Note: Acknowledgements to Tyroth Darkstorm for his help in this chapter, especially on Alice the Chinchilla's Backstory as she is his fancharacter along with Sharky the Shark.
Also Sharky's backstory comes from Tyroth Darkstorm's One-Shot Fanfic 'Stories Amongst Friends' which you can find on his page or in my favouraite stories tab on my page.
Chapter Twenty-One
Back with Dahlia, Sharky and Alice were showing the wolf the Village of Mutopia.
So far, they had shown the wolf the canals where many fish swam.
"We're never out of food when it comes to what we got down here." Alice said, "We fish, and we have a greenhouse!"
Dahlia turned to the Chinchilla.
"A greenhouse?" she asked, "All the way down here?"
"That we do!" Sharky said, "We'll show you that later, anyway, if you follow us this way, this area of the village is our entertainment area!"
As he spoke, he led the wolf to a large door which he pushed open, and Dahlia saw it was a large room filled with sofas and armchairs as well as a few beanbags and a TV where she saw many games consoles and a DVD and Blu-Ray player hooked up to it.
The walls had posters and pictures of films, games and other pop culture icons on them and there were many bookcases that had numerous items on them which included tabletop games, old fashioned board games like Snakes and Ladders, Ludo, and Chess as well as card games and Jenga.
On another self was a selection of video games, old and new, all ranging from the old Nintendo games to the Wii, and on another were DVD's and Blu-Rays of all the latest films and TV shows.
Another bookshelf had books, graphic novels, magazines, and comics, and near it was a pool table, a table tennis table, and a football machine.
In fact, Bill the Duck and Rose the Lynx were playing at the Football table whilst Chloe the Butterfly was sitting on one of the armchairs reading a Mills and Boon Romance book.
When the three Mutopians walked in, they looked up.
"Well, it seems one of the newbies has emerged!" Rose exclaimed.
"Hi there!" Bill called over.
"Hey guys." Sharky said, "Alice and I were giving Dahlia here a tour."
"Dahlia huh?" Chloe asked, "That your new name?"
Dahlia nodded.
"A flower name, cool!" Rose smiled "I'm Rose!" she said waving at Dahlia.
"How do you do?" Dahlia replied.
"I'm Bill." The Duck volunteered "And that's Chloe there!"
"Hey!" Chloe said putting her book down after placing a bookmark in it.
"How you finding the place?" she asked.
"Well, I haven't seen much of it yet." Dahlia said, "I'm still trying to take in that this is me and Jun's new life now."
"Jun huh?" Rose asked, "Is that the tiger?"
Dahlia nodded.
"He's still in the bedroom." She reported.
"Interesting name." Bill mused then shook his head.
"Anyway, hope you like it down here, you're safe and we're a nice lot!"
Dahlia smiled.
"Thanks." She said, "I'll see you around!"
Sharky and Alice nodded at the three Mutopians then lead Dahlia out of the Rec Room.
"That reminded me of the Youth Clubs I used to attend when I was a student." Dahlia admitted.
"Did it?" Alice asked "Well, that's just the starter, we got a few other places too! There's the Movie room."
"A mini cinema?" Dahlia asked.
"You bet!" Sharky said, "We had it put in a couple of years back, it's the room we watch movies in or the big games when they're on like the World Cup or the Olympics."
As he spoke, the Shark led Dahlia to a room a little further on where there was a door with a sign on it along with a large white board with times and names next to them.
The Sign on the front said 'Vacant'.
"We got a roster here so people can put their name down along with the film or whatever they wish to watch." Alice explained.
Sharky then opened the door to reveal a room filled with mattresses, beanbags, and a couple of sofas against the back wall along with a large screen at the front connected to a DVD and Blu-Ray player.
"Wow!" Dahlia exclaimed.
"I know right?" Sharky said, "It's pretty popular in here, as you saw on the list it gets booked up."
"I can believe it." Dahlia mused as she looked around.
"So, you've seen the rec room and the Movie room." Sharky said, "There's still more to see!"
Sharky and Alice then showed Dahlia more of the area to which consisted of a room full of bookshelves.
"The Mutopian Library!" Sharky said, "The rules in here are the same as those topside."
He said putting a finger to his lips and pointing to the middle of the room where there was a couple of large tables in the middle.
Sitting there was Moe the Mole who had his back to them and Vincent the Owl who was engrossed in a large book and holding a magnifying glass.
"You can find almost anything in here." Alice whispered, "Everything from novels to History books, maybe even cookbooks!"
"I'll keep that in mind." Dahlia mused.
"We also have comic books, Mikey's often in there looking at them, even though he's got more than he can count back in New York." Sharky spoke up.
"Who?" Dahlia asked looking at the Shark who looked sheepish.
"Oh yeah, we got some friends in New York who are also mutants,"
Dahlia looked thoughtful then she remembered Tyroth and Sephie speaking of some friends of theirs's in New York, yet they hadn't gone into full details about them, and she hoped they would meet at some point.
Sharky then led Dahlia down another hallway leading them back into the main village and the new mutated wolf took the chance to look at the canals to see all the fish swimming within it.
At the same time they took a chance to sit on one of the benches and talk.
"It seems convenient that you have canals down here with fish in them." She spoke.
"Tell me about it!" Alice said "We're not short on fish if it's Fish and Chip Friday! Or Fish Pie Wednesday!"
"I guess that's works for you huh?" Dahlia questioned looking at Sharky "Being a mutant shark?"
Sharky chuckled.
"Oh no sweetie." He grinned "I don't eat fish, or any meat for that matter!"
Dahlia blinked in shock.
"You don't eat Fish or meat?" she exclaimed.
"Nope!" Sharky chuckled "I'm a vegetarian, and proud to be one too!"
"Well blow me down." Dahlia gasped "I do apologise for the assumptions."
"Oh don't worry yourself She-Wolf!" Sharky laughed "All the newcomers are shocked to learn that I'm a vegetarian, given my sharp teeth and the fact I'm a mutant Apex Predator of the seas!"
Alice shook her head and chuckled.
"He's always had a clean diet since he arrived here, in a way he believes it helps keep him clean of any poisons he had in his human life."
Dahlia cocked her head as she looked at Sharky.
"I was a drug addict when I was human." Sharky confessed "Quite heavily into them, it was a way to cope since my mum died when I was very young, and my father was abusive due to his alcoholism."
Dahlia looked sadly at the shark.
"Sorry." She said as a few memories came to her about when she was on duty at the Hospital back in Anchorage, how when working on the Emergency Ward or any Ward she was assigned to, she often dealt with drug addicts or any substance abuse cases where some were so out of control she had to call security to make sure they weren't a danger to her or to themselves.
"It's alright." Sharky shrugged "Well actually it's not as even though as a human I tried to get off the drugs, but I just couldn't do it, and I threw myself in front of a train in an attempt to commit suicide."
Dahlia gasped in horror.
"But by some miracle." The Shark continued "I didn't die and I was found by Cam and Barry who brought me here and James patched me up, I lost my arm as well as broke many bones, but I survived, I don't know, maybe mum was looking over me, maybe it was written in the stars that I deserved a second chance, so I took it, and mutated and well, here we are now!"
He held up his arms and wiggled his fingers.
"Not only did the water heal me, but it gave me back my arm and cleansed my body of all the toxins and poisons of the drugs I abused myself with."
"That's truly amazing..." Dahlia breathed as she listened then she thought about what the water did for her and Jun and how it had saved their lives, healing the bullet wounds.
"What happened to you Alice?" she asked looking over at the Chinchilla.
"Me?" Alice asked, "Oh Gosh, it was so long ago, I'd almost forgotten."
"Alice was here before me." Sharky said, "She mutated in the late nineties."
"Just before the millennium actually." Alice said, "I was walking home one night in the winter when I was attacked by some kids who tried to steal my bag."
Dahlia's eyes widened then she remembered that fateful night when she was mugged and Jun had come to her rescue, she had been lucky that he had been there and the thug who had tried to mug her hadn't done anything worse.
Alice then tapped her ears.
"I went deaf when I was young, and I hadn't heard them approaching so I was an easy target, they grabbed my bag, yet I wouldn't let go of it and they attacked me, including stabbing me with a flick knife." She placed a hand on her chest.
"Oh no." Dahlia cried "I'm so sorry."
She thought back again to her days in the hospital and how she had witnessed people who had been either shot or stabbed, some were lucky to escape with serious injuries, but there had been some instances where the patient has died on the table and the doctors had to deliver the bad news to the family.
In fact, just thinking about it made her think of her own and Jun's families, and she kept wondering what news they would hear about happened to them, yet with no bodies, what were the police going to say about them simply disappearing.
"You know Dahlia." Sharky's voice broke into the wolf's thoughts "I can't help noticing that you have an English Accent, though it does slip into American in some parts?'
"I noticed that too!" Alice agreed.
Dahlia remembered then chuckled.
"Oh yeah that." She said, "Well I was born in the United Kingdom, but my mother and I moved to Alaska when I was six, she got a better job as a counsellor at the University there."
"I see!" Alice said.
"But you still kept the accent." Sharky said.
"That I did." Dahlia said with a smile "You can take the Girl out of England."
"But you can't take England out of the Girl!" Alice joined her with a laugh.
"That's a fact!" Sharky said, "You can say the same about our Boss Tyroth, he's originally from Sweden, him and his sister Amber."
"I did pick up some Swedish dialect as well as an accent from the dragon." Dahlia agreed.
"And he has a sister?" she asked curiously.
"He sure does!" Sharky said, "Boy we got a few stories for you honey, how many of us came to be here!"
"You betcha!" Alice said, "You'll be totally floored!"
"I can't wait to hear them." Dahlia said, "And maybe I might feel some comfort knowing there are others who have gone through some sudden changes."
She then thought of Jun back in the bedroom and twirled some of her black hair around her fingers which she often did when she thought hard or went into a daydream.
"I wonder if Jun might feel the same," She mused in her head "Once he's given this place a chance? I can only hope..."
Dahlia's enjoying her tour of Mutopia as well as made a couple of friends and met some others, yet there is more to see, and what of Jun?
Well keep checking in to find out where he is!