyway. She understood that feeling. As a little shark, there were lots of stupid things that she had done, why would this beautiful, odd stranger be any different.

There was a pause, and Mari could see a very ‘dizzy’ looking Whitetip swimming his way over to the bar. “Well,” she said, feeling an odd ache in her chest as the conversation with Gray was forced to an end, “I guess I have to keep working now,” Gray looked the direction she was looking, and an unreadable (yet highly possibly blushing) expression crossed his thick blue snout.

He didn’t want to leave her either.

Right as she was about to swim off though, he turned to her, fast as if this was the last chance he would get to get his message across. “Can you meet me later?” he asked, and, ignoring the way she froze in her tracks, he continued, “At the sunken ship near here?”

She looked at him, surprised. (But she couldn’t help but feel the stutter in her gills as her heart raced.) “At what time?” she breathed, surprising even herself with her tone.

“As soon as your shift lets out,” Gray was practically pleading, “I- I have a lot of things that I want to talk about with you.”

Normally it would be strictly against protocol for a worker at Slaggernacks to accept an invitation like this. Normally it would be dangerous to accept an invitation like this. But somehow, Mari knew she could trust this shark. Maybe it was the presence he carried himself with, maybe it was the fact that, despite his size, he was just as young of a shark as she was, maybe it was the odd suspicion that she had that he had been a very influential figure in the past for who knows how long.

So she gave him one toothy grin, slapped her tail on the water as she turned away from him, and wiggled her fins. “I'll get let out as soon as the next band comes on,” she called over her shoulder, “I’ll meet you as soon as I can.”

Uh. I hope you enjoyed. XD

#fanfic #my post #gray sw #mari sw #shark wars #sweetrougeshipping #trank sw

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savesharkwars · 2 months

Text

A swim in the red ocean.

Lochlan goes for a swim.

Shark Wars???? Shark Wars :)

This doubles as a test to see if I can write Australian accents lol.

ALSO, most of the character dynamics and magic stuff in this is probably not gonna make ANY sense AT ALL if you haven’t read the series. So… sorry about that lol.

TW: Blood and violence. (But a lot less extreme than the books, which, being made for fourth graders, make this totally appropriate to have on Scratch.) Words: 1,860

(Fic and end notes under the cut.)

Lochlan shook his fins out and sighed, floating down to the seabed as the last quickfin sped away. Next to him, Kendra glanced over, a shock of worry on her face. “Are you alright?” She whispered, her white tipped tail swiping from side to side a bit quicker than normal.

He nodded, but didn’t make any attempt to rise from the ground, he was tired . Finnivus and the Black Wave were fast approaching, Vortex and Hammer Shivers were still refusing to contact him, and Gray’s training didn’t seem to be progressing fast enough to keep him safe. What else was he, a fairly young shark and- may he remind himself- a very new leader of the shiver, meant to do in this situation? Sure, he wasn’t incapable of leading (he had always had a knack of such things), but sometimes just being good at something wasn’t enough.

He was dragged out of his thoughts as Kendra brushed her fin over his spine. “Don’t lie to me,” she said softly, “I can see that somethin's clearly wrong.” (And by her voice, he could tell she was worried about the fact that other AuzyAuzy sharks could too.)

Remembering his duty to keep his subjects encouraged, Lochlan forced himself to rise, floating back into an attention hover and instantly reveling in the clear water in his gills. (There was a current through the clearing, but it kicked up sand when you were too close to the seabed.) “-’m just tired, that's all,” he lied, “I’ve been hovering all day, I haven't even had the time to hunt.”

“I can get ya some fish,” she pointed out. Then she paused and glanced around herself, “But you’d probably have ta wait until the rest of your line’s back from the greenie.”

In her silence he heard her reasoning, “So that someone’s nearby if you get attacked.”

He shook his head and tried to look strong, “I’ll hunt for myself,” she looked at him worriedly, “But I’d let you go with me if you want.”

She flicked her tail dismissively, “No, you can go by yerself if you want, but you should still wait ‘till the rest of the line’s back.”

For what felt like the millionth time that day, he nodded. And when she grinned back at him, sharp teeth shining ever so slightly in the clear water, he let his mind drift. (Though he was sure to stay in a hover this time.)

Finnivius and the Black Wave were going to attack any day now, and though Lochlan felt that he could lead the charge, something in his belly seemed to be fighting to let him know that such an idea might not end well. …or maybe that was just him being hungry.

…

He hoped it was just him being hungry.

Shocking him out of his thoughts came a high pitched snicker as Jaunt (along with the others in the line) swam into the king’s room. They looked like they had been having a good time, but when Jaunt looked over at Loch (their eyes meeting and staying on each other for a moment), he couldn’t force a smile to keep that good mood going.

“Ar’ ya allrigh' Loch?” She asked, her tail speeding up slightly as she changed her pace and swam toward him. She looked worriedly for a second before Lochlan managed to force a brave face.

“Yeah, ‘m fine, just a bit hungry, that’s all.” Kendra opened her mouth to contradict him, but Loch slapped her side with his tail, (it was no use seeing your leader weak right before a battle.), “I was just gonna go hunting actually.”

“Ah! Sorry ‘bout not bringin’ you some fish!” Jaunt exclaimed, apparently not noticing (or at the very least, pretending not to notice) the interaction that Kendra and Loch had just had, “We were just huntin’, we coulda got you some.”

Xander swam up from behind Jaunt and dropped a small brown fish from his mouth. He looked sheepishly up at Lochlan. “I was gonna have this later, but you can have it if you want.”

The golden great white shook his head, “No, you can have it, I wanted to clear my head anyway.”

With that, he slapped his tail against the water and sped away. (Though he could hear Jaunt’s loud voice cut through the water with something like, “What got him so worked up?” even as the cool currents of the open ocean began to drag at his skin.) He felt bad for leaving so abruptly, but he really was hungry, and he really did need to clear his head. (If he had stayed in the war-council-room any longer, he was pretty sure his gills would’ve just ripped themselves out.)

As soon as the shimmering columns of the sunken landshark city were beginning to blur in the water, he let the electric tingles in his skull come to the forefront of his focus. Every shark had this ‘sixth sense’ but not many of them were as attuned to it as he was. (Hey, just because he had been one of Takiza’s worst students didn’t mean that he had been completely hopeless.) Using his sense, he was able to ‘see’ a large fish off to his side, and by the vague shape in his mind, it wasn’t one of the sentient ones.

Excited to eat something good, he almost let out a cheer, but quickly cut himself off as he remembered that the fish would swim away if it thought it was in danger. He let his focus go back into his eyes as quickly as he could, and turned toward the fish in a way that he hoped was stealthy. There was no greenie to hide him here, and his golden color had never really been an advantage for hiding in the open ocean. (He might have to use speed over smarts to catch this fish afterall.)

He swam forward a few tailstrokes, and instantly spotted the fish. It was swimming normally, so even though it was all by itself in a place that he wouldn’t normally expect to see that sort of fish alone, he was fairly sure it was fine to eat. He held back the urge to grind his teeth together (in anticipation of course), and instead glided forward as motionlessly and silently as he could manage.

The fish flitted about with careful flicks of its fins, and Lochlan could tell that it was fast even as he crept closer. Fortunately though (or unfortunately, if you were on the fish’s side), it didn’t notice him until it was far too late.

With a single bite, the fish was gone and Lochlan was on the prowl again. (The fish had been large-ish, but even though he was a young shark, Lochlan was still a great white and needed a bit more than one large-ish fish to feed him.)

But this time, when he extended the strange electric sense, something other than a fish fizzled into his view. Sharkkind. But not just any sharkkind, these sharks were finja, and by the speed at which they were coming towards him, he could only assume they were not on his side. He probably could have tried to fight them, but despite being a physically strong shark, he wasn’t stupid, so he turned and swam as fast as he could back the way he came.

Why had he swum this far out? He screamed at himself, eyes widening as he saw just how far away he was from the sunken city. It would have been easily reachable if he was being chased by pretty much any sharks but finja, but this class of sharks had the sort of power that Takiza hadn’t taught him. The power to control the currents . Sure, they weren’t anywhere near as good at using this power as someone like Takiza, but they certainly knew it better than Lochlan . (And he was still tired, which didn’t help much either.)

They were gaining on him.

He had to make a decision, continue trying to make the unlikely swim back to safety (and to the guards that he definitely should have brought with him) but leave his tail open to be torn off, or turn and face two to three invisible finja all by himself on an empty stomach. Neither of them sounded like good options, but as he felt the electric buzzing of a mako shark right by his tail, he decided he would rather go out kicking.

He spun around and snapped his jaws at where his tail had just been. Somehow, he actually managed to hit something, and a surprised yelp and a cloud of blood suddenly shone in the water. ‘Good,’ he thought, semi hysterically, ‘Now I’ll know where that one is when they try to tear my fins off next time,’

He let the buzzing of electricity become his focus once more, and immediately had to dive straight down to avoid a hammerhead finja taking his dorsal fin clear off. Retaliating, he spun and chased after it, trying to bite their tail and missing by an urchin spine and the mako finja rammed him from the side. He wasn’t sure why it didn’t bite, and he was pretty sure that they didn’t know either, but he lunged to bite them again anyway.

His teeth met soft flesh again, and another blush of blood tainted the water as the mako shrieked again. “Go home!” Lochlan shouted, backing up slightly to get the taste of blood out of his gills, “I don’t want to have to kill you!”

The mako must have been new to the killing job, so they only hesitated for a moment before speeding away, their invisibility flickering as they got farther away from the bloody waters. But of course the hammerhead didn’t leave, and Lochlan took a small scratch to his side as he darted just barely out of the way of what would have been a bite to the gills.

He returned the move, and got a chunk of disgusting flesh in his mouth as payback. The hammerhead did not make a sound, but clearly stuttered in their confidence for a moment as their invisibility flickered off. (No point in using the power if the blood would give them away anyway.)

Loch did not attempt to attack them again though, and instead executed a flawless run-away move as he returned to his race towards the landshark city. For a moment the hammerhead was too stunned to chase him, and that moment was all Lochlan needed to get close enough to the city for a patrol to spot his mad swim to safety.

Immediately the sharks swam toward him, at first they went slowly with confused looks on their faces. But then, probably recognizing where the all-too-potent blood smell was coming from, they sped as fast as they could. In an instant, the patrol rushed past him, and the hammerhead finja turned and raced the other way. (The current momentarily tugged at his scales a bit harder, and then was nearly still.)

There was silence for a moment.

And then Lochlan laughed.

I wrote this for Scratch Writing Camp July 2022 lol. So... here's the scratch discuss version: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/614334/?page=1#post-6428185

#blood #violence #lochlan sw #jaunt sw #kendra sw #shark wars #fanfic #my post

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savesharkwars · 2 months

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“The best fish swim near the bottom.”

A Shark Wars fic I made for Scratch Writing Camp.

Main Cabin Daily: “Ah yes, proverbs. We all have in some way heard of these pieces of wisdom passed through short sentences. Today, we will be using them! For 400 points, write at least 300 words of a story that takes inspiration from a proverb (perhaps using it as the story's moral, perhaps incorporating it into the story somehow - it's up to you).”

Proverb used: “The best fish swim near the bottom.”

AU where Mari is still alive in the final battle I’m sobbing and crying I forgot.,..,,., I am aware that this proverb is not about what I wrote about. Barklay is the best fish and he is swimming near the bottom, there I said it. This is less violent than the actual CHILDREN AIMED book series, so I assume it’s okay on Scratch.

Tw: Implied animal death, blood, violence Words: 2,276

(Fic and end notes under the cut)

Barklay held his tail as still as he possibly could, floating with the current so he could blend in as closely as possible with the greenie. To his side was Mari, motionless in a similar manner, and- despite their similar stillness -he could feel the electric tingle of the other ghostfins a bit behind them. (Gray had talked him into learning to focus on the skill a bit more strongly, and he had to admit it was rather helpful.)

He felt a shadow of a shark pass over them, and instinctively motioned with his fins for his group to be ready for a possible battle. But, rather unsurprisingly, the shark above them didn’t notice the ghostfins. That made Barklay proud. He had trained these sharks (some of them of species that would be more expected to be mariners) to swim stealthily under the battle. It made him proud how well his ghostfins had realized this potential, though he did have to admit a certain enjoyment in the fact that he, a dogfish, was able to get larger sharks to follow his ideas in the first place.

Suddenly though, Barklay noticed something odd about the battle. One of the mosasaurs (a real giant this one) was breaking away from the fight. But that wasn’t the problem (in fact, the less mosasaurs for the combined armada to fight, the better), but what was a problem was the rather concerning fact that it was headed straight for them.

Making a split second decision, he ficked his fins again, and Mari instantly shuffled behind him to take her place in what he called “the sea snake formation”. (Which consisted of all the sharks in a single file line, which let them go at ridiculous speeds for a formation of several sharks. Sure, there wasn’t even a battle fin worth of them, but there were still enough that without the sea snake formation, they should not be able to go as fast as they were able.)

But the sea snake wasn’t just good for swimming away, it was also good for a combined attack! The surprise of even several small sharks moving at that pace was enough to scare anyone, even a mosasaur. (Or… he hoped so, anyway.) Still he kept the sea snake in that place for a moment, hoping that the mosasaur's choice of direction would just be a coincidence… until their eyes met. He could’ve sworn it was smiling .

“Okay,” he whispered, giving a quick pep talk as the jurassic speed up the flapping of it’s clawed flippers, “It’s hide is too strong to ram, prioritize protecting each other over hurting it,” It was only about twenty tail strokes away now, “But that’s what we specialize in anyway, let’s GO!” The last word came out as a yell, and as if powered by a sudden current, the ghostfins exploded out into the open ocean.

Barklay immediately dogged around the mosasaur’s mouth, leaving what he hoped was enough room for all of his ghostfins to do the same as the two forces crashed into each other. The huge crocodile jaws snapped shu and he chanced a glance behind him, and was immediately thankful when he saw that all of his ghostfins were still there. Still in the sea snake formation, Barklay shot under the jurasic’s belly, biting at the flesh he found there. Instantly, the monster roared and attempted to grab the ghostfins, but they scattered back like a school of minnows.

Barklay cringed at the taste of the blood, it was somehow both rotten and alive at the same time. Something like the scents of the landshark trash and Slaggernacks combined. Disgusting! He fell to the end of the sea snake (letting Mari take the lead) as his fins became suddenly tired. Both because of the speed that they were going at, and the disgusting taste that miraculously meant that these things could actually be damaged. (Though he wasn’t fully convinced he hadn’t just been lucky.)

Taking in his surroundings as the group shot just in front of the mosasur’s jaws, Barklay noticed that the shark In front of him was Peen. This was a good setup for him to recover (a hammerhead breaks a lot more current than say, a dogfish… like Barklay.). But in his recovering state, he just barely managed to avoid losing his tail as the mosasaur slammed its jaws shut once more. He felt a shiver shoot down his spine. He had almost just tasted the sweet waters of the Sparkle Blue just a little bit early. (And a spanse of water just as wide as an urchin spine was all that saved him.)

They whirled around the jurassic again, confusing the slightly injured monster as they spun like a whirlpool. There weren’t quite enough of them to actually move the mosasaur, but it did the work for them as it bit at them with delayed reaction time.

All too soon though, the sea snake turned the other way (a move that Barklay was pretty sure came from an awkward doge around one of the giant clawed flippers). But Barklay was once again excited and surprised as the scent of the mosasaur’s blood stained the water for the second time that battle. Maybe they had a chance of beating this thing! Maybe his bite hadn’t just been beginner’s luck!

But as Mari got back on track, he saw something out of the corner of his eye,… something terrifying. “Pull back!” He yelled, “Turn around and follow me!” Thankfully, the ghostfins were trained well enough that they obeyed immediately, and though they lost a precious few seconds, the mosasaur was still a bit spun around from the last attack to its belly. (And therefore unable to get a good shot at the group as they raced back to the greenie.)

The sea snake shot away, Peen close at Barklay’s tail, and Velkena right after him. The quarters were tight, but Barklay had a feeling that the others had spotted… it too. The mosasaur began to chase them, but it was too late, for not a second after Mari had made it into the safety of the greenie, a ball of energy exploded the water that they had just been swimming in. Barklay was the furthest into the greenie, and even he felt a sudden rush of heat as the mosasaur (and the water around it) seemed to morph into flames.

He kept going, having to yell an order back as he upped his tail strokes from one hundred per minute to two hundred per minute. It was breakneck pace, and he was still tired from leading the charge at the start of their attack, so he had to fall to the back of the formation again as the group headed deeper into the greenie. He trusted Peen to lead the group, but if the hammerhead got tired as well, Velkena would be at the head of the sea snake… Somehow, even after all they had been through together, Barklay still couldn’t force himself to trust her.

But as he snuck a glance back (and was immediately painfully aware of the danger they were fleeing as his eyes met those of that… monster ), he realized that maybe, just maybe, it didn’t matter at that specific moment in time. Peen fell to the back of the snake, still keeping his tail strokes just as fast as before, but no longer breaking the current for all of those behind him. As Velkena took the lead, Barklay felt a sudden (and rather dramatic) increase in the ghostfin’s speed. It was to be expected though, Velkena was a mako (a very fast sort of shark) and specifically wanted by the shark chasing them.

But Barklay wasn’t sure if they could do it much longer. The sea snake was fast, but Hocuu was faster. (He felt an involuntary shark run from his snout to his tail tip as he admitted to himself the name of the threat behind them.) But just as the frilled shark was about to catch up with Peen (and Barklay right after him), Velkena jerked the sea snake to the side (and into a mess of coral spires.)

Normally, a frilled shark wouldn’t have been phased by quick turns like this, but a combination of good luck and brilliant thinking was able to save the ghostfins’ collective tails as an explosion of magic shot at them from somewhere to the side.

‘Takiza!’ Barklay thought, too shocked to even care that Velkena was leading the group back out into the open ocean. ‘He saved us!’

The sea snake crossed the battlefield at record pace, Velkena falling to the back of the line and the shark in front of her soon after. The group sped into the second greenie field (this one golden and full of tall leafy spires), and stuttered to a stop. For a moment they were still on edge, watching their tails for a moment longer as they went back into award winningly tired hovers in the greenie.

And then one of them let out a sigh of relief.

As he heard the sound, Barklay felt himself relax. Nobody from the main battle seemed to have noticed their mad dash to the golden greenie, Hocuu was no longer on their tails (a use of his electricity-sensing-power proved that), and the mosasaur was long gone. -And not a single ghostfin had been lost! He heard Velkena breathing hard behind him (Peen had filtered away to a slightly browner clump of greenie), and almost forgave her. (But not yet… they still had battles yet to fight.)

Barklay sank a bit lower in the water, grinning as he let the current take him again. (Though he still cast worried eyes out to the larger battle, a disturbing shock of red tainted the water there.) The ghostfins deserved a small rest after what they had done, not just any group of ten to fifteen sharks could take out a mosasaur and live to tell the tale. (Though that was, admittedly, mostly Takiza’s doing.)

He wavered in the water like he himself was a stalk of greenie. Counting each wave back and forth until he had the pattern down to a science. He glanced back the way they had come, and was happy to see that Takiza appeared to have made it out of the fight. Sure, the betta fish was small, but he also had such an aura to him, Barklay just knew that he was still alive.

But there was more to battle than the life of one fish (no matter how powerful they happened to be), so when Mari motioned for the ghostfins to creep after her, Barklay followed. Sure, he was the leader, but Mari was one of the highest ranked among them, and besides, part of being a ghostfin was that you had to let other people take the lead when they needed to.

Unfortunately though, he soon found that the reason they were leaving in such a manor was once again , not a good one. Now it wasn’t “mosasaur charging directly at you with the intent of eating you alive” bad, but as red stained his gills, he knew that it was just the same for someone else. Beside him, he heard Velkena suck in a breath as she spotted what they were heading for. (And when he followed her gaze, he found himself doing the same.)

He couldn’t even force himself to describe it. Not even years later, when he surely should have been able to, he couldn’t get his eyes to focus on what was burned into them. Later, he wouldn’t even be able to place a fin what exactly about this specific instance that scared him so bad, but in that moment, all he knew was that the fish he had eaten that morning might just be able to see the ocean again soon.

“Oh Tyro,” he heard a younger ghostfin whisper, the small whitetip’s tail flicking excessively as they took in the sight, “What do we do?”

“We deal with it,” Mari said determinedly. (And a flick of her fins explained the plan all in one step.)

Following the orders, Barklay took the lead again. Since the sea snake had been an effective way to deal with a fight last time, they were doing it again. He took a deep breath in and the water filtered through his gills in a way that would have been calming had it not been for the lingering scent of iron in the water.

He wiggled his tail… closed his eyes… readyed his teeth… -and lurched forward at the highest speed that any self respecting dogfish would be able to. Behind him, the rest of the ghostfins followed suit, and as if they were an armada of their own, the sea snake ripped through everything in front of them. Barklay missed the first bite, but the spinner behind him got it. (And the frilled shark screeched away, blood trailing from its gills.)

He was more ready for the next one though.

It was a blur, and though somewhere in their mad race he fell to the end of the line, by the time the sea snake had had its fill, there was not a single frilled shark left in that crowd of greenie. (And there had still not been a single death among the ghostfins. Either they were having uncharacteristically good luck, or someone had slipped some of that weird glowing greenie into their lunches.)

And though it was still not over, Barklay grinned his teeth together in pride.

They were turning the tide.

Translations for stuff that may not make sense of you haven't read these books: Battle fin: 100 battle trained sharks. Mosasaurus: A kind of dinosaur. Near the end of the Shark Wars Series they are attacking the main characters Greenie: Underwater plants. Usually seaweed. Mariners: In the context of Shark Wars, this refers to the sharks in the main parts of the armada. Slaggernacks: A restaurant. Hocuu: The main villain of the later Shark Wars books. He is very fast and also has magical powers.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!

#implied animal death #fanfic #my post #mari sw #barklay sw #velenka sw #hocuu sw #blood

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savesharkwars · 2 months

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evil infodumping where you just tell lies

#my post #jokes/memes #shark wars #goblin sw #gray sw #ms lamprey sw

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savesharkwars · 2 months

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Takiza Jaelynn Betta vam Delcrest Waveland ka Boom Boom

A name so awesome the internet can’t even handle it~

#takiza sw #shark wars #others post #discussion

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savesharkwars · 2 months

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No.29. Sinking Sinking, Dying Dying

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51209845

Words: 1,019

Cws: SEVERE animal injury, referenced animal death

Notes: This isn’t very good but I had to rush and noone’ll read it anyway so eh, only I’m paying.

Prompt: No. 29: “I only sink deeper the deeper I think.” Scented Candle | Troubled Past Resurfacing | “What happened to me?”

Was this the end? Gray felt blood choke his gills as he slowly sank through the water. He couldn’t even process the pain, what was happening? He tried to flick his tail to swim forward, but his body didn’t seem to respond to him as he tried to urge himself forward. He tried to move his fins, but all he felt was pain as stripes of white agony flashed in his vision. He couldn't move forward at all, what was going on?

He looked down at his body, but his brain didn't process what he was seeing. Even with all the death and gore he had seen in these past few years of war, he still hadn't grown used to it. Not on other sharks, not on his friends, not on himself.

He stared uncomprehendingly at the space where his fins used to be. He tried to move them, but all that happened was more of that sickeningly sweet blood floating through the water. There was nothing there.

His breath fell out of his gills in a huff.

His fins were gone.

His tail was gone.

Was this what Mari had felt before she had died? Was this what happened to Lochlan in that awful feeding frenzy?

Gray tried to twitch his tail to at least get out of the cloud of red that surrounded him, but of course nothing happened.

His mind seemed to slow as the pain burned through his body. This awful helplessness, had Mari felt that when the explosion had ripped through her? That terrible knowledge that you would never swim again, had that crossed Lochlan's mind in his last moments?

Gray felt oxygen coming slow to his gills, to breath, he needed to swim, but as it was he was only sinking.

Hoccu's distant laughing didn't even register in his brain now, so distorted his mind was. His memories and experiences were bleeding into the world around him as he sank, and even the pieces that were left of that world were folding and falling off as his eyes darkened with the agony.

If Gray was screaming, he couldn't tell the difference.

Before him, he could almost see Barklay. The little dogfish was laughing as she swam in a circle in front of Gray, teasing him with the tip of his glitching tail when his friend didn't follow his lead. He wanted to follow him to safety, but Gray's fins held him back. He tried to call out to Barklay, but blood filled Gray's throat as his gills seized.

He coughed horribly, and his body spasmed as the shaking cough squirted blood from what had once been his fins and tail. Again he tried to swim forward, knowing that he had to reach Barklay to stay alive, but nothing worked. He just kept sinking farther and farther away from his friend, sinking towards the dark depths that now loomed below him.

It was like he was on the edge of the Dark Blue again, as if that horrible maw to the abyss had opened right below Gray's shivering body. From life to nothing, the once sandy ground yawned open before him, and Gray's mind spun as greenie, sand, and stone all swirled into that same awful blackness that he had seen in that horrible place. A place so devoid of life that Gray knew that no Coral Shiver shark could ever live there and return.

And this time he didn't even have Briney or Hank to keep him company.

Gray tried to call out for help, but nothing seemed to be happening. Only blood would exit his once proud jaws now.

The darkness swirled and warped, and the the shimmering remains of his friends since passed seemed to glow with him in the darkness. Everything else was gone. Even Barklay, who was still fighting to swim above him, was losing his color and shape as darkness consumed Gray's vision.

To his side was Mari, still just as beautiful as she had been on the day she had been lost. She was swimming calmly, and her outline sparkled with moonlight as if Gray were already with her in the Sparkle Blue. She didn't seem to see him yet, but as the darkness of the void around Gray began to gradually transform itself into other shapes and colors, her body became more and more solid as pain left his ruined body.

He longed to join her, to swim by her side and tell her those things that he had never been able to tell her while she was alive. (This awful war had made sure of that.) He longed to feel the current in his gills and the waves on his skin. He longed to take her out hunting, to explore the new world that was coming to life around him.But he knew he couldn't stay with her, he had to live.

He shook his head roughly, the world snapped and changed, and Mari was gone once more.

Gray was back in the Great Blue, and the pain was back at full force as he once again tried to swim. Of course, his fins were still gone, and he couldn't.

The world was blurring again, and Gray had to grind his teeth together to keep himself conscious. He couldn't die. He couldn't. He had to stay and live the life that Mari couldn't. He had to bring himself back to his family, to his mother, to his brother, to his sister. They didn't deserve to see him go! He couldn't let them lose him.

He fought against the agony.

He fought against the blur of the void.

He fought against the awful mix of memories and reality as his body twitched and spasmed.

His gills were unblocked down, but his breath came no easier as he felt himself rest down upon the ocean floor.

Those shapes of his friends could not save him, those glowing forms that had once belonged to those he loved. He had to save himself. He had to get himself out of this.

But...

Deep down, Gray knew that he couldn't.

#my post #fanfic #animal death #animal injury #sweetrougeshipping #mari sw #gray sw #lochlan sw #barklay sw #shark wars #whump

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savesharkwars · 2 months

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Barkley (my absolute favourite character from Shark Wars) has at least one 'hero moment' in every book in the series and I need to talk about it.

Book 1 - Okay so. The Tuna Run is going down. Goblin (and Velenka but sssshhh) is going to make his big play against Razor Shiver. Gray and the rest of Rogue Shiver are desperately trying to stop him but they're too far away to intervene.

Then Barkley, like a mad lad, shoots out of school of tuna and hits Thrash, who hits Goblin and causes a domino effect. Knocking the entire attacking party away from Razor. Essentially this one move is why the attack failed. And Goblin (read Velenka) doesn't get his North Atlantic empire of tyranny started.

I know Tazika saves Rogue Shiver in the end, but Barkley was still a key component in stopping Velenka's plans. Which, considering all the shit Velenka and Goblin shiver as a whole put him through, was very cathartic.

Book 2 - Barkley is the only reason why Whalem joins the protagonists.

Whalem is a fascinating character to me. I love that old guy. But in book 2 he was genuinely loyal to Finnivus up until literally the last minute. When Onyx tries to convince him to join the protagonists, Whalem refuses. It is only when Barkley talks to (berates) him that Whalem agrees to go with him and Onyx. Barkley also has to reassure Whalem that Lochlan does not hold him responsible for what Indi shiver has done, in order for Whalem to not later betray them.

Without Whalem, I firmly believe Riptide United would not have beaten Indi shiver. Not in book 2 or 3. Whalem was Mariner Prime for decades and knew the Indi armada's tactics inside and out. He was also responsible for training Striiker into an actual commander. (Which became very important when Striiker took over Riptide shiver later in the series). The only reason any of that happened was because of Barkley.

Book 3 - The Ghostfins

Aw yeah. I think the third book is my favourite in the whole series just because of how much the characters grow. It really is the tipping point of the saga.

In this book, Barkley is the reason why Riptide United didn't have to tear a bunch of pups apart to kill Finnivus. The whole concept of the pup armada, and the chapter where they are revealed, is one of the darkest in shark wars. And that's saying something, because some dark shit happens in these books. Cough Hokuu Cough.

Barkley creates and leads the Ghostfins on a mission into enemy territory to rescue the armada pups and succeeds. He was smart enough to make the connection between the orange spot on Deni's tail and his aunt's tail. He was the one who had the knowledge of what was going on, and the ability to act on it. Barkley is the reason why the hero's didn't have to murder a bunch of children. So kudos to him.

Book 4 - Barkley figures out that there is something more to Hokuu's plan than Velenka and the full moon. He doesn't figure out exactly what, but to be fair neither does Tazika. If Kaleth had actually listened to Barkley she may very well have survived this book.

This might not count as a heroic moment. But I did find it interesting how Barkley got so close to figuring out Hokuu's scheme with the information he had. Because it's goddam Hokuu and that guy's eldritch.

Book 5 - Drinnok

I think the chapter where Barkley negotiates with Drinnok is my favourite in the entire series. It is so tense. Even getting close enough to speak with Drinnok takes all of Barkley's stealth. It's like all of his training has been leading up to this. Drinnok could have Barkley killed at any moment. Everything depends on Barkley saying the right thing at the right time. And he does!

Barkley convinces Drinnok, a megalodon king who has been referred to as a tyrant and or bloodthirsty brute by most characters, to come to peace talks. Drinnok insults Barkley multiple times during their conversation. But Barkley doesn't rise to the bait, which a younger Barkley from the earlier books most definitely would have. Its a just a really really great scene that shows how far Barkley has come.

If it weren't for Hokuu and Grimkahn, Barkley's actions here, combined with Gray's later talks with Drinnok, would have saved the oceans from another war.

Book 6 - Barkley tail fins Grimkahn in the eye and it is absolutely iconic.

Physically, Grimikhan is the strongest character in the entire series. He's a guy who gives Gray, a megalodon filled with literal magic, a run for his money. And Barkley, a little dogfish, slaps him in the eye for daring to try and eat Gray. Barkley saves Gray's life doing this, which allows Gray to later kill Grimikhan and save the oceans from outright genocide.

So yeah. Barkley deserved to rule the Big Blue in the end. He's a funky lil guy.

#drinnoch sw #barklay sw #shark wars #others post #discussion #goblin sw #velenka sw #takiza sw #grimikhan sw #gray sw #spoilers #whalem sw #finnivus sw #onyx sw #hocuu sw #lochlan sw #kaleth sw

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