Ran allowed his gills to stretch, breathing in deeply the fresh seawater. It was so good to be back in the ocean. There was no question that being an Animalian was a lot better than being a simple-minded shark. Still, the saline tank he had to swim in was no real substitute for the briny deep. He was a creature of the sea, always has been and always will be. He deeply hoped that Clara will buy the island. He understood that she had suspicions about the military liaison. That man, along with the other humans, had given Ran a leery look and a wide berth. But a lot of humans did that. Apparently the sight of a shark man was very intimidating to them.
There were plenty of fish that were giving him a wide berth and for good reason. Ran had quickly found out that his altered body didn't inhibit his speed at all. In fact, it allowed him to grab fish with his hands as well as his mouth. Hunting had never been this easy. But Ran felt an edge of loneliness. He was the only one of his kind. Sure, there was Ariel back home, but she was a lake trout, a freshwater fish. She didn't and couldn't understand the beauty of the sea. Ran wondered briefly if uplifted freshwater fish could swim in the sea for brief periods like he could in the lake near Lyre. But Ran focused on the future. He wasn't the only one of his kind, merely the first. There will be more saltwater Animalians to swim along side with.
Then, as if in answer to his thoughts, he smelled something very familiar. Coming through the water towards him was a great white shark. Ran could understand the humans' fear of his kind. This wasn't a creature you wanted to be on the wrong side of and great white sharks weren't known to be sociable creatures, even among their own kind. But this one didn't seem interested in fighting. Ran's nostrils could tell this was a female and she seemed just as interested in him. She wasn't completely alone. A pair of remoras were clinging to her underside and a pilot fish was hovering near her head, nipping at little parasites clinging to her.
Humans would have tried to get as far away from her as they could, but to Ran, she was the most gorgeous thing in the sea. Of course, he couldn't really make a move on her like this. She might be interested in his scent, but probably not interested enough to mate with him with her current preferences. Not to mention the obvious physical challenges. But Ran came prepared. There was a belt attached to the swim trunks he wore that had several items in the pouches, including a syringe filled with the same Animalian virus solution that was used on him. Clara had let him take it along in case he found a female shark in these waters and it was his great luck that there was one right here. He pulled the syringe and swam over to the female. He quickly jabbed the syringe and injected its contents before pulling out and swimming a short distance.
The shark soon started to thrash a bit in the water. Her thrashing was enough to make the pilot fish and remoras swim away from her. Ran watched with fascination as the shark started to change. Her first change was her pectoral fins growing substantially longer. Instead of being mere triangles, they were lengthening and bending at new elbows. The tip of the fins spread out before branching into five points that became claw-tipped fingers with webbing between them. The pelvic fins grew even longer, gaining girth and muscles. Unlike the pectoral fins, the tips of the pelvic fins didn't grow many distinct toes. The new feet looked more like scuba flippers, though considerably shorter than the clumsy things humans wear.
After her fins had been made into functioning limbs, her body started taking a more humanoid build. The bulky torso shrank considerably in bulk. Quite soon, a pair of shoulders and hips became distinctive as a waist began collapsing in. As soon as the basic human figure was established, the female characteristics started filling in. Her hips gained considerable girth as the new butt beneath her tail swelled up to match it in size. A pair of black nipples appeared on the shark's chest before the flesh beneath started inflating. Ran watched with great interest as they grew larger. One would think large breasts would get in the way of hydrodynamics, but the orcas and dolphins were able to swim just fine despite their reconfigured mammaries and Ariel had little trouble even though she was a purely cold-blooded creature. But that wasn't to say that the changing shark was redistributing its mass only into feminine curves. Bulky muscles, appropriate for an apex predator, start swelling up beneath her skin, adding a lot of definition to her figure. The shark's head shrank a lot as a proper neck formed, the signature dorsal fin sliding up her spine and onto the back of her head like the orcas.
Now floating in the water in front of Ran was a transformed creature, half shark, half woman. The newly uplifted Animalian looked around in confusion before looking at herself, stretching her new hands in front of her. "What happened?" she asked before gasping, "Whoa, what's that sound?"
"You've become an Animalian, like me," said Ran, swimming over to her, "You're now part human, with the ability to think, talk, and walk on land."
"Really?" asked the she-shark before she started feeling her new breasts. "And what kind of fins are these?" she asked as she rubbed her nipples.
Ran gulped. He was starting to see the appeal of breasts. He could feel his equipment getting ready to emerge but quickly tried to put a cap on it. "Those aren't actually fins," said Ran, "Those are-"
With a sudden gasp, white jets shot out of the nipples. The she-shark looked at the white cloud forming in front of her and said, "Oh, is this an ink defense?"
"No, that's not ink, it's milk," said Ran, "Mammals use it for caring for their young. There's a lot you can learn about the world above if you come with me. Oh, my name's Ran, by the way. Do you have a name?"
The she-shark thought about it before saying, "You can call me Gaz."
"That sounds like a fine name," said Ran, "So, shall we head up?"
Before Gaz could reply, the pilot fish and the remoras swam back. They swam around the two sharks in apparent confusion. Apparently, they didn't quite recognize Gaz in her new form. Ran tried to shoo them off, but the fishes didn't appear to pay much attention to Ran's waving. Which meant Ran couldn't stop them from swimming through Gaz's milk cloud.
For a moment, Ran thought nothing would happen, that the Animalian virus wasn't concentrated enough in Gaz's milk to affect these fish. But the fishes started to convulse and make sounds that vaguely seemed like coughing. Quite soon, the three of them were rapidly swelling in size, fins stretching into arms and legs. Before long, the three of them were also fully uplifted into Animalians. The pilot fish didn't have a particularly bulky body, though his stripes made him look wider than he actually was. In comparison, the remoras were quite lanky, their signature dorsal fins had covered their scalps like a crew cut. They were also clearly a male and female pair, considering one grew a pair of breasts and the other didn't.
The remoras looked at their new bodies with confusion. "Why do we have legs?" asked the male.
"How do we know what legs are?" asked the female, looking at her new arms.
The pilot fish seemed to be quicker to grasp their new situation. "I believe we have acquired the power of speech, my flat-headed friends," said the pilot fish, examining his new hands with interest.
Ran sighed and said, "Great, I promised Clara I wouldn't uplift anyone but another shark."
"Well, it wasn't you that did the uplifting, it was me," said Gaz.
"I suppose so. Just...nobody release any more fluids, ok? Let's not uplift any more fish until we've actually have the island," said Ran.
"Who is Clara?" asked the pilot fish, "And what has the island got to do with this?"
"Well, the thing is, um..." started Ran.
"Joe," said the pilot fish before turning to the remoras, "Have you figured out your names yet?"
"Uh...it'll come to me eventually," said the female.
"Shouldn't we get back to picking up leftovers?" asked the male.
"Henceforth, we are no longer humble hangers-on and hygienists for hire," said Joe.
"Huh?" asked the male.
"We don't need to clean up big fish anymore," said Joe, "From now on, WE can be the big fish."
"We're still not as big as them," said the female, pointing at Ran and Gaz.
Joe sighed and said, "Remoras, they're not independent thinkers." He turned to Ran and said, "Now, what's this about Clara and the island?"
Ran explained to the uplifted fishes about Animalia, its Edicts, the current pressure they're getting from the U.S. Government, and their hopes of purchasing Mieni Atoll and converting the airbase into a resort and research station as well as a home for other saltwater Animalians.
"Sounds very interesting," said Gaz, "I'd like to see the world above the waves."
"Is there going to be enough room on this island?" asked the male remora, who decided to call himself Ralph.
"I'm not sure I'd want to leave the water," said the female remora, who had come up with the name Rita.
"We need not have to," said Joe, "There are plenty of places to build homes on the ocean floor. For instance, there is a sunken ship not too far from this island that would have enough room for plenty."
"Oh yeah," said Gaz, "We've swam around there a few times."
"You want to check it out?" asked Ran.
"Perhaps later," said Gaz, "I want to see the world you've seen first."
"I'm sure everyone will be pleased to meet you guys," said Ran as the group started heading up to the surface.