Chapter One: One Rebellious Mermaid

It was a bright sunny day in the middle of the seas as the waves gently crashed below the water with seagulls flocking in the lovely clear blue sky as porpoises and dolphins raced against each other in the ocean as they chattered and laughed along the way. As the ocean waves were calm and smooth, a gigantic ship with a mermaid carving at the figurehead sailed by as a bunch of sailors sang jollily about mermaids as they pulled the rope to open the flags up, so they could continue their journey with the support from the breeze of the wind. Everything was set to sail for those on board.

Among the people sailing on the ship, a young fair skin man with fine brown hair that shined from the sunlight, a pair of dark earthy eyes, was wearing a dashing yet simple blue attire with a couple of black boots was pulling the rope with all his strengths with a big smile. A fluffy, shaggy-looking sheepdog barked happily as he panted at the handsome young man as he supported the sailors. The young man enjoyed this moment as he took a deep breath to smell the salty sea air as he sighed in relief, "Ah, what a day!", he exclaimed, "The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face! A perfect day to be at sea!"

While the young man enjoyed the scenery and the wind blowing his face, a polished looking man with light fair skin, dirty grey hair, and beard with icy blue eyes named Edward was leaning at the edge of the sea, looking green as seaweed as he looked very queasy, "Oh yes… delightful.", he responded with a gag as he went back to look at the sea, feeling very sick.

The young man chuckled as he went to resume pulling the rope with such glee when one of the sailors named James grinned as he spoke with such delight, "A fine, strong wind and a following sea. King Shankar must be in a friendly-type mood today."

"King Shankar?", the handsome young man asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why, Prince Thomas. He's the ruler of merpeople. Thought every good sailor knew about him.", exclaimed another sailor named Percy as he collected the caught some fishes.

Edward groaned as he rubbed his head while walking towards Thomas and the two sailors. He thought that the two sailors were talking a bunch of nonsense and filling such rubbish to the young prince's head, "Merpeople!", he snorted, "Thomas, pay no attention to this nautical nonsense."

The two sailors frowned as they explained and justified that merpeople are real and that there's so much more to wonder in the ocean, as this made Thomas even more curious. Are merpeople real, or was this just a sea folklore to amuse and entertain the sailors? This made him walk to the edge of the ship as he leaned his arms on edge. There, he began to wonder as he swore, he saw something in the ocean water, but it turned out to be a single fish as it dove back into the water. Thomas sighed with a smile as the thought that merpeople sounded fascinating. As he daydreamed, Edward looked at him with great concern as he knew that Thomas was the type to wonder about new things, regardless of if it was real or just a myth.

…

Meanwhile, in the deep blue parts of the ocean, all the colourful fishes and sea creatures thrived from the lively, bright corals and anemones as they swam in school, enjoying their time living under the sea. As this occurred, a group of half person and half fish swam across the ocean with such grace as they smiled and giggled along the way. They were none other than the merpeople themselves. They loved living in the water as some of the merpeople were heading towards a particular place that was grand and recognisable. That place was a magnificent golden sea castle, where King Shankar ruled and resided as he had seven beautiful daughters. King Shankar's daughters were gifted with songs as everyone was amazed by their angelic voice.

However, the most beautiful of his daughters was the youngest one, and her name was Ashima. Every merperson and sea creature described her as a lovely mermaid with black hair with glowing tan skin as her dark brown eyes shined brighter than the golden castle. She had a splendid purplish-pink tailfin as she wore a decorated cropped top covered with sea gems. However, the most recognised feature from this dazzling mermaid princess was having the loveliest voice as she stood out from her older sisters.

Although she was musical, Ashima was notorious for being such a rebellious daughter as she would often sneak out from the castle and explore any places that she found wicked or something new. Her father disapproved of her behaviour as he believed that her behaviour would put her in such grave danger as he would hire his royal assistant named Gordon, a dark blue sea crab. Gordon was known to be a worrisome yet cranky sea crustacean that wanted to please The King without getting into trouble, for King Shankar was known for his terrible temper. Gordon tried to control The Little Mermaid, but he would always lose her as she was swift and clever.

Despite her rebellious behaviour, the most concerning behaviour that Gordon picked up was that Ashima was obsessed with such odd objects that came from the surface, which belonged to the humans. Gordon knew that King Shankar had such hatred towards humans as they caused destruction and chaos across the ocean as some have been known to hunt merpeople for their sick satisfaction. King Shankar was unaware of his daughter's secret activity, but Gordon knew that he knew the ultimate truth, King Shankar would cause a literal storm and be furious. Until then, King Shankar was more concerned about his daughter's rebellious behaviour as he wanted her to be a proper princess.

…

At a gloomy section of the ocean, Ashima, along with her rosy-red fish friend named Rosie, swam towards the sinister zone of the area as they headed towards an abandoned ship. Ashima grinned from ear to ear as she carried a small bag, ready to collect more items that came from the humans, "Ashima! Wait for me!", cried Rosie as she tried to catch up.

"Come on, slowpoke, hurry up!", Ashima whispered as she was getting closer to the sunken ship.

Once the two swam inside the ship, Rosie panted as she gave Ashima a slight frown, "You know I can't swim that fast.", she whined.

Ashima felt bad for her best friend as she hugged her, "Sorry, Rosie, but… isn't this fantastic?", she squealed as she and Rosie looked at the wrecked sunken ship.

Rosie begged to differ as she began to tremble as her fins felt cold as the arctic ice. Although Rosie was Ashima's best friend, she wasn't as bold or daring as the princess as she was the type to be very cautious and make sure no one would get into serious trouble. Rosie didn't want her father to discover the truth, yet she was surprisingly great at keeping secrets. As Ashima explored inside the sunken ship, Rosie was still trembling, "Y-yeah… it's g-great, but I think we are done exploring.", she chattered her teeth while stuttering.

Before Ashima could explore more, she looked at Rosie with rolled eyes as she swam to her. She knew that Rosie was having another case of "cold fins", but she didn't want her to get back as she knew the risks of exploring the dark, gloomy section of the ocean. Being such a clever mermaid, she gave her best friend a suggestion, "Oh, Rosie. Tell you what, I'll explore while you go outside and keep on guard from any sharks. Sounds good?"

Not listening to the whole thing properly, Rosie thought it was such a great idea as she nodded with a smile, "Good idea! I'll make sure that no sharks will…"

As she mentioned the word "sharks", the sense of realisation hit the cowardly fish hard as she gasped in horror, "Sharks! Ashima, I'm coming! It's better to be in pairs, right?"

Ashima knew she managed to persuade her friend to stay by her side as she wanted company, and she knew that Rosie would be vulnerable to predators if she was all alone, "You got that right.", she giggled as she hugged her, "Now come on! Let's see what this ship has to offer!"

With that, they both wandered and collected some items that either Ashima hadn't discovered or something she found amazing. She kept gasping in awe at every object she saw as she presented it to Rosie. Rosie admitted that the items were fascinating, and both she and Ashima always wondered what the object's purpose was for the humans. As they explored, despite Rosie was still feeling somewhat on edge, Ashima gasped loudly as she stumbled upon a small silver three-pointed object, which to the humans, was a fork, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?", she exclaimed as she held the strange object and examined the fork.

While Ashima was in awe with the fork, Rosie happily agreed as she asked her what the object was called and its purpose. Ashima had no clue as she suggested to her best friend to present it to their seagull friend, who would tell them everything based on his knowledge of what the human object was and their use. With that agreement, Ashima placed the fork in her bag as she and Rosie explored the sunken ship to find as many human items as possible. What The Little Mermaid and her fish friend didn't know was that danger was lurking outside as a giant, vicious shark was circling the abandoned ship, ready to consume its potential meal. As this occurred, Rosie swore she saw something massive and dark swam past from looking at the porthole as she gasped, "A-Ashima… did you see something?", she stammered.

Ashima ignored Rosie's question and paranoia as she was now fixated on a curved object with two different size holes, which was called "a pipe" for the human's language, "Hmm, I wonder what this one is?", she asked herself as she placed it in her bag.

Not long after, Rosie spotted the dark figure once again swimming past with such sinister intention as Rosie began to shake violently, "Um… Ashima…", she cried.

Unaware of what Rosie was spotting and the danger she and her best fish friend were in, she brushed it off and sighed, "Rosie, will you relax. Nothing is going to happen."

With that response, the dark figure zoomed towards the porthole as its shape became very distinguish as Rosie cried in horror, "Ah! Swim away! Swim away! We're going to die!"

Before Ashima could scold her, a massive hungry shark smashed through the wooden ship wall with such force as Ashima realised what Rosie feared. She, along with Rosie, screamed in horror as they swam away from the vicious predator as fast as possible. The atmosphere was intense for the two as they tried to get away from the shark, but as they swam, Ashima accidentally dropped her bag as she gasped in shock. Ashima knew she was in a life-or-death situation, but she didn't want to leave her bag of collection behind as she narrowed her eyes for determination. There, she swam back to retrieve her bag, but before the shark could chump her, she swiftly swam up as the shark bumped its head hard.

As the shark was stunned, Ashima managed to catch up with Rosie as they both looked back to see what was happening with the shark before they continued their pursuit of escaping the sunken ship. While swimming, Rosie gasped as she and Ashima were headed to the portholes. Once they reached there, Rosie tried to squeeze herself out of the porthole as she frantically swam her tail. Luckily, Ashima pushed her out on time as she swam out of the porthole herself. Unfortunately, the shark smashed its way out as it was still determined to have them as its meal.

Rosie accidentally knocked herself out with the pursuit still occurring by bumping into a crossbow from swimming so fast. This caused her to sink below as Ashima noticed her best friend was both stunned and defenseless. She freaked out as she swam down, determined to save her best friend from her terrible fate. As Rosie sank below, the shark saw her as its opportunity as it licked its teeth in anticipation. Just before the shark could get to her, Ashima caught her best friend just in time while she was in the hole of the anchor. Once she caught her, Rosie managed to gain her conscience as the shark headed towards her. At the last second, Ashima swam out as the shark somehow got its head stuck in the anchor's hole. The shark growled and grunted as it struggled to set free. Ashima and Rosie were surprised about this as The Little Mermaid sighed in relief as she headed to the surface with her bag. Before Rosie could catch up, she gave her best stern face as she growled at the shark, "You big bully!", she stuck her tongue out.

However, the response she received was the shark trying to chump her. This got Rosie spooked as she swam up while screaming, trying to catch up with Ashima. Once Rosie caught up with her, Ashima playfully teased her best friend, "Rosie, you really are a guppy.", she smirked while laughing.

"I am not!", Rosie sulked as she stuck her bottom lip out, making a pouty face.

This made Ashima laugh more until Rosie laughed along. Although they got away from the hungry, menacing shark, they had an important task to do. Their mission was to find out what the items were called and the purpose for the humans. Only one creature seemed to know a lot about the humans' behaviour and their creation. With that, they wasted no time as they headed to the surface as soon as possible. Ashima wanted to know the items more that she collected as she was obsessed with them.

…

Meanwhile, at the surface of the ocean, a jolly scatterbrained red seagull was trying to figure out on how to use a telescope that he discovered on a single tall rock near the shore while chilling on a crow's nest, singing a jolly song. After trying different ways to use the object right, including using it as a funny-looking hat, he ended up looking at the wrong side of the telescope, giving an illusion that an object was further away than it was. Just as he thought he knew how to use it, he heard a voice calling nearby, "Salty!"

This startled the silly seagull as he used the telescope to see who was crying out his name. As he looked around his surroundings for a couple of seconds, he spotted someone familiar, waving at him with a fish next to him, "Woah! Mermaid off the port bow!", he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, "Ashima, how are you doing there, mate?"

However, when he lowered the telescope, it showed that Ashima wasn't as far away as the telescope presented as she was close to him this whole time, giving him a gleeful smile. When Salty saw that, he commented with a goofy chuckle, "Oh, what a swim."

Ashima giggled as she reached to collect her bag as she passed it to Salty, "Salty! Look what we found!"

"Yeah, and we were in this sunken ship, and it was really creepy.", Rosie added as she tried imitating a ferocious shark that she and Ashima encountered earlier.

"Human stuff, huh?", Salty asked.

There, he lifted and tossed a smaller anchor with a rope attached to it so he could slide it down. Unfortunately, the poor seagull's leg got tangled by the rope as he descended to the ground with such force, causing him to be stunned for a bit before shaking his head and making his way to Ashima. As he went towards her, he accidentally stepped on Rosie's head, which made her groan in agony as she rubbed her head with her fin. Once Salty got close, he burrowed his head into the bag to collect one of the human items, and after a moment of digging, he retrieved a fork, "Wow… this is special.", he said as he examined it, "This is very, very unusual."

"What? What is it?", Ashima asked as she beamed her brown eyes.

After carefully looking at the object, Salty felt confident enough to know what the thing was, despite he had no single knowledge of human objects' names and often messed up the object's purpose, "It's a dinglehopper.", he spoke dramatically to make the thing more fascinating.

This wowed Ashima and Rosie, as Salty explained while stammering, "Humans use these things… to straighten their hair out."

There, he demonstrated to his friends on how to use "dinglehopper" by twisting and attempting to curl his featherhead, which resulted in accidentally plucking some of his feathers off and making his feather look fluffy and somewhat stylish, "Like this! See, just a little twirl than a yank! Humans go nuts over it!"

"A dinglehopper!", Ashima gasped in awe as she grabbed the object from Salty.

Not long after, Rosie spotted a pipe that fell off the bag as she pointed, "What about that one?"

There, Salty picked up the object that Rosie pointed as he examined it, but more intensely, "Ah, this I haven't seen in years.", he explained as he continued to look until he felt confident to know what it, "This is wonderful! This is a… snarfblat!"

This amazed Ashima and Rosie as Salty told them the "snarfblat's" purpose, "Now, the snarfblat dates to prehistorical times, where humans used to sit around and stare at each other all day, and it got very boring. So, they invented the snarfblat to make fine music. Allow me!"

With that, Salty blew the "snarblat" with all his might, which made an awful noise, and as a result, seaweed and seafoam popped out as Salty coughed and gagged.

"Music?", Ashima cried in horror as she remembered something very important, "Oh, the concert! Oh my gosh, my father's going to kill me!"

This made Rosie gasp, "The concert was today?"