Fishy Portfolio Guide

The Betta and The Tetra
This is a story about two fish who live in a tank together and are quite bored. One day they decided to play tricks on one another.

The Super Shiny Goldfish
There once was a shiny bubble in the Lake of Plentiful that burst and gave life to a shiny goldfish who was as bright as the sun.

Tangy's Creation
In the beginning there was a fish who created the world from bubbles and dirt as well as his own life.

The Super Shiny Goldfish Vs. Dr. Evil Fish 
The heroic tale of the Super Shiny Goldfish against the evil Dr. Evil Fish in the battle for the Lake of Plentiful.

Ray the Super Shiny Goldfish and the Beautiful Serpent
After the battle with Dr. Evil Fish, Ray is dealing with a personal issue and bumps into a beautiful serpent that could change his life.

Athena and The Lost City of Atlantis
Athena is an Atlantic cod who loves to roam around and often swims far from her group. During one of her explorations, Athena gets lost and discovers something new that was once forgotten.

Ray the Super Shiny Goldfish and the Beautiful Serpent

Days passed by after Ray and the troubling of goldfish encounter with Dr. Evil Fish and his henchfish. Since then the Super Shiny Goldfish started to earn a heroic reputation all over the Lake of Plentiful.

Back at their cave, Ray and his friends were playing around and having fun. Soon Ray did not feel like playing with everyone.

“What’s the matter, Ray?” asked one of the goldfish.

“Oh, nothing. I just don’t really feel like playing right now,” answered Ray with a sad tone.

“Oh, really? Well, if, you feel like playing some more we’ll be right here,” said another goldfish.

Ray swam out of the cave and into the lake. As he swam around the lake, all the fish that saw Ray greeted him with the utmost respect and thanked him for saving the lake from Dr. Evil Fish. Ray just smiled and swam away trying to find some sort of solitude from everyone.

“What’s wrong with me? Why do I feel so lonely?” questioned Ray.

Small Lushan waterfall

The Super Shiny Goldfish then swam to the farthest part of the lake where a small waterfall was. He positioned himself under the rushing water and went into a meditation. Ray meditated for several hours trying to find out what was going on with him.

After coming out of his meditation, Ray realized that it was getting dark and that the others would be worried about him. He started slowly making his way back to the cave while he used his power to glow dimly so he could see.

About halfway back to the cave Ray noticed a change in the lake. The lake was much quieter than usual about that time. Ray immediately concealed his glow in hopes of not attracting whatever it was that made everyone run away so quickly back home.

“Aaahhh! I can’t see anything!” a voice screamed out.

Ray felt something whizzing by a few times so close that if he stuck his fin out, he would have hit whatever was going so fast.

“Maybe one of the guppies is lost,” thought Ray.

He then grew bright and saw whatever was swimming around so fast was right in front of him.

“Aaaahhh!” screamed the frightened thing crashing into Ray.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Calm down there. It just me, Ray the Super Shiny Goldfish,” said Ray trying to calm the aquatic animal down.

“It got so dark so suddenly. Where am I?” asked the aquatic animal.

“This is the Lake of Plentiful. Who are y-,” said Ray pausing to take a look at the beautiful creature that just crashed into him.

“My name is Lana. I’m a water serpent. Sorry for swimming into you like that,” apologized Lana.

“Uhhh,” said Ray dazzled by the beautiful Lana.

Milotic swimming around

 “Umm. Hello? Are you okay? I didn’t hit you that hard did I?” asked Lana.

“Uh, um, no I’m okay. I’m just uhh. Yeah, I’m okay. I’m okay,” replied Ray trying to not act so awkward.

“Hehe. You’re talking kind of funny. Do you know if there is a place I can stay?” wondered Lana.

“Y-yeah. I have a place you can stay at for the night or however long you would like to stay,” answered Ray still trying to collect himself.

The two swam back to the cave talking about where Lana came from and why she came to the Lake of Plentiful. Once they arrived at the cave, Ray used his ability to brighten the way to where the others were at.

“Hey, Ray! Where have you bee-? Whoa! Who’s the beauty?” asked one of the goldfish who was stunned by the beauty of Lana.

“I just went out for a long swim and bumped into Lana here who is a water serpent from several lakes over. She’ll be staying here for the time being,” answered Ray.

Ray led Lana to his side of the cave and said that she could sleep on his rock bed while he slept on a spare bed. The two never really fell asleep because they stayed up all night talking about their lives.

The next morning came by and Ray showed Lana around the lake and introduced her to all the inhabitants. They enjoyed each other’s company so much. Ray started feeling much happier as he spent time with Lana.

A heavenly sky

 After a couple days of spending time with one another, Lana asked Ray, “Hey, Ray. How would you like to come with me to the Heavenly Waters of the Sky?”

Puzzled, Ray asked, “What is the Heavenly Waters of the Sky? Where is that?”

“It is where all great aquatic creatures go to become immortal,” replied Lana.

“Let me think about it, okay?” said Ray.

“I will only give you until tomorrow afternoon to decide,” said Lana with a stern face.

Ray went back into the cave and lay on his bed thinking about what to do. If he left with Lana, then he would be the happiest he could be with such a beautiful serpent. However, he would leave behind his friends who he promised he would lead till the end of time. Ray became stressed over the situation and passed out from thinking too much.

When Ray woke up, it was nearly afternoon. He knew that Lana would be waiting outside of the cave for his decision so he swam out to meet her. All his friends watched Ray as he swam out of the cave.

“Hello, Lana,” said Ray.

“Have you made your decision?” asked Lana.

“Yeah, I have. I choose to stay here in the Lake of Plentiful with my friends,” answered Ray.

“What? You turn down a once in a life time chance to be immortal to be with your friends?” questioned Lana.

“Yep. I made a promise and I’m going to keep it,” said Ray.

“Suit yourself then,” said Lana as she revealed her wings and flew straight up out of the lake.

Ray turned around and swam back to the cave.

“You guys wanna party?” asked Ray.

Author’s Note: The Celtic story that inspired “Ray the Super Shiny Goldfish and the Beautiful Serpent” was Connla and the Fairy Maiden. The only aspect that they share in common is the appearance of a beautiful being who came to take a character away to become immortal beings. My characters are mostly fish and a serpent while the original story has human characters and a Fairy Maiden. Another difference between the two stories is that Connla chooses to go with the Fairy Maiden to the Plains of the Ever Living while Ray chose to stay with his friends and keep his promise.

The story of “Ray the Super Shiny Goldfish and the Beautiful Serpent” happens after Ray’s previous encounter with Dr. Evil Fish. Days after Dr. Evil Fish’s defeat, Ray has a problem about being lonely and in need of something new. The Fairy Maiden is replaced with Lana the beautiful water serpent. Both females offer the characters to a life of immortality, but that’s where I added my twist to the story where Ray stays with his friends because of a promise he made with them.

The pictures I use helps my readers imagine how the waterfall looks like as well as how Lana looks. I imagined Lana to look very similar to the Pokemon Milotic who is said to be the most beautiful of all Pokemon. The picture of the heavenly sky gives a rough imagery of how the Heavenly Waters of the Sky looks.

Bibliography. "Celtic Fairy Tales" by Joseph Jacobs (1892). Web Source: Sacred Text Archive

Extra Storytelling: The Super Shiny Goldfish Vs. Dr. Evil Fish

Asylum Lake

In the Lake of Plentiful, there lives a goldfish named Ray that could shine as bright as the sun. He was given the title of Super Shiny Goldfish by his friends. Ray and his friends worked and played every day and always returned safely to their home which was an underwater cave.

Life was usually peaceful in the Lake of Plentiful. The lake hosted many different fish and creatures in its vast body. One fish in particular was the largemouth bass. This big mouth bass was called Dr. Evil Fish due to his cruel behavior towards other fish in the lake and he was especially evil to Ray.

Largemouth bass opening its wide mouth

“Who does he think he his huh? All shiny and bright and shit,” contemplated Dr. Evil Fish.

“He’s Ray, the Super Shiny Goldfish sir,” answered one of Dr. Evil Fish’s Bluegill henchfish.

Bluegill in a tank

“I know that already. Ugh, you henchmen aren’t helping. I’ve got to come up with a plan to capture Ray and find the royal algae to become ruler of the lake,” said Dr. Evil Fish.

Meanwhile, back in the underwater cave Ray and his friends were preparing to go out into the lake to go look for food to eat. Ray swam in front and led the group so that they would not get lost.

“Alright, guys, be on the lookout for any good algae to bring back to the cave,” Ray directed the group.

The group of goldfish continued looking for food around the lake. They swam from one end of the lake to about half way around it. During their search for food they encountered Dr. Evil Fish.

“At last. We meet again Ray the Super Shiny Goldfish of the lake,” shouted Dr. Evil Fish.

“It’s you again. What do you want?” questioned an annoyed Ray.

“I am here to capture you and your petty friends so that I can rule the lake. Prepare yourself!” explained Dr. Evil Fish. “Henchmen! Throw the net!”

Dr. Evil Fish’s henchmen threw a large fishing net over the troubling of goldfish to trap them to the floor of the lake.

Ray, struggling to get out of the net, yelled, “Argh! Where did you get this net?”

“Muahahahaha! It was left by a fisherman who gave up fishing near this part of the lake,” laughed Dr. Evil Fish. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have plans to find the royal algae on the other side of the lake and rule over it.”

Dr. Evil Fish swam away to complete his plans of domination followed by his henchmen. With Ray and the other goldfish left under the fishing net, there was no other fish who could stop Dr. Evil Fish.

“Oh no! Dr. Evil Fish is getting away!” squealed one of the goldfish frantically flailing about under the net.

All of the goldfish were panicking and squirming around. They were afraid of dying of hunger since they could not get out of the net. This thought only made the situation worse and the goldfish flailed around even more violently than before.

“Guys! Stop! Listen to me!” ordered Ray.

No one listened and continued panic. Seeing that everyone was too much in a state of panic, Ray used his powers and shined brightly to catch the attention of his friends.

“Now listen to me. We all must swim up together to lift the net,” said Ray calmly.

Everyone looked at one another and began swimming upwards together. Little by little they were lifting the net off of the bottom of the lake. Soon enough Ray and the other goldfish lifted the net high enough to escape.

Finding Nemo: Just swim down scene

During this time of their escape, Dr. Evil Fish had already reached the other side of the lake and found the royal algae.

Dr. Evil Fish shouted happily, “Yes! I have found it! The royal algae that will make me the king of this lake!”

As Dr. Evil Fish was slowly getting closer to the royal algae, Ray swam as fast as he could and screamed, “Hey! Dr. Evil Fish! Take this!”

Dr. Evil Fish turned and looked at Ray, who was shining as brightly as the sun.

“Ah! My eyes!” yelled Dr. Evil Fish and his henchmen.

Ray then ordered his friends to throw the fishing net onto the blinded Dr. Evil Fish and his men. After capturing Dr. Evil Fish, Ray took the chance to grab the royal algae and throw it out of the water and on to the land that surrounded the lake.

“No one will ever rule over the Lake of Plentiful. The lake belongs to the fish that live in it,” said Ray shining brightly over the trapped Dr. Evil Fish. “Oh, and thanks for the tip about your plans and for the fishing net.”

“Curse you, Ray!” shouted Dr. Evil Fish.

Ray and his friends returned to their cave and had a huge party to celebrate the defeat of Dr. Evil Fish.

Author’s Note.

The story that inspired this heroic tale was the fable of The Eagle and The Arrow from The Fables of Aesop: An Eagle was soaring through the air when suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt itself wounded to death. Slowly it fluttered down to the earth, with its life-blood pouring out of it. Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been pierced, it found that the shaft of the Arrow had been feathered with one of its own plumes. "Alas!" it cried, as it died: "We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction."

In my story I changed the situation and the characters. It is also one of the adventures of The Super Shiny Goldfish who I decided to name Ray to make the main character have an identity. Also, a group of goldfish are called a trouble of goldfish which was mentioned in the story. The character Dr. Evil Fish was inspired by cartoon villains from my childhood as well as a small reference to Dr. Evil from Austin Powers. I used the moral of the original fable and created a heroic themed story and spoiled the plans of the evildoer just like the many superhero cartoons I used to watch. The images I used in this story give readers a view of how the lake looks like as well as the characters in it. I chose Dr. Evil Fish to be a largemouth bass simply as a pun since he could not keep his mouth shut and told Ray about his evil plans to rule the Lake of Plentiful. This story is another great addition to my fish-themed Portfolio and serves as somewhat of a continuation to the story of The Super Shiny Goldfish.

Bibliography. “The Fables of Aesop” by Joseph Jacobs (1894). Web Source: Internet Archive

Week 7 Storytelling: The Super Shiny Goldfish

Bob the Goldfish Boss from the game "Earthworm Jim"

In the deep, deep valley of the West there lies a grand lake called the Lake of Plentiful. Inside of this lake there was a big shiny bubble.

This particular bubble had been in the Lake of Plentiful ever since the first drop of water that created the lake. The bubble became shinier and shinier throughout the years until it was so shiny that even the sun’s rays were outshined by the bubble. Then one day the bubble burst, and a shiny goldfish came out of it.

The goldfish was shining uncontrollably and blinding every living thing in the lake. Soon the shiny goldfish learned to control his ability to shine brightly by channeling his energy to the core of his body. However, the light that shone through the lake caught the attention of an excited fisherman.

“What was that bright light that I just saw? Could it be treasure? Or could it be a big fish that reflected the sun’s light?” pondered the thrilled fisherman.

The fisherman then set out on his boat to see what that light was. Armed with his fishing poles and a large net, the fisherman cast all of his equipment into the lake hoping to catch something shiny. In the end, all the fisherman caught was a little goldfish and released it back into the water.

“Well, this was disappointing. Maybe it was just my eyes deceiving me,” said the fisherman as he rowed his boat back to shore.

“Phew! That was really close. I thought I was gonna be a goner,” said the shiny goldfish in relief.

Later through the years, the shiny goldfish began to grow bit by bit and was able to swim faster than any of the other fish in the lake. He also gained enough power to jump high above the water and shine brightly with the sun.

One day the shiny goldfish was seeking for an adventure and saw a group of goldfish looking into a dark underwater cave.

The goldfish said to each other, “If anyone of us can go to the deepest part of this cave and light it up, we will name him the Super Shiny Goldfish and he will be our leader.”

The shiny goldfish swam up in front of them and confidently said, “I will become this great ‘Super Shiny Goldfish’ and lead you all in all sorts of fun and adventure.” He then proceeded to enter the dark cave and began to glow brighter and brighter. As he swam deeper into the cave, he noticed that the cave was not staying lit. Then the shiny goldfish came up with an idea and pulled his scales off and stuck them into the sides of the cave.

The shiny goldfish had the ability to control how much light was shining from his scales and used it to make the cave stay lit. Near the end of the cave he saw that there was another tunnel that seemed to lead to a world outside of the Lake of Plentiful. Above this tunnel were words that said, “Those who have the power of light will guide their people to a brighter path.”

He then went back to the entrance of the cave and shone brightly in front of the other goldfish and said, “Come on in! It is a great spot for us to live and hide from enemies and the fisherman.”

The goldfish acknowledged the shiny goldfish as their new leader and gave him the title of Super Shiny Goldfish.

They all went into the cave and enjoyed their safety and comfort for the next several years.

Author’s Note. I got the inspiration to write this story from the story of the “Handsome King of the Apes” in The Monkey King unit. In the original version the main character is an ape that was born from a stone that absorbed all elements. This caught the attention of the Lord of the Heavens and he sent down some people to check it out. His scouts then told him that it was just an ape and they had nothing to worry about. Soon after the stone ape grew up and became pretty strong. Then one summer day, the stone ape and a group of his friends were challenging each other to go through the waterfall without getting hurt. The winner would become known as their king. The stone ape took up this challenge and successfully went through the waterfall and back and became the Handsome King of the Apes.

In my story, the main character is a shiny goldfish who was born from a very shiny bubble that had absorbed tons of sunlight. The Lord of the Heavens was the fisherman who caught the shiny goldfish but didn’t recognize it at the time since the shiny goldfish knew how to control his shiny power. Both the cave behind the waterfall and in the lake were quite similar. In the end both main characters got a title and a leading position.

Bibliography.

"The Ape Sun Wu Kung" ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921). Web source: Internet Archive

Rare Shiny Magikarp from Pokemon