Aryl and Kiri gathered the large group in Kiri's living room to go over plans of what they were going to do when they got to California. Lexia and Moiyu were on opposite sides of the room, glaring at each other and not talking. Jay was sitting next to Moiyu, attempting to calm her down, but having no such luck. Caren was sitting in an armchair, confused, but keeping quiet, knowing better than to ask what was going on. Kiri and Aryl were at the front of the room, where a map of California was taped to the wall. Aryl was holding a wooden spoon and Kiri was holding a metal whisk. Just for kicks, Aryl had put a saucepan on top of her head like a hat.

"Ahem." Aryl spoke up. Caren looked up and rolled her eyes at her friend's attire. She'd only known Aryl for a day, but she knew her well enough to conclude that this was normal for the mermaid. "Now, if you'll direct your attention to our map, we can begin."

"Where'd you print the map off of?" Lexia asked, amused at the coloring of the map. Each county was colored a different color and with there being 58 of them, the map looked like a rainbow that had been cut into pieces and then taped together by a three year old. Aryl was not amused.

"It was the only map I could find that had each of the counties labeled like this," she pouted, "So shut up."

"Alright, alright." Lexia grinned, sitting back in her chair.

"Anyway, as I was saying." Aryl said, "Adam got us a place to stay in Los Angeles." She pointed to the city on the map with her wooden spoon.

Lexia interrupted her, "You mean the purple blob with the big yellow dot in the center?" she asked.

Without warning, Aryl threw her wooden spoon and hit Lexia in the head with it.

"Any more questions?" she asked, smiling wickedly.

Moiyu and Caren shook their heads simultaneously while Lexia rubbed hers.

"Back to my explanation." Aryl said, as Kiri handed over her metal whisk so that Aryl had a pointer. Aryl took a red sharpie out of her pocket and circled Los Angeles on the map. "The fires run from here, Santa Barbara county." She pointed to a yellow portion of the map, "to the US-Mexico border, here." She ran the whisk along the border. "Since we haven't been able to find any overhead shots of the area, the only thing I can think of is if we trace the edge of the fire from the air. I don't think we'll be able to get high enough to see the whole thing, but we may be able to get high enough to see part of it. If we all take a portion, we can combine them later and read the message."

"How long do you think the message will be?" Moiyu asked, "And do you think he's sending it to us in order?"

"I doubt it's in order." Kiri spoke up, "But it's probably not too long. I mean, how many natural disasters will Gaito have to cause to send us a message? We'll figure out comprehending it after we have the entire message."

Moiyu nodded, "Okay, that sounds good. When are we leaving?"

"When everyone's ready. No one minds swimming there, right? Flights aren't going in and out right now." Aryl said.

"Of course not, as long as you and Caren aren't navigating." Lexia grinned.

"Heh. I promise." Aryl smiled at her friend, who was completely serious.

XXXX

Aryl and Lexia opted to walk back to the Pearl Piari, figuring that checking out of their hotel room would cost less than leaving their stuff there while they gallivanted off to California like detectives… strange, mermaid detectives.

As the two friends walked towards the front desk with their suitcases in tow, Hanon suddenly ambushed them.

"What?" she asked, surprised, "You're leaving?"

Aryl nodded, "We can't afford to stay here anymore." Well, that wasn't a lie. It wasn't the whole truth, but seeing as they'd borrowed money to stay here in the first place, they never could ACTUALLY afford to stay at the Pearl Piari. So, they really weren't lying.

"Besides, our classes are going to start back up soon, so we need to get closer to where we live." Lexia said, "Sorry." With that, the two walked over to the desk, checked out of the hotel, paid, and got the hell away from the chibi princesses.

"Phew." Aryl said, once they were back at Kiri's apartment complex, "I know we came here to keep an eye on them, but I don't think I've ever been this glad to get away from them." With that, the two girls headed inside to finish the final preparations for their trip to California.

XXXX

Right after Lexia and Aryl left the apartment to go get their stuff and check out of the hotel, Moiyu left the apartment as well, heading the opposite direction. She was still mad at Lexia, and didn't want to be in the apartment when she got back. Moiyu sighed, and started jogging, trying to clear her head and figure out why Gaito would be going through so much trouble to give them a message when he could just as easily send one of the water demons under him to deliver it.

Thinking about Gaito made her miss the two close friends she'd had in his castle: Hannah and Myieli. She'd known Myieli before they were captured, and Hannah had befriended Myieli in the few months in-between her capture and Moiyu's own. Suddenly a wave of guilt hit Moiyu. She had escaped Gaito, sure, but she'd left Myieli and Hannah there. Hannah wouldn't have left even if Moiyu had tried to make her, but Myieli…

"Damn it." Moiyu muttered, "I'm not going to feel any better until I get her out."

XXXX

Two hours later, Jay found Moiyu and the group headed out towards California. An interested mermaid that wasn't from the group followed close enough behind the group be able to hear their conversations, but far enough back that she wouldn't be seen.

On the command of her princess, the young mermaid, Lycoris, was to deliver a message to a certain group of mermaids. Unfortunately for Lycoris, all she was given was information about their powers. She knew nothing of how they looked, or acted, or even their ages. So, all she could do was wait until these mermaids here were attacked and see what happened. If it was the right group, it saved Lycoris some swimming. If not, then she'd start over.

Lycoris sighed silently. This was going to take awhile.

XXXX

Remember Aryl's question from the last chapter? "How long does it take to swim to California?" Well that question had just been answered, and the answer was, when you swim in a straight line from Japan's coast to California's coast without stopping, just over 12 hours. When the mermaids reached the coast, they took a quick peek above water to confirm, yes, it was too early for them to show themselves. They'd wait until later that night. There weren't as many people on the beach at that point, and they ran less of risk of being seen.

XXXX

For Coco, minutes and hours had begun to feel like the same length of time. She'd stopped being able to tell the difference between the two quite awhile ago. The only pleasant thing about it was that she no longer knew how long Gaito had held her captive. Why he wouldn't just kill her and get it over with she would never know, but for some reason, he was insistent on keeping her both alive and miserable, stuck in a cage with bars made of ice that freeze-burned her hands when she touched them. She'd stopped feeling that too.

She ran a hand over a few strands of her matted and dirty hair. Shuddering, she quickly pulled her hand down and tried to forget about everything that was going on. It wasn't exactly possible, but thinking about forgetting it did make her remember things that weren't QUITE as bad, like the pleasant conversation she'd had with the guard that watched over her last week. As soon as Gaito'd heard about this conversation, the guard was replaced, and the guard that was here now was not anywhere near as nice as the last one, but still, Coco was happy for the girl that had gotten out of guard duty by talking to her. She'd gotten out of the stupid room her cage was in. Something Coco hadn't done since she'd first been thrown in here.

If Coco could have known the time that she'd been kept in the castle, she probably wouldn't have wanted to. It would just depress her more.

XXXX

Has it really been four years since I last saw you, Coco? Madison sighed as she swam in circles in Kore's small house. She felt bad for intruding, but knew that she couldn't leave until her fin healed fully. Or, she could, but Kore would never let her. She was very grateful to Kore, but Madison's own stubbornness was too much to keep her down most of the time. With an exasperated sigh, Madison plopped herself down in a chair and crossed her arms. Every day that she was stuck in the dark ocean was a day that she didn't know where Coco was. Coco had taken care of her since she'd left the land and moved into the sea six years ago. Now, with Coco gone, Madison was determined to find her and save her, wherever she was.

So far, that hadn't been going so well. Over the last four years, Madison had searched every corner of the oceans, but had found no sign of her. The only places she had yet to search were the Indian Ocean, the Dark Ocean, and Gaito's castle. As soon as Kore let her out of the house, she'd get a chance to ask around the Dark Ocean, but until then, she was getting a little stir-crazy.

XXXX

On the other side of the world, a green haired mermaid opened her eyes as she resurfaced by the coast of California. She took in a deep breath, smiling as she switched to her human form on the sand. She brushed a little bit of sand off her jeans and hurried into town, hoping that the person she was meeting wouldn't be TOO mad at her since she was late. It wasn't her fault she'd gotten caught up in swimming and swam too far north.

Alright, it WAS her fault. But she'd never admit it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hee. Longest chapter yet! grins and jumps into the air Anyway, I've been home sick the last two days, so I got a chance to get this written. A new OC, a new canon character and another character that's yet to be identified! Plus, the return of Madison. I decided to check in on some other characters in this chapter and not focus as much on the main group. shrugs Still not that much action. There WILL be some action in the next chapter, as Lycoris gets her answer, and Madison gets her chance out of the Dark Ocean.

I need to start thinking of titles for the rest of these chapters, since I have a good one for the next chapter, which I'm itching to write and will probably start as soon as I post this up.

As for extra information this chapter, there's none to give yet. I don't feel like going through Lexia or Kiri's development quite yet, as it'll give stuff away. But, I will say that Kiri's name has been the same since the beginning, and Lexia's hasn't.

No reviews last chapter? Aww, that's no fun. I know people read it, I've got the hit-number to prove that, but it would so definitely encourage me if you even dropped me a one-word review.

puppy dog eyes Pleeeaaaseee?

Heh, anyway, review, and I'll get the next chapter out soon.

And once again, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll more than likely answer.