Things at Mieni generally went well with the tourists who came to visit largely unaware of some of the activities and worries that the Horizon Scientists had been working on. The tourists generally served to enjoy the sun and sand and the fairly pristine days that Mieni provided. That kept Tzan and Susan, Mieni's primary life guards and web stars for their take on "the Odd Couple," busy. Both remained fairly dedicated to the work managed to balance their filming so that they didn't fail to do their primary jobs and provide something that would be entertaining at least.
Their styles were fairly different with how they did their jobs as lifeguards. Susan tended to be more active, out swimming with guests and managing to lure the occasional dolphin pod that made its way into the lagoon and through it in close enough to let guests even pet and interact with the wild dolphins. If anyone struggled with swimming, Susan was still quick and could also track things with echolocation and arrive quickly. Tzan, while preferred to observe and watch and move when there was trouble. But for the most part they had no trouble that caused trouble. It was beneficial in that Tzan and Susan didn't have to use a specialized device that had been provided that would replace direct mouth to mouth contact if they needed to give CPR.
"Another clear day," Tzan narrated the camera she held, "and hopefully another day of peace with no difficulties."
She watched out to see the crowd at first enjoying the sun and either sunbathing, playing beach volleyball, and a few were even swimming. It was fairly typical of any day on Mieni, and Tzan simply scanned the beach with her eyes. That lasted for a little bet when all of a series of splashing noises and shouts coming from Tzan's left. She turned to see people coming out of the water quickly and with Susan running to the observation chair for the lifeguards to sit at.
"Tzan!" Susan called with some urgency in her voice.
"What's going on?" Tzan called down as she set the camera down on the chair as she stood up.
"A shark has come into the lagoon! A big one!" Susan spoke urgently and pointed out to a point in the lagoon, "I saw it!"
"Could you identify the species?" Tzan asked.
"All I saw was the fin," Susan answered, "but I had to get everyone out so that there was no risk. Could you shoo it out? Or get Ran to shoo it out? Please..."
Tzan rolled her eyes as Susan essentially begged to her. The occasional shark moving through wasn't that much of a problem. They did move through, but generally didn't stay long. Tzan guessed that they picked up Ran and Gaz's scent in the water and decided to avoid dealing with a Great White. Or maybe they caught Bennie and his mate's scent from when the pair of Orca Animalians had visited Mieni and regards of the fact that the scent wasn't strong, they decided not to take the risk of potentially confronting an Orca. In that, the sharks that did enter the lagoon generally were only following certain fish and didn't stay long. Some were simply even on their way to some other spot and entered through one of the entrances to the lagoon and swam out through another. However, they still had the concern of providing some security for the lagoon and the swimmers.
"Okay..." Tzan said slowly as she moved to walk down the ramp to the beach below, "I'll go check on this shark and make sure it doesn't cause any trouble. You keep an eye on things."
With that, Tzan pointed to the chair and then walked out into the water. Once she was in deep enough water that she could actually swim, she dove in and swam slowly along the bottom of the lagoon. She'd find the shark and make sure it left the lagoon. She slowly scented out things and did come up with a shark's scent and she soon swam toward that scent. In the end, it didn't take much time, as some of the scent seemed rather fresh and familiar. It wasn't long before she came across the shark. It was a lone hammerhead and of her exact species. It seemed to be swimming lazily across the lagoon with its body slowly swaying left and right with each swish of its tail. The big thing that she noted was that this shark was a male, and a part of her longed for him in a way, like the way Ran had Gaz, but she didn't want to respond to those thoughts that much. It would make her seem like she was copying Susan who seemed to be rather flirtatious with any uplifted dolphin that came to the atoll and even to some extent with the mundane dolphins when they came through.
However, her decision resulted in her shuddering to a near stop, which the mundane shark noticed. Alerted to her presence by its lateral line, the other hammerhead turned to her and moved toward Tzan. Tzan stood quietly on the floor of the lagoon. As an adult female, she knew she was bigger than he was and there was nothing she would do to give this male an option to be aggressive. However, he didn't attack her. He actually seemed more curious and inquisitive of her. He circled her and then then came in from beside her and then rubbed against her hip where her skin on her hip rubbed against his. She watched the male look to her and then open his mouth slightly but then moving off to circle.
"You like me," Tzan said slowly to herself and continued to watch the male hammerhead circle, "Don't you?"
Again the male came in, this time actually trying to get a grip on the sides of her bikini. Thankfully it wasn't more than a nibble and Tzan's own strong sandpaper skin wasn't hurt. When Tzan looked down at the male for trying to "get in her pants," she noted that the male had turned away like he didn't care or didn't feel concerned by what he'd done. She gave a small smile and then turned to swim back toward shore. The male followed, still slowly, but with some more deliberate intent. In that, Tzan was sure she had the male's attention. As she came toward the shore, she stopped at a point where she could stand and wasn't being hurt by her own buoyancy, a result of her uplifting with the DNA for a lungfish's lung included, but wasn't at a shallow enough point where the male hammerhead was unable to follow. She checked to make sure that she was close enough to where the lifeguard's watchtower, which brought Susan down and running toward her.
"Is it gone?" Susan asked and then jumped back with a few clicking chatter when she noticed the male hammerhead moving in and bumping into the back of Tzan's legs.
"He isn't," Tzan answered, "but he also seems rather interested in me and..."
Susan responded with squeal and began to dance up and down like a school girl, "OOOOooooooohhh! You want to uplift him! Tzan, that means you'll get a mate! Oh, I'm so happy for you!"
"A little less excitement, please," Tzan answered, "Just go to the labs and ask, politely and calmly for a dose for him. You may want to also go to Ran and see if he could lend this guy a pair of swim trunks."
Susan nodded and ran off while Tzan remained in the water and with her eyes on the male hammerhead. It continued to circle her and periodically bumping into her, clearly indicating what it wanted. Tzan looked down on him as he circled her, yet every time she looked, he looked back in a way looked as though it was just an accident. It was amusing, but it made Tzan smile slightly. It didn't take too long to wait for Susan to return holding a syringe and a pair of red swim trunks.
"Okay, what now...?" Susan asked.
"Now, we uplift him," Tzan answered, "You stay there and I will lift him out onto the shore. Once there, you'll need to inject him just below the dorsal fin and quickly."
"Okay..." Susan said nervously and waited on the beach.
Tzan waited for the male to return for another pass. This time, instead of letting him give a bump and then move away, Tzan pivoted and grabbed the shark behind is pectoral fins and moved it further into the shallows. The male hammerhead struggled against her, but Tzan was strong enough to move the male onto shore. Once she got him there, Susan came forward and then injected the male below the dorsal fin. With that done Susan and Tzan both backed away, and Susan handed Tzan the swim trunks.
They then watched as the male began to go through the process of uplifting. He thrashed for a few moments as as his pectoral fins began to lengthen and grow thicker. The tips began split and morph as webbed hands began to form into hands. As the fin lengthened, it soon articulated where at the halfway point began to form a point where it could bend forming an elbow. Tzan watched with a small smile, as she remembered going through the same process and as his arms formed, his pelvic fins lengthened and began to form legs. Tzan watched as they became legs and leg Tzan recover and get up onto legs. As he did so, the male Scalloped Hammerhead got up onto his feet and looked at himself as his muscles grew stronger and he took on the form of an Animalian.
"He looks quite good, Tzan," Susan commented.
"That was weird," the male hammerhead spoke and then looked to Tzan, "and now... I look like you?"
"You've become like me," Tzan spoke, "an Animalian."
The male hammerhead continued to look at himself.
"And I will help you adapt," Tzan told him, "Since you seemed to be interested in me earlier."
"How am I breathing out of water?" the male asked.
"That's part of the uplifting process," Tzan spoke and then gave the male hammerhead his name, "Brazen Hammer."
The hammerhead, Brazen Hammer, looked at Tzan with some surprise.
"Your new name," Tzan spoke, "Brazen, for trying to take my bikini bottoms off, and Hammer, because like me, you are a Hammerhead Shark."
"Name?" Brazen asked.
"It's all part of being part of Animalia," Tzan managed a smile and ignoring the happy dance that Susan was doing.