Note: This is the first time I'm doing this but according to suggestions from eiuolfyd and Daemonic Maid, this chapter is split in half. For now, this will only show Umi's POV, but I'll upload Arashi's soon. Here's the 9th Chappie! I promise I'll upload the second half soon!

Umi's POV:

Everything was black, no- not the black that gives you a sense of hollowness; instead, it was a black that gave the up-and-down unnerving feeling.

I was in a dark space. There was nothing that stood out, nothing that indicated where I was; nothing, just nothing.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a huge, dark cavern. The room was mostly filled with limestone and the ceiling stretched into a never-ending sea of black.

"Where... am I?" I asked to no one in particular.

Silence...

I tried to recall what had happened and how I got here. But... I had the faintest clue of what had happened, other than the fact my head hurts.

But my memory finally yielded a single word...

Arashi.

Arashi... WHAT! Where was he? Why am I alone? Was he not with me? Is he alright too?

A thousand questions were bubbling in my head, yet I had no idea or memory of how I ended up alone in this deep, dark cavern.

There must be a way, I thought, a way out of here...

I began to swim around, navigating (or trying to navigate, to be precise) my way through the cavern.

The cavern must be very spacious, for not once have I felt a solid wall. The only thing solid I could feel was the limestone floor that I occasionally rested on. I could, however, feel "walls", walls of water pressure at lest, which could indicate the uneven depths of the cavern. I was about to lose hope when a voice called out to me.

"You have fallen into our domain, escape is futile," the voice echoed, reverberating from the darkness.

Great to know, I thought in a sarcastic tone, as if my hopelessness wasn't bad enough.

Nevertheless, the voice seemed familiar to me. My stream of memories began to tug, all it needed was a little current to push through the dam that's blocking my memories.

"Who are you?" I asked, trying hard to recall the events prior to being trapped in this cavern yet somehow realizing the voice was that of a male.

"Humph! Must I tell you?" the voice answered, "You already know! So stop playing back and give me back my son!"

What was he talking about? I certainly do not know the name of someone I cannot see. And I CERTAINLY don't know about his son!

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I protested.

"You might as well just start speaking, because here in the dark, there are more of us than you!" the voice spat back.

He's persistent, is he? I don't care who or what he is or how many I'm facing, but IF he's the reason why Arashi is missing, he'll pay!

"I TOLD YOU," I angrily hissed, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

The voice sighed; whispers were heard as if it was discussing something with its unseen comrades.

For a moment there was silence, I thought that I was starting to lose it; the darkness must be driving me crazy.

But suddenly the voice resumed, "I am sorry, but I have no other option but to resort to force."

Great! So now I know two things: one good and bad. The good news is that I'm not crazy, but the bad news is... The voice is real...

The figure soon showed itself, a silhouette of a long eel-like thing was all I could see. Sharp teeth lined its mouth and its tail ended in a small fishlike shape.

This was the last thing needed to jag my memory... It now makes sense! My regained memory came flowing back like a river flowing out from a broken dam.

Arashi and I were swimming off into deeper territories far from home. We felt more secure and at ease far from home.

I gazed lovingly at him, slightly blushing while he coiled his own tail, quizzically thinking for a suitable place for the two of us to spend the night.

"Where do you think we should stay, Umi?" he asked me.

"I'm fine with any place as long as I'm with you," I accidentally blurted out.

Arashi started to blush and turn away from me to his embarrassment while I was sheepishly grinning when he wasn't looking.

We swam together across the sea, Arashi heroically fighting the ocean currents as I secretly watched him from behind.

Sooner or later, dusk came upon us. Arashi had found a shallow area with several beds of seaweed to cushion us in our sleep.

"Well, Umi... what do you think?" he questioned nervously, apparently trying to seel my approval on the place we were camping out.

Not wanting to upset him, I naturally complimented him, "Oh, it's wonderful."

His face was red by now, but I soon noticed it was because of me involuntarily coiling my tail around his.

"Erm... Well... Uh... Sorry!" I nervously stammered, quickly taking back my tail.

Arashi shyly smiled back, which made me do the same.

I slowly lay down, next to Arashi. (Much to his discomfort and shyness...)

I secretly smiled, leaning my head slowly against his pristine blue body. (He must have flinched as I did so.)

"Umi?" he slowly asked, looking up at the stars, "Well... There's something I want to tell you."

I smiled.

"Yes?" I replied.

He lifted his head and tried to arrange his small pile of belongings.

"Well... Uh... I wanted to g-give you something," he nervously stuttered as he clumsily searched through his belongings.

I smiled shyly. He truly does care about me... If only he knew... how much he meant to me...

All of a sudden, a screech rang out somewhere in the corners.

"There, that's what he looked like!" a rough voice hastily barked, "That's the one who kidnapped my son!"

Arashi and I jolted upright. It seemed like we had company.

A Huntail swam straight at us, accompanied by others of his kind. He immediately launched himself into a Crunch attack at me.

Arashi was worried and concerned upon seeing me injured and tried to fight back, but he quickly fell victim to a Confuse Ray attack.

I tried to strike back, but I was still cringing from the attack inflicted upon me.

Arashi was now very dizzy, making him an easy target for all the Huntail.

I had to do something!

I tried to fight back, but all the Huntail were already unleashing their barrage of Crunch attacks at me.

"Arashi, h-help!" I cried.

Then something hit me in the head. I felt numb, and then the whole world faded before me.

"You were the one who attacked me!" I yelled at the silhouette upon remembering the events that happened.

"And you were that vile criminal who kidnapped my son!" the silhouette, which upon closer inspection revealed itself to be a Huntail, angrily replied.

I tried to explain, "I told you so, I never did!"

"Humph! I won't believe another lie from your cruel tongue," he angrily answered, "It all ends now!"

He charged into battle as soon as he had finished talking.

The battlefield was much to his advantage as I knew that all Huntail mainly spend their lives in the dark and their eyesight have adapted to an environment of such. However, for Arashi, I will NOT LOSE!

"What have you done to Arashi?" I angrily yelled, charging up an Ice Beam.

"The Gyarados?" he replied, "None of your business!"

I launched an Ice Beam at full force straight at him, but he seemed unfazed from the attack.

He retaliated by charging straight at me with a Waterfall attack.

I barely felt any pain due to being resistant to Water-type attacks, however, most of my attacks were as ineffective as his attacks.

I had hoped that I would get a lucky break and freeze him with the next Ice Beam I launched but he just charged at me with Waterfall again, unfazed from my attack.

Now, Waterfall wasn't an effective attack against a Milotic, but that annoying Huntail somehow got lucky and managed to land a critical hit on me.

I screamed as I writhed in pain.

No! I will not give up! Not now, never!

I quickly came to my senses and used Recover. I felt relieved upon feeling the refreshing glow that healed most of, if not all, my wounds.

The Huntail hesitated, but continued to charge forward, but this time he used Crunch.

He sank his dirty fangs into my tender and smooth skin, and again I felt a searing pain.

I charged up all my energy and fired another Ice Beam at him. This time, I got lucky; he was frozen from my attack even if it was not effective. I took advantage of this moment to use Recover to cleanse and heal the remaining wounds. Afterwards, I mustered all my strength and launched a Hydro Pump straight at him.

It may not be very effective, but it was my strongest attack, and that had to count for something.

The Huntail was still frozen solid and had no choice but to take the blunt of my attack.

I charged up another Hydro Pump, carefully aiming at my non-moving target. The huge pressure of water made it hard to aim even a non-moving target. I carefully blasted the attack at my target which had hit for the second time in succession. It took a lot out of me but I'm willing to do anything to win this fight!

The Huntail finally thawed out and counterattacked with a Crunch attack. His dirty fangs once again drove deep down my cream colored skin, but I noticed that he was getting weaker. This made a small spark of hope flare up inside me until it turned into a huge conflagration.

I charged up another Hydro Pump. This time, I found it difficult to aim for my target was now able to move, Hydro Pump is generally a strong yet inaccurate attack. Aiming for the now-moving target was hard, due to the huge volume of water being prepared in my body made concentration unbearable.

I breathed a small prayer of luck that the attack would hit; I was going to risk everything in this all-or-nothing attack!

I took a lucky aim and fired the Hydro Pump attack from my mouth. I closed my eyes as I felt the tremendous amount of water gushing out of my body with a tremendous force. Indeed, it was strong; I just hoped that it hit him.

I opened my eyes and saw that the Huntail was defeated; he lay on the cavern floor, cringing in pain.

"M-my son," he cried in a frustrated manner, "I-I'll n-never see him again."

I felt intrigued by what he had said, so I asked, "Why DID you accuse me of kidnapping your son anyway?"

"Don't play dumb," he replied, eyes full of loathing, "The other day, some Milotic went rampant and yelled something about his plan being ruined, he took his anger out on my son when he approached him!

"Immediately after the thrashing, he took my son with him, however, my species isn't known for speed and so I wasn't able to catch up.

"He had wanted to gain the cooperation of my tribe and I suspect that he's holding my son hostage to do so...

"Don't try to deny the fact that it wasn't you who had done so, for Milotic aren't exactly found in these parts at all."

I felt numb after hearing that story. He... Could he be Armik? Then he must be out to hunt me down, this is definitely not good.

"He?" I asked, "Um... excuse me, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a girl..."

The Huntail froze upon hearing my words; he seemed to realize that he had the wrong Milotic... Apparently, he realized it too late... I wonder how he even mistook me for Armik. Male Milotic generally had shorter hair than us females, so much for Huntail having developed eyesight in the dark.

"I'm sorry!" he apologized, looking down at the cavern floor.

"It's just that, I'm very worried about my son," he teared up.

"That's okay," I sympathized, "It's only natural for a parent to be worried about their children."

I felt guilty for saying that though, as I was the one who had escaped from home while this poor Huntail's son got kidnapped and had no desire to be separated from his parent.

I shook myself out of the thought; I had to find out more about the Milotic he mentioned.

"Do you happen to know the name of the Milotic you talked about?" I inquired.

"No," the Huntail replied, "but he once asked to gain the cooperation of my tribe to hunt for someone named 'Umi'. He's even willing to pay for a huge sum, however, I forbid the tribe members from doing so for I found that wrong and because of that he took away my son."

My eyes widened.

"Armik," I muttered.

The Huntail raised an eyebrow, "You know him?"

"Yes," I explained, "he's not very pleasant either."

The Huntail began to excitedly ask, "Do you think you can help me find my son?"

I pondered about it for a while...

"I'll inform you if I come across him," I answered abruptly.

"Thank you," the Huntail said in a grateful tone.

"Well, may I ask you one favour?" I sheepishly asked.

"Why not?" the Huntail replied.

I started, "Before you attacked me, I was with a Gyarados-"

"Oh, him," he interrupted, "he's being held captive by the Gorebyss under my wife's command."

"Can you free him?" I begged.

"Yes, but we have to hurry, my wife can be kind and loving but at times she can be harsh when it concerns our child," he explained.

"If that is true, we have to hurry now!" I exclaimed, gesturing for him to lead the way.

The Huntail wasted no time in leading the way; he swam out and led me through the maze hidden within the dark recesses of the cavern. After that, we broke into an all-out frantic swim fearing we would run out of time.

I'm coming for you Arashi... I'm coming...

Note: And that's it for now, I promise that Arashi's POV will follow soon after this! Please review, every opinion counts, thanks!