Natant

A/N: I would have posted this chapter a long time ago if I wanted to! I already had it written out along with the first chapter of this story! But I wanted to try and do a voice acting project with this story. However, due to the lack of participation in auditions, I've decided to finally cancel it indefinitely for the time being. Maybe in the future, I can try again. And hopefully, more people will be more eager to try and audition. But we'll have to see how this goes.

Anyway, now that that is out of the way, let's get on with Chapter 2 already! Roll it!

Chapter 2

Learning to Love the Tails

It was already only one full day after Ash Ketchum, Adrien Agreste, Branch Hawthorne and Hiccup Haddock all learned that they now become mermen whenever they would touch water. At the moment, half of the quartet of friends could only see the downsides of this new life development. Right after the fact that all four of them quickly realized that water is pretty much everywhere.

Wherever they would go, there's now always a potential risk of popping a tail in public. If they ever do get wet, it seemed that running either towards the water or to find someplace private to hide were the only options since attempting to dry off completely almost never works in time.

Right now, over at Adrien's mansion, the blond teen model was dressed in a white designer bathrobe, looking down at a bathtub full of water. He hadn't used said tub since he was much younger and when he had first learned how to use the shower by himself. But now, unless he wanted to keep falling onto his back or front and getting bruised every time he would use the shower, then he had to use the tub again. He really didn't want to explain to his father about how he keeps getting bruises.

After getting in the water-filled clawfoot tub, seconds later, he was staring at a long, shimmering silver tail dangling over the end of the tub, the top of the black bumpy ridge that was on the back of the tail touching the bottom. He then sighed in annoyance. As if this would make it any easier. Now it would take forever for him to get out of the tub and dry himself. And he hated using a blowdryer.


Over at Branch's house, he was trying to finish up some homework when he accidentally knocked over his water bottle, spilling it onto his lap. His eyes immediately widened in fright, and he quickly backed away from his desk.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." He whispered, grabbing a nearby towel and quickly started to dry himself off. But it was too late.

"Branch!" His sister Harper called out to him from outside of his bedroom, knocking loudly on the door, which had thankfully been locked just in case he did get wet. Her older brother in question quietly groaned in annoyance as he fell back onto his bed, a sleek emerald green tail with a dark blue ridge taking place of his legs.

"Branch!" Harper called out again. "Mom says you have to hurry up if you want to drop off me and Keith at school." She said to him through the door.

"It's okay, Harper!" Branch answered back, staring at his tail. "I'm running a little behind right now. Mom will just have to take you guys."

"Fine." Harper replied before leaving.

Branch let out a sigh of relief and then reached over to grab his phone. He needed to talk to the others about their little predicament. Maybe they could meet up at his house so that they could walk together and talk about it.


Adrien couldn't answer his phone because he was still stuck in the bathtub. But Ash and Hiccup didn't answer either. However, neither of them weren't in their houses. Instead, they were out swimming in the ocean.

They were the only ones who thought that their new forms were amazing. Sure, it will be kind of annoying having to be super cautious around water all the time now, but it makes it all worth it whenever they would swim in the ocean. They could explore the reef, swim with dolphins, and swim at amazingly fast speeds, like they were living torpedoes.

Ash felt like he was flying underwater with his new dazzling sapphire blue tail with a pale red ridge along the back of it. And Hiccup had never felt more free, just swimming along the reef with his glittering ruby red tail, the left fin being silver, matching the small ridge along the back of his tail. He never thought that he could feel like this underwater because he was an amputee, but now, he felt like he could do anything when he had his tail. And he wasn't much of a swimmer in the first place, anyway.

A dolphin came over to the two mermen and chattered happily at them. Ash waved to it with a big smile on his face. It just chittered back to him in response before swimming away. Hiccup smiled widely at his younger friend, who returned it just as bright, and then they both decided to return to dry land.


Soon, everyone got Branch's message, and then met up at his house under the impression that they were going to walk to school together. Currently, all four guys were in Branch's room, discussing their latest predicament. Well, for Branch and Adrien at least.

"This is a total disaster!" Branch exclaimed as he plopped down in his desk chair. "I can't even drink from a glass like a normal person without running the risk of popping a tail! We have to use straws to drink all the time now."

But Ash was lying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with a smile on his face, the memories of his recent swim with Hiccup still playing over and over in his mind. "If dolphins can swim for hundreds of miles, we can too." He said.

"What about when I need to do photoshoots?" Adrien asked, taking Branch's side. "Lotion and moisturizer are mostly water. If they touch my skin, I'm going to end up on the front cover again, on every single magazine, and not just the fashion and the gossip ones!"

Hiccup then sat down next to Ash on the bed as the latter sat back up. "We could swim all the way to the other side of the ocean if we could." He said, making Ash smile widely at the very thought. "Can you imagine it?"

"Guys!" Branch exclaimed exasperatedly.

Ash rolled his eyes with a huff, the fantasy crashing down. "Come on, you two!" He exclaimed. "Panicking over simple things like this isn't going to make this whole thing any easier."

"Plus, we all agreed that we can't tell anyone about this." Hiccup added. "Not our parents, not our siblings if we have any, no one."

Ash lightly bit his lip in nervousness. "But…. I tell Solene everything." He said reluctantly. "She's my twin sister."

Adrien placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, trying to give him some sense of comfort. "Well, not this time." He said to him. "It's better this way. Other people just won't understand. They only see what they want to see."

"He's right." Branch added. "If people ever find out about us, then all they're ever going to see is just the tail. Not the person that has it."

Ash thought about it for a few seconds before he slowly nodded his head. They were right. Even though he highly doubted that his family would turn him in as a potential science experiment, who's to say that the others' families would do the same for them? He already knew that Adrien's father would most likely send him and the others to a science lab to be dissected if he ever found out about them, but he wasn't really sure about Hiccup or Branch's families. The latter seems to have a close relationship with his folks, so he might be safe. But it seems that the former has a strained relationship with his father while being close with his adoptive brother and traveling mother, so that might be a little up in the air.

"Good point." The younger, raven-haired teen said. Then, he turned to look at Branch. "But what about Poppy?" He asked.

Branch lightly bit his lip. He and Poppy had known each other ever since they were young kids, and even if he was not the social butterfly she was, he never could lie to her. But…. it looks like he had to now.

He slowly shook his head. "It's too risky." He said after a few moments. "Plus, she couldn't keep a secret even if her life depended on it." That somewhat got the mood to lighten up as the boys began to chuckle.


Hours later, it was already the end of the day at school, and everyone was packing to go home. The seniors had their own lockers at one part of the building, while the freshmen were at another area. Ash and Adrien were by their lockers, packing up their things when they saw three girls their age arguing with each other.

One of them was a blonde girl with cornflower blue eyes, another was an auburn-haired girl with gray eyes and glasses, and the third was a girl with dark hair pulled into twin pigtails, bluebell eyes and pale skin with faint freckles on her cheeks. All of them were holding and handing out papers, each for a different campaign on who will become their grade's representative for the student council.

Chloé Bourgeois is Adrien's old childhood friend; and pretty much his only friend until he met Ash. Adrien had claimed that she wasn't that bad, but almost every person in their grade was convinced that she was rotten to the core, including Ash; and Adrien was finally starting to agree with all of them. She is cold, cruel, selfish and vain; not like the nice little girl he used to know as children. She was considered the queen bee of the freshmen class, and she was handing out papers for her campaign.

The other two girls were Alya Cesairé, the redheaded girl, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the dark-haired girl. Alya was a junior reporter for the school paper, while Marinette had quite an eye for fashion. Both of them were holding and trying to hand out papers for Marinette's own student representative campaign against Chloé.

"As if Dupain-Cheng will ever become student representative!" Chloé exclaimed haughtily with a smirk on her face. "She's totally not special enough for the job. Plus, I will be hosting a pool party tomorrow afternoon at the hotel for those who vote for me."

"That's just dumb!" Alya exclaimed, getting into the blonde's face. "You can't bribe people to vote for you like that!"

Just then, Chloé saw Adrien and Ash, and her makeup painted face immediately formed into a hurtful fake pout as she zipped over, pushed Ash away and then wrapped her arms around Adrien's neck. "Adrikins, can't you see that these two are being so cruel to me?" She whined.

Adrien resisted the urge to gag because of the smell of her strong perfume. It was no secret that his old childhood friend had become very oddly clingy to him in recent years. It was one of the reasons why a lot of people used to hate Adrien because he's friends with her. Ash was the only one that was willing to give him a chance, and he was grateful for it, quickly learning what a true friend really is. Slowly, more people began to follow Ash's example and give Adrien a chance to show the real him, but there were still some who were still wary.

Then, he locked eyes with Marinette. Something inside him jolted when he looked right into her pretty bluebell eyes. She looked both suspicious and a little curious about what he might do next. Then, he slowly turned to the side to face Ash, who had regained his balance from the blonde girl's shove. He silently gestured to him with his head, telling him to hurry up and figure out what to do. Then, when he looked back at Marinette, he made his decision.

With a firm glare, he pried Chloé's arms off him. "Chloé, bag it!" He shouted, making the blonde girl gape at him with shock. "I think that Marinette has every chance to become the freshmen student representative. So I wonder why you even bother trying when you know you have no chance whatsoever in a fair fight. And you know what? I've had it! I'm not going to be friends with a bully and a spoiled brat!"

He then walked away from her, followed by Ash, ignoring Chloé's loud and indignant sputtering, her face caked with makeup almost turning puce with rage and betrayal. Adrien could feel Alya and Marinette's surprised eyes following him as he and his best friend left the hallway. He then felt a proud little pat on his right shoulder.

"Nice job." Ash said with a smile.

Adrien just shrugged in response. "To be honest, she had it coming a long time ago." He replied. "I just should've said something about it way earlier. But since now I have three best friends that are much bolder than I'll ever be, I figured that I need to start taking control of my life. Starting with the things that I don't want in it."

"Does that include…. having a tail?" Ash cautiously asked after making sure that no one was around to hear them.

Adrien bit his lip. "I'm still not sure about that." He said. "On one hand, it's gonna be hard to keep it under wraps since water is pretty much everywhere. But on the other one, it's kind of worth it to see the ocean in a whole new way."

Ash just smiled as they continued to walk towards the front entrance. There, they saw that Branch and Hiccup were already waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. "Adrien! Wait up!" A voice suddenly called out.

The blond model and his raven-haired friend both quickly turned around and saw that Marinette was running over towards them. "Did you really mean that?" She asked Adrien when she caught up with them. "That I can become freshmen student representative?"

Adrien was silent for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Of course." He answered truthfully. "I think that you're well equipped for the job."

Marinette blinked at him, and then smiled a bright and kind grin. "Thank you." She said. "And…. I'm sorry if I made it seem that I don't like you."

Adrien was surprised to hear that, coming from the girl he thought hated him ever since the incident. But then, he smiled at her. "It's okay." He answered. "I probably would've done the same thing if I had been in your position."

Marinette smiled brightly at him, which made his heart thump irregularly for a brief moment, and then she held out a hand to him. "Friends?" She asked.

Adrien briefly stared down at the offered hand, and then shook it. "Friends." He said, grinning. He then watched as Marinette headed back inside the school building, the smile not leaving his face.

"We saw that." A familiar voice suddenly said, snapping Adrien out of him staring out into nothing. He turned around and saw that Branch and Hiccup were looking at him with teasing smirks. Ash though, was looking a little confused.

"Saw what?" He asked the two older boys.

"You like her, don't you?" Hiccup asked.

"What?!" Adrien exclaimed, his face flushing a light red. "No! She's just a friend! Plus, I could've sworn that she hated me when we first met."

Branch raised a curious brow and then turned over to Ash, wanting to know the story behind that. "It was just a bit of a misunderstanding." The younger raven-haired boy explained to him. "Chloé had put some gum on her seat during the first day of school, and he tried to take it off. But when she came into the classroom, she accused him of being the one who placed it there in the first place."

Hiccup just snickered. "Well, that's one way to make a first impression on a lady." He joked, making Adrien only roll his eyes in annoyance.

"But I told her later that day that this was my first time attending public school, and that I was only trying to take the gum off her seat." The blond model came in. "She seemed to have accepted my apology and explanation, but we haven't really talked since then."

"Come on, guys." Branch said, ending the conversation. "We better get going."


Minutes later, all of them were walking home, side by side while talking about their day. Just then, Adrien's phone beeped out with a new text message. He took it out and looked at it, his brow shooting up in confusion.

"It looks like Chloé had changed her campaign pool party into an apology pool party for me." He said with a small huff. "Obviously, she's just doing this to get back on my good side."

"Well, it's too late for that." Ash added. "Maybe the two of you were close when you were younger, but it's clear that she had changed for the worse."

Suddenly, Ash's phone rang out. He pulled it out and then his jaw dropped. "What?" He exclaimed. "Apparently, I got an invitation to come to that same party."

"Inviting my best friend to come to a party she's hosting when she clearly hates you almost just as much as she hates Marinette?" Adrien asked him. "I think she's putting in way too much effort on this apology thing."

"Are you guys gonna go?" Hiccup asked.

"No way!" Ash exclaimed. "I want nothing to do with that stuck-up little brat."

"I think maybe we should." Adrien said, making the others look at him with agape jaws. "Just so that I can make clear to Chloé that a simple party won't be enough to change my mind. She needs to show that she really wants to change, and until that happens, we're not friends anymore."

The other three smiled at him in agreement. But then, Branch noticed something about the invitation. "Uh, one minor problem, though." He said. "It's a pool party over at her family's hotel. You two thought about the possibility that you could get splashed on and grow tails in front of everyone?"

"Well, maybe if we can figure out more about what's happened to us, maybe we can learn to control it so that they could go if they wanted." Hiccup suggested. "Just to hang out at the party long enough for Adrien to make his intentions clear to Chloé, then they can leave."

"What more is there to know about it?" Ash asked him. "We touch water, and then ten seconds later, we sprout out tails."

"Maybe it's about exercising control." Branch offered.

"It's worth a shot." Adrien said with a small shrug. But Hiccup just looked over at the older black-haired teenager.

"You do know that you would need to get in the water to test out your theory." He reminded him.

Branch's eyes widened. "Not a chance." He said, walking ahead of the others.


But minutes later, they were all at the beach, ready to test out his theory. "Come on, Branch." Ash goaded him as he, Adrien and Hiccup took off their shoes and socks. "You're not afraid of the water, are you?"

"No!" Branch denied, crossing his arms. "I just don't want to pop out a tail right now."

"But there's no one else here." Hiccup said.

"I'm not getting in the water." Branch said firmly, looking away from the others. "No way, no how."

"Fine." Adrien groaned. "Come on, guys." He then headed over towards the nearby waves, with Ash and Hiccup following him, leaving Branch to sit on the rocks.

"Okay, so let's just try to concentrate on not getting a tail." Hiccup said.

Together, they started chanting out loud, their eyes squeezed shut. "No tail, no tail, no tail, no tail."

But ten seconds later, swarms of bubbles formed around them, and the three of them fell onto the wet sand and in the waves, their tails in full display. Branch winced at their fall, but then glowered when his theory was proven to be wrong.

"Just great." He muttered.

"Hey, Branch!" A familiar cheerful voice called out. Branch whirled around and saw Poppy coming towards him. The three mermen over in the waves quickly scooted themselves as best as they could to hide behind the rocks.

"What's up, Poppy?" Branch asked the strawberry-blonde girl, feeling greatly relieved that his friends were out of sight for the time being.

"I just got a text about a pool party tomorrow." She said, showing them the message on her phone.

Branch raised a brow, confused. "From Chloé Bourgeois?" He asked after he read who the message was from. "Why is she inviting seniors to a party meant for the freshmen class?"

"Not sure." Poppy replied, looking at her phone.

"Wait a minute, now I get it." Branch realized. "She's throwing that pool party to try and get back in good graces with Adrien. Maybe she learned that Hiccup and I are also friends with him, and she's now inviting the seniors to join."

"Does she know Adrien?" Poppy asked.

"Apparently, according to him, since they were little." Branch answered. "But since that girl is like a younger, much more bratty version of Astrid, Adrien decided he finally had enough of her attitude and told her that they're not friends anymore."

"Yeesh. She's that bad?" Poppy asked. "Well, I guess I'm not going if one, she's as bad as you say, and two, if she's also inviting the senior class, then there's a pretty good chance that Astrid Hofferson herself might be coming, too."

"Just great." Branch muttered dryly. As if one blonde witch was bad enough; there was no way anyone can deal with two.

"So what are you doing out here?" Poppy asked, putting away her phone.

"I'm uh…. just enjoying some fresh sea air." Branch quickly came up with a response. "Look, I'll meet you later for that studying session, I promise."

"Okay." Poppy smiled at him. "I'll see you back at your place." Then, she walked away.

Branch let out a sigh of relief as the other three guys peeked out from behind the rocks. Then, they began to climb out of the water so that they could dry off with some emergency towels that Branch was lucky to have brought with him.


About twenty minutes long later, after Hiccup, Adrien and Ash had finally dried off, they were over at Adrien's house as they brought some drinks to Adrien's room. Ash had a glass of water, Branch had a small jug of fruit punch, and Adrien had a glass of orange juice. Hiccup was carrying a bowl with a popsicle stick and a spoon inside.

"That was way too close." Hiccup muttered as he carefully placed the stuff onto the nearby coffee table, taking out the spoon and popsicle stick.

Branch groaned as he poured some fruit punch into the bowl. "I really hate lying to Poppy." He said, placing the jug further away from him on the table. "But I have just one question: Why me? I didn't ask for any of this to happen."

He then extended his hand out towards the bowl, his wrist slightly twisted to the side and his fingers splayed out. His eyes flashed green as the red liquid suddenly turned gooey and bouncy. He then took the spoon and started to eat his homemade Jell-O.

"I'm already dreading the photoshoots for next year's summer collection." Adrien said, grabbing the popsicle stick and then sticking one end of it into his glass of orange juice. "If my father wants me to model new swimsuits or summer attire near the beach, there is a high chance that I'm gonna get sprayed and then turn into a fish on camera. Next, the tabloids will explode, and my father will have me put in a science lab."

He then held out his palm to the glass, and his eyes flashed silver as the juice instantly froze. He then pulled out his instant juice pop and started to suck on it.

"You guys are unbelievable!" Ash exclaimed with annoyance. "Can you stop whining for a minute and see what you've done! Branch, you made homemade Jell-O without having to use the powdered stuff! And Adrien, you made yourself an instant juice pop! And look!"

He then started twisting his fingers over the top of his glass, and his eyes started glowing blue as a small droplet of water started floating upward towards his mouth. He then caught it with his mouth, not getting wet in the slightest.

"I can drink water out of mid-air! Anyone else would love to be able to do stuff like this!" He continued with exasperation.

"He's right!" Hiccup came in. "You guys have these really amazing powers, and all you're doing is complaining! I don't even have a power, and yet, I'm loving this! I never thought that I would be able to feel like this again!"

"Like what?" Branch asked.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes at him. "Like I could do anything." He answered simply, his tone curt. "Almost like the way it was before my accident."

"Accident?" Adrien asked.

"When I was fifteen, I was in a bus accident." Hiccup began to explain. "I was riding the public bus home from school to avoid taking the school bus so that I can have one day of not getting spit balls in my hair. But little did I know that the bus would get smashed into the side by a drunk person driving an eighteen-wheeler truck. The result was that the impact just about totaled my leg from where I was sitting, and I was knocked unconscious and into a coma. When I woke up a couple of days later, I saw that because of the damage I received, the doctors had to amputate my leg so that I wouldn't get an infection. Since then, I've been an amputee, and sometimes, it's hard to even just walk properly because of the phantom pains and cramps I would get."

Everyone became silent because of Hiccup's story. "And now I get a strong, complete tail when I'm in the water, it's like I was never hurt in the first place. In fact, I never felt as strong before." He continued, and then stood up. "Well, I've had it. If you two are going to keep complaining about this, then I'm done." With that, Hiccup left the room and then slammed the door behind him.

"Me, too." Ash said, standing up from his spot. "I've always loved the sea, ever since I can remember. It was the one place where me and my family would go to and not have a care in the world. It was the one place I loved the most because I would spend that time with my family. Especially my dad, because we both loved the ocean so much. I haven't gone back out there since the accident. Now that I have this tail, I have this whole new perspective of the sea, which makes me feel closer to my dad. This whole tail situation actually helps me move on from his loss, but I can't enjoy it if two of my best friends, who are in the same boat as me, think that it's a curse!"

He then scoffed. "I'm out of here." He said as he too left the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Adrien and Branch looked over at each other, and then down at their Jell-O and juice pop, feeling guilty about their negative points of view concerning their new tails. Ash and Hiccup were right. Whether or not they liked having tails, the four of them are in this thing together. They need each other.


Early the next morning, Branch was standing by the beach, feeling the cool sea air around him. Both Hiccup and Ash's words from the day before were ringing in his head on repeat. He never thought about how much this tail thing meant to them. He knew that Hiccup had trouble being an amputee, and with being different, but he never really knew how much.

And Ash. He had lost his father, but by being in the sea, which was the thing that both of them loved indefinitely, and swimming out there, it was like he felt closer to him, even though he was gone. And from what Adrien told him, Ash had only lost his father a couple of months earlier. Yet he was trying to move past it by using the ocean as a way to cope with it. If only he could find that same strength to try and do the same. But it had been almost eight years since his own loss for him happened, and he still can't find the courage to take that next step on the road to recovery.

"Branch?" The black-haired teenager turned around to see Poppy coming over to him to stand next to him. "You're almost never up this early on a school day. What's up?"

Branch sighed through his nose and went over to the rocks nearby to sit. Poppy followed him and sat next to him. "I got into a…. falling out with Ash and Hiccup." He admitted.

"What happened?" Poppy asked.

Branch lightly bit his lip, not sure how to explain it to her without giving out any revealing details. Well, he could try to be as vague as possible. "Something happened to us…. three days ago, and Adrien and I…. we weren't exactly coping well with the changes." He explained. "But Hiccup and Ash, they seem to embrace them wholeheartedly. It wasn't until yesterday that Adrien and I realized how much these changes meant to them. But instead, we have only been seeing how bad this whole thing seems rather than seeing what good it can bring us."

"Well, not to be offensive, Branch," Poppy came in, "but you are one of the most negative people I've ever met."

Branch narrowed his eyes at her. "Very funny." He muttered sarcastically.

"Sorry, but you know it's true." Poppy continued, holding her hands up in surrender for a brief moment. "But once in a while, maybe you need to try and at least take one small step out of your comfort zone; what you do know and just embrace what is unknown to you. It can help you gain a new point of view for whatever it is that's troubling you."

She then patted his shoulder. "When you do, you'll know what to say to Hiccup and Ash."

Branch just smiled softly at her and then looked back out towards the sea. She was right, as usual. Maybe it's time to see things from a new perspective. But for right now, he needed to try and make up with his friends.


Later that day, at school, Adrien was sitting by himself at lunch. He usually would sit with Ash at their usual table over in the corner of the cafeteria where no one ever looks, but he knew that his friend was still upset with him, so he was eating by himself while Ash had decided to sit over at a different table, not talking to anyone, even though his twin sister, Solene, was at the same table with some of her friends. He would see her try and ask him if he was okay a couple of times, but he didn't say anything, so she let him be.

"Adrien?" The sound of his name made him quickly turn around to see Marinette standing there behind him with concerned eyes, holding a lunch tray in her hands. Alya was a couple of feet away from her, confused as to why her best friend was talking to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah." He answered immediately, but the concerned look on Marinette's face didn't disappear, and it made him drop the act and sigh. "No, not really." He admitted.

Marinette blinked, and then started to walk over to him. But Alya stopped her. "What are you doing?" She asked her quietly.

"You go on ahead." Marinette assured her. "I'll be fine. He doesn't bite." Then, she continued coming over to the table, ignoring Alya's dropped jaw as she came over and sat down next to Adrien. The blond model was also a little surprised that she was sitting with him, even if they were now officially friends. Alya closed her mouth and then went off to find a different place to sit while her best friend talked with the model.

"You mind telling me what happened?" Marinette asked him gently, being careful to not probe so much.

Adrien lightly bit the corner of his mouth before deciding to play it vague. "My friends and I had a bit of a fall-out yesterday." He started to explain to her. "Branch and I were acting pretty negative, which got on Ash and Hiccup's nerves. They saw the good side of the situation, while Branch and I were just freaking our wits out about it."

Marinette paused, looking deep in thought. "Is there a good side in this situation?" She asked him carefully.

Adrien opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He then slowly shut his eyes and imagined himself in the ocean again, swimming with his silver tail. Being down there, in a way that everyone thought was impossible, it felt…. liberating. In the water, he wasn't Adrien Agreste, the super famous and hottest model in Crescent City. He was just an ordinary guy who loves the sea and has been given an amazing way to see it. And what made it even more special was that he wasn't the only one who can see the ocean in the same way he does. He has three very good friends who share that secret with him; it was the four of them against the world.

A soft smile came on his face as he opened his eyes again. "There is." He admitted. "Something that is really…. extraordinary. But I guess Branch and I kept worrying about…. the price the four of us have to pay for something like that."

"What price?" Marinette asked.

"That, I can't explain." Adrien said. "Nothing personal, Marinette; it's just that…. I'm not sure how to say it without you thinking that…. I sound crazy."

The dark-haired girl could see in his eyes that he was really struggling with wanting to tell her about what was so costly of a price to pay, but she didn't pry further. Right now, it seemed that Adrien needed help on how to make up with Ash and Hiccup than to explain more details.

Just then, an idea came into her head. "Maybe you should come to Chloé's pool party this afternoon." She suggested, which made Adrien raise a confused brow. "I'll make sure that Ash comes too, and then the two of you can talk it out."

"I was really only planning on going to make it clear to Chloé that a party is not enough for me to forgive her for her attitude." Adrien explained.

"Well then, it could be an added bonus." Marinette continued explaining. "If you show that you would want her to respect your friends as part of her path to redemption, if Ash saw that, then maybe he will be more willing to forgive you."

"How come you're going?" Adrien asked. "I thought you and Chloé hate each other."

"We do." Marinette admitted. "But I'll be there to support you. Plus, I actually kind of want to see you chew her out again. Last time was priceless."

Adrien bit back a snicker. "Fair enough." He chuckled.


A few hours later, after school ended for the day, Poppy was in the juice bar, looking for someone in particular. After a couple of seconds, she found who she was looking for. Hiccup was sitting in a booth by himself, fingering the end of his straw that was in his glass of soda absentmindedly. The strawberry blonde headed over to him and placed a hand on his table.

"Hey there, Hiccup." She said to him with a bright smile, which the auburn-haired boy just looked up at her with blank green eyes. "Can I sit here?"

Hiccup just shrugged with a roll of his eyes. "As long as you don't talk to me, that's fine." He muttered.

Poppy shrugged and then sat down across from him. But after a few seconds of awkward silence, she spoke up. "So, Branch told me that you guys had a falling out." She said.

Hiccup sighed as he let go of the straw. "What's there to know about?" He asked her. "It's nothing really important."

Poppy scoffed. "Come on." She said. "You two had been best friends since middle school. You and Fishlegs were the only ones besides me that Branch would even talk to back then. And when Fishlegs moved away, Branch was there for you."

Hiccup lightly bit his lip when he recalled the memories. At first, after Astrid ditched him in fourth grade, it was just him and Fisher Ingermen, or who everyone called Fishlegs. Then in sixth grade, they met Branch. It took a couple of weeks because of Branch's pessimism, but he and Branch realized that they actually do have a lot in common. The trio were pretty much inseparable after that, until Fishlegs sadly announced to them at the end of eighth grade that he was moving to a different part of the city, which also meant that he had to go to a different high school instead of Sunny Bay High. But Branch was there for Hiccup during their first year of high school, and the first year without Fishlegs, which only brought the two even closer as friends, especially after the accident.

"Speaking of Branch," Poppy came back in, bringing Hiccup out of his thoughts and memories. "I noticed that he seems a little bit…. off, recently."

A twang of suspicion hit Hiccup's chest. "What do you mean?" He asked her.

"Well, I know that most of the time, he's not very chatty." Poppy clarified. "But don't you think that…. he's hiding something?"

Hiccup resisted the urge to freeze up. "Um, this is Branch we're talking about?" He reminded her, as if it should have been obvious. "There's still a lot of things that neither of us don't know about him."

"That's true, but still." Poppy continued. "It's not really like him."

"Okay, Poppy. You are starting to sound just a teeny bit nosy." Hiccup said. "I came here to be alone, so please just…. keep your distance for the time being?"

As he was talking to her, his hand that was on the table slowly clenched into a fist. Suddenly, his eyes started to glow a bright red as his soda began to bubble up with steam coming out of the top. It was lucky that Poppy didn't notice his eyes changing color, for both of them were more concerned about the now steamy, piping hot drink.

"What the-?!" Poppy exclaimed, reaching out to touch the glass, but immediately retracted her hand. "Ow! It's hot!"

Hiccup quickly unclenched his fist as his eyes immediately turned back to green and he looked down at his hand. "Is this someone's idea of a joke?" Poppy asked out loud. But Hiccup didn't answer her as he slowly curled his fingers back and forth, a little bit of a smile starting to form on his face. Did he just... do that? Well, there was only one way to find out.


Minutes later, Hiccup was walking along the beach, looking for something small and inconspicuous to test his theory. Soon, he found a tiny isolated pool of water in the sand, between two large rocks. Hiccup lowered himself down into a crouching position, and then outstretched his hand to it, concentrating as hard as he can.

Immediately, his eyes started to glow red as bubbles and steam began to form in and up out of the water. The auburn-haired merman smiled widely as he slowly clenched his hand into a fist, further boiling up the water in the pool. He had finally found his power.

Once all of the water in the pool had evaporated, Hiccup unclenched his fist and his eyes turned back to their usual green. He got out his phone and started to text Branch, asking him to meet up with him, their previous argument gone from his mind. Poppy was right, however. The two of them were best friends; they can find a way to work it out. Plus, with Ash and Adrien, they needed to learn to rely on and trust each other if they were to keep their tails a secret.


Within a few minutes, Branch arrived at the beach where Hiccup was waiting for him. "I got your message." He said. "Look, I'm…. I'm sorry about all that negative stuff I spouted yesterday. I had no idea how much this whole…. tail thing meant to you and Ash."

Hiccup just smiled and placed a hand on Branch's shoulder. "Well, if I were in yours or Adrien's shoes, I probably would've been freaking out myself." He said. "There are going to be lots of challenges with these new…. developments, but the four of us are in it together. We're going to need each other if we are going to make it through this. Even if it takes the rest of our lives."

Branch lightly chuckled. "Well, it doesn't sound too terrible when you put it like that." He said, making Hiccup chuckle himself briefly. "So, what is it that you want to show me?"

"Well, I actually wanted to show it to the others." Hiccup said, looking around the beach. "Where are Ash and Adrien?"

Branch seemed to have noticed their absence, and looked around the beach himself. "I don't know." He answered, starting to get a bad feeling going down his spine, making him shiver.

Just then, Poppy came up to them, her phone out. "Guess who's been posting all over SnapChat." She said, showing them a photo of Chloé out on the roof with Adrien standing in the background. But the blond boy seemed to be heading off screen to check on Marinette, who was lying on the ground. Ash had made his way over to her already, his arm around hers. But in the corner of the photo, there was a pool.

"Are they insane?!" Branch shouted. "What are they thinking?!"

"We got to get them out of there!" Hiccup exclaimed.

They started to run off the beach, but Poppy stopped them. "Okay, what is going on here?" She asked. "You guys have been acting weird for the past couple of days, and I want to know why!"

"Not now, Poppy!" Branch shouted back. "Right now, we need to get Ash and Adrien out of that party before they get thrown in the pool or get drinks spilled on them!"

"Why?" Poppy asked as she started to chase Branch and Hiccup towards the Le Paris Hotel. "Branch!"


Over at the Le Paris Hotel, Adrien and Ash had helped Marinette get back on her feet. The blond model narrowed his green gaze at the prissy diva. "Chloé, that was uncalled for!" He shouted at her.

"Oh, please Adrikins." Chloé scoffed as she leaned in close to him. "You seriously think that Dupain-Cheng is something special? I only invited her and your friend here because it is part of my plan to apologize to you."

She was about to wrap an arm around him, but Adrien pushed it away. "Chloé, this party of yours is not going to make me change my mind!" He shouted at her. "I only came here to tell you that. You're going to have to make a better effort than this and also show that you really want to change yourself if we're ever going to be friends again."

Chloé's face turned ashen despite her makeup at Adrien's harsh words. However, when she saw Adrien help Ash pick up Marinette off the ground, she felt her temper and jealousy immediately flare up again. She stomped over and then pushed both Ash and Marinette away from Adrien towards the pool.

Thinking quickly, Ash spun Marinette around and then lightly pushed her away from his grip and from the edge of the pool, towards the refreshment table. But his actions only got him even closer to the pool, where he could fall in with one misstep! Adrien immediately went over and grabbed Ash's arm, preventing him from falling into the pool.

"Chloé, are you crazy?!" Adrien shouted at her, struggling to hold his grip on his best friend's arm. But Ash was balancing so precariously on the edge of the pool, it was to the point where one wrong shift of his weight could send both him and Adrien crashing into the water.

"What's the big deal?" Chloé asked, her icy blue eyes narrowed into thin slits, glowing with envy. "Can't he swim? Or is he afraid of the water?" She taunted.

"Neither!" Ash retorted back as he tried to carefully push himself up and away from the edge. "But still, what you did was completely uncalled for! Too bad that you're just jealous because Adrien has better friends than you."

Chloé's pale pink painted lips pulled back into a snarl, lightly growling in anger and envy, and then came over to push both Adrien and Ash into the pool, since it was obvious Adrien wasn't going to accept her apology. But then, just in the nick of time, Branch and Hiccup arrived on the roof of the hotel, followed closely behind by Poppy. They saw what Chloé was about to do, and without thinking, Branch quickly headed over there and then pulled the two younger boys away from the pool.

However, Chloé was already in position, but instead of Ash and Adrien, she instead had pushed Branch into the pool with a splash. "BRANCH!" The other three mermen exclaimed, along with Poppy.

Acting impulsively since her rival had just pushed a random senior into the pool, who seemed to be Adrien and Ash's friend, Marinette grabbed a nearby glass of punch and then tossed it onto the prissy blonde's revealing yellow bikini and white towel wrap around her waist. Chloé screeched loudly at the red splash of fruity liquid on her skin and swim outfit.

"You little brat!" She screamed at her, to which Marinette didn't even flinch or bat an eye at. The prissy blonde then started sobbing as she went back inside the hotel, followed by everyone else little by little, who decided that they've seen enough drama for a while.

The guys and Marinette started to guide the other guests in an orderly fashion towards the exits so that no one sees what is about to happen. Except for Poppy, who went over to the edge of the pool to check on her best friend, who had just resurfaced and was looking terrified.

"Poppy, there is something you should know." Branch started to say to her, looking towards the exit.

"Hey, it's okay." Poppy tried to assure him. "You don't have to say anything. Sorry if I was kind of pressuring you earlier."

"It's fine." Branch answered. "But you're right." The water around him started to bubble up, and Poppy was starting to look confused and wary. "You've been saying that I've been acting…. strange? Don't freak out, but…."

He trailed off as he let the transformation do the rest of the talking for him. He felt his clothes vanish and his legs magically morph into his emerald green tail as the bubbles faded away. Poppy's jaw dropped and her eyes widened when she saw the scaly green appendage that had replaced her best friend's legs.

Branch lightly bit his lip at her reaction. "Poppy, you have to help me get out of here before someone sees me." He said.

Poppy felt like she couldn't speak as she fearfully took one step backward away from him, amber eyes widened in shock. "Please, Poppy." Branch pleaded, reaching out his arm. "Don't do this. Not when I really need you."

The strawberry-blonde girl took a deep breath to calm herself and instead focused on Branch's pleading face. Despite him having this…. new development, he was still her best friend. And he really needed her help. Slowly, Poppy took his hand, making him smile gratefully up at her.

The others then came over to check on their friend, and they were shocked when they saw that Poppy had discovered Branch's secret. But she wasn't the only one. "What the-?!" Marinette exclaimed loudly, making everyone jump up. They had forgotten that the blunette was still with them. But this was no time to worry about that.

"We'll make sure that no one gets up here anytime soon!" Hiccup started giving out commands, and then followed Ash and Adrien over to the emergency exit, grabbing a stunned Marinette by the arm to follow them. "Poppy, get Branch out of the water!" He called out to the strawberry-blonde girl.

"He had a-, was that a-" Marinette sputtered.

"Not now." Adrien said, quickly grabbing her shoulders. "We'll explain everything later, I promise. But right now, we need to buy us time to get Branch out of here before someone sees him like that."

When they got over to the emergency exit door, Adrien stepped forward. "I've got an idea." He said, and then held out his palm. His peridot green eyes briefly flashed silver as ice suddenly formed around the handle and inside the locking mechanism. He then removed his palm, eyes going back to their usual summer green shade.

"How did you do that?!" Marinette exclaimed.

"I said later!" Adrien reminded her firmly as they went back over to the pool, where Poppy was struggling to pull Branch out of the water.

"Can any of you guys give me a hand here?" She asked. "He weighs a ton!"

The four guys shared a brief nervous look with each other. Finally, Ash sighed. "The three of us can't." He said to her, as he, Adrien and Hiccup all backed away from the pool.

Poppy and Marinette looked at them with confusion. "If we get wet, we'll grow tails, too." Hiccup explained bluntly. "Is that what you want?"

The girls both blinked at them with surprise. "The three of you?" Poppy asked, which they only responded with a nervous shrug. "All of you?" She questioned again, turning over to Branch, who just nodded in confirmation with his teeth clenched in nervousness. "Seriously?"

"No way." Marinette said, before going over to Poppy and grabbing Branch's other arm. Together, they managed to finally pull the green-tailed merman out of the pool, both of them sitting down while Branch's tail flopped onto the cement.

"Maybe I should join the gym." Poppy said with a pant.

"You and me both." Marinette agreed.

Adrien and Ash spared a quick glance over at the emergency door. They could hear that someone was struggling to open it from the other side. "That ice isn't gonna hold forever." The latter said.

Branch groaned. "And it's gonna take forever for me to dry off, even with a towel." He added.

Hiccup then carefully came over to his side. "I've got something that might help." He said. "Girls, stand back."

Poppy and Marinette obeyed, and they gave Hiccup some room as he carefully knelt down next to Branch. He then stretched out his hand towards Branch's tail, not touching it. His eyes slowly started to glow red as the water on Branch's scales started to sizzle, creating steam.

"Ow! That stings!" Branch exclaimed, but Hiccup just continued the process, slowly clenching his hand into a fist as he moved his hand down towards the fluked end of the scaly green tail. Everyone else just watched in amazement.

Finally, in a final cloud of steam, Branch felt his legs come back to him, along with his clothes, as if nothing had happened. Hiccup removed his hand, his eyes back to their normal shade of forest green. "There you go." He said. "Steam-dried and certified."

Branch smiled at the auburn-haired teen. "You found your power!" He exclaimed, making Hiccup grin cheekily at him.

"Guys, what is going on?" Poppy asked.

"I would like to know, too." Marinette added.

"We'll explain later!" Ash and Adrien said at the same time, for the third time, as Hiccup quickly helped Branch back up onto his feet.

"Yeah, let's find somewhere a little more private first." Branch said.

But right before they would take one of the elevators back down to the main floor, Hiccup looked back over at the pool. He glanced down at his hand before a mischievous smirk appeared on his face as Ash immediately pressed the button to go down.

He reached out with his hand towards the pool, and it immediately started to boil up as his eyes started glowing red again as he slowly clenched his hand into a tight fist. One he was sure that it was hot enough to continue boiling without his powers, he released his fist, his eyes back to green.

"Never liked pool parties anyway." He said with a smirk as the elevator opened up, and everyone quickly got inside. Adrien pressed the button for the main level, and the doors closed just as the other elevator opened up.

As they were heading down, they could hear Chloé screaming in confusion and frustration when she and her guests saw the now empty pool. They all just laughed at the thought of it as the elevator doors opened up, and they ran out of the hotel.


Minutes later, they were all at the beach again, sitting near the rocks by the cliffs, and the guys started to explain to the girls everything that had happened to them over the past couple of days. Starting from the night that they got stranded on Half-Point Island, to the mysterious pool of water they found in the volcano and what it did when the full moon passed over it, to the strange transformations and powers they discovered the following day. When they were finally done, they let it sink in for a few seconds so that Poppy and Marinette could process it.

After about fifteen seconds of silence, Hiccup spoke up. "This most likely goes without saying," he said to them, "but if either of you tell, you know what we're capable of."

"I'm not that stupid." Poppy answered.

"No duh." Marinette added. "If anyone ever found out about you guys, you'd end up as science experiments."

Adrien glanced over at Ash, and then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I was so pessimistic yesterday." He said to the younger raven-haired teen. "I guess I was having a bit of a 'Branch' freak-out as well."

"Ha-ha." Branch muttered sarcastically, but there was a little smile on his face, showing that there was no real bite. However, it still made everyone chuckle.

"So we're all cool?" Hiccup asked his friends.

Ash smiled, answering for everyone. "Yeah." He said. "Plus, it's like we've been saying. We're going to need each other if we're going to get through this."

Branch nodded in agreement. "This whole thing is just…. way beyond what we ever thought possible." He said. "It's just…. too weird."

"So, let me get this straight." Poppy said before starting with Adrien. "You freeze things," she then turned to Ash, remembering the little fire hydrant incident with Astrid a couple of days before, "you explode things," then Branch, "you turn things into Jell-O," and then finally Hiccup, "and you boil things."

"And you all grow tails ten seconds after you touch water." Marinette added. "This is just... too bizarre."

"That's one way to put it." Adrien replied. "But it is kind of cool when you look at it through a different perspective."

"It is definitely going to have its ups and downs." Hiccup added.

"I can't even think of a word to describe all of this." Branch said.

"I do." Ash said. "Three of them. So totally awesome!"

Everyone just started laughing at his words, feeling the air around them lighten up as they all looked over towards the ocean behind them. However, when Poppy glanced over at Branch, she saw that the joy didn't quite reach his face, and his smile seemed a little bit strained. She got the sneaking suspicion that even though the other three guys had accepted what they had become, it was still going to be a little harder for Branch to do the same. She should know, she had known him and his stubborn attitude when it comes to change since they were in kindergarten.

But all in all, the four mermen were very glad that they now have someone that know the truth about them. Well, two people, actually. It would definitely make the secret that they're hiding a little easier to bear. Plus, it never hurts to have someone else watch out for them; those who don't get fish tails when they get wet. Maybe the guys can actually work it out with the whole tail thing, one way or another.


A/N: Now the next chapter is still a work in progress. It won't be done for a really long while. But at least I can tell you this: Branch won't stay out of the water forever. He will eventually learn to embrace his new merman half.

Well, that's all for now! Please leave a review about what you think. They are highly appreciated. And remember to stay healthy!

Got to fly! ;)