Because I got into Subnautica by watching playthroughs and with the release of Subnautica: Below Zero, I thought it would be fun to do a harem-style story in an alternate reality where the Subnautica creatures have evolved to be more human-like in appearance. Time-wise, it takes place after the events of both games though it'll borrow more elements from the first game than the second. Now what surprises me is that no one else has done a fanfic like this, despite the increasing amount of artwork out there showing human versions of the Subnautica creatures and the popularity of anime series like Monster Musume. With that said, my fanfic won't be as raunchy as Monster Musume because I plan to tell a good story despite the fan-service.
Data Entry 1: New Arrival
"Welcome to Planet 4546B, also known as Subnautica," a female robotic voice said as a celestial body appeared on the monitor of a spaceship full of people.
A young teenage boy with tan skin and streaks of blue in his short brown hair then looked at his fellow passengers, who seemed just as anxious as he was.
"Please fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen," the robotic voice continued. "The Corona will be entering Subnautica's atmosphere in just a few minutes."
Checking to make sure his seatbelt was secure, the boy gulped as he noticed the celestial body was growing bigger on the monitor above his head. Apart from an icy patch in the northern hemisphere and a few scattered islands, the rest of the planet was covered in a deep blue ocean. Then there was a flash of green light that came hurling from the planet toward the monitor. The boy couldn't believe what he was seeing when suddenly the ship rocked violently followed by a fiery explosion that caused him to pass out from the shock of it.
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When the boy came to, he found himself wearing an orange-and-black dive suit that was skin-tight with matching gloves and foot-shoes. The presence of smoke made him cough uncontrollably as he noticed he was inside a small space with light gray walls a ladder and a glass hatch above him. There was a fire near a box-shaped device mounted against one wall, and an extinguisher nearby. Instinctively, the boy grabbed the extinguisher and used it to put out the fire which was quelled pretty easily. Once this was done, he noticed a smaller box-shaped device with an antennae attached to it.
"A radio," the boy realized and pressed a button on it. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
Just then, his vision went blurry and a face appeared in front of him. It was a woman with light muddy-brown skin and brown-green hair tied into a bun. However, she had two pairs of blue eyes with no pupils and a pair of antennae grew from her head with green glowing bulbs at the end of each one.
"Are you a human…from the planet Earth?" The woman asked in a deep yet soothing voice.
"Yes," the boy answered. "My name is Ryan Robinson."
"Strange…" the woman remarked. "You remind me of someone I knew, long ago…"
"Who?" Ryan asked.
The woman paused, and shook her head. "Well, it doesn't matter. At least you survived."
"Survived?" Ryan exclaimed. "What happened?"
"Do you not know?" The woman asked.
"No," Ryan answered. "One minute, I'm on the Corona colony ship sent by the Alterra Corporation to Subnautica when a green light appeared from the planet's surface. Then there was an explosion, and I woke up in this pod-thingy."
"Ah, the Corona must have deployed the 'Lifepods' before it was destroyed."
Ryan's eyes widened. "How do you know it was destroyed, and what are you?"
"I am a Subnautican, who are the native beings of this planet," the woman stated. "My name is Empra Levi, the Headmistress of Subnautica High School's southern branch."
Unsure of what to say, Ryan shook his head and the vision of the woman went away. Then he looked up at the hatch and saw a blue sky with white clouds rolling overhead. Nervously, he ascended the ladder and opened the hatch. A fresh breeze hit him as he looked around and saw miles of ocean water in just about every direction except for two landmarks. One was an island that was several miles away, while the other was a large spaceship that stuck out of the water.
"I know what that is," Ryan realized. "That's the Aurora, the ship that my ancestor Ryley survived the crash of!"
"It also serves as the main building for Subnautica High School."
Surprised by the sound of a young male voice with a mischievous tone to it, Ryan glanced downward and noticed a creature sticking out of the water. Like the woman Empra, it was human-like in appearance with long black hair and yellow eyes that had pupils. Apart from yellow eyebrows and two matching dots on its forehead, its skin was dark gray with orange-yellow protrusions emerging from the head that resembled rabbit ears. Meanwhile, a dark gray membrane stuck out from below its arms down to its hips that was outlined in blue. Then below the water swished a blue-and-orange fish-like tail.
"Who are you?" Ryan said, trying hard not to fall off the Lifepod.
"I'm Rabb Ray," said the black-haired creature in the same mischievous tone Ryan heard before. "I saw your thing crash and decided to check it out for myself. Are you hurt?"
"N-No," Ryan claimed.
Rabb didn't seem convinced. "Why don't you jump in so I can get a closer look at you?"
Ryan hesitated.
"Don't worry, I won't bite," Rabb assured. "I'm one of the more docile Subnauticans that you'll find on this planet. Besides, we're in the Safe Shallows so nothing's going to hurt you anyway."
After some consideration, Ryan jumped into the water.
"See? That wasn't so hard," Rabb smiled and swam in circles around Ryan who tried to keep himself above-water by kicking his feet.
It was then that Ryan noticed Rabb's back had neon-blue polka dots that were the same color as the stripes along the membrane. Once Rabb was done circling Ryan, he touched Ryan's face with a hand that was wet and smooth.
"Heard there was a colony of humans arriving here today," Rabb said, putting his hand down. "Are you one of them?"
Reluctantly, Ryan nodded.
"It's a shame your ship had to blow up," Rabb bluntly said, and quickly noticed Ryan's pained look. "Oh, um, sorry…that's the right word to use in this situation, isn't it?"
A moment of silence passed, and Ryan found himself sinking into the water when Rabb pulled him up.
"Let's get you to the Aurora," Rabb suggested. "Empra Levi will want to see that you're okay, and maybe she can help you find other survivors."
So Ryan agreed to this and swam with Rabb who glided through the water with his membrane wings towards the Aurora shipwreck.
To be continued…