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Story 1 summary: Dragon takes a nap on the seabed
Themes: Underwater sleeping, extreme breathholding
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After wading into the ocean's water, a feral red dragon began to swim, even using his wings to help paddle along. For a few minutes, he swam along the surface, soon seemingly being satisfied with where he is and taking a few deep breaths before diving under. With his cheeks puffed and breath held tight, he swam deeper and deeper, soon settling his paws onto the bottom roughly 80 feet down. After a smile and a puff of bubbles toward the distant surface, the dragon began to stroll along the bottom.
As he walked, happily surveying his aquatic surroundings, and at one point greeting a passing fish with an incomprehensible "Blubbleglubbloop", the dragon came to a large rock he'd climb onto the top of, pretending he couldn't swim. At its top, he sat down and looked around for a while... Before he yawned, uncaring of losing air from doing so. He hadn't slept well last night, and could use a nap. But, he didn't want to cut his dive short... The dragon decided to make use of his incredibly strong lungs, and hopped off the rock to look around for a good spot.
Soon, he found one; a smaller rock with an indentation that bordered on being a tiny cave, the whole thing looking like it could comfortably fit him. Walking inside, the dragon smiled; there was even still sand in here instead of rock! Satisfied, he laid down and looked outside... Before setting his head down on the sand and closing his eyes, trying to get to sleep. After about 10 minutes, his awareness faded, and the dragon fell asleep, his oxygen very slowly being used up as his body dutifully continued holding its breath.
An hour passed, and the dragon stirred, gradually coming to awareness. For the moment, he'd forgotten both that he was underwater and that he was holding his breath, and he slowly got up to stretch. After a bubbly yawn, he looked around, and was quickly reminded of where he was, smiling at how subtle his urge to breathe still was. Feeling refreshed, the dragon walked out of the tiny cave, ready to continue exploring.
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Story 2 summary: Lugia plays on the moon
Themes: Space breathholding, brief mild peril
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Wandering in some ruins one day, Lugia came across something strange: A large archway, engraved with symbols he didn't recognize, through which he could see a gray, rocky landscape with the night sky above it. It wasn't BEHIND the archway - looking behind it just showed the usual stone wall. Curious, he stuck his head through, at which point the air was immediately pulled from his lungs! Pulling his head back, Lugia gasped, now very much confused. He waved a hand through the arch, but nothing happened...
Experimentally, he held his breath before moving his head through again. He felt strange, but his air remained secure this time. Seeing there was a similar arch wherever this was, Lugia stepped entirely through, lurching for a moment as the gravity changed. Looking around the gray expanse, it occurred to him he couldn't hear anything just before something in the sky caught his eye. It was... Earth. He was on the moon! Lugia smiled as he looked around. He'd always wanted to see this place for himself!
After taking a few steps, he tried to fly, before remembering it wouldn't work. Without an atmosphere, there was nothing for his wings to push off of. Not minding much, Lugia kept walking instead, happily looking around. There wasn't a whole lot to see here, but he didn't mind, just being here at all being enjoyable for now. For 20 minutes, he wandered the lunar landscape, occasionally jumping to see how far and high he could go, but making sure to keep the arch in view so he wouldn't get lost.
Eventually, attempting another jump, one of the rocks slipped from under Lugia's foot, and he let out a silent yelp of surprise, the vacuum around taking the opportunity to pull the air from his lungs! A mostly transparent cloud of breath left his mouth, and he briefly grabbed at his neck as he fruitlessly tried to breathe. There was nothing for it at this point - he needed to leave and breathe. Now with empty lungs, he beelined toward the arch, getting there in about a minute and jumping through as his chest started getting uncomfortable.
Lugia gasped before landing on the floor of the ruins, back on Earth and able to breathe again. Panting a little, he looked back at the arch and smiled. He'd certainly be coming back here in the future, and maybe with a friend too!
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Story 3 summary: Dolphin makes and uses voodoo doll of himself
Themes: Magic, underwater but not really
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With one last bit of sewing, he was just about done; the dolphin now held a small doll that was the spitting image of himself. It just needed one more touch... Wincing, he pricked himself with a special needle, then wiped the little bit of blood onto the doll. NOW it was complete: A voodoo doll of himself! Now, to test it out... He poked at the doll a few times, but didn't feel anything. Carefully, he poked its left arm with the needle, and felt a slight pain in the exact spot he'd poked. He smiled as he was now certain he'd made the doll properly, and picked it up to try out a couple other things he'd wanted to do with it.
First, he went to his kitchen, opening up the fridge and holding the doll in it. Almost immediately, a chill surrounded him, and it kept up even with the fridge closed and the doll sitting inside. After a few seconds of taking in the novelty of it, he reopened the fridge and took the doll back out. Neat, but not really all that interesting, and he wasn't about to also try putting it in a hot place. So, that left one more thing to try out for now.
Plugging the sink, he turned on the water and let it fill before turning it off again. Making sure to keep the doll's head above the surface, he dangled the rest of it down into the water, a pleasant coolness surrounding most of his body. Then, after taking and holding a deep breath, he let go of the doll, it sinking to the bottom. The coolness was now around his head as well, and even his hearing changed as if he were underwater. Experimentally, he opened his mouth, and bubbles floated from it as if he were underwater! They rose a couple feet up before fading away, and the dolphin smiled at them before trying to swim. That didn't work, and he just landed on the floor again. It seemed this only affected him in certain ways... But, it'd still be fun to sort of be underwater in his home for a while.
For about 12 minutes, he wandered around, occasionally puffing some air from his blowhole to make more of those strange temporary bubbles. Near the end of that he went outside for a little while, finding it surreal that nothing was above him and he still probably shouldn't breathe. But, eventually, his lungs were complaining, so he went back inside and pulled the voodoo doll from the sink, bubbling as he did so he could see when the effect ended. When bubbles abruptly stopped forming, he inhaled and caught his breath. That was certainly an interesting bunch of experiences! But, he decided he'd had enough for now. He couldn't leave the doll connected to him when he wasn't using it of course, so he carefully cancelled out its connection to him and put it away. This certainly wouldn't be the only time he'd be putting that doll underwater...
