Luchia had searched every single one of Hanon's favorite shops. It had taken her a long time, as the aqua mermaid had a lot of favorite shops, but she had accomplished it. However, much to the pink mermaid's chagrin, Hanon was located in none of them.

Unsure of where her friend could be, Luchia sighed. She was about to stand up from where she was sitting in the food court and leave the mall to try and look at the beach when she was tapped on the shoulder.

She turned around to see a pink haired water demon standing there. "Your name is Luchia, right?" the water demon asked.

Luchia backed up, ready to transform. The mall was about to close so no one would see her.

"I'm not here to fight." The water demon assured Luchia, "I just want to ask you a question."

Luchia nodded. She HAD met Moiyu, Jay, and Rilene, after all. She knew not all water demons were exactly… well, evil.

"Can you give this to Moiyu?" the demon asked, handing over a slip of paper and a key that looked like it was made of ice.

Luchia took the note and key and nodded again, "Yes, I can. But who should I say it's from?" she asked.

"She'll know when she reads it." The water demon smiled, "Thank you." With that, the girl hurried from the mall.

Luchia looked back at the note and key in her hands, then to the doors. She sighed, and left the mall as well. "I guess I'd better drop this off at Kiri's apartment before I go to the beach." She muttered in a hushed tone to herself, ignoring the fact that she was clearly talking to herself. If she didn't think about it, she didn't feel as crazy, no matter what the people around her thought.

XXXX

"Lots of visitors today." Elik commented as there was another knock at the door. First, Moiyu and Jay had walked in, and after Lexia explained the situation to them (in the spare room, out of his sight and earshot, of course) they'd greeted Elik before splitting off (Jay to go check on Rilene and Moiyu to try and coerce Kiri into coming back out of the kitchen. The diamond warrior had locked herself back inside after her touching reunion with her boyfriend.) Then, after Jay and Moiyu, Madison had walked in, a shopping bag over her shoulder. The ruby mermaid had been at the mall, and mentioned seeing Luchia there, but that was about it before she headed off to find a place where she could sit in silence and look through her new stuff. Right after her, Caren walked in, but she barely said the words, 'Got lost' before heading to the bathroom. By this point, Moiyu had given up on Kiri and headed to the spare room as well. And now, there was someone else at the door.

Lexia sighed and got up, swinging the door open. "Hey, Luchia." She commented.

"Hello, Lexia." Luchia said, "Umm… Is Moiyu here?"

"Sure. Come on in." Lexia let the pink mermaid in, "Elik, I'll be right back. Luchia needs to see Moiyu."

Elik nodded, and Lexia brought Luchia down the hallway to the spare room. "She's in there." Lexia said, "Ask her to explain the 'situation' to you."

"I will." Luchia nodded. "You didn't happen to see Hanon, did you?"

Lexia shook her head, "Nah, I haven't seen the over-hyper pipsqueak anywhere. Why?"

"I can't find her." Luchia said, "I was supposed to bring her back so that she could be filled in, but I can't find her anywhere. I searched the entire mall, she isn't at the Pearl Piari. I was about to go to the beach, but I needed to stop here first."

Lexia thought for a moment, "I'll go take a look around the beach." She said, "You've been running around; stay here for a bit. I'll be back soon." With that, she headed down the hall to make up a bull shit excuse to tell Kiri's boyfriend.

XXXX

Luchia knocked on the spare room's door and was greeted by a loud, "C'min!" The pink mermaid opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind her. "Hey, Luchia." Moiyu smiled.

"Hello." Luchia said, "I was given this by a pink haired water demon at the mall. She asked me to give it to you." Luchia held out the note and key. Moiyu leapt out of her chair and rushed over.

"Pink hair, you said?" Jay asked.

Luchia nodded.

Jay smiled, "Myieli."

Moiyu unfolded the note and began to read. "Yup, definitely Myieli." She said, smiling to herself. "Then this must be…" she glanced at the key. "Well, Myieli thought of everything except Kiri's boyfriend showing up." The blond water demon sighed.

"Is that who that was?" Luchia asked.

Moiyu nodded, "Yeah. Kiri's boyfriend, who doesn't know about mermaids or water demons, much less that his girlfriend is one, showed up randomly today."

"Why haven't I seen him before now?" Luchia asked, "Or, heard from him, even?"

"He's always busy with work. He works at a game company, and they're working on a really big game right now. It happens to be going through testing, so he got some time away, but it doesn't happen often, not when there's a game this big being worked on." Moiyu explained.

Luchia nodded. "So, what was the note?"

Moiyu smiled, "Myieli's got a plan to get Coco out of Gaito's castle. I just have to gather the troops without Elik noticing anything. That should be easy… right?"

She got no answer. Rilene buried herself in her magazine and Jay diverted his eyes.

"Dammit." Moiyu cursed.

XXXX

Lexia walked down the shoreline, looking for any sign of the aqua mermaid anywhere. So far, she'd had no luck, but she heard voices up ahead.

There! Sitting on a rock, was Hanon. But, next to her were two other mermaids. One had hair that was almost white, and a white fin, and the other, younger one had blond hair and a white fin.

Lexia ducked behind a rock so she could hear what the three mermaids were saying.

XXXX

"Well, I only know Luchia right now." Hanon explained. "I haven't met any other idol princesses. No wait! I know Caren too, but I never know where she is. They're pink and purple."

"Only three of you." Anayis sighed. She was sitting on the rock next to Lycoris and Hanon. Hanon had stumbled on them, and Anayis had started asking her questions.

"I've met quite a few warrior princesses, though." Hanon said.

Now Anayis was confused. "You've met warrior princesses? Which ones?"

Hanon thought for a moment, "Amethyst, Diamond, Sapphire… that's it."

Anayis sighed again, "Three of them as well."

XXXX

Lexia decided to show herself then, "Actually, there are four of us in town." She explained, "Hanon just hasn't met Madison. Who are you?"

The older mermaid's eyes widened, "I apologize. My name's Anayis. This is Lycoris."

"Anayis, Lycoris. Got it." Lexia nodded. "So, why are you so interested, Anayis?" Lexia asked.

"I have a message for the idol princesses, but they all have to be together for me to deliver it." Anayis explained.

Lexia snorted, "Easier said than done. From what we've gathered, Gaito has one held prisoner and one's snowed in on the other side of Tokyo. I have no idea where the other two are."

Anayis sighed once more, "I see." She said.

"You can just tell me the message. I'll pass it on." Lexia said.

Hanon nodded in agreement, but Anayis shook her head, "No, it's best I tell you all at once." She explained, "Alright. Lycoris, stay in the human world." She said. The younger mermaid nodded, "If you find the other mermaids, could you contact Lycoris?" she asked Lexia and Hanon.

The pair nodded, "Sure." Lexia said.

"Thank you." Anayis said. She pushed off the rock and dove into the water. Lycoris switched to her human form.

"I'll be around town." Lycoris said, "Thanks for all your help."

"No problem." Lexia said. "Do you need a place to stay?"

Lycoris shook her head, "No, thank you for offering." With that, she walked away.

Hanon switched to her human form as well. Lexia spoke up, "Come on, kid. Luchia's been worried sick about you; let's get you home."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Short chapter. Eek. Sorry, there's not much I can do before I do a short timeskip, and I don't want to skip ahead in the middle of a chapter, thus this short thing. Sorry.

But, I got it out. SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY ON THIS ONE. I don't know why I stopped updating. I love writing this story. I guess I got caught up with school and Fated for Forever (my Tales of Symphonia story. Shameless self advertising. Heh.)

I still didn't get everything done, but that's because I extended Lycoris's plotline. I can't do much with Sara until the timeskip and the same with everyone other character I mentioned but didn't touch in this chapter.

One quick question for my readers. I don't think I mentioned this before, but I'm seriously considering pairing up Miriella and Edur. If anyone would like to comment on that, please do so in your review, or a PM, because I did say that I'd leave original character pairings up to the readers. So, please, answer my question. It would help me out a lot.

Next chapter: I have no idea yet. I have stuff to rework. What, you need a preview every time?

I'll try and get it out sooner. Thanks for reading.