Summary: Erik comes back to the coast for a merman convention, which leads to trouble. Hundreds of mermen from across the world on one continent isn't exactly what the mermaids want. But something lurks underneath Mako Island threatening all of the merman kind, including Zac. Not to mention Lyla and Nixie are back on land with more drama. Evie/Zac/Lyla, Chris/Mimmi, Weilan/Karl, Sirena/David, Erik/Ondina, Nixie/OMC.

Note: This did not turn out like I wanted it. It's not better but I like how it did come out. Also I am not a fan of Evie getting a tail to begin with and I'm happy she lost it. She won't have it in this fic.

Also face claim for no good reason!:

Tanner Donaldson, Adam Hicks
Ryan Ngo, Jordan Rodriguez
Dean Parker, Thomas Lacey

Chapter 1

"You're the only friend I'd take a shower for, what a guy," sang out the boy. The black haired boy flicked his hair with a nod of his head. Then proceeded to turn on his heal before dropping to his knees finishing the song on his fake air guitar. His friends only stared wide eyed at the song that he was singing. Which at this point was an American song by a Disney Channel star name Ross Lynch. He had sung a variety of songs during the entire night, but this one took the cake for being the worst.

"What is this?" whispered the blond to his friend.

"He's the worst singer," butted in the brunette.

The guy on stage only looked at his friend expectantly hoping to see that he had dazzled his friends. Instead, all of them looked unimpressed at his singing and dancing chops. What exactly was he trying to achieve? The Canadian boy, Tanner Donaldson, only was horrible at both to begin with and he knew it.

Erik only looked at his friend before rolling his eyes at his friends. Sometimes he felt like the only straight man in his small group of friends. Correction, his small group of friends that also were mermen like him. After his toxic friendship with Zac and the others in Australia he had swam back to his friends in a centrally located hang out. Basically, he ended up in Portugal with its salty air and tropical climate. He and his friends had a party where he ended up telling all of them what happened. With help from Dean, they even got the details that he wasn't particularly proud of, including nearly killing Zac.

Then after a fight (Dean even threw a pizza at him) that only lasted a couple of hours, they threw a party for being back together again. Each of them had been apart for months at a time spread out across the globe. Erik found himself lucky to have a couple good friends that he could fight with and be forgiven in practically an instant. A way that he never felt with any other people, no matter where he might have moved to.

First was the guy on stage, Tanner Donaldson, who never took anything seriously. He had a laid back, I don't care, and let's make jokes kind of guy air to him. Personally, Erik felt that he used this front to hide his rather fishy nature. Tanner had moved the most out of all of the four boys simply because he couldn't keep the secret. He moved more times than Ryan and his dad was in the military.

Speaking of which, Ryan Ngo, only looked dismayed at his friend singing. Ryan took himself too seriously and was always the last one to catch onto the jokes. His dad is an air marshal in the Australian air force and moved around tons of times. Ryan himself was born in China and named after his old neighbor. The one that helped his mother give birth to Ryan, because she couldn't get to the hospital in time.

Finally, there was Dean Parker who only laughed at his friend. The one guy that wasn't too showy, too serious, or too cut off from meeting people, if a bit submissive personality. The only one Erik called normal despite having a tail whenever they touched water.

"Tanner, if you sing that to Marti she'll kill you. That song is just about being a friend to her. Newsflash you're dating her," pointed out Dean.

"Well, that's the thing…. I'm breaking up with Marti," he said sucking his breath in. Everyone only looked at him like he had three heads.

"Why?" asked Erik looking at him and then his friends.

"Well tomorrow we leave for Australia and I was thinking that I might meet someone new. I'm moving there with mum until graduation, she got a job," said Tanner with an unamused look on his face. His mother applied everywhere and even moving where she got the job.

"Oh yea," said Dean looking at a pamphlet on their right as a reminder of their 'trip.' The annual merman convention. It was held once a year somewhere in the world. Last year it was held in Ireland, now that was a blast. That was when they figured out that Tanner could talk to sharks. This year they were going to SeaWorld, SeaWorld Australia, to be exact.

Erik only smiled at the thought as his eyes wandered the room. So much for a party. It ended up being the four of them, as always. Popcorn littered the floor after trying to toss it into each other's mouths. Three empty pizza boxes sat in the corner of the floor. Jaws played on the screen and the Sharknado DVD lay in front of the TV.

From the corner of his eye Tanner was busy shaking a bottle of sprite. Why, Erik didn't know but he found that it would backfire on him sooner or later. Dean found his physics book and was planning on using it to protect himself from the carbonated drink.

"Bonza!" shouted Tanner and the sprite bottled exploded on Tanner, Erik, and Ryan. Blue tails replaced their legs in an instant. Great, it was a good thing that nobody really found them there. The only person that knew about their secret hideout was Mitch. Mitch was supposed to get them out of any kind of situation if they were ever in a bind.

Ryan only shot him a look before shaking his black hair around. Dean only laughed since he was the only one without a tail. Using his powers Erik only splashed the boy as Dean only grew his own tail.

"Thanks Erik," he said mildly annoyed. All of them sighed before flopping to the side to get rid of their tails. It was a pain especially since it took long enough to dry them. Erik grabbed hold of the couch after drying his legs to sit up.

"I have one question," asked Ryan looking at Erik critically. "If the convention is being held in Australia this year, on the Gold Coast. Doesn't that mean we might run into your old girlfriend and her friends?"

Erik stopped to think that it might actually be possible to see them. He felt a pang in his chest that he might actually be missing Ondina. Then the fact that everyone hated him.

"Well, chapter 3 in the book states that we are not allowed to interact with mermaids if we see them. It's stated that we should swim away and do not attack for any reason. Then report to the board where mermaids have been last sited so that mermen could not be moved there," said Dean recited the book that he had memorized. Of course he had memorized it. He had a photographic memory.

"In accordance to the merman board and project merman," finished Erik, Ryan, and Tanner all at once. They had read the book and Dean pointed out every rule whenever they went swimming. They had only run into a mermaid once and that one mermaid had slapped Tanner across the face. That was when they were visiting Argentina four years ago.

"Well you did kill Zac until he was revived," pointed out Dean darkly. Erik only moaned before rolling his head back. He really wished that Dean didn't pry the entire true story out of him. He could have easily lied but no. Dean had to push his buttons in that certain way. They actually had to lock him into a closet until his fit was through.

"We get it and he's clearly sorry. He acted in the name of love," said Tanner dramatically throwing his arms out. There was a reason why he did school theatre and community theatre in order to keep him out of the water. The boy was clearly dramatic enough.

Everyone else rolled their eyes at his display.

"If we do run into them. Maybe you could try talking to her," said Ryan counting off his fingers. "I mean time has passed. Bigger things have happened. You are now clearly a better person, well better then you were. Finally, when are you going to find another girl that actually likes you?"

With that Erik lightly punched his friends shoulder. Well there was always the possibility that he could see her. They could make up. She was clearly the best thing for him. The fact that she understood him could mean something. That and he could very well have his friends off of his back about it.

"Let's just get this place cleaned up and get packing," prompted Dean. "Our flight leaves at 5 a.m. tomorrow." All of them groaned before making a grab for garbage.

Mimmi scratched her head as she put the blue hat on her dark hair. She and Chris were working at the marine park today. The fact that she also had to work with Karl made her irksome. He's Chris's friend and he was chasing Weilan but that did not mean she had to like him.

Her blue eyes searched the park for Chris as she looked upon another site. A blond haired woman watched the dolphins and beyond them a group of four boys. Ducking underneath a shrub she only watched in horror. In the middle of the four boys stood Erik. He was talking and laughing like nothing had happened between him and her. Granted, he didn't actually see her. If he saw her things would be quite different.

Suspiciously, she only watched as one of the boys knocked on Dr. Ross' door. How could Erik know Dr. Ross? Clearly this had to be some kind of joke. They saw each other before but said nothing about it. Mimmi only watched as Dr. Ross opened the door and actually let him and the other three boys into his office.

"Boo!" whispered someone in her ear. Mimmi jumped as she heard the voice of her boyfriend. "Are you looking for something?"

"Oh Chris you scared me," she said holding her chest and picking up a lone penny before showing him it. Land people thought a heads up penny was lucky. So hopefully he took that as her excuse for crouching. Then she smiled at his boyish smile that made her nearly giggle. She thought of what she was going to ask Chris and took the plunge. "What do you know about Dr. Ross's family?" It was an odd question but she had to figure out somehow.

"Dr. Ross? I know he was married once but she died in a boating accident. No children or anything. Why?" he asked tugging at his girlfriend's hair and twirling a finger around her dark locks.

"Oh, I just saw a couple of boys go into his office a couple of minutes ago. That's all. I thought maybe-" started Mimmi but Chris seemed to finish her sentence.

"They were his sons? Na I don't think he ever wanted kids. Not really," confessed Chris. He never dug into his boss's private life but some things did manage to come out in casual conversation. "So are we watching Carly and-slash-or Sirena sing later tonight?"

Wordlessly, Mimmi only nodded still thinking about Erik.

"Nice seeing you again Mitch," said Erik shaking hands with him. Then shaking the hands of the others. A frown on Dr. Mitchell Ross's face made their smiles drop. All four boys tried hard to get the man to smile. Apparently he still remembered what happened last time.

"Don't play with me Erik. I know what you did on Mako Island," he said eying all four boys. "You boys are still in trouble from the last time. Honestly, who creates a tsunami by complete accident? Or conveniently forget how to use your powers?"

"How do you know?" asked Dean incredulously.

"I have my ways and means," Mitch said mysteriously before handing them each a folder. "You boys are here early for the convention for your punishment. You're all setting up for the events and cleaning the tanks. We rented all of the conference rooms and sea harbor pavilions. You're doing it by yourselves too. You're not allowed to use your powers. We do have cameras and we are monitoring them. You have six acres to cover in less than a day. Good luck boys."

"Well this can't get any worse," muttered Erik under his breath. He looked at what they had to do before sighing. It could get very worse. He looked in the folder and saw a seven-day itinerary to the Australian outback. No swimming for seven days.