(A/N: It took a little longer than I wanted, and it's not as long as I hoped it would be. Well, next chapter will be longer. I really like this chapter title. You'll understand why once you read it.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 10: Above Sea Level

Kazehime was pleased to see her son and his intended getting along so well. Currently, he was teaching her how to use magic. That was good; she needed the practice since she had spent the last several years without any.

Being a child of the sea goddess, Brunhilda's power was mostly limited to water magic. So Eclipser was instructing her on manipulating the water in the clouds. It was a beginner's level of magic use, but they had to start somewhere. Curse Fujimoto for letting her give up magic and become human.

Appearing beside the two, the sky goddess greeted them warmly. "You two seem to be getting along nicely."

Ponyo looked up at her, beaming happily. "Eclipser is showing me how to control water."

The sky god nodded. "I draw my power from the sun and moon, so I have a pull on water as well, though not as strong as her."

Kazehime rested a hand on her son's shoulder and smiled. "Brunhilda is of the sea. Her power will always reign supreme there."

Ponyo frowned at the name. "I don't like Brunhilda. I decided to change my name."

Kazehime raised an eyebrow. "Oh? To what?"

"Ponyo!"

The clouds in Kazehime's eyes turned a light gray and swirled around for a moment. "You don't say. Any particular reason you chose such a name?"

Ponyo thought about it and shrugged. "I just like it. It sounds fitting for me. Maybe it's a name I had from before I lost my memories. I think a boy gave me the name. Who was it though? Hmm, I can't remember, but he seems familiar."

"It was just a common mortal," Kazehime replied quickly. "Those humans are always coming up with new names for us. Don't dwell on it; it's nothing to concern yourself over. And don't worry about the humans. There's so many of them that there's no point fussing over a certain individual."

Ponyo blinked, surprised at how quickly the sky goddess had dismissed the subject, especially after having been the one to ask about it. "Um, ok then."

Eclipser gave the sky goddess a curious look. "Mother…?"

Kazehime ignored him. "Well, you two go back to what you were doing. I have a lot of work to do."

She turned and walked away, a scowl appearing on her face. She tried not to let it get to her. So the girl had remembered her name. It wasn't that surprising. Close personal memories normally slipped through the spell she had used to suppress the girl's memories. It was a good thing she had stopped the girl's train of thought. As long as she didn't make a connection between her name and the boy who gave it to her, she wouldn't remember anything more about him unless she encountered something else familiar. If she just dismissed the boy as a simply being another common mortal, she wouldn't remember anything about him.

But what was really concerning was how fast the memory had surfaced. It was most likely because she was a demigod. Perhaps it would be better to move up the wedding date. Once her son and Ponyo were married, it wouldn't matter if the girl remembered the boy. It would be too late for her to go back.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

Sosuke wasn't sure where they were going. After Pangaea had agreed to help them, he had ordered everyone back into Fujimoto's boat and had been directing them where to go ever since. They were currently in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight.

"Are you sure he knows what he's doing?" Lisa asked the sea wizard. "For a god, he seems kind of…"

"Off?" Sosuke suggested.

Fujimoto sighed. "Yes, I know. But he is the god of the earth."

"That's the thing," Lisa replied. "He's a god of the earth. Ponyo is in the sky. How can he know where he is?"

Pangaea emerged from below deck. "First of all, it's rude to talk behind someone's back. And second of all, oh yeh of such little faith, don't you know that even though they're separate, the sea, the sky, and the earth are all connected? I may not know where your little Ponyo is, but I know how we can get to her. Have some patience."

"So says the person with immortality," Sosuke muttered irritably.

Pangaea grinned. "Fair point, young mortal. But no god or goddess tend to help those without faith in them."

Sosuke sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just really worried about Ponyo."

Fujimoto placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll get her back."

"That's not what worries me," Sosuke grumbled. "I'll do whatever it takes to get her back. I'm, more concerned about what you said about her losing her memory."

"Oh, that. Yes, that will be rather problematic. But then again, perhaps losing her memory wouldn't be the best way to put it. Having her memory suppressed would be a more accurate way of describing it. Worse case scenario, we won't be able to get her to remember and we'll have to wait for Granmammare to remove the spell when she gets back from the Spirit World."

Sosuke looked up at him. "So how can we get her to remember if her memories are suppressed?"

Fujimoto tapped his chin. "Well, the best way to explain it would be to imagine Ponyo's memory as a puzzle that has been broken apart. Her closest most personal memories are the most familiar pieces that she'll be able to pick up. From there, she'll be able to connect the pieces, like following a trail of breadcrumbs, or connecting the dots. Once she pieces enough of them together, she'll be able to see the big picture and break the spell entirely."

"So she does know us," said Lisa. "She just doesn't know that she knows us, and needs to figure out where she knows us from."

"More or less. The real problem is that with this spell, fake memories can be planted in her head, which can lead her on a false trail, or put the wrong pieces of the puzzle together if we go back to our example. Of course, her real memories are stronger, and she'll be drawn more to them due to their familiarity, but she can still be misled, especially if the truth is mixed up with lies. It'll be up to Ponyo, to figure out which memories are real. But I'm sure Kazehime will use this to her advantage to get Ponyo to wed her son."

Sosuke felt a rush of panic. "So you mean that even though Ponyo is engaged to me, Kazehime will get her to think that she's engaged to her son, not just by telling her, but by implanting fake memories?"

Fujimoto nodded. "I'm afraid so. Ponyo will remember that she has a fiancé, but she will need to figure out who it really is, you or Kazehime's son. She must decide which memories are real and which ones are false. As of right now, she probably thinks that Kazehime's son is her intended. That is why we must tell her the truth, to make her doubt the false memory and pick up the pieces of her real one. She'll be free from the spell once she remembers enough. Oh, I have no doubt that she'll figure out the truth eventually, but that will be irrelevant once they're wed."

"Couldn't she just divorce him once she figures out that she was tricked?" Lisa asked.

Fujimoto humphed. "You humans and your concepts. Things work differently with the spiritual and the divine. Once wed, Ponyo and Kazehime's son will be bound together forever."

Sosuke slammed his fist against the wall. "All the more reason to hurry. We have to save her before it's too late."

They fell silent for the rest of the trip. The next time someone spoke, it was Pangaea announcing that they had arrived.

But arrived where? They were still in the middle of the ocean. There was no one and nothing in sight but endless blue.

"Where are we?" Sosuke asked impatiently. "There's nothing here."

Pangaea sighed. "I told you to have some faith. And did you actually expect to find the sky realm on the ground? Now hold on tight, this can get bumpy." He cracked his knuckles and shook out his hands. "This is going to take a lot of magic."

Taking a deep breath, he crouched down and raised his hands above his head as if he were holding up something heavy. Sweat beaded across his forehead as he struggled with whatever task he was performing.

Minutes tricked by with the earth god remaining in his strange pose. Finally, the water began to bubble and ripple. A few seconds later, an entire mountain rose out of the water. It was only the tip, but looking down, they could see that the mountain had emerged from down in the abyss, rising above sea level as it grew.

Pangaea relaxed, breathing heavily as he wiped his forehead. "Ok… everybody… climb on…"

Fujimoto stared at the mountain, looking horrified. "You grew this from out of the ocean floor?"

Pangaea seemed to have already recovered. "From about four and a half miles down. It was tough making sure it didn't affect the mainland."

The sea wizard grabbed his hair. "Ah! Do you have any idea how much that's disrupted the sea floor?"

"Don't worry, I'll return the whole thing back to the earth once we're done with it. It'll be like it was never there at all."

"That's not what I'm talking about! Do you know how many sea creatures you've chased away from here? How many coral reefs you've destroyed? How much of the ocean environment has been disturbed? How much sand and other things on the sea floor have been shifted around?"

Pangaea just shrugged. "Hey, dealing with the sea is not my job. I deal with the earth, as in everything above sea level. Now, do you want to save your daughter, or not?"

Still grumbling, Fujimoto stepped onto the mountaintop, not needing to bring his water canister with him since the mountain was wet from rising out of the water. Sosuke and Lisa climbed on next, followed shortly by Pangaea.

"All right, everyone hang on to something," the earth god told them. "We're movin' on up."

Crouching down and raising his arms once more, he commanded the mountain to grow further, and it began rising up into the sky again as Fujimoto began complaining once more about disrupting the sea floor.

(A/N: They're on their way, but it's not going to be such a simple journey. Some very big problems are coming their way. You'll see what I mean next time.)