The sun shone on the sea surface as its rays went underwater and shone through one of the windows of an underwater palace. The sun's rays then proceeded to shine onto the face of a young Mermunk princess as she slowly opened her eyes before sitting up, yawning and stretching.
"Aaaah...The beginning of another great day under the sea~..." The Mermunk princess said in a happy tone as she proceeded to get out of bed. This Mermunk princess was Berri Lanfishter, daughter of Lester Lanfisther I, King of Subtropolis, an underwater kingdom filled with various mercreatures. Berri has long blond hair with a red hairband in the middle, blue eyes, beautiful silver fur, E-cup breasts covered by a purple seashell bra and a long green fishtail.
Unknown to anyone, including Berri herself, she was actually reincarnated into this life after she was brutally murdered by a mobster named Don Weaso years ago. When Berri was reincarnated into the life of a Mermunk princess, she had lost all memories of her previous life. Therefore, all she's known her whole life was that she was a Mermunk princess, and was going to become Queen of Subtropolis one day.
Berri proceeded to sit down at her vanity mirror and began brushing her hair with a hair brush made of coral, humming a happy song as she did so. "I can't wait to see what adventures I'll be having today~." The Mermunk princess once again said in a happy tone as she continued to brush her hair with her coral hairbrush. Once her hair was fully brushed, Berri proceeded to put the brush back into the drawer and left her room, swimming down to the dining room as breakfast was about to be served.
Berri then swam into the dining room. Her father, King Lester watched as she entered. King Lester was a gray furred middle aged Mermunk with medium length blond hair that was starting to turn gray, blue eyes, a blond beard that also starting to turn gray and a long white fishtail. "Good morning, Berri. Did you sleep well?" King Lester asked his daughter with a smile.
"Good morning, father! And yes, I did sleep well last night!" Berri responded as she swam over to her father and gave him a hug. King Lester chuckled as he hugged her back.
"I'm glad to hear that. Now come, have a seat. Breakfast is about to be served." King Lester told her. Berri nodded and sat down at the table before the chefs came in with breakfast for the day: Bowls of yoghurt with pieces of fruit and sprinkled with a bit of sugar. King Lester and Berri thanked the chefs for the food before they left the room so King Lester and Berri could eat their breakfast in peace.
"So, father...Do I have any royal duties for today?" Berri asked her father curiously.
King Lester thought about it before shaking his head. "Not today. You're free to spend the day as you like, Berri. Just be careful you don't get seriously injured or go to the wrong places." He replied to her.
Berri squealed happily at that. "Thank you, father!" She happily replied to him before she continued to eat her breakfast. Once she and King Lester finished their breakfast, the chefs returned to take the bowls back to the kitchen to be washed. King Lester and Berri once again thanked the chefs for the food before Berri proceeded to leave the room, then swam out of the palace and into Subtropolis.
"I wonder what I should do first today~..." Berri happily said to herself as she spun around and did flips in the water as she swam through the streets of Subtropolis. She then proceeded to swim into one of her friends, a young Merhorse named Michael. Michael was a white Merhorse with a black mane, brown eyes and a long black fishtail. Him and Berri had been good friends for a good number of years now and they regularly went out exploring the area around Subtropolis together.
"Oh, hi, Berri. Lovely morning today, wouldn't you say?" Michael asked Berri with a smile. He sounded like a small child.
Berri smiled upon seeing her young Merhorse friend. "Hi, Michael! And yes, it sure is a lovely morning today! I don't have any royal duties today, so I have the whole day to spend as I like!" She happily told Michael.
Michael smiled upon hearing that. "That's great, Berri. So, do you feel like doing something right now?" He asked the Mermunk princess.
"Sure! Had something in mind that we could do?" Berri asked Michael with a smile.
"Hmmmm...How about we go explore a bit outside of the city? Maybe there's something new to find we could bring back to Old Franklin's shop?" Michael suggested. Old Franklin was the owner of an antique shop in Subtropolis that sold antiques found from sunken ships and the like. Berri and Michael often brought him antiques that they found in sunken ships and the like, and Old Franklin would often reward them by giving them a cup of seaweed tea in the shop's lounge and having a chat with them while doing so.
"That sounds like a great idea, Michael! I bet Old Franklin would really appreciate it if we brought him some new stock for the shop! Let's go out and find something for him!" Berri replied before she and Michael began to swim out of Subtropolis to find stock for Old Franklin's shop.
Soon, Berri and Michael were out in the open, and they swam around, trying to find any new shipwrecks that appeared in the general area recently. "Do you think there's any new shipwrecks around here, Michael?" Berri asked the young Merhorse with a curious tilt of her head.
Michael shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure, Berri. I haven't had the time to check for any new shipwrecks the past week. I've been pretty busy helping out my parents at their restaurant." He told the Mermunk princess. Michael's parents ran a restaurant in downtown Subtropolis, and because it was busy there quite often, his parents regularly enlisted the help of Michael and his older siblings to help out with tasks such as waiting, cooking, washing dishes, et cetera.
Berri nodded at that. "It's okay, Michael. I know how busy your parents are running their restaurant." She told the young Merhorse with a reassuring smile. Then, looking up, she saw something strange. It appeared to be a boat that was floating on the sea surface. "Hey, Michael, look! It's a boat!" She said to Michael, pointing up.
Michael also looked up. "Yeah, I see it. Most likely a surface dweller is in it. It's best we stay away from them. Us merfolk can't really be seen by surface dwellers. It could lead to a major catastrophe for sea dwellers such as us." He replied.
"I'm sure that this surface dweller won't do us any harm, Michael. I'm gonna check." Berri replied as she swam up to the surface. Michael shouted at her to come back, but she didn't listen and reached the surface, watching the boat from a short distance. Michael then surfaced next to her.
"Berri, come on! We'll be seen!" Michael quietly told Berri as he began pulling the Mermunk princess' arm.
Berri continued to watch the surface dweller that was inside the boat. The surface dweller appeared to be a young chimpansee boy with long black hair and green eyes who only wore a pair of khaki cargo shorts. He was rowing his boat through unusually rough waves for such a peaceful morning. Suddenly, the chimpansee crashed his boat into some rocks and was promptly thrown under the waves.
Berri gasped upon seeing this. "Oh no! That poor surface dweller is drowning! We have to save him, Michael!" The Mermunk princess told her young Merhorse friend and quickly dove under the water to save the chimpansee. Michael followed after her and Berri proceeded to grab the unconscious chimpansee boy and swam back up to the surface to get him to safety. She dragged the chimpansee boy out of the water and onto the rocky ground of the caves that were situated nearby.
"Berri, are you really sure it's a good idea to save this surface dweller? What if he'll tell other surface dwellers about our existence once he wakes up and sees us?" Michael asked with a frightful face. Michael had no problems collecting stuff from the surface, but he was very cautious about surface dwellers themselves because his parents told him stories about surface dwellers when he was very little.
"Yes, I do. A surface dweller like this boy deserves to live just as much as a sea dweller as us, Michael. Now I gotta get the water out of his lungs." Berri told Michael before she began to press her hands up and down on the chimpansee boy's chest to get the water out of his lungs.
The chimpansee boy woke up and coughed as the water came out of his lungs. "Ugh! Where am I?" He questioned before looking up and seeing Berri. "Who are you?" He asked the Mermunk princess.
"Hi, I'm Berri the Mermunk." Berri told the chimpansee boy with a kind smile as he sat up.
"My parents paint merfolk onto pottery! I didn't know your kind really existed!" The chimpansee boy told Berri in amazement.
Berri giggled a little bit. "Yeah, that's understandable. Our kind try to keep ourselves hidden from surface dwellers such as yourselves because not all surface dwellers are nice." She explained to him.
"Yeah, I understand that as well." The chimpansee boy nodded. "By the way, my name is Grant. Who's your friend over here?" He asked Berri, gesturing to Michael who was right next to her.
"This is Michael. The two of us were out looking for antiques to sell down under the sea when we saw your boat and decided to check what was going on." Berri explained to Grant.
Grant nodded. "Well, what a coincedence, because I was out looking for jewelry to sell. I have an idea: If you two can get me some jewelry I can sell back home, I'll get you some antiques you can sell back in your home. Do we have a deal?" He asked Berri and Michael with a smile.
Berri and Michael looked at each other before Berri smiled and nodded. "You got yourself a deal, honey." The Mermunk princess told Grant as she shook the chimpansee boy's hand.
"Cool. I'll be waiting for you around here." Grant smiled back before watching as Berri and Michael dove back under the surface to find some jewelry for the chimpansee boy to sell back on the surface.
"Do you really think it's a good idea to do business with a surface dweller like this, Berri? Your father would flip if he found out about this!" Michael told Berri with a worried look on his face.
Berri giggled a bit more. "Oh, Michael, relax. Grant looks like a very friendly surface dweller who wouldn't ever do any harm to our kind. Plus, he's willing to hook us up with some antiques we can bring back to Old Franklin. Just think about it: Antiques from the surface, given to us by a surface dweller! That's gotta be the most easy antiques run we've ever done!" She told the young Merhorse with a reassuring smile.
Michael sighed, shaking his head. "You're too optimistic for your own good sometimes, Berri..." The young Merhorse remarked as he and Berri proceeded to find a shipwreck and swam inside, trying to find jewelry for Grant. After looking around for a bit, they managed to find a string of sapphires inside a chest.
"Ah! This oughta be enough for Grant to sell back on the surface! Let's get this back to him as quick as we can!" Berri said as she and Michael speed swam out of the shipwreck and back towards the surface where Grant was waiting for them. They resurfaced in front of Grant's boat as the chimpansee boy had gotten back into it.
"Ah! You two made it back here! So, did you find anything that might be worth selling back home?" Grant asked the two mers.
Berri smiled and nodded. "Yup! Check this out!" The Mermunk princess told him as she handed him the string of sapphires.
"Ah, great! I'll make tons of cash selling this at Miss Harrington's Jewelry Shop! There's a huge demand for sapphires where I live at the moment, so I'm sure she'll be paying me a good sum of money for these! Thank you so much, Berri and Michael! As promised, I'll hook you up with some antiques you can sell back in your hometown! I'll have to get it from my home though, so you'll have to wait around here for a bit." Grant told Berri and Michael.
Berri smiled and nodded. "Alright, Grant. We hope to see you back here again soon with our antiques." She told the chimpansee boy.
A little while later, Berri and Michael were waiting under the sea surface for Grant to bring them their antiques. "Do you think he'll actually give us the antiques? For all I know, he could've scammed us with open eyes, butter, sugar and both fins." Michael told Berri.
Berri smiled and placed her hands on Michael's shoulders. "I'm sure that he'll give us the antiques, Michael. Grant seems like a boy of his word to me, and he'll do his part of the deal we made just like we did ours." She assured the young Merhorse. She and Michael then looked up as they saw Grant's boat overhead. "Look! There he is!" Berri gasped as she and Michael swam upwards and surface in front of the boat again.
"Ah, there you two are! I got you some pottery that my parents made! I hope that'll do on your end!" Grant smiled as he handed the pottery to Berri and Michael.
"I'm sure it will! Old Franklin's Shop has been having a huge demand for pottery like this for a while now, so I'm sure he'll appreciate this! Thanks for the help, Grant! We really appreciate it!" Berri told the chimpansee boy with a beaming smile.
Grant smiled and nodded. "Anytime, Berri. Thank you for saving my life, as well as getting me that string of sapphires. It was pleasure doing business with you." He told the Mermunk princess. "Well, I think you'd better get back down to your underwater city or wherever you and Michael live. You don't want the wrong surface dwellers to see you." He then said.
Berri smiled and nodded back. "Indeed! Well, we gotta go now! Bye, Grant!" She told the chimpansee boy before she and Michael dove back under the surface and began swimming back to Subtropolis.
"See? I told you he was gonna do his part of the deal!" Berri told Michael, keeping the beaming smile.
Michael smiled and nodded. "I guess you were right this time, Berri. Guess I was worrying too much this time around. I just hope that my paranoia won't be justified next time." He replied.
"We'll just have to wait...and sea." Berri laughed at the pun she made as Michael rolled his eyes as the two friends continued to swim towards Old Franklin's shop to give him the pottery they received from Grant.