Beneath the waves off the Gold Coast of Australia, mermaids and mermen alike lived in peace. They tried to keep themselves hidden from humans so that humans would not learn of their existence and potentially hunt their species to extinction. Most of these mermaids and mermen lived together in the Kingdom of Mertropolis.
One of the residents of Mertropolis was a young 15-16 year old Caucasian mermaid named Emma Gilbert. She loved to collect things from the surface world, and would regularly visit shipwrecks near the Gold Coast to search for surface things.
Emma was currently happily swimming through the ocean. She had long blonde hair and a purple fishtail along with a purple seashell bra to match. She then found a shipwreck. She smiled as she swam inside the shipwreck.
Meanwhile, above the surface, a 15-16 year old Caucasian human girl named Jenny Hart was at the same shipwreck to look for treasure to sell on land. Jenny had brown hair with blonde streaks in it and was currently wearing a red and white vest with blue denim cargo shorts. She cast her fishing line down into the shipwreck and tried to reel in a treasure chest that she saw at the bottom of the shipwreck, but didn't notice Emma inside the shipwreck.
"Come on...come on..." Jenny muttered as she tried to hook onto the chest.
Emma wanted to check out the same treasure chest Jenny tried to reel in when she saw the fishing hook and was confused. "A fishing hook? My parents warned me about them..." Emma said to herself.
Jenny took a quick break and looked up to the sky, groaning a bit. The hook was now sitting there because Jenny wasn't looking. Emma then proceeded to tie the hook to a table and began looking in the chest. "Ooh! Some of the stuff in this chest isn't in my collection!" She said in excitement.
Jenny then felt the hook move and hook onto the table, thinking the hook had hooked onto the chest. "Ah, there we go!" Jenny said as she reeled in her line, noticing the table. "Huh? How did I hook this table?" Jenny then unhooked the table and tossed it behind her. She tried again without looking into the surface of the water to notice anything out of the ordinary. The hook then slowly came back down.
Emma noticed the hook coming back down and panicked, quickly hiding behind the chest. The hook just sat there, menacingly, or maybe not. The hook didn't move, the current somewhat made it move, but didn't do much else to it. Jenny groaned as she was getting impatient with the hook not latching onto the chest, so she nudged the hook forward to get it to latch onto the chest, which it then did.
"Aha! I got it!" Jenny exclaimed. She started reeling in the chest, away from Emma. Emma was frightened and tried to find another hiding place. The chest then unhooked in the middle of reeling it in and dropped back down. "Ugh, looks like I'll have to go down there to get it..." Jenny groaned as she took off most of her clothing, except for her baby blue bikini top and baby blue bikini bottom, then dove into the water and swam down to the chest to grab it. Again, she didn't notice the panicking Emma.
Emma noticed Jenny and quickly hid in a room. Jenny looked into the chest to find the sweet stuff. The hard part now was swimming back up. She grabbed the chest and started swimming back upwards. However, she wasn't swimming fast enough, and her cheeks started puffing up. Emma looked at Jenny as she was trying to swim back up. Jenny dropped the chest and inhaled water, flailing before sinking back down unconscious.
Emma gasped. "She's drowning!" She quickly swam over to Jenny. "I have to do something to help her..." She picked up the unconscious Jenny and swam out of the shipwreck with her, quickly swimming towards Mako Island, which was off the Gold Coast as well. Mako Island featured a Moon Pool, which held magical powers. The Queen of Mertropolis, Bertha had forbidden the people of Mertropolis from going there, but that didn't stop some merpeople from going there, Emma and her friends included.
Emma swam through the underwater opening with the unconscious Jenny, entering the Moon Pool. Emma surfaced with the unconscious Jenny, and began performing a spell. "A newborn daughter of the seas. Her old life shall be traded so she may live along with the breeze. A past state will be undone, and a new era will have begun." Emma spoke before the Moon Pool began bubbling and glowing. Emma then went underwater with the unconscious Jenny and placed her down on the bottom of the Moon Pool as she let the pool do its magic.
Jenny's body was then engulfed by an emerald green light, which transformed her. The glow soon faded as Jenny's body was revealed. Her legs and feet had vanished: She now possessed an emerald green fishtail that glowed brightly and ended in a single fin that was a mix of emerald green and black. Her bikini top had been replaced by a purple seashell bra and the blonde streaks in her hair had turned purple. Three slits had opened on both sides of Jenny's neck: She had gills. She had transformed: She was now a mermaid, having been turned into one by the magic of the Moon Pool. Jenny was still unconscious, however. Her lungs were also still filled with with water, and it would take a bit before this fully changed.
Emma sat at the newly turned mermaid's side until she woke up. It wasn't long before Jenny gasped and coughed. "Argh, what...am I dead...?" Jenny groaned.
"You were drowning and I saved you. Good thing I know surface dwellers can't breathe underwater." Emma replied to the newly turned mermaid.
"W-What do you...am I underwater still?" Jenny observed her surroundings before finally seeing Emma and herself. "Ah! I have a tail! That explains a few things though..." She then looked back up at Emma. "U-Uh...thanks for saving my life there..."
Emma smiled. "You're welcome." She replied.
Jenny brought her hands behind her on the sandy floor of the Moon Pool as she tried to get up. She was still a bit weak from the near dead experience. "What in the world is this place...?" She then asked.
"This is the Moon Pool at Mako Island. It has magical abilities, which has the ability to transform humans into merpeople. A magic spell I cast combined with the magic of the Moon Pool is what turned you into a mermaid." Emma explained to her.
"O-Oh." Jenny nodded. "Again, thanks. Anyway...what's your name?" She then asked Emma.
"My name is Emma Gilbert." Emma replied, introducing herself.
"Emma..." Jenny repeated quietly to herself before speaking out loud. "I'm forever in your debt." She told the purple tailed mermaid.
"I suppose so." Emma nodded.
"Well, now I have to get used to being a mermaid now. That's fine, as long as I'm alive...Where do we go from here?" She then asked Emma.
"I can take you to my city. I can get you a place to stay there." Emma offered the emerald green tailed mermaid.
"That'd be nice." Jenny replied. "I'll have to get used to starting my life over again. You lead, I'll...try to follow."
"Okay." Emma replied before the purple tailed mermaid swam out of the Moon Pool and waited on Jenny. The emerald green tailed mermaid followed her movements to somewhat help her move herself too.
"T-There we go, I'm getting it. Up and down, simple as walking..." Jenny said.
Emma smiled and nodded. "By the way, what's your name?" She asked Jenny.
"Oh, right. Forgot about that. Jenny Hart's my name. Call me whatever fancies you most." Jenny replied, introducing herself to the purple tailed mermaid.
"Alright." Emma nodded again.
"So, where's your city...? And I didn't even know cities existed down here..." Jenny asked Emma.
"I'll take you there." Emma smiled and took Jenny's hand, then swam off with her. Jenny didn't mind Emma taking her hand, as it was better as she taught herself how to swim by watching Emma do it. Within a matter of minutes, the emerald green tailed mermaid was able to swim without needing Emma's hand. The two mermaids smiled at each other as they continued swimming towards Mertropolis.