My first H20 story (at least the first one I've published).
Note: I'm American. I know the show takes place in Australia, but I use American measurements, centimeters, inches, feet, etc. most of the time. There will be some expectations, but most of the time, it will be American units.
Disclaimer: I do not own H20: Just Add Water
The horse's hooves pounded against the earth, kicking up a dust cloud that stung Ash's eyes and made him cough and sputter. Ash tugged on the reins, and the horse stuttered to a halt beside Ash's younger sister; a soft beep sounded as she hit the stop button on the stop watch in her hand and jotted down the time.
"That's your best time yet," Lillian said, referring to the speed at which Ash did the obstacle course.
Ash grinned as he took off his riding helmet and wiped the sweat from his face with a towel Lillian handed to him.
"Great. I'll definitely be ready for that competition. I'm heading to the Juice Bar. You want to come?"
Lillian shook her head. "No, thanks. I've got heaps of work to do."
"For what?" Ask asked, wondering what his sister could possibly be working on since school was out for the summer.
"Organizing Zoe's birthday party. She's turning thirteen, and I do want to lose the one friend I've made by seeming like I don't care," Lillian explained.
Ash rolled his eyes. "Guys just slap each other on the back, have a bit of friendly competition, and bam! They're best friends. Why do girls make it so complicated?" he asked as he got off of his horse, Rebel, and allowed the stable helper to take the horse back to his stall.
Lillian raised an eyebrow, and Ash raised his arms in surrender.
"Just saying," he said before ducking into an empty horse stall and changing into his regular clothes before anyone could see him and tell him changing in the horse stalls wasn't allowed.
"See you later, sis," he called over his shoulder as he exited the horseback riding place.
Ash wandered around the town his parents had recently moved their little family to, and he located the Juice Bar (it was pretty much the only thing he could remember the location of in this town), and after having a quick juice, he decided to take a look around. You know, get a feel for the new town.
Ash strolled leisurely down the docks, and he was lost in his own world and therefore, didn't see the blonde boy heading towards him, nose buried deep in a text book, until the boy ran into him.
"Sorry," Ash rushed to say as the boy looked up.
"Oh, no, it was totally my fault. Ash, right? The horseback rider?" the boy asked, holding out a hand for Ash to shake.
Ash gripped the hand and shook it, loosely (he was polite but wasn't one for formalities, like hand shaking. A simple hello would suffice for him). "Yeah, Ash Dove. And you are?"
"Lewis McCartney," the boy answered, and they started walking beside each other while Lewis tried to get his textbook and various papers under control.
"Is that a science project?" Ash questioned.
Lewis shook his head. "This is my own scientific research. Science is my thing," Lewis explained.
"He's trying to say he's a geek," Nate chuckled as they walked beside his boat.
"Seriously, Nate, I thought you would've outgrown that by now," Lewis muttered.
"Sorry," Nate said, insincerely. "Look, Lewis. I need you to help me with my boat. Someone stole my spark plug."
"Why would I help you?" Lewis demanded.
"I'd pay you?" Nate suggested.
"Where are your tools?" Lewis asked as he stepped into the boat. "Okay, I need a nine centimeter screwdriver." (probably not a real thing, but just go with it)
"Huh?" Nate asked, staring at his toolbox and wondering which screwdriver was the one Lewis needed.
Ash stepped on board and handed the correct screwdriver to Lewis. His dad had him help around the house with repairs and such, so he was pretty familiar with tools.
When neither were looking, Nate slipped the rope tying the boat to the dock off of the post and laughed as the boat began to drift away.
"Nate!" Lewis shouted. "What are you doing? I didn't steal your spark plug!"
"Why are you doing this, man?" Ash agreed.
"Because I'm bored, and you two are here," Nate replied.
Lewis and Ash jumped (Lewis refuses to admit he yelped) when a heavy weight joined them on the boat, and they turned to see Zane Bennet smirking at them.
"Zane, what the heck?" Lewis asked.
Zane smiled and held up a spark plug.
"You stole that?" Ash asked.
Zane nodded. "Nate put laxatives in my juice the other day; this was just a little bit of my revenge."
"And you're helping us because…" Lewis trailed off, curiously.
"I already stole your clothes while you were in the shower after swimming; pantsed you on the beach; and told everyone you couldn't get a girlfriend to save your life. I've been enough of a jerk this week, so I thought I should be generous," Zane answered before putting the spark plug in, and Ash cried out as the boat jolted forward. Lewis sat down, and Ash nearly fell off of the boat altogether as he fell backwards, and Zane chuckled as he began speeding around the water.
"Off we go, fellas!" Zane cheered before splashing Nate as they passed him.
"Is this safe?" Lewis demanded.
"Are you sure you can drive this thing?" Ash questioned. Nate's boat looked a lot like Zane's zodiac, but the controls couldn't have been more different.
"Are you my mother?" Zane asked. "Come on you two. Live a little!"
Lewis sighed. "All right. Just don't get us lost or stranded on some deserted island like in the movies!"
"I won't!" Zane assured them. "Let's go out to sea," he added before speeding the boat further away from the docks.
Twenty minutes later, the boat sputtered before the speed died, and the boat sat in the middle of water with the main land barely within their sights.
"What happened?" Ash wondered.
Zane sighed. "We're out of gas."
"What?' Lewis demanded. "So we're just drifting out to sea?"
"Not exactly. We can drag the boat onto Mako Island," Zane pointed out.
"I thought I told you not to get us stranded on a deserted island?" Lewis reminded him.
"Do you have a better plan?" Zane asked.
Lewis sighed because truthfully… he didn't.
The three boys dragged the boat onto the shore and stared around at their surroundings.
Mako Island was the kind of place no one visited, and the teenagers could see why. It was definitely beautiful with trees reaching towards the sky and flowers and plant life wherever you looked, not to mention how peaceful it was. The beach looked like it'd been taken straight out of a painting, and it was so much calmer without dozens of people around. Still, despite the beauty of the scenery, it gave all three of them an uneasy feeling, as though the island itself was telling them to turn around, to go back, and if they went any further, they would regret it.
They didn't have any other options, though.
Zane tapped his foot to release some of the uneasiness growing within him before walking further into the forest while Ash held his phone above his head, searching for a signal.
"It's no use," Lewis told the horseback rider. "Mako Island is a dead zone for cell phone signal."
"Maybe we just need to get up higher," Ash suggested.
"It could work," Lewis agreed. "Let's start heading to the highest point."
"Okay," Zane said before heading towards the high structure in the distance. It looked like a mountain at first glance, but little did any of them know, it was an inactive volcano.
"What if we're stuck here forever?" Ash stressed.
"We won't be," Lewis assured him. "Someone will come looking for us at some point, and if worst comes to worst, I'm sure if we put our heads together, we could make some oars put of all these tree branches," Lewis added, and a fallen tree branch crunched under his foot, as though for emphasis.
"And even if we are stuck here," Zane spoke up, "it wouldn't be so bad. No school. No rules. No nagging parents."
"Your father nags?" Lewis asked in disbelief.
"I wouldn't call it nagging," Zane said. "More like impossibly high expectations for me, and when I don't meet those expectations, I never hear the end of it."
"I hear you," Ash agreed. "I love horseback riding, but sometimes I wonder if that's the only thing my parents think I'm good at."
"My parents work a lot," Lewis said, "so I don't see them as often as I'd like, but they try to be there for all five of us. Still, four brothers and two workaholic parents? You don't exactly get attention very often."
Ash nodded. "Four brothers? I can barely tolerate an older brother and two sisters, one of which is graduated and out of the house. I can't imagine what it must be like with four siblings living under the same roof as you."
"I would like to have a sibling," Zane said. "My father works day and night, haven't seen my mother in ages… it'd be nice to have a sibling, but I guess Nate will have to do as an honorary brother."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Nate? Now I feel bad for you."
"Nate isn't that bad. He can be jerk; I'm not going to lie, but it could be worse. At least I know Nate's always got my back," Zane pointed out.
"Like me and Cleo," Lewis related.
"I can't relate to that. Just moved here from the other side of the continent, so not many friends to mention quite yet," Ash said.
"You've got me," Lewis pointed out.
"And me," Zane added, surprising them. "What? Being stranded on an island can bring people closer together… or tear them apart, but I'm trying to be optimistic here. Besides, conversations with you two are much better than ones with Nate. All he talks about are girls and himself."
"I'm almost touched," Lewis said with a laugh as they came to a waterfall with a lengthy gap between the two sides, and Ash inched his way towards it, trying not to fall on the slippery rock.
Lewis didn't even hesitate before leaping across and landing on the other side; Ash soon followed.
Zane stumbled away from the edge and looked at the others.
"No way!" he shouted.
"Come on, Zane! We did it," Lewis pointed out.
"Well, um…" Zane tried to think of an excuse that didn't sound as lame as the one in his head, which was that he was afraid of falling. His fear of heights stemmed from a fear of falling, and if the rocks had been dry, he would've leaped without any worries, but there was no way he could jump that without slipping and falling. "There has to be another way."
Zane glanced around and took a step back, searching for a way around.
"Zane!" Lewis called. "You act fearless. Where's your confidence now?"
Zane pointed at some fleeing birds in the sky. "It flew away with those Bi-RDS!"
Zane had taken a step back, and he'd found only empty air as he fell down a hole, sliding down a steep path until he landed in a heap on the dusty ground, coughing from all the dirt and dust his fall had kicked up.
"Zane, are you all right?" Lewis called as he appeared, leaning over the hole in the ground to peer into the dark cave.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Zane replied.
"Can you climb up?" Ash asked.
"No. It's way too steep," Zane said as he scrambled for purchase on the slippery slide and got about a foot up before sliding back down.
"I have to go down and get him," Lewis said.
"What?" Ash asked. "What if you get stu-"
"AHH!" Lewis screamed as he slid down the path into the cave.
"And he did it anyway," Ash muttered.
"Ow," Lewis muttered as he sat up, and he jumped as Ash yelped and slid down the path, nearly landing on top of Lewis as he stopped beside Lewis and Zane. "What are you doing here?"
"You jumped in," Ash pointed out.
"You were supposed to stay at the top and throw down a rope or something," Zane said.
"How was I supposed to know that?" Ash demanded. "And what rope?"
"A branch, a vine, even your jacket might have worked," Lewis answered.
"Why didn't you tell me that before I came down here?" Ash asked.
"As much as I would love to continue this argument, we need to find a way out of here," Zane said as he stood and brushed off his clothes.
"There probably isn't a way out," Ash mumbled as they walked further into the cave.
Zane walked around a corner, and his jaw dropped as he came face to face with one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen.
It was a circular pool of water, and the water was bluer and cleaner than anything Zane had ever seen, and it was so clean, it seemed to shine in the darkness of the cave. Uneven rocks made up all sides of them, and the pool had a tunnel of water leading out of the cave and into the unknown. A circular opening loomed high above them, allowing sunlight to filter inside and for them to glimpse the blue sky outside.
"This," Lewis mumbled.
"Is," Ash continued.
"Awesome," Zane finished.
Lewis knelt beside the pool and took some in his hand, allowing it to flow freely through his fingers.
"Wow," he whispered. "I may have to come back here sometime to get some rock and water samples."
"Is this a volcano?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, but it's been inactive for thousands of years, so I don't think we have to worry," Lewis said.
"Think?" Ash repeated.
"I know we don't have to worry," Lewis rephrased. "Tidal rings," he said, looking at the pool.
"Now is not the time to be worrying about jewelry, Lewis," Zane said.
"No," Lewis said. "Tidal rings occur when the water moves up and down, which means this pool is connected to the ocean."
Zane nodded as he took off his sneakers. "I'll check it out. If I'm not back in a minute, start looking for another way out," he said before diving into the water and disappearing into the tunnel.
Ash and Lewis sat on the edge of the pool and waited. And waited. And waited. It felt like they'd been waiting an eternity before Zane resurfaced.
"It's about a twenty second swim," he told them. "Plenty of room. We can all fit."
Lewis nodded and hopped into the pool, but Ash hesitated.
"I can't," he said.
"Sure you can," Lewis said. "Twenty seconds, and we'll be free, Ash. It'll be fine."
"I can't swim," Ash informed him.
"You never learned?" Zane realized. It was rare to find someone in this town that didn't know how to swim. Cleo was the only person he could think of that didn't know how to swim.
Ash shook his head. "I spend almost all my time at school or horseback riding. I never had time to learn how to swim."
"We'll help you," Lewis offered. "My friend Cleo doesn't know how to swim either. Learned that the hard way when Nate pushed us into the lake. Anyway, Zane and I can help you. Come on." Lewis held out his hand.
Ash sighed before gripping Lewis's hand and sliding himself into the water, taking a deep gulp of air as Lewis tried to keep him from going under.
As soon as Ash was in the water, the now night sky glowed with moonlight as the silver full moon appeared in the small circular opening above their heads.
Almost immediately, the water began to glow, creating a beam of silver light, filling the entire pool, which began to bubble and boil, even though the temperature remained cool.
"You guys saw that, too, right?" Zane asked as the moon moved past the opening and vanished from sight. The pool returned to normal.
Lewis and Ash nodded.
"Spooky," Ash summed up before the three of them took a deep breath and ducked into the tunnel, swimming out of the cave, around a reef, and breaking the surface of the ocean.
"We're free!" Lewis cheered.
"Yeah, but we still don't know how to get back home," Zane pointed out.
As if on cue, a bright beam of light hit them, and they shielded their eyes as a boat came into view.
"It's my brother," Lewis realized.
"Lewis, come on!" Lenny called as the three of them swam towards the boat.
Lenny lowered the ladder, and Ash climbed on first, followed by Lewis, then Zane.
"Mom's real worried about you," Lenny said. "She sent me to come get you when you missed curfew for the first time in your entire life."
Lewis smiled. "Thanks, Lenny. How'd you know where to look for us?"
"Wilfred said he saw you guys heading out to sea, and I saw Nate's boat that he apparently gave you and put the pieces together," Lenny explained.
Lewis nodded. "Thanks."
"No problem, little bro. Now let's get you home before Mom stresses out even more."
They arrived on the shore, and the three teens went their separate ways. Zane and Ash towards their own houses while Lewis followed his older brother towards their home.
"Thank goodness you're okay!" Lewis's father exclaimed upon seeing his previously missing son.
"Sorry, Dad," Lewis said.
"It's fine. Your mother made you a plate," Jack McCartney told his second oldest son.
Lewis nodded, ate his dinner, and exhausted after the long day he had just had, went to bed.
He had no idea what surprises waited for him in the morning…
Lewis yawned as he entered the bathroom the following morning, and he turned on the shower.
Lewis hopped into the shower, and standing under the spray, everything was fine… until he felt a strange sensation in his legs.
His body seemed to be made of water and bubbles as the transformation took place, and Lewis gaped as he looked down and instead of seeing his legs, he saw a blueish green tail. Lewis tottered and teetered for a brief moment before falling backwards and landing on his back with water spraying all over him.
Lewis hurried to turn off the water, and he stared at his new tail, wondering what on earth to do.
Not knowing what else to do, Lewis grabbed his towel and dried off his tail, but nothing happened.
What to do? What to do? Would he be stuck like this forever? Should he call for help? How would he explain this?
Lewis dried off his upper body and hair until he was completely dry, and he watched as his tail vanished, replaced by his usual legs.
Lewis frowned in bewilderment as he climbed out of the bath tub and filled a glass with water.
He sat on the floor and poured some of the water on his hand. A few seconds passed before Lewis became mostly bubbles and water as his legs transformed into a tail.
Lewis dried off his hand and watched his tail change back to kegs. With an amazed laugh, he poured water on his hand again and watched as the transformation took place once again.
Lewis jumped as someone hammered on the door.
"Lewis, hurry up. Other people need to use the bathroom," his younger brother, Lucas, called.
"Uh, one second, Lucas! Almost done!" Lewis called, drying off his hand and watching as his tail once again became legs.
Lewis stood and got dressed before opening the door to see Lucas standing on the other side.
"Sorry, Lucas, bathroom's all yours," Lewis said before walking as fast as he could without looking suspicious and entered his room.
Zane was making breakfast when his dad entered the kitchen.
"Hey, Dad, want anything?" Zane asked as he turned around, and he jumped when he accidentally spilled a glass of water all over his dad's papers.
"Zane!" his father scolded. "Those are for a very important meeting today, and now, I have to go retype them all!"
"Sorry," Zane rushed to say as he hurried to clean up the water, getting it all over himself but barely noticing.
"You're making it worse," his father said, snatching up the papers and storming out of the room.
Zane sighed. It's like whatever he did, it wasn't good enough. He tries to make breakfast for his dad, and as usual, he only made everything wo-
Zane yelped as his body became mostly bubbles and water, and he fell to the floor as his legs transformed into something that wasn't legs, nor was it normal.
Zane rolled over, and his eyes widened when he saw a blueish green tail where his legs used to be.
Zane scrambled to grab his phone off of the counter, grunting as he dragged the heavy weight of his tail around, and he called Lewis.
"Lewis," he squeaked in shock. "You'll never guess what just happened."
"You grew a tail when you touched water."
"I grew a- wait. How'd you know?" Zane asked.
"The same thing happened to me," Lewis answered.
"Do you know how to change back?" Zane demanded as he heard footsteps in the next room. "And fast. My dad's coming."
"Dry off," Lewis said. "As soon as you're dry, you'll change back."
Zane grabbed a dish towel and dried off his hands and arms and sighed in relief as his tail vanished and his legs returned, and just in the nick of time. His father reentered the room.
"Zane," his father said, standing beside him. "What are you doing on the floor?"
"Uh," Zane rattled off the first excuse that popped into his head. "I'm, uh, looking for my contact. Yeah, I dropped it."
"You don't wear contacts, Zane," his father said, slowly.
"Huh. No wonder I couldn't find it. Thanks, Dad!" Zane exclaimed before sprinting out the front door.
His father stared after him in confusion before deciding he would never understand his son and answering his suddenly ringing phone.
Ash was rudely awakened by a bucket of water to the face.
"Time to get up!" his older brother laughed before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
"Not cool, Jordan!" Ash called after him before frowning as a strange sensation occurred in his legs, and Ash's jaw dropped as he became mostly water and bubbles. His jaw dropped even more when the water cleared away, and he saw a blueish green tail in the place of his legs.
The door burst open, and Ash appeared like a deer in a headlight.
"Ash, don't touch wat- too late," Zane said as he spotted the tail.
Lewis threw him a towel he retrieved from the bathroom. "Dry off. You'll change back when you're dry."
"How do you know that?" Ash asked as he dried off his face.
"The same thing happened to us," Lewis answered as Ash transformed back.
"Really?" Ash asked. "What's causing it?"
"No idea," Zane said. "Lewis, can we go to your house? It's closer, and your brothers and parents aren't there, right?"
Lewis nodded.
"Good idea," Ash said. "The last thing we need is one of my siblings ease dropping."
The three of them left Ash's house and walked towards Lewis's home, which was only a few minutes away.
"So we have tails," Zane said as they sat in Lewis's living room. "Blueish green, scaly tails that appear when we're wet-"
"And vanish when we're dry," Lewis finished.
"But what caused it? Why is it happening?" Ash demanded.
A knock sounded at the door, and Lewis sighed.
"That's Cleo. I forgot she was coming over," he said as he opened the front door. "Hey, Cleo, uh… I'm sorry to do this to you, but something came up," he said.
Cleo frowned. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. It's something important-" Lewis began.
"-but not important enough for you to know about it," Zane continued.
"Are you and Zane hanging out?" Cleo asked in surprise. "Have I stepped into a parallel universe?"
"Possibly," Ash replied.
"Anyway, Cleo, I'll call you later," Lewis offered before shutting the door.
"So how are we going to find out more?" Ash questioned. "Is there some kind of mermaid how to book?"
"We're not mermaids," Zane said, absolutely refusing to believe something that weird.
"He's right," Lewis agreed. "We're mermen."
"That's just too weird!" Zane sighed.
"Calling ourselves mermen is weirder than the tail itself?" Lewis asked.
"Good point," Zane admitted.
"Anyway, science is my thing. I'm sure I can figure this out," Lewis said, "and a good place start is by going in the water."
"No way," Ash said. "Not me."
"I'll come," Zane offered.
"So about ten seconds to transform, right?" Lewis said as they stood inches from the water on the beach.
Zane nodded. "Yep."
They stepped into the water, and Lewis began counting.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, te-"
Lewis was cut off as their bodies became water and bubbles before falling forward as their tails appeared.
Silence fell before they both began to laugh.
"Want to go for a swim?" Zane asked.
"We're already in the water," Lewis chuckled.
"Hey, Ash," Emma said, flatly, as she ran into him outside the JuiceNet Café.
"Hey, Emma," Ash said.
Emma and Ash didn't get along too well, and while Ash would love to change that, Emma didn't seem to want to make an effort.
Before either could decide whether or not to continue the conversation, Ash heard a loud engine from behind him, and he pushed Emma out of the way, falling backwards and skinning his elbows on the ground. Emma landed on the grass as Nate drove past on his motorcycle.
"Nate, you could've hurt us!" Ash shouted.
"So?" Nate said. "My parents didn't like it when the water police knocked on their door."
"Then you shouldn't have pranked us," Ash pointed out.
"Leave us alone, Nate," Emma said.
"You know, Ash, you may have made friends with Zane and Lewis, but they won't always be around the protect you, so you better be prepared when that day comes because some… misfortune might just fall on y-"
Nate was cut off by blocks of ice flying out of the fire hydrant as the knob busted off (probably from the volume of the water increasing as it froze until the knob couldn't hold back the water any long), and Nate yelped as he fell to the ground, covering his head with his hands.
"What the…" Emma mumbled, but when she turned to see if Ash was seeing this, too, he'd already run off.
"That swim was amazing," Zane said.
"I totally agree," Lewis said. "I saw specimens I only dreamt of ever seeing in person, and-"
"Guys!" Ash shouted as he appeared at their side. "You'll never guess what just happened," he said as they rushed into Zane's house (more like a mansion, actually).
Ash placed a glass of water on a nearby table, and he glanced at a bewildered Lewis and Zane before thrusting his hand towards the water and watching it freeze.
"Woah," Lewis said. "So we have powers now?"
"Let me try!" Zane exclaimed before twisting his hand, and his eyes widened when the ice melted into liquid water and began to boil. "I can heat things up!"
Lewis held his hand out towards the water, and he frowned when nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing. He tried a third time, and…
Still nothing.
"Maybe yours will just take longer to show themselves," Zane said. "It wouldn't make sense for us to have powers but not you when we all went through the same transformation."
Lewis sighed and nodded in agreement, but he couldn't help but wonder if he was always destined to be weaker than everyone else, for everyone else to be better than him. And in the back of his mind, he wondered if he was always destined to be nothing but… a loser.
VOTE:
Who should find out about the three boys being mermaids first? Cleo or Emma?
I have a specific scene planned for Rikki, so she can't find out until after that scene takes place, so either Emma or Cleo have to figure it out first.
Tell me your vote in the form of a review or a private message. You are also welcome to leave a suggestion for how that person finds out if you want to.
Thank you for reading the first chapter of my new story, and I will see you all next time with chapter 2.