The first chapter maybe is a little horrible, but don't worry, you'll find out what's going on in this chapter, it may relieve you from the first one:)
Chapter 2
Flounder was wondering why Ariel hasn't come to find him, maybe he hided so well that he left no chance to his friend, but deep inside a panic started to grow. "It takes so long... Where's Ariel? "He left where he was hiding to see if Ariel was around there. There wasn't any figure out there, just a group of fishes passed by.
Suddenly he heard a cry from far away.
"Ariel! "he startled, wondering the cry's direction. He found the direction it was from, and swam towards the direction at his top speed.
He stopped as a evil laughter echoed , he felt he was trembling with fear, he saw left and right to assure he wasn't witnessed by anyone. He carefully traced the vocal clue. A light shot out behind him, he quickly turned around with astonishment. What was that?!Oh Ariel I hoped you are OK .
There was still a distance between him and the spot. He was at the edge of a valley, he heard someone was speaking, there were two of them , the male voice was kinda familiar to him, he overlooked from the edge of the valley, only to find two blur shadows because of distance. He carefully swam down to the bottom to try to search Ariel's track.
In front of him was a huge seaweed forest. His sight moved inch by inch, for fear of ignoring a single clue.
"Ariel?"No one responded. "Ariel!Are you here? "His instinct made him more and more panic, even frightened. He thought Ariel must get into trouble again, maybe this time is a great trouble. The guppy struggled against those bad feelings and thoughts. "Oh, what am I gonna do! " He clapped his fin on his face, continuing his search desperately. Or I should go back to palace and get the King. He will find her!
When he was about to go back to palace, a sound came from the seaweeds. "Ariel?" A half of panic disappeared, but there was still some unsureness. Slowly he got close to a huge rock to see if it was Ariel.
Ahhh! Flounder screamed though he didn't saw it clearly, it was moving. He kept a distance from it, but then he decided to have a closer look. He saw a familiar emerald thing lying here. "A... Ariel? "he couldn't be sure about it, it was the same colour as Ariel's tail, however there was something different. He gathered courage and pushed aside the seeweeds and finally saw it. A dolphin! An emerald dolphin?! Flounder was surprised cause dolphin of this colour is very rare, at least, he had never seen one. The dolphin seems lost consciousness, lying there eyes closed and a bit short of breath. Flounder relieved, dolphin can't be a menace, they are kind and friendly at the most of time. Maybe it's injured, Flounder said to himself, carefully approaching the dolphin.
" Hey, are you alright? "he asked, but no response. He swam around it to check if it had a wound. None. He staring at the dolphin worriedly, not knowing how to help, there was not a shadow of fish here now, and he still had no idea where Ariel is. He felt so helpless.
Suddenly a sound came to him, it was the dolphin, it was groaning and trying to get up. Flounder backed away, staring at it. Then it failed and collapsed on the sea floor. Flounder swam up to it, "Are you OK? ". It sounded, but flounder cannot well understand. Dolphin's language is a special one compared with those of other sea animals, they hardly have similarities, sometime it can be understood indirectly, just a few merfolks and sea animals know it and can communicate directly with dolphins. It winked and opened its eyes to see around, wondering where it is and what happened. When it finally saw a familiar worried face ,it widened its eyes and struggling to get up, uttering dolphin sounds, we could tell it was a excited sounds, and it was kinda melodic . The dolphin seemed to hug Flounder , but he fled. He didn't understand why the dolphin seemed to be so excited to see him, which he had never met. The dolphin showed a confused look. Then it was aware of something, watching its fins, then its tail , it began to panic. It swam forth and back, looking at Flounder and uttering dolphin sounds. No use, it lowered its eyes, very upset. Seeing this, at first, Flounder didn't have a clue, then a thought appeared in his mind ,which he couldn't believe , but...if it was true? The magic light, that strange demonic laughter, the act of the dolphin ,and the sense of familiarity...
"Ariel?"he asked,"is that you? "
He didn't expect an affirmative answer, he was just thinking at least give it a try.
The dolphin's face lit up, overjoyed, she nodded and swam towards Flounder, they looked into the eyes of each other. We can say there's a power between the best friends and it can be beyond many other things. He recognized those sea blue eyes. She is Ariel! Now, his feeling is complicated, he didn't know if he should be happy to have found his friend or he should be worried about her new form.
"But but... What happened? I heard a cry... aaand then there was a beam of light, evil laughters ... Now you are here in the form of a dolphin... "Ariel looked at his friend, the little guppy is always the same. She would have told the things about the sorceress and her evil plan to her friend, but now she knew it's impossible for her to do it in language of dolphin. Unless...
Scuttle! She beamed up as an idea came up, she sounded and made gestures to her friend ,however,Flounder looked at her, still confused. Then she decided to swim towards the surface, cause she knew Flounder would follow her. "Ariel, Ariel ,where are you going? " It worked. Dolphins often emerge from the water to breath the air, there no doubt that they have a close connection with the seafowl. So they can communicate more easily with the seabirds even than with the other fishes.
Ariel headed towards the surface, with a Flounder almost out of breath. "I don't...think it's high time to go to the surface... we... should figure out how to...change you back... "
Ariel ignored him ,she knew she couldn't explain it well to him now, so she focused on how to find Scuttle as soon as possible.
There he is! She quickly uttered a loud sound to get his attention. It seemed that Scuttle didn't hear it.
She wanted to follow him but all of a sudden she found herself trapped in a net.
Humans!
"Ariel! " Flounder lost contenance , the net separated them,now how could he save her from humans.
Ariel tried her best to get out of the net, all in vain. She wouldn't give up, though the fear seized her, she couldn't sure what humans would do to her, to a dolphin, maybe just like what they do to the fish.
"Hey, y'all, come here! " She heard a man's voice, "look what I've got. " He said somehow with pride.
The crew came along the side of boat.
"Is that true?An emerald dolphin!"
"It's a rare species ."
"We will make a fortune of it!"
"Hey, what happened on that boat? "Scuttle soared in the sky and noticed something was happening on the boat. He is a curious bird.
He changed his direction and aimed at the mast, as usual he landed badly and bumped
heavily on the mast. He collected himself up and looked down. "Wow, humans are really noisy. Hey, what you've got there? " No one responded, or none of them heard him, they were all focusing on their business.
"Well, I'll see it myself. "
In the cabin，a young man was sitting by the desk with a senior, they were talking. The noise disturbed their conversation.
"What's going on? "wandered the young man.
"I have no idea. "responded the senior
The cabin's door opened, a sailor came in ,
"Sorry for disturbing you, your majesty, I'm thinking you may want to see this. Please, come on the deck. "
The prince and the old man exchanged a look, then followed the sailor to the deck.
Scuttle flew over the sailors who were dragging up the net, in which there's something struggling fiercely . He flew aside and saw it.
"An emerald dolphin! It needs help. Don't worry sweetie, brave fearless Scuttle is coming to save ya! " He shouted and dush down to the crew, he bit and pecked those who was holding the net, his wings slapped faces. The crew were yelling ,shouting, insulting, cursing the bird.
"Scuttle!"
"Yeah, sweetie, you don't have to thank me, that's what I should do. "He said, not stopping focing the men to loose the net.
"Wait you know my name , I never know I am celebrity among dolphins. "
"Scuttle, look out, behind you! "Flounder cried.
Bang! Scuttle was shoved into the water by a mop.
"No, Scuttle!"the dolphin cried ,seeing the seagull was thrown into the sea. Flounder plunged into water immediately to help him.
To her shock, a voice came from the chaos on the deck.
"What's going on here?"
Silence fell, she felt the men stopped dragging the net. He must be a captain. She got the chance to continue her struggle, the men held tight the net again.
"Your majesty, we found a rare species. See, an emerald dolphin. "a sailor said.
Sailors made a way so the prince could have a good look of this treasure.
At the view of the dolphin, the prince was astonished, he never saw a creature of the same beauty and elegance, it was... breathtaking . She was struggling with her last strength, her skin was covered by chafes and marks of net.
He frowned, sympathy rose in him at once . Poor little thing!
"Let it go ! "he demanded.
The sailors were surprised by prince's word, an emerald dolphin, it's not everyday.
"Let the dolphin go! "seeing the hesitation of the crew , he repeated his word firmly,"It will die."
"As your wish, your majesty. " they unleashed the net.
They can't disobey their prince, besides the prince is totally right, dolphins will struggle until they regain their freedom, even if they will lose their life in the struggle .
Although Ariel was wondering who was this kind man , she got out of net without hesitation. She had no time to waste.
"We should try again,we can't let them take her away ",as soon as Scuttle emerged from the water, he prepared another batail with the humans. As the same time, an emerald thing dived into the water.
"Ariel! Are you alright? " Flounder dived into the water to check her friend's situation.
"Ariel? Hey, I know a mermaid has the same name. " Scuttle said, he definitely had no clue.
Ariel turned her head to her friends ,sounded and she swam away. Flounder understood this time, so did Scuttle.
"Come on, Scuttle, let's get away from here, we'll explain later. "Flounder said as he swam away with the dolphin.
"OK."Scuttle flew away in the same direction.
On the deck, the crew had went back to work, the prince was still watching the dolphin swimming far away from the boat, he looked very worried.
"What is it, Eric? "the senior asked him.
"Oh, Grim, I'm just worried about that dolphin."the prince answered.
"It will be alright , once it returned to the sea, it will be safe there. "he comforted the young man with a smile, he was so proud to see his prince has such a kind heart.
*About the dolphin language, I just made up it. Cause dolphins are mammals that live in the sea, they are different from fish, so I think they may have distinct language system.*When dolphins are trapped in a net, they struggle fiercely, and more they struggle more hurts they get, until their last breath. I really hope people could be kind to these animals! Please, don't hurt them!