_

[Kiara_the_keyblade_master]

Zethy felt her body going weary. " ugh....I can't... take any more of this.." she hugged her stomach. " I'm... so hungry.." she kept on swimming with the energy she had left. She looked back. She couldn't believe it, she out swam a shark. Holy freakin' cow how was that even possible?!

" ...I'm going to die of starvation..." she thought and sighed. She laid on the sand to rest for a bit, the ocean current gently pushed against her scales and she fell fast asleep. A few hours had passed and she opened her eyes to find herself under a small pile of sand. She shook it off and rubbed her eyes. " Alright...come on fins.." she told herself.

" We've still got a looong way...ahead of us..." she kept on swimming up north. " I... want... some seaweeed....I want...some weeeeeed...some weeseed...some..some weeeeed =__=.." she bobbed her head in exhaustion. She looked over and saw some delicious sea weed waiting for her to gobble up. It looked oh so yummy.

Did she give it a second thought? No, she swam right to it and began munching on...nothing... just a mirage. A stupid mirage..." A WHAAAALE! I'LL EAT A WHAAAALE DAMN YOU!" she cried out. A whale swam over her, her eyes widened. " Okay... maybe not a whale...o__e that would be considered cannibalism anywho ," she kept on swimming.  

[EG Water]

Mike proceeded in giving her the best massage he could offer. Enjoying the smooth touch of her skin, noticing no changes in texture. Although they were alone in the tub, a group of kids came charging by laughing. They then suddenly jump into the hot tub with the two. The splash drenched both Mike and Syrah, and the kids were being rather loud and jovial with each other. "Um, you wana go somewhere else?" he suggested with a subdued tone.

Mac began putting some shredded bits of seaweed on his pizza slice. "I haven't had this in awhile" he said delighted. He began to slowly enjoy eating his food.  

[Kiara_the_keyblade_master]

" wait...WAIT!!! A WHALE! " she looked up. " biggrin TRANSPORTATION!" she swam towards the whale and grabbed onto its fin. She climbed her way onto its back and laid on her belly. " Haha! I is so smart!" she smiled as enjoyed the ride. The whale blew out water from its blow-hole which shot Zethy out towards the surface and back into the ocean blue.

Her heart was racing and she tried to regain her composure. " TH-That was..heheh..fun!" she was still shivering from the impact. She looked over to the side and found a mountain full of sea weed. " Another mirage?" she asked herself. " ... Man, this one looks way more realistic than the last one!" she began to swim towards it. Plucking out the weed and eating it, it was delicious. Nice and fresh.

" Mmm! This is so good! " she was eating it by the hand full. She stopped when she saw a tiny sea-spider crawl up her arm. She stared at it. " Haha, aww how cute!" she smiled and petted it with her index finger. It stood still, the current then blew it away. Zethy's eyes followed it. " Aww..." she sighed. The feeling of loneliness kicked in again. She kept on swimming. " Maybe, I was a little too harsh with them.." she thought about the argument she had with Dale. " ... I lost the only friends I had left....Way to screw things up Zethy.." she thought out of frustration.

A shadow was casted over her " Another cruise ship?" she turned around. She stood in place, her body completely tensed up and her eyes were glued to the creature that stood before her. "..no.." a voice emitted from the beast. " Just your day of judgment.." it's fins hovered gracefully on its sides. The form of a shark and the volts of an electric eel. It had strange markings all over it's body. Zethy felt uneasy, she took out her fork. " Don't test me.." she warned it.  

[EG Water]

Mackenzie finished his pizza, and still he had some seaweed jerky left. He downed his water like it was nothing, and pocketed the remaining 3 packets of seaweed. He left a 10 dollar tip for Dickie when she came back. Getting up, he started to head back to his room. He pulled out his phone and started looking at all the photos he took of him and his friends on the cruise along the way.  

[SKBCTayuyaFluteofDeath]

Syrah laughed at the children's energy. She lifted an eyebrow at Mike. "Why? Were you planning something, Michael?" she asked teasingly.  

[Kiara_the_keyblade_master]

It attacked Zethy with its jaws. Zethy blocked the attack with her sword and slashed its fin. The creature jerked away and wiped its tail around Zethy's waist. Zethy was caught off guard for a bit, a jolt of electricity ran down its tail and onto Zethy. She let out a cry of pain as she slashed the beast's tail. It screeched and threw Zethy towards the ocean floor.

She skidded a bit as the sand kicked up, creating a mist of dust. The beast began to look for Zethy, she managed to dart out from under the shark and made a swift turn, she was facing the beast from behind, and before the beast was able to dodge the attack, Zethy plunged her sword into its back. The creature vanished as soon as Zethy retrieved the sword.

She sighed in relief. An eerie feeling crept upon her, she turned around and saw an army of the same creature she had fought a moment ago. " C-Crud.." she began to swim away, slowly. The mob of fish followed her ready to strike at any given moment. " Cr-Crap..I can't handle all of these guys on my own...!" she thought to herself.

They all gathered in closer, and closer . Zethy looked around for an exit. She spotted one and instantly darted towards it. The swarm of beast chased after her. " H-Help!" she thought as she swam for dear life. She felt one of them bite onto her fin and pull her down. " Her eyes widened. " HELP ME!" she grabbed onto her sword tightly and slashed at the enemy.

Right when another one of the beasts was about to attack Zethy from behind, Dale tackled it out of the way. Zethy looked over to her side. " D-Dale?!" " Don't worry about me Zethy! Get the heck out of here!" he exclaimed. The beasts began to cave onto Dale. " N-No! Leave him alone!" Zethy slashed at them, but it was no use.

More and more kept on piling on top of him. " Dale!! NO! GET YOUR FILTHY JAWS OFF OF MY FRIEEEEEND-!!" she closed her eyes and slashed at the swarm one last time. The attack was so fierce, the beasts had vanished instantly after the impact. Dale looked around himself, then looked over at Zethy, " Wh-whoa... you're pretty strong!" he told her rather surprised at what had happened.

Zethy cried and hugged her friend. " D'aww, it's okay hun! Look! I'm still alive! : ) " he tried cheering her up. " You're so stupid! You could've died!" Zethy cried some more. " B-But that's what friends are for! We're there for one another, through the best and the worst times!" he replied. Zethy stood up straight and wiped the tears off of her eyes. " Thank you..." she smiled. " For saving my life.." " Err... correction, YOU just saved BOTH of our tail fins right now! And I'm STILL trying to figure out how you were able to pull that off!" he chuckled. " You know.." she looked down at her sword. " Not even I know how I managed to pull that off..."  

[EG Water]

"Well I just wondered if they were bothering you" he said, "We can stay here, although I was going to find a quieter place" he leaned into her ear and whispered, "Would you like to go out with me?".

Mackenzie slid the keycard, entered his room, and flopped onto his bed. Everything was happening so fast, he felt as though he should call someone and tell them everything. He looked at his phone and there was no signal. He sighed and relaxed in his bed.  

[Kiara_the_keyblade_master]

" Sorry we came rather late, Dale here just took off without warning! Narley and I were struggling to catch up!" Octo said as he reached Zethy and Dale. " S- So many bubblies...th- THE BUBBLIES! " the sea horses eye twitched. Zethy smiled " It's alright...I'm the one who should be sorry for taking off..." " Apology accepted. Besides, it's inevitable that there is going to be arguments within our circle of friends here..." Octo explained calmly.

" Heh, yeah.." the shark grinned. Zethy looked over at Dale " You must be very tough though Dale, you only received minor injuries by those creatures!" she said as she gently touched his wounds. Dale winced a bit " Y-Yeah..It's cuz I'm awesome that way..ha!" Dale explained coolly. Zethy giggled " oookay then," she nodded.

" Where to now?" she asked. " We were about to ask you the same thing..you see.... you look like a girl with a plan!" Octo smiled. " I-I do?" Zethy backed away a bit. " Yes, indeed! And all we are looking for is for some adventure, some excitement in our life! A journey to strive for! A mark to leave in the history of the deep blue sea!-" " Aaalright, alright we get it. So, tell us Zethy! What's the plan?" Dale asked.

" Th-The plan? M-My plan?" she asked nervously. They three of them nodded. " My plan...heh...you're not..going to like...my plan.." Zethy scratched the back of her head. " Oh? Why not??" Octo asked as he leaned towards Zethy. " Weeeeeell, it heh, kind of.. consists of... going up..there.." she pointed up towards the surface. All three looked slowly up ward then down to Zethy.

Dale loked like he was getting ready to give another rant, Octo asked why. " I've lost my family..up in the surface...I need to go and find them..." Zethy seemed rather determined. " Sounds wonderful hun, but the surface is a dangerous place!" " I know that...but I am going up there anyways..I've got to try.." she held a fist close o her heart.

" For my family's sake..." The three stood quiet. " We've still... got one more problem...WE'RE FISH!! How are we supposed to interact with the humans looking like this?? I mean! Look at me! " Dale wiggled his fins and showed off his teeth. " One look from the humans and I'm dead! I mean! DEAD!!"

" He's right! Right he is..he's...he's right o.O..." Narley looked at Dale, then back at Zethy. " Well, I've heard of a mythical potion that ...heh, oh what am I saying..It's mythical for a reason!" Octo shook his head. " A-Awww come on! Say it!" Zethy pleaded the octopus. " Alright, Alright... a potion called "De vida Humany"..It's supposed to turn any merfolk into a human for a total of eighty- four hours.. the area that it's located at it's still way up north..I pretty much doubt it exists anyways.." Octo shrugged.

" We wont know unless we try!" Zethy said enthusiastically. " Come on you guys! You wanted adventure didn't you?" she asked with a smile on her face. The three looked at one another and nodded. " Then lets go!" Zethy said as she began to lead the way. The group followed Zethy.  

[SKBCTayuyaFluteofDeath]

Syrah wasn't so surprised by Mike's question, but his timing confused her. Why was he asking now? When the cruise was almost over? "I..." Just as when Mike had first told her his feelings for her, Syrah's mind was in a jumble again. "Could you give me some time to think it over?"

Matthias watched his friends for a while, then decided to head back to his room. He slung his guitar case over his shoulder and left the deck. He chuckled on seeing Mackenzie lying on his bed. He set his guitar down by his own bed, ruffling Mac's hair in passing, and sat on the edge. "Penny for your thoughts, bud?"  

[Kiara_the_keyblade_master]

The four continued swimming up north. " Heh! HA! I got another one! Knock knock!" the sea horse asked. Dale rolled his eyes and looked over at Narley. " Who's theeere?" " o.o..the...the bubblies...the bubblies...owe..." the seahorse looked around with an alert expression.

Zethy smiled " My you're a weird sea horse.." she couldn't help but laugh. " I-I'm RIGHT HERE ya KNOW!" the sea horse snapped. " O_O I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you.." Zethy shrugged a bit. Octo looked at the sea horse " Narley, be nice." " I ISH nice! I'm nice..yus...nice I am..owO..." the sea horse grinned a creepy grin. " I like flowers.." it blinked. " Yeah, he likes flowers alright..He likes them flowers.." Dale sighed.

" Oooh GOOOOOD this is so BORING!!" Dale snapped. " Well what do you want US to do about it? " Octo asked. " Entertain me! biggrin !" Dale smiled. " Oh? And how do you suppose we should entertain you? Call a bunch of mermaids to belly dance for you???" Octo asked rather aggravated. " O.O...oh HELL YEAH! biggrin that would be so damn hot! For suure!" Dale was already imagining it. " I'd be one hell of a pimp! Ha!" he smiled coolly.

Zethy shook her head. " Fooor shaaaame.." she sighed. " I found it!!" the sea horse perked it's head up. " What the belly dancers??" Dale asked excitedly. " No, no the place to where the secret potion is! It's hhhhhheeeeeeree!" Narley twitched excitedly. " O_O Looks like he's having a seizure.." Dale watched in amusement. Zethy swam towards the area and began to look around.

" It all seems so...deserted ..I don't think there's anything here.." Zethy sighed. Octo looked " Hmmm...told you so. Well, I guess there's no other option rather than to turn back and figure out another way to reach the surface!" with one of his tentacles he knocked a rock over. And underground cave had opened.

The four looked down at it. " O_O....alright who's going in first?" Dale asked. " N-Not me!" Narley hid behind Octo. " Oh you bunch of panzies," Octo shook his head. Zethy had a weird feeling about the cave, so weird it became rather attractive to her. Curiously she swam into the cave. Octo shrugged and followed her, so did Dale and Narley.  

[DecafKitten]

"Touche," Blythe agreed with a slight smile, reaching out to brush a strand of hair out of Thaelia's face. He sighed when he heard somebody call his name and he glanced over to see a fellow employee waving him over. "Well, duty calls.. Good night, beautiful," he made a pouty face before giving Thaelia a quick kiss on the cheek and heading over to the employee.

A Few Days Later...

Blythe sighed as he stood, leaning against the railing. He was getting restless, he hadn't been in the water since him and Thaelia had returned and the collar was already having an effect on him. His eyes had a wild, restless look in them that seemed to give his face a wilder, wolf-like look to it. It was the kind of dangerous, but sexy look. However, he needed to change soon. He had spent the last few days doing his job, spending time with Thaelia whenever she would let him, and keeping an eye on his friends. He had also filed his resignation, this was his last cruise and he knew it. He had no doubt the witch would bind him. The question was: to who?  

[EG Water]

"Its no big rush, and take your time" He said soothingly. He continued to massage her shoulders and neck muscles as the kids splashed away in laughter.

Mac was surprised by the hair ruffle and snapped awake. He ran his hand through his hair, "My thoughts aren't for sale" he replied rather plainly, looking at the ceiling. "I'm just feeling that this is all a dream. That I'll wake up back in my bed at home".  

[SKBCTayuyaFluteofDeath]

Syrah hadn't realized she'd tensed at Mike's question. Once again, she relaxed at his touch. Despite her capricious nature, she thought she might actually feel something true for Mike, and she was afraid to hurt him. If they ever ended up on opposite sides of a battle she wasn't sure what she'd do.

Matt chuckled. "If it's a dream, then we're all four of us dreaming the same dream, Mac."  

[EG Water]

"I hope if it is a dream, I don't wake up...I wonder if this is how people stay in a coma?" he questioned his friend as he look towards him finally.

Mike looked up and noticed that clouds were approaching, "Hehe, maybe it'll rain" he said quietly and smiled. His gaze rested forward again, and he saw Blythe over near the railing, "Hey Blythe" he shouted towards his friend.  

[Kiara_the_keyblade_master]

" there's... so many crystals down here....it seems to be illuminating the cave..." Zethy smiled. " Be on your guard Zethy. Don't let it down no matter how lovely the circumstances may be.."Octo advised her. " I... wont.." Zethy's eyes focused on a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Wh-what's...that?" Zethy began to swim closer and closer to it. " R-Remember Zethy! We must stick togethe- Ze-Zethy! Oh dear.." Octo tried keeping up with her. Zethy reached the end of the tunnel and met up with the strange light. It gave off a warm and comforting feeling, she couldn't take her eyes off of it.

She gently touched it and was sucked in by it. " GAH! ZETHY!" Octo spazzed. " Sheee's gooooooone!" Narley cried. " Like heck she is!" Dale made his way towards the light and touched it with his fin. He got sucked in as well. Octo backed away. " Oh dear...oooooh dear what should we do?!" Octo asked Narley.

" Foooor spaartaaaaaa!!!" Narley head butts the light and gets sucked in. Octo's eye widens as he sees his friends get sucked in by the light. He managed to muster some courage " Life is not worth living without my friends!" he touched the light with one of his tentacles and gets sucked into the light as well. They all appear in this cave, all of them laying on their backs. Zethy opens her eyes and sits up. She looks down and sees her legs again.

She slowly stands up and wobbles a bit. " Oh my...! Ha! I'm a human aga-" she covered her mouth and looked over to the side. Three men laid on their backs. Dale sits up and shakes his head. " Aww man..that was so freakin' weird! " he looks down at his legs. " HOLY s**t! YOU GUYS!! SOMETHING HAPPENED TO ME!!" he began to back away using his arms. He stopped and looked at his sides.

" AAAAAAH GWAD LOOK AT THESE THINGS!!!" Dale showed her his arms. He seemed rather tone, his hair was black and long, some of it was covering his blue eyes. His skin was pale yet smooth. His chest had a few scars on his pecks and his legs seemed rather worked out. Zethy wasn't shy, she walked up to him and helped him stand to his feet. " How is it that you do it so easily?" he asked her.

" I...I umm...instinct! Heheh.." Zethy smiled nervously. " Yeah freakin' right >_>..." Dale tried to keep his balance. Narley sat up, he looked down and observed his dark complexion. " H-Hey you guys! I have them..them things you've got..!" he smiled, his eyes were wide open. Zethy looked down at him and observed his unusual hair due. It was a small afro. He managed to stand on his own and walk with ease.

" D: He didn't struggle one bit!! Lucky b*****d!" Dale pouted. " Indeed he is... in the other hand I...am struggling to even see what's going on! " Octo sat up. His brown/golden hair fixed itself perfectly to one side. His hazel eyes looked over at Zethy. " I really do wish that something could be done about my eyes sight! This is getting rather annoying." a pair of spectacles appeared on his face.

" Ah! Much better!...now...OH DEAR NEPTUNE what has HAPPENED TO MY BODY!" he was horrified. " It's got a cream like tone! And a smooth texture! A-Am I human???" he looked up to Zethy and blushed. " M-My I do say, you do make ...a very lovely human." he looked away. Dale looked over at Zethy " How the heck did THIS happen??!!" he asked her.

" I don't ...know.." she replied. Octo looked around the cave " Must have something to do with this cave here...hmmmm..." his eyes looked over at the center of it. There was a pedestal with a small bottle placed perfectly on the center of it. " That must be IT! The potion!" Octo smiled happily.