Chapter 1

A Nice Day

It was a beautiful day both above and below the sea. The water was clear and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Ariel was taking a morning swim through the coral reef. She was accompanied by her best friend Flounder.

"Such a beautiful peaceful day wouldn't you agree flounder?" Ariel sighed. She had since forgotten about Eric. It had been so long since she was human it was more like a distant memory. She was able to readjust and move on with her life.

"Yeah its so quiet... no scary things... only silence" He said floating on his back in a relaxed position. He loved going out with Ariel for swims like this it reminded him of the old days. Because Ariel was human though she knew everything that fell into the sea and stopped going on "adventures" a long time ago.

Ariel relaxed and gently floated down on top of the reef and closed her eyes.

Meanwhile up on the surface...

A young man is about to go scuba diving to test his new invention... the re breather. What it does is it takes oxygen from the surrounding water and allows the wearer to breathe forever underwater. No air tanks!

"You set?" Ray asked Marty. Ray was Marty's best friend and scuba buddy for Five years now. But today he would be diving alone. To make sure the thing works he will have to stay under for two days. During which time Ray will go back to the harbor and wait until his friend calls for him on the radio.

"Almost" Marty said as he turned around and grabbed the radio. He slipped it into one of the back pockets on his belt. "One last thing" Marty said picking up the re breather. The device was actually very small so it wasn't uncomfortable to use for hours on end. After all what good is something if its too much of a hassle to use? It was essentially a mask that sealed around the face so the user could see, breathe, and talk to other scuba divers. The actual breathing apparatus was mounted on the side of the mask and resembled a snorkel. Marty finished putting on his flippers and dry suit.

"Alright now remember if anything happens just radio for me and ill be here in like 20 minutes" Ray said to his friend as he walked over to the side of the boat. Marty sat down on the edge of the boat and looked up at his friend.

"Dude ill be fine... what you don't have any faith in my invention?" Marty asked.

"None whatsoever" Ray replied with a grin.

"Well here I go" Marty said sticking the device in his mouth and jumping into the water. He popped up a short time later and gave him a thumbs up before diving beneath the waves.

Ariel Woke up on the reef and realized hat she had fallen asleep. She looked round to see flounder asleep next to her. He was curled up in a ball and looked so cute and peaceful. Ariel stroked his blue back fin. Suddenly Ariel hear something strange in the distance. At first it sounded like a humming, but as it got closer Ariel could tell it was loud and moving fast. Ariel kept spinning around trying to find the source of the noise. It was now a roaring sound and sounded like... it was right above her! Ariel glanced up to see something moving fast on the surface. Ariel marveled at the sight as it sped away. She wondered if it was human, she hadn't seen a human since she became a mermaid again and wondered for the first time since she left what the human world was like.

Flounder was woken up by the sound of the motor boat overhead and got scared. He immediately got up and swam over to Ariel and hide in her think red hair.

"What was that?" Flounder asked.

"I don't know" Ariel said looking up at the surface hoping the thing would return. They looked for a few minutes before realizing that the thing wasn't coming back and sunk to the sea floor. Ariel was curious as to what was making that loud noise and what made the thing move so fast?

Marty was amazed at the variety of fish he was seeing. Some of them weren't even supposed to be in this part of the sea! There were tropical fish... out here... in the ocean! Why were all these fish here? Marty wondered to himself. As he studied the fish more carefully he could tell that they were... watching him? Yes they did appear to be studying him and his every move. Feeling little scared he spotted a old shipwreck and swam towards it curious as to what was inside.

Ariel started to swim back towards Atlantica when she spotted something swimming towards an old shipwreck.

"Whats that?" Ariel asked flounder.

"Whats what?" Flounder replied looking in the direction Ariel was looking. They saw something black swim into the boat through one of the portholes.

"Come on flounder!" Ariel said grabbing Flounders fin and swimming towards the boat.

"AAARRRIIIIEEELLLLL!" Flounder cried as Ariel pulled him along.

Ariel let go of flounder and motioned for him to be quiet and swam up alongside the ship. Slowly and carefully Ariel peered into the ship through a porthole. At first she didn't see anything but then suddenly she saw something swimming through the ship. It looked like a merman but with a split tail or two tails. Their was something on his face that had bubbles coming from it.

Ariel suddenly started to swim into the ship which made flounder flip out.

"Ariel What Are You Doing?" Flounder whispered

Ariel ignored him and continued to swim towards the mysterious... what ever it was.

She swam up behind the creature and hesitated for a second then composed herself.

"Um Excuse me?" Ariel said timidly.