The Adventures of Keiko Haubjed

Starring Keiko in

Frilled Shark

By Tsunami_Holmes

Last time... Keiko kept on fishing, until she felt a tug that pulled her into the water. Keiko felt her lungs burn, then, from the murky water, came enormous jaws. Suddenly, an unbearable pain shot through her body and then everything went black.

Now...

12-year-old Keiko saw her life flash in front of her... but then she saw herself, as a Komodo Dragon. This picture in her fading mind stayed, locked in place. Then, with her last bit of consciousness, she turned once again into a Komodo Dragon. Her senses sharpened and she bit down, hard, inside of the Goonch's mouth, releasing her venom spit. This all happened without Keiko's intent. Then, as the Goonch wiggled from pain, Keiko swam out of the mouth, now smaller than before. She poked her head up, out of the water and took a huge breath. She turned to face the shore, on which she was fishing from before. She saw her dad arrive back from the car, but before she could change back or even talk, she heard the sound of a waterfall and turned to look upstream, since there was no waterfall nearby, only the ocean the opposite way. Upstream, there was a huge flood, it came rushing down onto Keiko just after she took a deep breath. As it hit her, she was swept out to sea by the incredibly strong current. Next thing she knew, it was black and she was quickly sinking to the bottom of the sea, to die as a Komodo Dragon. But suddenly, a massive eel-like creature came swimming up from the depths and pushed Keiko to the surface. Keiko's brain was shutting down, her lungs were past screaming... And soon she became unconscious. Keiko woke to find herself on the beach, a fire roaring next to her and a wooly blanket on her. She jumped as a man came out of the forest carrying some wood. He dumped it in the fire. This man wore a robe and had a long gray beard. He looks like Gandalf! Keiko thought.

"I do? Wonderful! I am a wizard you know," the man seemed to have read her thoughts!

"How did you- Wha?" Keiko stuttered.

"I'm a wizard, I just told you that did I not?" the wizard asked.

"Yes, but if you were a regular person, like me, you wouldn't believe if someone told you that they were a wizard," Keiko explained.

"Come, I must teach you something," the wizard beckoned as he started towards the water.

"How can I know that I trust you?" Keiko questioned, cautiously following him.

"Because I saved your life. I was the Frilled Shark that brought you to the surface, I was the one that made the fire, and I was the one to save you from dying so that you may save others. I have a plan for you. God has a plan for you that I am here to put into motion. Your purpose is to teach others about God's creation, you shall do this with these..." he searched for a word, "abilities, I am about to give to you," by then the two had reached the waters edge, where there was a circle made of seashells, "stand in here and-"

"Wait, abilities? Frilled Sharks? What?" Keiko had so many questions.

"Ok, I better teach you about Frilled Sharks now before we go any further. A Frilled Shark is a little known species of shark that lives in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It has 6 gills on each side, that's where it gets it's name, from it's gills. They live about 160-660 feet deep and are 6.6 feet long," Keiko shuttered, the same length as a Goonch, she thought. The wizard continued, "though they are uncommon below 3,900 feet deep, one was found 5,150 feet deep! They have 300 trident-shaped teeth which are arranged in 25 leaf-like rows. These teeth are on the jaw, which is at the front of the head (uncommon for a shark) and hangs open most of the time. This shark swims by oils in it's skin that help keep it afloat. It uses it's fins to steer, but it mostly uses it's buoyancy. Now, it's litters usually have 2 to 15 babies that are from 16 to 24 inches long. Because of the 3 year gestation period, these animals are near threatened. Hmm... I think that's about all I know."

"Wow! Amazing, I never knew that sharks were so interesting, but I didn't get to see this 'Frilled shark', I was unconscious."

"Let me show you," the wizard walked her to the water and then dived in. Keiko wadded in and watched as a 6.6 foot eel-like shark appeared. It was long and slender, giving the appearance of a water snake. Most of the fins were on the backside of it's body and the huge gills were on the front. Keiko loved it, but was also a little scared, it was a shark after all. A few minutes later, the wizard was back in his dry clothes again, for when he changed back, he was back to completely dry everything, skin, clothes, etc.

"Now, you stand in the circle while I get something..." the wizard started to walk off, but Keiko stopped him.

"I still have questions, about where you came from, abilities, and how you just did what you did," Keiko pointed out.

"Well, let me just say, you will find out about me later, that answers two of your questions, and for abilities, I was just about to answer that." He continued to walk off to the fire pit, once there, he grabbed something and came back with a leather bound book, a map, and a tooth that Keiko recognized.

"That's the Komodo Dragon tooth!" Keiko exclaimed.

"Yes," the wizard responded.

"But how?" Keiko asked.

"I have my ways," the wizard winked, "now, take this journal, you shall use it to keep all your experiences, newfound abilities, and anything important that you want to keep safe in here, for once you write in it, anyone else who looks in the book won't be able to see what you wrote, the page will appear blank to them. Take this map, it is a map of the world. Here is where you will mark your hideouts and other important places, it has the same qualities as the book, I have already marked all my hideouts where you are free to visit anytime. And finally, here is the tooth, it is more than just a tooth, it is now the object from which you power comes from," Keiko reached out to grab it like she had with the other objects, but the wizard pulled away, "no, no, once you touch this, you will never be Keiko again, for once you touch it, you will become Zorina the world shaper, a girl with the power to shape shift and time travel, you shall use these abilities to help others and learn more about God's Creation."

"No way, I will never be able to shape shift and time travel! It's not possible!"

"Then who was the jungle girl that changed both you and Olivia into Komodo Dragons, allowing you to save yourself from the Goonch fish later?" Keiko thought, the jungle girl did look a lot like herself...

Keiko gasped, "that was myself?!"

"Yes! But you must go back in time now, in order to save yourself from then."

"Well that's confusing," Keiko mumbled.

"Yes, at first. But you will learn. Now, take the tooth. Oh, and remember to never become in contact with anyone you knew before while looking like the old Keiko, everyone thinks that you're dead."

"What?!" Keiko exclaimed.

"Yes, but we must keep it that way. You'll be better off, I promise," the wizard handed her the tooth, Keiko clutched it in her fist, the sand below her started to rise, swirling around her, the shells did the same.

"Wait! I never heard your name!" Keiko called through the almost solid barrier of sand.

"My name is Nahri, now go, change the world!"