Chapter Three: Mermen
Yugi slowly opened his eyes. He stared down at the sandy floor which he was lying on, with some coral and seaweed a little off in the distance. Around him, all he could feel was warm, blue water that gently ran over his body and soaked through his hair.
Wha…? What happened?
He faintly recalled that some creature had pulled him, Joey, and Kaiba into the water, and he'd tried to get the thing, whatever it was, to release them, but…
How can I still be alive? he suddenly realized. And…He felt something strange about his lower body. Why do my legs feel so funny?
He slowly turned around onto his back-and sat up with a jolt.
His Millennium Puzzle was still around his neck, but the rest of his clothing had vanished. Below his navel, his legs were gone, replaced with what looked like the blue, scaly tale of a fish.
What…the…he thought in horror. Slowly, he lifted up the tail and slapped it back onto the ground, as if to make sure that it was really his. He then took a deep breath and found that he could do so quite easily.
I'm a…mermaid?
He suddenly heard a loud scream from a little bit in the distance. Slowly, he turned himself back onto his stomach and pushed himself gently up into the water. After a few flaps of his new tail, he managed to get a small grasp on how to swim with it. He turned around and swam in the direction of the scream.
A little bit away, he found Joey also sitting on the ground, his eyes staring down at himself in absolute horror. His clothing had also vanished, and his legs were also replaced with a scaly tail, this one green.
Joey looked up and saw Yugi floating a little above him. "Yug?" he said, his voice shaking with fright. "Please tell me dat I'm hallucinatin', and dat dere's not really a fish tail dere."
"Sorry, Joey," Yugi said sheepishly.
"Oh man…how de heck did dis happen?" Joey said, slowly flapping his tail up and down. "You didn't cast some spell before we passed out, didja?"
"No, I didn't."
"Well, I know dat I didn't, so…" Joey paused. A look of realization and glee overtook his face. He turned around and pushed himself up onto the water. With a few flaps of his tail, he started swimming around the ocean floor, as though he were looking for something.
Finally, he cried out "A-ha!" and swam off towards something. Yugi followed behind him.
On the ocean floor, the two found Kaiba, still lying down on his back and out cold. Aside from a locket made to look like a Duel Monster card around his neck, his clothing was gone as well, and his legs had been replaced with a white mermaid tail.
Joey grinned and leaned down close towards Kaiba's ear. "Oh Kaiba, wake up…" he said in a sing-song voice.
Kaiba slowly opened his eyes. "Wha…" he said. He looked up and saw Yugi and Joey hovering above him. "Oh, great." he muttered. "It wasn't just a dre-"
His eyes then fell onto his tail. He bolted upwards in horror. "WHAT THE-" he screamed.
"Kaiba, did you do this?" Yugi asked.
Kaiba stared up at him. Finally, he got himself floating up on the water and turned so that only his back faced the other two. "I did what I had to do," was all that he said.
"Well, thank you," Yugi said. "I know it must have been hard for you."
"Humph," Kaiba replied. "It won't happen again."
"Of course it won't," Joey said, rolling his eyes.
Suddenly, a little bit off into the distance, the three heard another scream, this one feminine.
"What's that?" Yugi asked, swimming off in the direction of the scream with Joey and Kaiba not far behind him.
Finally, the three found that in a small clearing amongst the seaweed and coral were two eel-like creatures which, like the creature that had pulled them under, were black with large red eyes. The creatures swam in a circle around a terrified teenage mermaid with long, red hair that sat on the ground with her hands over her head. She was wearing a pink bikini-like top made of seashells, and her pink tail flapped wildly at the creatures. Perched on her head was a tiara made of white coral.
She held out her hand and blasted a ray of pink magic at one of the creatures, but the magic only singed it a little. The angry creature now turned and faced the mermaid directly, its mouth open and baring large, sharp fangs, and its partner followed suit. The mermaid screamed and shut her eyes tightly.
Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glowed and the Pharaoh took over for him. Right when the eels charged out at the mermaid, a force field formed around her that the two slammed directly into. They sank down onto the ground.
The girl opened her eyes and stared at the dazed eels that lied before her. She looked up at the other three and said, "Did you save me?"
The Pharaoh nodded and swam over to her, helping her back up to floating on the water. "Are you all right, Miss?"
"Yes, thank you," she smiled. "Your power…are you the ones the king sent to protect the kingdom?"
The Pharaoh stared. "You know about the kingdom?"
The mermaid giggled. "Of course I know! I'm its princess."
The other three stared. "You?" Joey said.
She smiled and bowed. "Princess Angela, of the kingdom of Oceanica, at your service, my saviors." She looked back up and noticed the stunned looks on the three's faces. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
The Pharaoh quickly shook the shock out of his head. "No, not at all, Princess," he said.
"Please, just call me Angie," the mermaid laughed. "While you are here, you are not my servants; you are my honored guests." She turned and started swimming away, calling over her shoulder, "C'mon! I'll take you to my castle!"
The other three stared after her. "Ya know, Spencer," Joey said, looking upwards "you might ave told us dat dis kingdom was underwater…and dat it was full a mermaids!"
"Come now," the Pharaoh said, "let's go fulfill our task."
The Pharaoh and Joey started following the mermaid. Kaiba stayed where he was for a moment, staring down at his hands. I can't believe I did that…he thought.
Finally, he breathed out, "Unbelievable…"
Suddenly, he heard Joey's voice call, "Yo, Kaiba! C'mon!"
He remained where he was for a moment, and then started swimming off after the other two.
