Lexia prided herself on two things. One, her ability to tune out Aryl effectively, which she used quite a lot. And two, her ability to sucker anyone into driving her somewhere. Lexia didn't have a driver's license. After failing the test seven times she'd given up and started walking more. But, when she wanted a ride, she could always get one… except from Aryl if she was ranting… or sleeping. Other than that, she could always get a ride.

So, now, as Aryl drove down the highway, talking about something (Lexia had tuned her out again), Lexia contemplated how she was going to pay her brother back for the money they were using to fund their little "research trip" as Aryl had called it.

Lexia let herself hear Aryl for a moment, to see if she was nearing a break in whatever she was currently talking about.

"Lexia, are you tuning me out again?" Aryl asked the blond girl.

Lexia turned to her friend, "Sorry A." she said, "I was thinking."

"About what?" Aryl asked. She had clearly run out of things to talk about by herself.

"How on EARTH we are EVER going to pay my brother back for this."

"Aww, Lexia." Aryl complained, "You always ruin the fun! We'll worry about that AFTER our trip. Once we get back, and Adam starts bugging us for the money, which he never will, by the way, since he loves us so much, we'll pay him back. As for right now, let's just have fun, okay?"

Lexia sighed, giving into her friend, "Fine."

XXXX

Elik was really starting to annoy Kiri. He didn't come back at all the night before, or if he did, he didn't come back until after Kiri was asleep and left again before she woke up. Oh yeah, that was HIGHLY likely. Kiri HAD been worried that morning, so she called the place where Elik worked, to see if he had stayed over, and sure enough, he had. Kiri understood her boyfriend's love for what he did, but she never got to see him anymore. She heard the bell in the front of the apartment ring loudly, and hopped up, knowing it was Lexia and Aryl.

She swung open the door, expecting to see the smiling faces of her two close friends standing there, but instead saw a face she had hoped she would never see again.

"Moiyu." Kiri muttered, backing up.

"I'm not here to hurt you!" Moiyu shouted, before Kiri could attack her, "I promise!"

Something in Moiyu's blue eyes told Kiri that she was telling the truth.

"What do you want?" Kiri asked, "You have five minutes."

"I need your help." Moiyu said, "Not all of us are on Gaito's side because we're in love with him, or we want to impress him… in fact few of us are. Kiri, please. My best friend helped me escape him, but got himself captured in the process. I need to help him out of there! Please, Kiri!"

"Your best friend?" Kiri asked.

"His name is Jay. He's been my friend since we were kids, and then Gaito captured me and forced me to work for him. He finally got me out yesterday, but he couldn't escape. I really need your help, Kiri."

"I need some kind of proof that you're not lying."

Moiyu nodded, "I figured, so I grabbed this on my way out." She pulled a pearl out of her pocket, "I couldn't save the mermaid it belongs to, but here." She tossed it over to Kiri who caught it swiftly. "It's from the yellow idol princess."

"Yes, I can tell." Kiri said. "Alright. I don't completely trust you, but I guess I could help you."

"Thank you Kiri." Moiyu said.

"But you'd better get inside quickly, before someone sees you. You kind of… stick out."

Moiyu nodded, smiling. Kiri noted that Moiyu actually looked like a human, if you ignored the dark pink fish ears she had on the side of her head and the her tail. Other than that, she had normal looking straight, short blond hair, lighter than Lexia's, but natural looking, and blue eyes. Her closes were a bit conspicuous, but that could be easily solved.

"Okay, Lexia and Aryl are on their way, and I know they overpacked, so they should have some clothes you can use. Any chance you have a human form?"

Moiyu nodded, "My family came here for a vacation when I was younger. Before Gaito captured me. We all had to get human forms while we were here."

"Perfect." Kiri said, "That way you won't, y'know, stick out."

Moiyu smiled. "Thank you for all this, Kiri."

"Stop thanking me before the job's done. You can stay here until it is. My boyfriend's MIA anyway."

"What happened?"

"He's busy at work."

The bell rang again and Kiri opened it up. This time, Lexia and Aryl WERE standing there, neither one smiling though.

Kiri groaned, "What happened?"

"Nothing, yet." Lexia said, "But I know something will."

"She's been in the car all day." Aryl said, "Of course she's in a bad mood."

"And your bad mood is caused by what? Grief over her bad mood?" Kiri asked.

"No." Aryl said, not catching the joke, "I've been driving all day and my arms hurt."

"Oh." Kiri said, "Well, we're going to get a little bit of action soon. Look who's here."

Aryl and Lexia looked over at Moiyu, before looking back at Kiri.

"Okay, you have an explanation to give, now." Lexia demanded.

XXXX

After Kiri explained all that was going on, Aryl ran out to the car to get some clothes for Moiyu, while Lexia and Kiri talked about how they were going to get into Gaito's castle.

"Moiyu, do you know the castle is now?" Kiri asked the girl.

Moiyu shook her head, "There's no way to track it. The best thing to do would be to go to the Dark Ocean and find it from there."

Lexia nodded. She didn't particularly like the Dark Ocean, but at least few of the water demons living there actually hated the mermaids. In fact, the majority of them liked the mermaids, because they didn't like Gaito. Still, the Dark Ocean wasn't one of Lexia's favorite places.

Aryl hurried in through the door, holding some clothes for Moiyu. She smiled at the water demon and handed over the clothes, "Here you go."

Moiyu thanked her and walked into the bathroom to change forms.

Aryl walked over to Lexia and Kiri, "So, what's our plan?"

"We're starting in the Dark Ocean to see if we can find Gaito's castle. That's where the plan ends." Kiri answered.

Aryl nodded, before sighing, "I wish we knew where Miriella was. Without her, me and Lexia are at a disadvantage."

"Yeah." Lexia said, "If we're lucky, we won't need to be at full power."

Aryl sighed again, "With our luck?" she asked, "We're doomed."

XXXX

Moiyu had to admit she was slightly surprised that Kiri, Aryl, and Lexia were being so hospitable and helpful. She was very glad they were, but that didn't stop her from being surprised.

She also had to admit that she liked her human form more than her normal form. The clothes Aryl had leant her fit well, and Moiyu ran a few fingers through her blond hair, before opening the bathroom door and walking out into the living room. Aryl, Lexia, and Kiri had sat down, so Moiyu walked over.

"You look nice." Aryl smiled at her.

"Thank you." Moiyu answered.

"You said you had come here with your family on vacation before." Kiri said.

Moiyu nodded, "I was ten at the time."

"Your family lives in the dark ocean?"

"My parents do." Moiyu said. "My older brother and grandfather moved to the human world shortly before I was captured by Gaito."

Kiri nodded.

"Well, we should get going then, shouldn't we?" Aryl asked.

Kiri nodded, and stood up. Aryl and Lexia followed suit.

"We'll transform to warrior right before we get to the dark ocean." Kiri said.

Aryl nodded, "Okay."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That's all I've got for this time. I'll update again soon. Next chapter we get to see some action.

Just some quick info on the warrior mermaids: Two of them are considered "leaders" and if they're around with two of their "squad members" they can go to full power. The normal squad members can transform without their leader, but they're only at half power. If a leader transforms with none of her squad members, she's at full power, but it's more of a burden on her body.

Miriella and Kiri are the two leaders. Aryl and Lexia are squad members, along with the other two mermaids that haven't come in yet.

Oh, right. There are only six warrior princesses at this point. There were three more in the original draft, but I don't think I can fit them into this one. We'll see on that. I had to change around colors and things to make these six fit, and I realize that I said 14 in the prologue.

There's one more mermaid princess, but that's all I'm going to say. Idol, Warrior… or neither? She'll come in later.

But, anyway. There's seven idols, six warriors, and then this last one.

The last two warriors will come in later in the story. Miriella's been missing for the last couple of years, and Kiri, Lexia, and Aryl don't know the last two.

That's all the info I have for now. More action next chapter. Hope you enjoyed!

And I haven't said this yet, but I don't own Mermaid Melody. I always forget to put the disclaimer.

If you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to ask! And sorry about the long author's note!