Chapter Four- Picture Trip

Atem woke up Sunday morning, feeling good. He had used his swim yesterday to scout out different coral beds so he would be able to take pictures no matter where they dropped anchor. Kaiba had brought one of the cameras to school Friday so that Atem could practice with it and be familiar with its functions. They spent the afternoon around campus taking pictures, including the school pool. Atem was impressed with the camera and looked forward to putting it through its paces.

Kaiba's limo pulled up ten minutes after nine and it drove both to the pier on the other side of the beach where Kaiba's private yacht was moored, waiting for them. Kaiba had the cameras in a metal briefcase that he put in the cabin before unhooking the yacht, getting Atem on, and turning on the engine. It roared to life and he expertly steered it out to sea.

"Have you had this long?" Atem yelled over the engine.

"Only three years," he yelled back. "But I maintain it regularly despite rarely using it." Kaiba drove the yacht far out to sea before killing the motor and dropping the anchor.

Atem surveyed the expanse of water all around them and knew this area from his scouting yesterday. The area had been new to him as he usually didn't venture too far out but he was glad he had yesterday as he had suspected that they would be in open waters. He was eager to grab a camera, jump in, and change but instead followed Kaiba down where a pair of scuba suits and equipment were. The two changed in private and then adjusted the other's tank harnesses as well as making sure they were operating perfectly. Atem wasn't concerned about his tank failing as he could change to a merman. Which, I plan to do anyway.

"All right. When the tank is three-quarters gone, come back here," Kaiba said as they sat on the edges of the yacht.

Atem nodded, adjusted his mouthpiece, and dismounted backwards into the water with Kaiba following suite from the opposite side. The boundless depths of the sea called out to Atem as he kicked his legs to propel his away from Kaiba but to him it felt like it was taking a long time to do so. Finally enough distance had been achieved and Atem changed to his tail, all gear gone until he became human again.

Whoa. I had no idea how heavy all that stuff was until now. He turned to the camera in his hand and turned it on before swimming down to the coral bed that he knew was there and teeming with sea life. As he approached it, he saw lots of life flitting in, out, and around the coral. He smiled as he swam above the coral and snapped pictures of coral where no creatures were around before swimming beside it to take more pictures. However, his picture-taking was attracting interest and some creatures were flitting back and forth in front of the camera. Atem smiled and laughed at their antics. They act like humans do when in front of a camera, whether a picture one or a TV camera.

"Over here! Take my picture!" a voice called. Atem turned but only saw a clownfish. It performed several somersaults before stopping and it flicked its tail in annoyance. "Come on, take it!"

Atem's mouth parted and he blinked in shock. "You can talk!?" he gasped out.

"Of course. Merpeople can talk to any sea life."

"Interesting. Well, maybe you can all help me. I need pictures of ocean life for an ecosystem project."

He heard chatter all around him before a dolphin was pushing him along with its nose. "Kelp is vital to sea life," he said as he guided the merboy to a field of vibrant green kelp. Atem exhaled in appreciation before snapping a few pictures.

"Plankton is necessary for life," a school of fish squeaked and led Atem to a source for him to take pictures.

"Thank you, my friends," Atem said as he checked the camera clock and saw he needed to head back.

"You're welcome. Come see us another time," the clownfish replied and others called farewells as Atem swam off toward the yacht. Amazing, he thought. All these years and I never knew I could talk to sea life. Boy, will Yugi and Grandpa be surprised! He paused in these thoughts as he neared the yacht. He changed back to human and then manipulated his tank to release most of his air before surfacing by the ladder. He climbed the ladder and slid on board before removing the flippers and padding below deck where Kaiba was already out of his suit and dressed, his camera hooked up to his laptop. He looked up as Atem came down.

"I was starting to wonder," he said.

"I can swim quite fast and get far, but it was worth it." He put the camera on the desk before heading off to change privately. When he emerged, he saw his pictures on the laptop screen.

Kaiba turned in his chair, his blue eyes showing admiration. "I'm impressed. These shots are very good. You've mastered the camera's controls, that much is clear. You were right about the coral. It's prettier than what is in the book, which I admit I doubted when looking through the book Friday. And this kelp," he said as he brought up the pictures and he shook his head. "I never knew it could be this shade of green."

"I didn't either and knew I had to take a few shots of it."

"It's clear that plant life plays an important role in the ocean's ecosystem. I took shots of mangrove grass and seagrass meadows." Kaiba brought said pictures and Atem felt breathless at them.

"Kaiba, these are wonderful."

"Thanks. Well, what is this?" Kaiba had gone back to Atem's pictures and gave the teen a small amused smile. "A clownfish?"

"They live in anemones and sometimes coral beds. An example of that symbiont relationship you thought up."

"Yes, all right. Then that will be part of our report. I say we copy parts of the books we checked out and get together on Wednesday to share our copies and work on an outline."

"So, you would want to present it as a report."

"A report with a slideshow of our pictures."

"A slideshow. I like that."

"I think next week we will organize our notes and separately write parts of the report before bringing them together the week after that and put together the slideshow."

"Some of those slide could be used as a bibliography at the end of the show."

Kaiba nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea. Mr. Saxon would like that."

Atem smiled as he sat beside Kaiba and worked on improving the pictures they took, complimenting each other on the angles and quality of the pictures, some of which were due to the cameras used. Atem accepted the compliments and wished he could tell Kaiba how he acquired these pictures, but knew he couldn't. Kaiba wouldn't believe him and besides only his family should really know.

"They talked to you?" Yugi asked in astonishment.

Atem nodded. "I never spoke while I'm swimming so of course I didn't know I could talk to them. It turns out that sea creatures like having their pictures taken just like people do."

Yugi laughed and Solomon smiled. "So, this trip was both productive and surprising?" Solomon asked.

"Very productive. Both of us took very good shots and we'll put them together as a slideshow alongside our written report." Atem thought of his time with Kaiba that afternoon and felt as if they were forming a true friendship through this project. The plans that Kaiba proposed and that I've accepted hints that we will be working at his place and I look forward to seeing his home.