"Isn't this great? The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face . . . a perfect day to be at sea!" A brunette with thin frames perched upon his nose spoke as he looked out towards the wide blue ocean.

"Oh yes . . . delightful . . . ." A short, blonde haired woman replied as she slouched over the railing, looking sick.

"A fine strong wind and following sea. King Valentino must be in a friendly-type mood." One of the sailors spoke.

"King Valentino?" The brunette asked, never having heard the name before.

"Why, ruler of the merpeople, lad. Thought every good sailor knew about him." Another sailor, who was mopping the deck, smiled.

"Merpeople! Alastor, pay no attention to this nautical nonsense." The blonde scolded.

"But it ain't nonsense, it's the truth! I'm tellin' you, down in the depths o' the ocean they live." He gestured wildly, a fish in his hand flops away and lands back in the

ocean, relieved.

Heave. ho. Heave, ho.

In mysterious fathoms below.

The fish from.before sighs and swims away as other various fish swim along. Merpeople converge on a great undersea palace, filling the concert hall inside.

"Ahem . . . His royal highness, King Triton!" A small little seahorse speaks semi loudly and Valentino enters dramatically to the wild, cheering crowd. "And presenting the distinguished court composer, Horatio Thelonious Ignatius Crustaceous Vagatha!" A small great crab, Vagatha (who prefers Vaggie) enters to mild applause.

"I'm really looking forward to this performance, Vaggie." Valentino spoke low, voice just loud enough for Vaggie to hear.

"Oh, Your Majesty, this will be the finest concert I have ever conducted. Your daughters and son - they will be spectacular!" She smiled proudly.

"Yes, and especially my little Angel." Valentino smiled widely.

"Yes, yes, he has the most beautiful voice. . . . If only he'd show up for rehearsals once in a while. . . ." Vaggie mumbled the last part to herself. She proceeds to the podium and begins to direct the orchestra.

"Ah, we are the daughters of Valentino.

Great father who loves us and named us well" The six oldest daughters of Valentino becant to sing. "Alliana, Crystal, Glitter, Honey, Ru Paul, Gizella." They sang, naming off their names. "And then there is the youngest in his musical debut,

Our seventh little brother, we're presenting him to you. To sing a song Vagatha wrote, his voice is like a bell, he's our brother, Angel- D . . ." The girls gasp as they find the now opened shell that was supposed to hold their dear brother, was empty.

"Angel Dust!!" Valentino yelled angrily.

A merman was swimming around looking at a sunken ship. From the distance you could hear a small voice calling towards him. "Angel, wait for me . . ."

"Nuggets, hurry up!" He called back.

"You know I can't swim that fast." Nuggets spoke once he finally caught up to his best friend.

"There it is. Isn't it fantastic?" Angel smiled.

"Yeah . . . sure . . . it - it's great. Now let's get outta here?" Nuggets asked, not liking the idea that's going through his friends head.

"You're not getting cold fins now, are you?"

"Who, me? No way. It's just, it, err . . . it looks - damp in there. Yeah. And I think I may be coming down with something. Yeah, I got this cough." Nuggets obviously fake coughs.

"All right. I'm going inside. You can just stay here and - watch for sharks." He goes inside the sunken ship.

"O.K. Yeah - you go. I'll stay and - what? Sharks! Angel!" He cries and tries to fit through the porthole. "Angell . . . I can't . . . I mean- Angel help!"

"Oh, Nuggs." He laughs as he helps his pudgy fish friend through the hole.

"Angel, do you really think there might be sharks around here?" Nuggets as a Shark passes outside.

"Nuggets, don't be such a fucking guppy."

"I'm not a guppy." He said as he finally got pulled through the porthole. "This is great - I mean, I really love this. Excitement, adventure, danger lurking around every corn- YAAAAHHHHHHHH!! Angel!!" He sees a skull, crashes into a pillar causing a cave in, and swims frantically away, knocking over Angel.

"Oh, are you okay?" He asks.

"Yeah sure, no problem, I'm okay . . ." Nuggets played it off, totally not okay.

"Shhh . . ." He shushed his friend when he spots a silver looking stick with prongs at the end. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?" He asked, holding the object, a fork, in his hands, staring at it in wonder.

"Wow, cool! But, err, what is it?"

"I don't know. But I bet Baxter will." He puts the fork in a bag and a Shark swims by outside.

"What was that? Did you hear something?" Nuggets asked, looking around.

"Hmm, I wonder what this one is?" Angel asked himself as he stuffed a pipe into his bag.

"Angel . ."

"Nuggets, will you relax. Nothing is going to happen." He said trying to calm his frantic fishy pal.

"AAHHHH!! Run!! Run!! We're gonna die!!" Nuggets shouted as he saw a Shark looking behind them. The shark chases them all around. Angel's bag is hung up and he goes back for it. The Shark almost gets them as they head for the porthole. "Oh No!!" They crash through and go round and round. Nuggets gets knocked silly but Angel saves him and traps Shark.

"You big bully. THBBBTTTT . . ." Nuggets taunts. The Shark snaps at him and he swims away.

"Nuggets, you really are a fucking guppy." Angel laughs.

"I am not."

On the surface, Baxter is on his island humming and looking through his telescope.

"Baxter!" Angel calls when she breaks through the surface.

Looking through the telescope the wrong way, Baxter shouted, "Whoa! Merman off the port bow! Angel, how you doin' kid?!" He lowers the telescope to reveal Ariel at wing's length. "Whoa, what a swim!" He smiled.

"Baxter - look what we found".

"Yeah - we were in this sunken ship - it was really creepy." Nuggets chimed in.

"Human stuff, huh? Hey, lemme see." He picks up the fork and examines it. "Look at this. Wow - this is special - this is very, very unusual."

"Well?? What the fuck is it?" Angel asks, listening very closely.

"It's a BumFuzzle! Humans use these little babies . . . to straighten their hair out. See - just a little twirl here an' a yank there and - voiolay! You got an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go nuts over!" The seagull demonstrated and was highly proud of himself.

"A BumFuzzle!" Angel grabbed the fork in amazement.

"What about that one?" Nuggets nodded his head to the pipe Angel picked up before the shark attacked.

"Ah - this I haven't seen in years. This is wonderful! A banded, bulbous - CollyWobbles."

"Oohhh." The other two get closer as the prepare for another demonstration.

"Now, the CollyWobblesdates back to prehistorical times, when humans used to sit around, and stare at each other all day. Got very boring. So, they invented the CollyWobbles to make fine music. Allow me." He blows into the pipe; seaweed pops out the other end.

"Music? Oh, the concert! Oh my fucking god, my father's gonna kill me!" Angel freaks out.

"The concert was today?!" Nuggets eyes widened.

Still contemplating pipe, Baxter speaks, "Maybe you could make a little planter out of it or somethin'."

"Uh, I'm sorry, I've gotta go. Thank you Baxter." He says as he frantically puts everything back into his bag and swims off.

"Anytime sweetie, anytime."

"Yeeeeeees, hurry home, princey. We wouldn't want to miss daddy dearest's celebration, now, would we?" An evil looking sea wizard spoke while looking into his magic crystal water ball. Watch Angel and Nuggets swim back to the palace. "Huh! Celebration indeed. Bah! In MY day, we had fantastical feasts when I lived in the palace. And now, look at me - wasted away to practically nothing - banished and exiled and practically starving, while he and his flimsy fucking fish-folk celebrate. Well, I'll give 'em something to fucking celebrate soon enough." He looked towards his beloved pets. "Niffty! Rosie! I want you to keep an extra close watch on this pretty little boy of his. He may be the key to Valentino's undoing. . . ."

Back in the palace throne room, Angel had arrived and is now being reprimanded by his father. "I just don't know what we're going to do with you, young lad." Valentino spoke to his son.

"Daddy, I'm sorry, I just forgot, I -" Angel began to speak, until Valentino cut him off.

"As a result of your careless behaviour -"

"Careless and reckless behaviour!" This time Vaggie cut off the king.

"- the entire celebration was, er -"

"Well, it was ruined! That's all. Completely destroyed! This concert was to be the pinnacle of my distinguished career. Now thanks to you I am the laughing stock of the entire kingdom!" Vaggie complained.

"But it wasn't her fault! Ah - well - first, ahh, this shark chased us - yeah - yeah! And we tried to - but we couldn't - and - grrrrrrrrr - and - and we - whoooaaaaaa - oh, and then we were safe. But then this seagull came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and -" Nuggets rambled, defending his best friend.

"Seagull? What? Oh - you went up to the fucking surface again, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" Valentino yelled, voice rising and face turning red.

"Nothing - happened. . . ." Angel trailed off.

"Oh, Angel Dust, How many times must we go through this? You could've been seen by one of those barbarians - by - by one of those damned humans!"

"Daddy, they're not barbarians!"

"They're dangerous. Do you think I want to see my youngest child snared by some fish-eater's hook?"

"I'm sixteen years old - I'm not a child anymore -"

"Don't you take that tone of voice with me young man. As long as you live under my ocean, you'll obey my rules!"

"But if you would just listen -"

"Not another word - and I am never, NEVER to hear of you going to the surface again. Is that clear?" The two floated silently for a few moments before Angel swam away, tears filling his eyes. (Even if it is the ocean, you can still cry).

"Hm! Teenagers. . . . They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you." Vaggie spoke once Angel was out of sight.

"Do you, er, think I - I was too hard on him?" Valentino asked sadly.

"Definitely not. Why, if Angel was my son, I'd show him who was boss. None of this "flitting to the surface" and other such nonsense. No, sir - I'd keep him under tight control." Vaggie spoke as though she would be the parent known to man and fish alike.

"You're absolutely right, Vagatha."

"Of course."

"Angel needs constant supervision."

"Constant."

"Someone to watch over him - to keep hik out of trouble."

"All the time -"

"And YOU are just the crab to do it." Valentino spoke authoritatively and swam away, leaving a wide eyed, open mouth Vaggie sitting on a rock.

After a moment Vaggie sighed and began walking down the corridor. "How do I get myself into these situations? I should be writing symphonies - not tagging along after some headstrong teenager." She mumbles to herself until she sees Angel and Nuggets sneaking off and decides to follow them. "Hmm? What is that boy up to?" She barely makes it into the cave and sees Angelsl's collection. "Huh?"

"Angel, are you okay?" Nuggets asks once they are inside Angels secret human treasure collection cave.

"If only I could make him understand. I just don't see things the way he does. I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things - could be bad." He sighed as he swam slowly, looking at all his treasures.

"Look at this stuff

Isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm the boy

The boy who has ev'rything?" He looked at pictures and books that were on a ledge to one side of the cavern.

"Look at this trove

Treasures untold

How many wonders can one cavern hold?

Lookin' around here you'd think

Sure, he's got everything!" He continued around the cave until he came to a box full of little knick knacks.

"I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty

I've got whozits and whatzits galore

You want thingamabobs?

I got fucking twenty." He sighed.

"But who cares?

No big deal

I want more

I wanna be where the people are

I wanna see

Wanna see 'em dancin'

Walkin' around on those

Whad'ya call 'em?" He thought for a moment.

"oh - feet

Flippin' your fins you don't get too far" he slipped his pink tail, causing him to do a twirl in the open space.

Legs are required for jumpin', dancin'

"Strollin' along down a

What's that word again? Fuckingstreet

Up where they walk

Up where they run

Up where they stay all day in the sun

Wanderin' free

Wish I could be

Part of that world" Angel saying with all his heart.

"What would I give

If I could live

Outta these waters?

What would I pay

To spend a day

Warm on the sand?

Betcha on land

They understand

Bet they don't reprimand their children

Bright young people

Sick o' swimmin'

Ready to stand

And ready to know what the people know

Ask 'em my questions

And get some answers

What's a fire and why does it

What's the word?

burn?

When's it my turn?

Wouldn't I love

Love to explore that shore above?

Out of the sea

Wish I could be

Part of that world!" Angel finished and laid down on a rock.

Vaggie has been struggling around and now comes crashing down making a lot of noise.

"Vaggie!?" Angels eyes widened in fear.