Tentacles to Paws

Prologue
Underground, in a room that no other phantom or animal knew the location of, a dull candle sat in the center of an ornate wooden table. It cast murky orange light over the two figures seated on either side, making both of them appear quite despicable to the other.

“Things have got to change, and you know it,” grumbled a deep, quavering voice.

The wolf made no attempt to hide his snarl. “What do you expect from me?“

“What do I expect from you?! My people are being blown to pieces out there, and you ask what I expect of you?! I expect you to grow a spine and give the others a piece of your mind!“

“You know that I’m not allowed to advocate for you.”

“You can’t even transfer a message? This entire system is absolutely ridiculous!”

“I don’t like it any more than you do. This is the only sort of phantom-animal conference we get, and I don’t want to spend it hearing you complain about things I can’t change.”

“I’m not going to allow your people to keep treating mine thIs way! We’re being blown up, enslaved, and used in carnival games, of all things!! Even those who claim to understand us only use us as some sort of fashion statement! It’s disgusting! And yet we’re the ones who have to play nice?!”

“No one else sees it the way we do. And,” the wolf continued in a low whisper. “the deaths we do have are getting harder and harder for me to cover up. You try and convince a dedicated Jammer that their dear friend just wandered off during an adventure.”

“Do you blame them for taking a life when their comrades are being killed all around them?”

“You know that I don’t. I wish I could do so much more for you, but if I say a word in your favor without doing it in a roundabout way, they’ll have my pelt. I’ve been putting up posters and trying to put secret codes in the newspapers, and I’ve been trying my hardest to get caged phantoms out of stores.” The wolf looked down. “I feel very... frustrated.“

There was a long pause, and then a quiet voice. “You could defect.”

“And who would take over for me? I have to stay in the place I am if I want to change anything. There are a few Jammers I think, that are serious about phantoms. I can’t tell them anything directly but I’m trying.”

“You can make a difference on our side! Imagine what the Jammers would think! You’re very admired, if you take a stand against the others you’ll certainly stir things up. As for my people, they don’t like animals, but you’ll be seen as a hero when they find out what you’ve been doing for us! You could rule alongside me, please-“

“No. It’s not an option, I have a job.”

The phantom‘s mouth split, revealing a row of shining teeth, in a sad smile. “Where did that rebellious wolf go?”

Greely said nothing and turned away, because it was all he could do to stop himself from falling into the Phantom King’s arms, just like he would’ve all those years ago.

Chapter 1
Things were always a little bit different for Bog.

You see, his father was a Spiky phantom and his mother was a Slender phantom.

Now, this wasn‘t uncommon in the phantom regime, and phantoms came in all shapes and sizes, but no one was as obvious a hybrid as Bog was.

You see, usually when phantoms of two different types breed, the child will tend to have features of either one or the other. If it was a coin flip, Bog was the rare occurrence where the coin balances on its side, both faces in equilibrium.