Sunlight shines down in the ocean, painting the seabed with rippling bands of light. Fish swim about, going about their lives... Then, an outsider enters with a splash, a green and blue anthro lizard diving below the surface. His lack of gills is obvious; his cheeks bulge and bubbles leak from his nostrils. He can resist his instinct to inhale for just over 10 minutes, however, so he doesn't mind forgoing air for some time. With a smile on his face, he pulls himself deeper; 10 feet, 20, 30... Soon, he floats just above the seabed, under nearly 50 feet of water.
Allowing himself to sink, the lizard stands on the bottom, happily surveying his aquatic surroundings. This is not a part of the ocean with which he's familiar, but that simply adds to his enjoyment, the reptile eager to begin exploring. He takes a somewhat awkward step forward, then another, soon strolling along the seabed as one would on land. His tail whisks back and forth in the water behind him, both from happiness and to help him balance in this environment that his body wasn't made for.
After some time, and a bubbled greeting to a passing fish, the lizard finds a tall rocky hill. He begins to climb... Before shaking his head, smiling at how silly that is in this environment, and leaping from the bottom to swim instead. Before long, he reaches its top, and sits down on it. A couple minutes have passed now, yet the lizard doesn't mind the slowly increasing pressure in his chest from going without air. Soon, he even tilts his head back and puffs some air from his mouth, forming a ring of bubbles that is soon joined by another, and another.
With several more rings' worth of air released, the lizard stands again, deciding it's time he followed his bubbles. Another jump sends him toward the surface, and he breaches it without issue, a light gasp being audible. He stays where he is, catching his breath, before diving a second time, far from being satisfied with his exploration. This time, his first move is to examine the hill he'd been sitting on, as he hadn't yet seen the whole thing. It's rather uninteresting, and the lizard turns to swim off before something catches his eye: An opening in the rock... A cave!
Confident in his breath holding ability, he happily swims inside, though just the slightest bit of fear begins to bubble up within him from being unable to see the surface. Before much time passes, he makes a discovery that helps him put that fear aside; just before the sunlight from outside is no longer enough, a light becomes visible from within the cave! Now far more curious than frightened, the reptile eagerly swims ahead to find its source.
The tunnel he's in quickly leads to the light source being discovered: Glowing purple algae lining the stone walls. Being in its light gives him an odd, indescribable feeling, but not an unpleasant one. He touches the algae to no obvious effect, then presses a hand to it, giggling some bubbles as his hand begins to glow the same color. Assuming the algae to not be harmful, the lizard swims on, casting his own light around the tunnel from the algae adhering to his hand.
Roughly another minute of swimming, and the tunnel opens into a wide chamber, unfortunately with no air to be found. Before long, the lizard notices an object glinting in the purple light, on a flat stone that almost appears to be an altar. Approaching it, he finds that it's rather strange; a somewhat rough-looking rod that looks like it was carved from a pearl, about the length of his forearm, with a shining transparent sphere atop it. He simply can't resist picking it up to inspect it further, and the sphere wobbles as he does... It's an air bubble, roughly fist-sized, stubbornly clinging to the top of the rod.
Having never seen anything quite like this, the lizard's eyes go wide in wonder. Is it really made of pearl? How is that bubble staying in place? And who even made this? His mental questions are put on hold for now, as he grips the rod in one hand to start swimming out with it. Despite how rough it is, he realizes it almost seems to have been made to be held in this way. After taking another look at it, he smiles and brandishes it as if it were a wand and he were a wizard locked in an underwater duel.
He swipes the pearl rod through the water as if he were casting a spell, with surprisingly little resistance... And bubbles trail behind it. The lizard stops, thoroughly confused at what just happened, and looks at the rod again. Indeed, it looks exactly the same as it did before. With another experimental swipe, a second arc of bubbles is formed, and the lizard almost gasps in delight. This really is a wand!
Now uncaring of his slight need for a breath, the lizard happily plays with the pearl wand, conjuring more bubbles and even learning he can shoot some forward by thrusting the wand. All the air he creates pools on the ceiling of the cave, forming an air pocket, but he hardly even notices. Then, he has an idea; what if the wand can make different shapes of bubbles? He holds it up, focusing on the shape of the bubble rings he'd blown earlier, and... Sure enough, a ring of bubbles floats off the wand's tip!
With his joy renewed, the lizard experiments with this ability of the wand: A cube bubble, a long bubble, a perfectly spherical bubble, even one that bears a passing resemblance to himself! He laughs out some bubbles of his own, before stopping and covering his mouth. In all the fun he'd been having, he'd forgotten about his need for the bubbles he'd been making! Just before he starts swimming for the air pocket he'd made, he looks down at the wand again. There is that bubble on its tip...
While he's a little worried it'll ruin the wand, he brings the bubble to his lips and carefully inhales. It doesn't add much to his reserves, but strangely, it's a far more satisfying breath than normal, his lungs now fully refreshed! His eyes go wide upon noticing the wand's bubble is gone... But he sighs in relief as a new one begins to form. Looking up, he giggles at all the air the chamber now holds, a pocket taking up the upper quarter of it. As the purple color around him starts to get a little annoying, the lizard decides to head out of the cave, swimming while of course bringing the pearl wand with him.
Once he's back outside in the ocean proper, he swipes the wand once more and smiles as bubbles form, very much glad taking its own bubble didn't damage it. With so much room outside, he decides to do one more test: What's the biggest bubble the wand can make? Looking up at the rocky hill, he focuses on its size and holds up the wand. Even with the light out here, he can see it begin to glow, almost vibrating in his hand. Then, with a powerful thrust forward, a huge bubble forms, easily 5 times his own height! This makes the wand's bubble disappear again, but with it already reforming, the lizard isn't afraid this time, and he happily looks at his joyful, puffy-cheeked reflection in the giant bubble.
He watches as the bubble slowly floats to the surface, and can hear it pop even as far down as he is. The lizard smiles at the wand once again, and heads for the surface, with a simple calm exhalation following despite how long he'd been underwater. As he raises the wand out of the water, its bubble vanishes again, but reappears when he quickly submerges it again. Pulling it out again, he swipes it through the air, and nothing happens, confirming the wand's magic only works underwater. The lizard doesn't mind; he swims quite often, and he'll be able to make as much use of the wand as he wants in the future. For now, he begins to swim back to shore, wondering if he should get a holster of some sort for his bubble wand.
