*Singing* Down to the sea we go, down a world below! A journey that starts here and now with me! So let us go, go under the sea! *Stops* Sorry for the signing, I couldn't help it.
Inspired by a tumblr post I found by a user named smartweedbrain and "the miraculous story of the little merboy" by Fangirling Heart, here's my take on Disney's "The Little Mermaid" with the role of Ariel being given to Adrien!
He's been compared to a Disney Princess (and I agree to an extent) and I honestly see him as a better fit in Ariel's role than Marinette. Strict dad, no mom around, not happy in his situation? That's got Adrien written all over it. Marinette, on the other hand, isn't so desperate. She has plenty of friends, isn't alone in the world, has loving, caring, supportive parents, and constant encouragement from Tikki!
I'll be taking a few leaves out of the book from Fangirling Heart's story, but I'll try my best to twist it around in my own way. I was really testing my patience waiting for the debuts of Luka, Carapace (who still has yet to make his first appearance) and "Syren" which is the episode that features the swim mode that's going to debut next week.
Before we get started, the story will begin with how Plagg wound up in Atlantica to begin with. His holder beforehand was a man from the island of Mayotte, a French island region. As for their culture during the time period this movie was set in, I'm taking artistic license here since I don't know anything about it, so please don't hate me for it. Speaking of which, I might have Plagg be A LITTLE OOC here.
I'm also fully aware that Trixx is a male in the French version, but I watch both the French and English versions of the show. Since I like watching the English version personally, I'm writing Trixx as a female here. And I KNOW that it's been established that Gabriel Agreste and Hawkmoth are the same person in canon, but for the sake of the story, they're not.
I have casted Kim in the role of Scuttle here rather than Nino. I have other plans for our resident DJ in this story. ^_^
Also, one last note: to keep with the aquatic theme, I will have some sea animal words in place of certain language for mer-people talk. For example, "Oh, carp!" to mean "Oh, crap!"
Anyway, let's start the show!
50 Years Ago…
A large, regal sailing ship was floating on the waters. A young man of twenty-one, with dark skin, long black hair in dreadlocks, a nose ring and earrings, and many tattoos all over his body was standing on the deck of the ship. He was barefoot but was still wearing clothes around his waist. He was wearing a silver band on his right hand. He was across the waters with a neutral expression.
"Akida, kid." Someone said.
The youth, named Akida, looked out of his peripheral vision. Floating next to him was a small, black creature that had features of a black cat. Large, green eyes, black cat ears. He was a creature called a kwami.
"Plagg." He asked his kwami.
"What's bothering you?" Plagg inquired.
"Exploring these waters to find new resources for my tribe may become a double-edged sword…" Akida said.
"You're always overanalyzing things. Relax." Plagg said.
Plagg's holder was about to make a comeback, but then he noticed something in front of the bow of the boat.
The boat had somehow steered into dangerous waters. Large, jagged rocks were scattered around the seascape and the currents were getting rougher.
"Uh-oh. Rocky waters. Come on!" Akida said, before running to the cockpit of the boat to find the captain.
As he burst through the door to the captain's quarters, the sight before the pair shocked them: the captain was quite literally asleep at the wheel.
"No!" He shouted.
Just then, a huge crunch noise was heard. Akida looked out the window and saw that the ship had hit one of the larger rocks. Upon closer examination, Akida saw that they were stuck between two large rocks.
"Plagg, Claws Out!" Akida shouted, holding out his right hand. The ring turned black, and then Plagg entered inside it.
In a flash, Akida's clothes turned completely black, black makeup covered the area his eyes and cheeks. His eyes turned from their dark brown into bright green, with a paler shade for his sclera. His pupils became more cat-like. His dreadlocks broke, and his hair went wild, with frizzes, tangles, knots, etc. Parts of his hair turned completely black and then formed into cat ears atop his head. A staff appeared in his hand.
Akida, now Paka Mweusi, which was Swahili for "black cat," immediately moved the sleeping captain away from the wheel.
Paka Mweusi got down and leaped out of the window. He hung onto the side of the boat and saw that the rocks were too big, the water was getting rougher, and the hole in the hull of the boat was so huge that water was rushing in really fast.
"Cataclysm!" Paka Mweusi shouted. He lifted up his ring hand, and it started flashing with black light, and bad luck energy was charged into his hand.
Paka Mweusi touched the rock that was closest to him. The erosion process accelerated by a million times, and then the giant rock was shattered into dust. The boat was freed, but Paka knew that it would not stay afloat at the rate things were going.
Leaping back inside the boat, Paka took the wheel and started to steer the ship. However, the boat was sinking too fast.
He had to get to higher ground, but it was too late. The ship crashed into another rock, this time even bigger.
The impact was so strong that the energy transfer threw Paka off the boat and into the water. As the ship slowly went under, Paka struggled to swim back to the surface. However, he could not, and realized that he could only hold his breath for so long. At that moment, he knew he was done for. Paka realized that while he could not save himself, he could at least spare Plagg.
He could not call off the transformation since that meant he would have to open his mouth. That was out of the question, so he reached for his ring. He pulled it off, breaking the transformation. Plagg materialized out of it, and then he realized what his surroundings were.
"What the?! We're underwater?!" Plagg asked, shocked. "Akida, what's…?!"
However, he saw his holder reach into his pocket and pull something out: it was small, dark red, octagonal box.
Akida gave his kwami a sad look. Plagg's eyes went wide because he knew what was about to happen.
"Goodbye…" Akida sadly said, letting the water go into him. He quickly placed the ring inside the box and shut it.
"NO!" Plagg shouted. He then dematerialized and vanished inside the box. Akida threw the box into a very fast current.
The current carried the box containing Plagg's Miraculous ring far, far away. Until it reached another shipwreck all the way across the ocean.
It landed safely inside the shipwreck, and there it would stay for another fifty years. Thus, our story under the sea begins…
Present Day…
The horizon of the ocean was seen, dolphins were breaching the waves when they came up to breathe.
One joined its pod, and they heard something. Out of the blue, a large, European-style ship was seen.
"I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue, and it's hey to the starboard, heave-ho!" The sailors of the ship sang.
Some sailors were pulling up a net filled with fish, making sure that sea life such as turtles and the like able to get free, and others were on top of the sail masts, hanging out and singing.
"Look out, lass, a merboy be waiting for you, in miraculous fathoms below!" They sang.
As one sailor hoisted the main sail up, the boat's figurehead on the foremast was revealed to be carved and decorated to look like a regal man with a crown, a trident, and a large fish tail.
Behind the sail, a girl emerged. She had blue eyes, fair skin, pale-pink lips, and a slight dusting of freckles that were too subtle to be seen from a distance. Her hair was dark with a blue sheen to it and it was tied into twin-tails with red ribbons. She looked to be of about sixteen, wearing a dark grey blazer with the sleeves up to her elbows. The inside of the blazer was pale pink with paler pink polka dots. Underneath her blazer was a white shirt with a floral pattern on it. She was wearing pink pants and pink ballet slippers with red soles. She had black stud earrings on, too.
A red creature flew next to her; another kwami. She was red with one large black spot on her forehead, one on each cheek, big blue eyes with eyelashes, and two antennae on her head.
"Isn't it beautiful out here, Tikki?" The girl asked her kwami. "The salty wind in my hair, great weather… Perfect day, don't you think so?"
"It is, Marinette," Tikki replied with a giggle. "Hey Alya, Trixx, what about you two?"
"Oh, it's great!" Another girl said, as she approached her friend.
She had darker skin, hazel eyes, glasses, a beauty mark above her eyebrow, just below her shoulders-length, wavy, dark red hair that was lighter at the tips, and was wearing a white tank top that was underneath a plaid flannel shirt with orange, purple and white stripes. She was also wearing blue jeans and white sneakers with black tops. She was also wearing a necklace that was a gold chain with a white-tipped orange fox tail pendant attached.
Next to her was another kwami. She was the same height as Tikki, but she had purple eyes with eyelashes on the side of them. She had a small dark brown spot above each of her eyes, made to look like eyebrows. She had fox incisors for her teeth, long fox ears with white insides, black tips and edges, and her tail was flexible and thick with a white tip. Her forearms and lower legs were black, and the front of her body and the area around her mouth were also white.
"But I prefer being on land with my bae." Alya said rolling her eyes playfully at her best friend.
"Come on, Alya," Marinette said with a giggle. "If push comes to shove, you can swim."
"Hope it doesn't come to that, girl." Alya said, and then the pair shared a high-five.
The kwamis giggled at the girls' banter.
"The wind is strong, and the sea is following the boat. Not to mention the weather is great," One sailor said, as he and Marinette tied a knot to a hook to keep the sail secure. "King Gabriel must be in a pleasant mood."
"King Gabriel?" Marinette and Alya asked, curious.
"He's the ruler of the merpeople, lass," Another sailor said, as he pulled up the net to unload the fish into some barrels. "Common knowledge amongst good sailors."
"Merpeople?" The girls and kwamis asked collectively.
"I don't know," Alya said, shaking her head. "Seems a bit farfetched to me."
"Yeah," Trixx said in agreement. "If merpeople existed, we kwamis would have known about it a long time ago. As far as I know, there's never been a merperson to hold a Miraculous."
Tikki nodded, knowing Trixx was right. This was reason enough for kwamis to be doubtful of merpeople and whether or not they were real.
"It ain't farfetched, it's all real!" The sailor told Alya, still holding a fish in his hand. "You're asking to be taken to Davy Jones' locker should you doubt his existence, lass!"
Marinette giggled at this, but then saw the many barrels of fish and rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"That's too much!" Marinette said, as she took a barrel and brought it to the edge of the boat. "I specifically said only one barrel. Chef Césaire and Cheng Shifu have enough seafood back at the castle! And if they ran out, they would have gone fishing themselves, too."
"Heave-ho. Heave-ho…" The sailors sang in the background as Marinette made to release the fish.
"Marinette's right," Alya said. "The sharks and dolphins need to eat, too! If King Gabriel is real, then we need to only take what we need and nothing more."
"Heave-ho. Heave-ho. Heave-ho, in miraculous fathoms below!" The sailors sang, as Alya and Marinette tipped the barrels over and let the fish fall freely back into the water.
The dolphins from earlier saw the cascade of freed fish falling into the water, and they all dove down to go and hunt some to eat. One dolphin in particular kept swimming further and further below, the ocean floor was shown to be lush with life, with sea creatures ranging from fish and shellfish from corals and sea anemones of all kinds, colors, and shapes were happy and delighted.
Silhouettes of people could be seen. These people had the upper bodies of humans, but their lower bodies had fish fins instead of legs. They ranged from young children to older adults, all with different colors, features, and more.
They were all swimming to a large, glorious castle. It was glowing with life. It seemed to be made of sea stones and marble, decorated with large, luxurious pearls, and plenty of kelp was growing around the grounds.
Inside the castle was a beautiful concert hall. Merpeople and ocean creatures of all kinds were taking their seats, and a curtain was made from bubbles.
Up in a balcony seat was an older merman. He had pale blonde hair that was combed back, icy-blue eyes, fair skin, glasses, and had the faintest smile on his face. On top of his head was a crown made from coral. He had a red fin.
Sitting next to him was a younger merman who held a strong resemblance to him, with the same ice-blue eyes with a slight grey tint to them. His hair was slightly longer and had a more golden shade to it, but still had a similar stern look to it. His fin was grey with a slight green tint to it, and he was wearing a similar crown, but he was also wearing a medal around his neck, which had the symbol of the kingdom and was the decoration for the captain of the royal guard. He was the elder of the two princes, Félix.
"Father," Félix said, turning to the king. "It's not like you to attend events like this, and to have me come along is even more unusual."
"True," Gabriel said, as he looked at Félix. "But I had some spare time on my hands, and this is Adrien's piano recital. I'm sure he'll be wonderful. Especially when he sings along with his piece."
Félix merely looked back to the stage, subtly shaking his head.
However, behind the stage, a dark red crab was pacing back and forth. She had black "hair" with a red stripe tied into a bun behind her head. She was also wearing glasses, had blue eyes, and a very professional air about her. Granted, she was a bit anxious.
"That Adrien… he's late! Ooh, if His Majesty finds out…!" She said, rubbing her claws in concern.
"Nathalie," A seahorse said. "Is His Highness here yet?"
"No." Nathalie said with a sigh.
"Oh boy…" The seahorse said. They knew how bad the king's temper was, so it was only a matter of time before Gabriel found out that Adrien was MIA.
Just then, the stage lights got dark, and everyone went quiet.
The seahorse came in front of the curtain, a spotlight hit him, and then he cleared his throat.
"Ladies and gentle-mermen, fishes and crustaceans of all walks of life!" The seahorse began, albeit a bit nervous since Adrien had not arrived. "We welcome you to the royal piano recital of our very own Prince Adrien! And now, without further ado, put your hands, fins, and claws together for Prince Adrien with his vocal and piano piece!"
The spotlight went out and then everyone kept applauding. When the curtain opened, and the spotlight was turned on once more, the light hit the piano… But no player.
Everyone gasped in shock and horror that there was no one on the bench.
Nathalie was especially spooked and started shaking in fear. She turned to look at the king, whose already-stern face was now growing sterner with rage.
He stood up from his seat, his trident glowing with anger. Félix's face went stiff and his eyes widened for a little bit, but beyond that, one would think he was numb to seeing his father this way.
'Here we go again…' Félix thought, face-palming.
It was the usual routine: something important was going on in the palace, Adrien was missing, their father finds out he broke one of his rules, Gabriel got angry and threw a fit, and then when Adrien would get back, he would get a scolding of a lifetime that would go in one ear and out the other. Félix had seen this formula play out way too many times to be scared of it.
"ADRIEN!" Gabriel shouted, angry and ready to randomly shoot things with his trident. Everyone in the room started to swim in fright.
If the citizens of Atlantica knew one thing about their ruler, it was that if he was angry, head for cover immediately. This was applicable in all situations, even if you were not the one the anger was directed at. It just was not a pretty sight.
Félix merely sighed and just let his father blow up like a whale's blowhole instead of trying to do or say something to calm him down. It was better not to get him angrier than he already was. At the same time, Félix was wondering where in Atlantica his brother was.
Meanwhile, on the far outreaches of the kingdom, there was a place that had a lot of large rocks, trenches that went further below, and ribs of boats that had sunken in the area. It was pretty dark and gloomy, and it was basically a graveyard for sunken ships in the area.
Swimming in the area with high enthusiasm and passion was a merboy of about sixteen. He had sunny, golden-blonde hair, fair skin with a slight tan to it, Peridot eyes, and an emerald-green fin. On his right hand, he was wearing a thick white band with a circular surface. It was surrounded by a lining and it had four pointed diamonds on each diagonal side of the lining… The Cat Miraculous. He was also carrying a small bag, so he could carry anything he found in the wreckage of boats or anywhere else.
The boy looked around at the ships with curiosity and wonder and was having a hard time deciding which one to check out first.
"Hey! Adrien! Wait up!" A voice said.
Adrien turned around and said, "Come on, Plagg. I know you kwamis aren't meant for water life, but can't you swim any faster?"
"I could, but someone didn't let me finish breakfast before we left!" Plagg said, as he caught up to Adrien.
Adrien smiled and shook his head before browsing around to see which ship to look through first.
However, he soon saw the perfect one, front and center. It was the largest ship out of all of them, and the light from the sun above was lighting it up.
"There! That's the one!" Adrien said, pointing to the boat.
"Um, Adrien… Are you sure you aren't biting off a little more than you can chew by exploring that thing?" Plagg asked, as he saw the size of the boat.
The wood looked rotten, like all the time under the water eroded at it. There was algae and kelp all over the external features that were still intact. Small fish were swimming around in delight.
"Come on, Plagg! The bigger the boat, the more treasures we find!" Adrien said, as he started swimming to the ship, faster than his kwami could keep pace with.
"Kid, slow down!" Plagg shouted, as he swam after his charge in a hurry.
As they approached the wrecked vessel, Adrien found a large opening in the hull of the boat, big enough for him to go in through without having to suck in his gut.
"Okay, I'm going in!" Adrien said with a smile before quickly swimming inside.
Plagg followed suit, hoping there was something he could actually eat in there.
"At least be careful…" Plagg said. "There's no telling what could happen!"
"Don't be such a yellow dogfish, Plagg," Adrien said. "Besides, if something does happen, we can handle it."
Adrien kept swimming around, trying to find new and intriguing objects. He looked around the ship and only saw parts of the boat that had broken and were rotting away with time.
Plagg was looking around as well, but not only for something to eat, but because he had grown nostalgic.
"Hey, up here!" Adrien called out. Plagg looked up and saw that Adrien had swam to the next floor up, and the kwami followed.
The kwami looked around, trying to find what had caught Adrien's attention.
"What did you find? Any cheese?" Plagg asked.
Adrien shook his head in amusement.
"No. Check that out!" Adrien said, pointing to the center of the room. Plagg followed his line of sight to see a shining fork.
'A… A fork?!' Plagg thought, his jaw dropping. He was gobsmacked that something as simple as a fork would fascinate Adrien.
"Wow! Isn't it amazing?" Adrien said, as he swam over to the fork and picked it up. "It's beautiful!"
"Adrien, that's a…" Plagg began, but Adrien's voice cut him off.
"Come on, let's keep looking! We'll find Kim later and ask him what this is!" Adrien said, before swimming off to find more items.
Plagg shook his head. Whenever he tried to explain human objects, Adrien would tune him out or just not believe him. The logic Adrien used was that since Plagg had been dormant for fifty years, some of Plagg's knowledge could be quite outdated. Plagg knew there was some validity to this, but he was also aware that there were objects that stood the test of time, forks being one of them. He also felt he was a better source of human information than anyone else under the sea. Especially since he was originally from the human world anyway.
A dark shadow passed over the window. Plagg sensed something was amiss and started looking around.
Adrien had found a wooden pipe and then he wondered aloud, "I wonder what this might be?"
Plagg was about to tell Adrien that it was a pipe, but the shadow came back, and a few more sounds were heard.
Plagg soon looked out the window behind him and saw the dorsal fin of a shark. The shark emerged and was about to break through.
Plagg blanched and then he turned around.
"ADRIEN!" Plagg shouted, rushing to his holder and accidentally shoving him in the back.
"What's going on, Plagg?" Adrien asked, before turning around and seeing the shark. "SWIM!"
The shark broke in, with his eyes on the merboy and his kwami. Adrien snagged Plagg by his lower body and started swimming away. The shark was chasing after them, snapping his jaws like crazy. Every time Adrien was cornered by the shark, he managed to slip away.
Adrien dove down to the first floor of the boat, but just when he thought they were safe, the shark broke in from above and started snapping at them again. Adrien once again swam away, but his bag was snagged on a broken plank. It was like a big game of catfish and mouse.
Adrien turned around to see the bag and go and get it. The shark was closing in on them, too. Adrien saw there was a hole in the floor, and then there was an anchor hanging from above. He smiled, getting an idea.
"Plagg, Claws Out!" Adrien shouted, as he held out his ring hand.
Plagg entered the ring, and then Adrien began to change. Swiping two fingers in front of his eyes, a black mask that covered the top half of his face, the top of his cheeks, and ended at the tip of his nose was formed. His eyes became very cat-like, the sclera turned light green, a paler shade compared to his irises. His pupils became slanted like a cat's, as well. His hair grew even wilder, and two cat-ear appendages were formed on his head. The green energy swirled down his body, turning his suit black with leather-like material, there was a bell around his neck, and he had thick, black gloves on his hands. The black cloth went down to his fin.
Adrien, now Cat Noir, immediately swam up to the ceiling.
"Cataclysm!" He shouted. Bad luck energy was collected in his ring hand. He touched the wood next to the anchor.
It rotted away quickly, releasing the anchor. It landed in the hole in the floor, and the ring hole meant for the chain was sticking straight up. The shark ran into it face-first and was then stuck.
Cat Noir smirked before getting his bag. He gave the shark a mock salute and then swam away from the boat.
Once he was a safe distance away, Cat Noir breathed a sigh of relief.
"Claws In." He said, releasing the transformation. Plagg came out of the ring and came to eye level with his holder.
"That was quick thinking, kid. Nice work." Plagg praised.
"Thanks," Adrien said, chancing a look at the boat again. "But that was a close one."
Once he had managed to relax, Plagg could not help but remember that something similar had occurred when he and Adrien first met.
~Flashback – Three Years Ago~
Adrien, at thirteen, was swimming around a shipwreck, looking for human objects to collect.
He had found items such as an old accordion, human currency, vases and other trinkets. Ever since Adrien was young, the human world was a source of intrigue for him. He wanted to learn more and more.
"Aha! Another whatchamacallit!" Adrien declared, picking up another corkscrew. But it was decorated like a peacock.
As Adrien kept swimming around, looking for new items, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
It was a dark red, octagonal box. He swam over to take a look at it.
"What could this be?" Adrien said, picking up the box. Gently opening it, he found a white ring. Rings were something he had seen in Atlantica before, so he was not that surprised.
The ring started glowing green, and Adrien covered his eyes. Once the light faded, Adrien opened his eyes to see Plagg.
"What the…?" Adrien muttered. "What are you?"
Plagg opened his eyes and looked around.
"Oh, man! I'm still under the water!" Plagg complained.
He looked around more, trying to find something to eat.
"Excuse me." Adrien said, trying to get his attention.
"Hey kid," Plagg said. "The name's Plagg. I'm a kwami."
"A… A what?" Adrien asked.
"A kwami. See, that ring you're holding is my Miraculous. Just put it on and I'll… HOLY CHEESE!" Plagg shouted once he saw Adrien's fin. "What am I?! I should be asking what YOU are!"
"Okay, first off, I'm a merboy…" Adrien said, pointing at his fin and explaining himself. "Secondly, what's cheese?"
"Okay… Maybe you should explain what's going on first before I say anything." Plagg said, pinching himself.
Adrien slipped the ring on his right ring finger and then he led Plagg outside of the ship.
"Welcome to Atlantica." Adrien said, as he gestured to the kingdom.
Plagg was in awe. Not just because he was seeing something so beautiful, but he was also in shock that such a thing could exist under the sea.
"Wow… I've been around since the dawn of time and I've NEVER seen anything like this." Plagg said.
"What do you mean?" Adrien inquired.
"We kwamis are immortal and we are bound to our Miraculous items. But we've always lived on land. We've never known about the existence of… Well, THIS." Plagg said.
"You mean you've lived amongst humans all this time?!" Adrien asked, excitedly.
"Yes, but…" Plagg said.
Adrien's eyes lit up and he immediately grabbed Plagg by the abdomen and said, "You HAVE to tell me everything you know about humans! Please?!"
"Okay, okay, kid, but first off, I'm STARVING! Let me eat… Well, whatever merpeople eat, and then I can explain things from there." Plagg complained.
"I have some caviar here," Adrien said, taking out some fish eggs. "If you want."
"I'll take it," Plagg said, as he ate a little bit of it. "Pretty good stuff. This is actually a very expensive, coveted food item for humans."
Adrien slightly shuddered at that comment.
Once Plagg finished eating, he sat Adrien down and started to explain everything about the Miraculouses and their powers.
As they were talking, Adrien felt a sense of foreboding. Looking around, he saw a great barracuda heading in their direction.
"Carp! A barracuda!" Adrien shouted. He snagged Plagg and went to go and hide somewhere.
"Kid, this is the chance to try out your powers!" Plagg said. "But remember: Cataclysm can only be used once, and then you only have five minutes before you change back."
"Understood. Plagg, Claws Out!" Adrien declared, before transforming.
Now Cat Noir, he started to swim around and look for something to stop that barracuda. It had already noticed him and started chasing him around.
Cat Noir started swimming around in circles, over rocks, through coral, everywhere. He was trying to think of an idea.
He soon saw a small cavern with two openings in it. Knowing what he could do, Cat Noir swam inside, with the barracuda closing in. He stopped and saw the amount of coral and stones jutting out everywhere.
Smirking, he lifted up his ring hand.
"Cataclysm!" He called out, filling his hand with bad luck energy.
He used his fingers and swiped from one side of the cavern, to the top, and then back down to the other side. Cat Noir immediately swam out of the other exit. The areas he touched did not spread to the entire cavern, and they rotted away, causing a cave-in. The barracuda did not make it. Rather, he was trapped in the cave-in.
Cat Noir kept swimming until the transformation released.
"Impressive!" Plagg said. "You know, kid, I think we're going to make a great team."
"I agree. Best part is that I finally have a friend," Adrien said, as he took out a little more caviar. "Here."
"Thanks." Plagg said, as he started gobbling the expensive product.
~End of Flashback~
Adrien noticed his kwami staring off into space, and then said, "Plagg? You okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine," Plagg said. "Just thinking about… Things."
"Knowing you, it's probably about human food." Adrien said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, let's go see that seagull," Plagg said. "He'll probably have some cheese for me to eat."
"You and your camembert… I can't figure out how you can stand to eat that stinky stuff. Smells worse than rotting whale carcasses, and sharks love eating that." Adrien said, as he and Plagg started to swim to the surface.
"Please don't talk about sharks after what happened just now." Plagg said.
"Sorry." Adrien said with a chuckle, as they soon made it to the surface world.
There was a rock the middle of the water on the surface. There was a wrecked crow's nest from a ship that was made into a makeshift nest.
Inside the crow's nest was a seagull. He was white with an orange beak, the tip of which was red, and the feathers on his head were white with black tips that were styled in a sharp quiff.
He was fiddling around with a telescope, including collapsing it and opening it while pressing it on top of his head. Otherwise, he was doing nothing in particular.
"HEY, KIM!" Adrien shouted.
Kim looked through the telescope – albeit the wrong end – and saw Adrien and Plagg, with the former of the two of them waving hello to the sea bird.
"Ho! Merboy off the port bow!" Kim shouted in response. "Hey, Adrien! What's new, buddy?"
However, Adrien and Plagg were literally in front of him. The bird put the telescope down to see the merboy in front of his beak.
"You're faster than a sailfish," Kim commented. "Perfect timing. I have to offload this cheese to someone."
"Gimme gimme gimme!" Plagg prattled on. Kim went into his nest and pulled out a few wheels of camembert for Plagg.
"Thanks, Kim." Adrien said, as he stashed the cheese into his bag to save for later.
Whenever they would meet up, Kim would make an effort to steal camembert from the cheese shops in town. The humans were none the wiser, luckily.
"You gotta check out this stuff we found!" Adrien said, as he lifted the bag and dumped its contents on the rock.
"Human items, eh? Let me at em', dude!" Kim said, as he flew down and took a look at the fork and pipe.
Picking up the fork, Kim examined it and he smiled.
"Wow, this one is pretty rare. Haven't seen one of these things in ages." Kim said, looking over the fork.
"What is it?!" Adrien asked, his eyes lighting up with curiosity and excitement.
"I can tell you what it is," Plagg said. "It's a…"
"How long has it been since you've been among humans?" Kim asked, interrupting Plagg.
"About fifty years, but…" Plagg began, but the gull cut him off.
"Then I can bet that I'm a more current, reliable and credible source of information about human things than you!" Kim said, with smug confidence.
Plagg just resigned himself to listening to Kim's nonsense. The kwami had to admit that it was entertaining to see how excited Adrien got over the stupid names and descriptions for every item they showed Kim. To the kwami, a lot of these items were pretty mundane, but it was like finding a rare gemstone to Adrien.
"Now, where were we? Oh yes, this little thing here is a dingle-hopper!" Kim declared.
Plagg face-palmed, really trying his best to keep himself from giving both Adrien and the seagull a reality check.
"Wow…" Adrien said, his eyes aglow. "What do humans use it for?"
"To comb their hair with. Allow me to demonstrate." Kim said.
He put the tines of the fork in his feathers and then he twirled it around like one would twirl pasta in their plate. He twisted once more and then yanked the fork out, turning his plumage into a big, billowing pillow. Plagg resisted the urge to laugh at how ridiculous the bird looked.
"Et voila! A fancy new hairstyle that humans absolutely love." Kim said, handing the fork back to Adrien.
Adrien himself started to run the fork tines through his hair like it was completely normal. Plagg sighed and shook his head.
After Adrien put the fork down, he handed Kim the pipe and asked, "What about this?"
Plagg wanted to tell Adrien it was a pipe, but Kim once again took the stage.
"Oh, that there's a snarfblat. When humans got bored of sitting around and staring each other in the eyes all day, they created the snarfblat so they could play music. Watch." Kim said, as he took the pipe into his wings.
He blew into it, only for a bunch of water and a bit of sand to come out.
Hearing the word "music," Adrien realized something that he had forgotten.
"Music?!" Adrien exclaimed. He then slapped his hands against his face. "Oh, carp! The piano recital! Father's going to scale me!"
"Your recital was today?!" Plagg asked, as Adrien put the fork back in his bag.
"I think I'm getting something…" Kim said, as he tried to blow into the pipe again, only for Adrien to grab it.
"Sorry, we gotta get going! Thanks for the info, Kim!" Adrien shouted, as he and Plagg dove back down into the water to head back to the castle.
"Anytime, buddy!" Kim said as he saw his friends depart.
Plagg and Adrien swam for their lives at a fast pace. Or rather, Adrien was the one swimming faster than his usual top speed while Plagg hung onto his fins. This was primarily out of fear.
As the pair rushed back home, they were unaware that they were being watched. Hiding in a crevice in some nearby rocks were two eels. One of the eels was brown-orange with olive-green eyes, while the other one was dark yellow and icy blue eyes. Each one had one eye that was glowing yellow while they were watching Adrien and Plagg. There was a pink butterfly outline in front of their faces, too.
They put their faces close to each other, their glowing eyes next to one another. Everything that they were seeing was being sent somewhere.
In a dark cave, an orb that projected an image of Adrien and Plagg was sitting in a cauldron that was shaped like the remains of a shark's jaws, but the teeth had been buffered down to prevent people from getting cut.
"Yes, little prince. Go on a hurry home to be safe. We wouldn't want to miss yet another one of your recitals. Especially since your dear old daddy has planned an entire celebration for you to honor it." A deep, cold voice said from the shadows.
Emerging from the dark came a man. He was wearing a dark purple dress shirt with black butterfly-shaped lapels. He had a black brooch in the center of his collar, and he had eight black tentacles instead of a fin. There was a silver mask that covered the majority of his face and his neck, save for his mouth and eyes. He also had black gloves and was holding a cane... He was Hawkmoth, the infamous sea warlock.
"Tch. Celebration, my tentacle! Back when I lived in the palace, we had celebrations that were comparable to the Gods! The music, the food, EVERYTHING was grand!" He stated, as he grabbed a helpless, live crawfish, and then popped one in his mouth. He ate it, shell and all, and swallowed without any remorse.
"But now look! Here I am, starving to death, banished in this cold, dismal place! Meanwhile, Gabriel and his fishy folks go and party around all day and night!" He angrily griped, as he stood up from his chair and swam across the floor on his tentacles. "But soon, they'll have something quite meaningful to party about."
The man smirked and chuckled lowly before turning back to the cauldron and looking into the orb.
"Chloé! Lila!" He shouted, as a butterfly outline appeared on his face.
The eels reacted with surprise and hit their heads on the rock above them.
"Keep a close eye on that little boy of Gabriel's!" Hawkmoth stated. "He could very well be the ticket to the throne of Atlantica. And once I have that, the Cat Miraculous will be mine for the taking, too!"
He started to chuckle evilly as the scene slowly transitioned to black.
Chapter 1 and DONE! I hope you're wondering what I plan to do with Nino since Scuttle is taken up by a different character. Don't worry, you'll find out.