Have you ever felt like there was a place that called out to you?

Like the place you stayed so very long wasn't where you belonged?

Like you were so different from everyone else surrounding you?

Sooner or later, we all tend to feel this way.

Deep below the ocean, a dalmatian mer-pup sat scribbling in the sand on the seafloor. He looked to be alone, separate from the other group of mer-pups who played tag not too far from him. As he stayed to himself, a small rock was hurled at his head, striking him.

"Mer-fag! Hey check it out everyone! It's the mer-fag! He likes MALE mer-pups!" Laughed a male jack russell. The other mer-pups began to point and laugh. The dalmatian didn't say a word or react. He just continued to scribble with his paw. "Your dad must be soo ashamed of you. His reputation as king must be tarnished by now. You think some weird pup like you can ever become king of the seas?" The group continued to point and laugh.

The dalmatian stopped scribbling and swam away in tears, his red tail leaving behind a trail of bubbles. He had heard enough. Ever since one of his deepest secrets came out, it seemed as if the whole mer-pup kingdom taunted him, excluding him from activities and making him feel different, bad. He swam through the gates of his castle and entered the throne room, approaching the king. The king sat on his throne staring at the pup with a rather confused look. The king was also a dalmatian, but his spots were different from the pup who stood before him. The king had a rugged appearance and a cyan colored tail.

"Marshall, why have you come to me crying?" He asked.

"The-The others… are making fun of me again." The dalmatian sniffled.

The king sighed and placed a paw on his temple. "Marshall, we've been over this before. You are a prince… and princes do not swim about crying because they are made fun of. You must have some dignity and pride." He slammed his fist on the arm of his throne. "You must also remove these foolish feelings of attraction towards other males. You cannot become a respected king with such silly thoughts and ideals as those. I thought I raised you better than that. I had always hoped that one day, you would take over this kingdom as my successor."

Marshall's tears continued to flow as he lowered his head and mumbled something.

"Hmm?" The king said.

"I said you're not my father!" Marshall looked at the king with hurt and angry eyes that shocked him. "You're never there when I need you. You put me down just like everyone else. You only care about your stupid kingdom!"

"Marshall!" The King frowned.

Marshall gritted his teeth. "There's no way… someone like you can call their self a father!" Marshall turned away and abruptly swam out of the throne room.

"Marshall!" The king called, but was unable to stop him.

Marshall swam out of the castle and far away from the kingdom. He didn't know where he was going, he just knew that he needed to get away. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched.

"Marvelous. Simply marvelous." A dark figure stared at Marshall through a pearl the size of a crystal ball and flashed a smile. "The king and prince. My my, such dysfunction within family." The figure chuckled. "I believe… I can use this to my advantage. Perhaps… I could even use this situation to acquire that."

Marshall emerged from the surface of the sea and laid himself upon a rock. The sun shined brightly on his wet white fur. The surface happened to be Marshall's favorite place to clear his mind.

"Why is it just me? Why am I… so different?" He said to himself, staring up at the clouds.

He began to sing to himself. Singing was a tactic Marshall used to calm himself. He had a magnificent voice at that. He sang and sang, pouring all of his emotions into every verse of the song. Before he could finish, his ears began to pick up a strange sound. The sound started to grow louder as if it were coming closer. Sensing danger, he quickly got back into the water and hid behind the large rock. He watched as three figures came into view.

"Zuma! Head for Cali!" Yelled a young boy.

Marshall, peeking from behind the rock watched a young boy with brown hair riding a jet ski. He had a very determined look on his face as he followed a cat who was floating further out to sea on a piece of driftwood. Following behind him was a chocolate labrador in an orange vest, driving a orange hovercraft with another pup accompanying him. The pup that was with him was a german shepherd, who was wearing a blue vest and cap. Marshall had never seen a human up close, let alone a surface dog. He decided to watch them in secrecy, curious as to what they were doing.

"C'mon Cali, jump!" The chocolate lab said to the cat, after shooting a buoy towards her. The cat shook its head furiously as it meowed. "No good, Wyder. She's too scared." The lab told the young boy.

"Zuma, move in closer so Chase can try and grab her with his net." The boy told him. The lab did as he was told and moved in closer.

"Ok Chase, she's all yours." Zuma said to the shepherd. Chase shot his net towards the cat and bagged her.

"Got her."

"Ok Chase, now retract your net just enough to pull her into the buoy."

Chase obeyed the boy's commands. "Ok easy… easy…" He concentrated hard as he tried to slide the cat into the buoy without her touching the water.

"Zuma, the rest is up to you." Ryder told him.

"I'm on it!" The lab retracted the buoy back to his hovercraft and pulled the cat in safely, removing the net placed over her.

"Mission accomplished, sir!" Chase said saluting.

Marshall found these creatures to be very interesting; the way they interacted, their movements. He found himself staring at a particular pup the most. He couldn't take his ocean blue eyes off of the lush brown fur of the german shepherd, examining his entire body from his cute little blue vest up to his auburn brown eyes.

Chase, feeling a pair of eyes burning a hole into his back turned to face the dalmatian mer-pup's direction. Marshall quickly ducked under the water out of sight, but accidentally created a splashing sound.

"Huh?" Chase said to himself. "Zuma, I think there's someone over there." He said, pointing towards the rock.

Zuma looked toward the direction he was pointing. "There's no one out here but us, unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless it's a mer-pup." Zuma said with excitement filling his eyes.

Chase chuckled. "Zuma, there's no such thing as a mer-pup." Chase said shaking his head. But I definitely saw something. I'm sure of it… He thought to himself.

"It was probably just a dolphin. We need to get Cali back to Katie. I'm sure we've worried her enough." Ryder said, rubbing his hand through his hair.

Marshall watched as the group made their way back out into the distance toward an island. Chase looked back one last time, but still failed to see the hidden mer-pup before his eyes. Once the group was out of view, Marshall emerged from the water once again.

"Who were they?" He asked himself. "The boy with brown fur on top of his head. I'm sure that's what's known as a human. It's gotta be, but… who were those other creatures? They looked just like mer-pups except… they didn't have a tail like mine." He looked at his red fish tail. "They had different tails and an extra set of arms. They looked pretty strange but…" Marshall began thinking of the german shepherd. His neat brown fur and how soft it looked. His pointed ears. His voice and lastly, those auburn brown eyes. Thinking of this, Marshall looked out into the direction of the faraway island. He didn't know why, but he found himself smiling for some reason as he recalled the name of the shepherd.

"Chase…"

AN: This is a story that I originally didn't plan on sharing, but I figured "what the hay."

This story was semi inspired by Disney's The Little Mermaid, but the plot of this story will be one of my own originals.

Please tell me what you think so far. Reviews are very helpful in shaping one's skill.