Meeting a Monster
	Deep in a forest, an anthro lizard followed a path he'd taken many times before. Holding goggles in one hand and a towel in the other, his intention was rather obvious. Sure enough, with another few minutes of walking, he arrived at a lake. The sight of it never got old; pristine, clear water, miles from any sort of civilization. Except, this time, there was something unexpected: A wooden sign, on the side of the path's end. He was certain it hadn't been there last time. He paused a moment to read it:

NO SWIMMING ALLOWED
POSSIBLE MONSTER SIGHTING REPORTED

Pft, "monster". Like those are even real. Whatever asshat put the sign here clearly just wants the lake to theirself. If there really was a monster in the lake, how come he'd never encountered it before?

	After kicking over the sign, the lizard tossed his towel aside and began wading into the water while putting on his goggles. With them snugly over his eyes, and his lungs and cheeks brimming with air, he dove under the surface. He simply floated in place a moment, the many tiny bubbles tickling him slightly as they slid across his scales, then began... Rather awkwardly swimming. From his somewhat sloppy strokes and kicks, it was clear this lizard wasn't very good at swimming. It didn't matter much to him, though, he was still good enough to be comfortable in the water and enjoy himself, happily blowing bubbles as he slowly moved farther into the lake.

	Eventually, the growing discomfort in his chest was too much for him to stay relaxed, and he quickly swam up, breaking the surface with a gasp and momentary heavy breathing. He looked back at the shore, pleased with the distance he'd managed to cover in just one dive, before starting some deep breathing. He knew he was currently directly above a cave that was about 50 feet down. He'd always wondered what was in it, but never managed to reach it before, always turning back about halfway for fear of drowning. The lizard was going to try once again today, and hopefully-

	Something touched the end of his tail. Only for a brief moment, but it was unmistakable. He froze up in fear, slowly sinking a few inches, and thought back to the sign he'd seen earlier. N-no, m-monsters aren't real, it was, u-um... A-a fish, yeah, j-just a fish... He'd encountered a variety of aquatic life in his many visits to the lake, and he'd been there so often that some of them had grown used to his presence and weren't afraid of him any more. This must have just been one that was curious about him, and decided to poke at him a bit. Now (mostly) calm, he kicked a bit to get his mouth back above the surface, then started deeply breathing again-

	Something wrapped around his left foot! The lizard barely had enough time for a sharp gasp, before being pulled underwater! He quickly reached down to try to pry off the... tentacle? It was coming out of, and pulling him towards, the cave that was now about 35 feet away... And that meant... It's real! It's real It's real the monster's real It's real! Why had he been so quick to write off that sign's warning when there was a part of the lake he'd never seen!?

	20 feet from the cave, now. This was the deepest he'd ever been, and he could feel the water's pressure beginning to squeeze his body. He tried again to pull off the tentacle, but it was too strong for him to move it even the tiniest bit. 10 feet. The lizard pulled on the tentacle to get his head to it, and bit it as hard as he could. It at least faltered a moment, but then just continued pulling him down.

	He'd reached the mouth of the cave, and likely that of the monster as well. He accepted his fate at this point, giving up his struggle against the tentacle's unstoppable force. Looking up from it, he screamed a cloud of bubbles (before quickly covering his mouth) as he saw a giant glowing eye staring at him! The thing was huge, with a diameter of at least the lizard's height, orange in color with a slit pupil, and was all he could see of the monster that... Didn't seem to be doing anything. He stared back at them for a moment, before noticing a second tentacle sliding out of the darkness. Ah, there it was, soon enough he'd be in the monster's stomach, and-

	It poked at his right arm, then rubbed across it. It quickly occurred to the lizard: The monster wasn't hungry, it was curious! And that meant, once it was satisfied, it would let him go! Hopefully that would be soon, his chest was heaving and bubbles were trickling from his nostrils. He closed his eyes and tried his best to relax as the monster examined his body, randomly prodding and rubbing him all over. The touches stopped for a moment, and the lizard suddenly felt coolness over his eyelids. He opened them, and immediately whined and closed them as water stung at his eyes! The monster had taken his goggles!

	He slowly opened them again, but it didn't really make a difference. Without his goggles, everything was a blurry mess and he could hardly make out anything more than the monster's eye, trained on what seemed like the tentacle holding his goggles. A few seconds passed, then it looked back at him and... was it holding out his goggles to him? He focused as best as he could, reaching forward, and sure enough, he could feel the strap of his goggles! Grabbing onto it, the lizard tilted his head back and brought a lens to his lips, blowing some bubbles into it, then repeating it with the other before putting them over his eyes. He knew it was a good idea to learn that trick! He couldn't get all the water out like that, but it was much better than nothing.

	He thought about what to do... His puffed cheeks were beginning to gain a purple hue at this point, a burning feeling starting in his lungs. Even if the monster let him go right now, there was no way he'd be able to reach the surface on his own. Clearly, though, if it understood the concept of ownership, it had some level of intelligence. It almost certainly wouldn't understand him if he spoke to it, even if his voice wasn't obscured by bubbles, but maybe a gesture would work? It'd better work, he would certainly drown without the monster's help.

	The lizard pointed up at the surface, and went "Mmf?" The monster looked at his finger, then back at him. He pumped his arm a bit to add emphasis, going "Mmm!" Again, it looked at his finger, then him. It wasn't working! What could he do instead? ...Nothing. There was nothing he could do. It was over for him. Soon enough, he would lose control, and have no choice but to inhale the lake water and die. He whimpered, doubling over and covering his mouth with both hands, a blue blush on his cheeks and a fire in his lungs.

	He started to grow somewhat delirious from the lack of oxygen. He thought about what would've happened if he'd listened to the sign's warning, and it almost seemed to play out before him...
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NO SWIMMING ALLOWED
POSSIBLE MONSTER SIGHTING REPORTED

	Jeez, really? If that was true, how long had it been there? Well, there was that cave he'd never been able to dive to, had there really been a monster in it all this time? The lizard supposed he'd have to find a new spot to go swimming. Having been here so much, he was lucky to be alive! He picked up the sign and stuck it in the middle of the path (he'd almost missed it, since it was off to the side), then turned and started on his way home. He gasped as he tripped on a rock, and heard something strange when he did. It sounded sort of like when he was diving, and the water would rush by his ears when he'd push off something with his legs...
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	The lizard's mind jolted back to reality. He hadn't hallucinated that sound. He'd inhaled water. He hacked it back out and grabbed his neck tight, but it was already too late. He thrashed about as he gasped in another lungful of water, coughed it back up along with his last bubbles, then sucked in a third watery breath. Already his strength was fading, his drowning mercifully short as most of his body's adrenaline had already been used during his initial struggle when being dragged down by the tentacle that even now held him in place.

	Most of his face now a deep blue, weakly drawing water in and out, the drowned lizard made one last attempt to get the monster's assistance... "s...surffce...pl-hic-leass..." He was too weak to focus on their reaction, if they even had any, as his body started to shut down. His eyes mostly closed, the drowned lizard shuddered slightly as his muscles misfired, and then he was still.

	The monster didn't bring him up. It simply resumed poking at his body for a couple more minutes until its curiosity had finally been sated, releasing its grip and watching him limply sink the last little bit to the lake's bottom. It looked at him a moment longer, then began to crawl back into the cave it called home...