Swim This Way

Reno was racing forward through the sea with no idea where he was going. Rude chased the redhead gaining on him quite easily. For every five strokes Reno seemed to make, the larger Turk only made about two.

He sped on and without looking where he was going, then turned around to see how far behind Rude was. "Come on baldie, you're too slow," but Rude seemed to be slowing on purpose. Reno turned back smugly and shot forward. Launching himself head first into a huge rock.

"Ouch," sighed the redhead as he peeled his face from the surface of the rock.

Reno nodded at Rude with a frown on his face. That really hurt. "Couldn't apply the brakes quick enough Rude."

"I noticed," said Rude laughing. He'd made a joke, so Reno was fine.

"Ahh," Reno groaned and rubbed his nose. Then he noticed the change of expression on his partner's face, which made him question, "what Rude? I'm not bleeding am I?"

Rude shook his head, "turn around Reno." The Turk whispered.

Reno turned around and just beyond the rock, was a woman. Well not a woman but a mermaid. She floated before them, her bright green fin moving gently from side to side. She wore a purple bikini top made from two identical seashells and her bright red hair came down past her waist.

She smiled at the two Turks as she approached them slowly. Getting closer, she opened her mouth to greet them. "Hey," her voice was sweet and cheerful.

"Uh hi," said Reno smirking. He felt pretty pleased with meeting this young mermaid. He looked her up and down. She was very beautiful in his opinion. Her hair was the same colour as his only brighter and shinier. And her eyes were just the same. He felt as if he'd met the female version of himself. (Outer appearances anyway.) And Rude had always said that Reno would marry himself if given half the chance.

"I'm Ariel," she continued, looking at Rude now. Probably because he hadn't actually said anything yet.

"I'm Rude," the larger Turk finally said to the young woman.

"Reno." Replied the redheaded Turk. "So you're like a mermaid… that's really awesome."

Rude shook his head as he listened to his partner. Ariel laughed and smiling she answered the Turk. "Yes… you are too though, a merman I mean." Now Reno understood the strange look on the girl's face. He'd kind of stated the obvious so he thought he'd better explain. However, Rude beat him to it.

"We're from another world, it's a bit of a shock to see ourselves like this."

The redheaded girl's face lit up instantly. "You're from the outside world? You mean you're a human?"

"Uhh yeah…" Reno said sarcastically as Rude simultaneously gave her a polite nod.

"It must be amazing to live outside the water huh?" She seemed so enthusiastic, Reno found it quite strange, they were only human. He thought that being a merman was pretty exciting once he'd gotten used to it.

"It's alright," Reno smirked and turned to Rude who was also smiling.

"And I bet it's great to run around and have 2 legs instead of a fin." She looked down at herself, swished her tail and frowned.

"Oh yeah… there's a lot more than just legs where this fin is darlin'" Reno said cockily.

Ariel blushed at Reno and then smiled at Rude who just rolled his eyes. He shook his head at his partner.

"So, not meaning to be rude but, why are you down here?" The mermaid said awkwardly.

"We're looking for our friend, we think she's been…kidnapped." Said Rude turning the conversation into one a lot more serious now. He shot Reno a very serious glance.

A little bit of guilt shot through Reno's mind again. He'd almost forgotten about Elena, one look at Ariel and he was his usual 'one track minded' self. 'Ok, from now on Reno, stick to what you're actually here for.' He tried to get into his head. He felt like he'd better help in some way.

"Yeah we have no idea where she could be or where we're going for that matter." Reno's voice trailed off slowly. Yeah… that helped Reno.

"Ok… well, what does she look like?" Ariel asked, sounding as if she was trying to be genuinely helpful.

Reno thought for a second to try and get the best description of Elena; which he did. "Uhh… short blonde hair, brown eyes and she's about a head shorter than me."

"Hmm," Ariel lowered her eyebrows as if in thought. Then she looked both Reno and Rude in the eyes, consecutively.

"She wouldn't be in danger… would she?" Rude asked very seriously.

"Well," Ariel continued as delicately as possible. "There are jellyfish in places, sometimes sharks… but only in certain places." Reno and Rude's faces dropped a little.

"Can you help us find her?" Reno asked with a sense of urgency now.

"Follow me," she smiled, saying this a lot more cheerfully. She turned around and began to swim away from them quite fast.

Reno and Rude turned to each other and the redhead said: "I take that as a yes." Rude nodded and the two Turks started to swim after the young redheaded girl.

They'd swam quite away and Reno felt quite tired. Rude however appeared perfectly fine and Ariel didn't seem to be phased at all. She was still quite a way in front of the Turks though.

The three had passed several huge rocks covered in brightly coloured flowers. There were smaller rocks, tunnels and caves that they'd been through or seen. Reno had seen creatures he never even knew existed. But he knew one thing for certain, there was no way he could ever find his way back to where they'd started from.

Reno looked around him and saw that they were coming to a pathway with huge pillars all the way down it on either side.

"This is where we all live." Ariel said, turning around to look at the two Turks.

Reno looked around himself, as did his partner. To the left and to the right of the huge pathway were what looked like houses. Some looked like huge shells joined together, some were made from shipwrecks and others were more like caves.

"You'll meet my father soon, King Triton." She smiled.

"You're a princess?" Asked the older Turk.

"Well done Rude," said Reno sarcastically.

"Yes," Ariel laughed. "Me and my six sisters, I'm the youngest."

Reno smirked, and turned to look at Rude. Nodding his head slowly. Reno wondered if all the sisters were as beautiful as Ariel. He tried to imagine what they'd all look like and what colours they'd be wearing. He considered the hair, maybe it was a family thing?

Rude coughed loudly, pulling Reno out of his daydream. He gestured ahead of him down the pathway. Ariel had already started to swim off again quite fast.

The two followed her once again, coming to room coming leading off from the pathway. It was huge and in the centre was in fact a merman with long white hair which held a golden crown on his head. He was sat down on a throne in the centre of the circular room and was talking to what appeared to be a fire engine red lobster.

"Father." The young mermaid greeted the man.

"Ariel," the man spoke, revealing a smile just visible from among his Santa Claus like beard. "And who are your friends?" The rather intimidating man looked the two Turks up and down quite seriously. Naturally, Reno thought, he was most probably quite protective over his youngest daughter.

"This is Rude father, and Reno." Ariel said as she gestured towards the two Turks in turn.

The king's eyes narrowed. "Not meaning to be rude but can I ask as to why you're here, where you've come from?" It wasn't that he was being rude, he'd never seen the two before. Of course he'd know that they weren't from his kingdom, especially as ruler of the entire sea.

"We're looking for our friend, she's missing." Reno said to the man quite casually, no politer than he'd speak to Tseng.

"You're daughter very kindly offered to help us your highness." Added Rude.

Reno shot Rude a sarcastic glare and rolled his eyes. That was just typical of Rude, always having to be so proper about everything. Sometimes Reno felt like doing something outrageous to try and get him to loosen up a little. But what he didn't know, nothing else had seem to work. Anything Rude did by any chance find amusing, he'd managed to hide it pretty well from him thought Reno.

"I see," the king stated. "You are human, the three of you?" He asked.

"Yup." Said Reno grinning idiotically.

The king paused for a moment, as if thinking something over. Then he spoke, "Sebastian," he turned to look at the lobster and Reno tried to hide his smirk at the name. "You can accompany our visitors along with Ariel, let's see if we can't help them find their friend." He smiled politely at the Turks. "And in the mean time I'll ask the others, see if they've heard or seen anything."

"Thank you," said Rude formally.

The lobster moved from his position and joined the others. They all turned to leave before a final word from Triton. "And Ariel," he said in a serious tone, "Be careful."

"Father," she sighed, swimming off.

The group swam out of the throne room and left Triton sitting there alone. They got just outside of where all the homes were before Ariel started to speak again. "Ok, we should probably split up."

They all looked at one another. Reno looked at Rude and then to Ariel.

"I'll go with Rude," Sebastian said surprisingly. He spoke with quite a deep, Jamaican sounding accent. "I know what redheads can be like."

"Ok, then I'll pair with Reno." Said Ariel, giggling. Just as she said this a rather chubby looking fish swam up to them. It had bright blue and yellow scales. "Hey Flounder."

"Hi Ariel," the fish replied happily. He looked at Reno and Rude and then continued. "What's going on?"

"Oh, this is Reno and Rude. Me and Sebastian are going to help them. Their friend's missing."

"You know on second thought, Flounder should go with you and Reno Ariel." Sebastian added before whispering in Rude's ear, "She has a tendency to wander off and not do what she's told."

The Turk grinned, "Reno's just the same." He replied.

"So…" Reno raised his voice above the others. "I get the little fish and the hot mermaid and Rude gets a crab."

Ariel blushed. Sebastian sounded very serious now, "Flounder, keep an eye on those two, come find us if you need us." The fish nodded and Ariel rolled her eyes. Reno just grinned idiotically at Rude who shook his head in response.

They split up: Reno, Ariel and Flounder going one way and Rude and Sebastian went another.

Reno followed Ariel and Flounder on the search for Elena. As usual he paid little attention to where the girl was leading him and let his mind wander on to other things. He couldn't help to look at how beautiful she was. Her eyes sparkled and reflected the light the ripples made in the water. Her hair flowed softly across her back as she swam through the currents.

Reno was forced to pay attention when Ariel stopped suddenly in front of a large rock tunnel. Reno looked into the hole and felt a light pressure of water against his face.

"We're going in here?" He asked the redheaded girl who nodded in reply.

"But we're swimming against the current through here, so you have to be strong."

Reno looked at her in shock. Did he look feeble or something? He all of a sudden felt incredibly scrawny and conscious of how small his tail fin was compared to the size of Rude's. And if that chubby little fish could get through, he certainly could! He decided to try and act cool, saying (in the 'manliest' voice he could manage), "well, you don't have to worry about me sweetheart."

Ariel nodded and smiled. "Ok, follow me Reno and Flounder can follow on behind."

Reno begun to swim after the woman who'd started to go into the tunnel. He felt the current pushing him back but he resisted, fighting as hard as he could.

'Let's go find Elena…' He thought to himself.

A/N: Another update!! I didn't get as far as I wanted with this chapter, yet again I've managed to make something I thought to be quite short pretty long. But that seemed like a good place to leave it. In the next chapter they'll be off again, finding another world to cause caos in. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you think of the story so far! Thanks to those who've read :)