"Rayza!" Aryl ran out of the living room and over to the girl.
"You're the emerald warrior princess?" Kiri asked.
Aryl glanced over at Kiri, "What?"
"Yes." Rayza said, "I'm the emerald warrior princess." She confirmed, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you." She added.
"No, don't apologize." Kiri said, "We didn't exactly tell you either. Come on in."
Rayza stepped into the apartment. "So, I really did hear that something was going on." She said.
"Oh, right." Kiri said, "We're about to leave to infiltrate Gaito's castle to save Coco, who's held captive there in the lowest basement." Kiri and Aryl walked back into the living room, expecting Rayza to follow. Instead, she stood there.
A moment later she shouted, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" She walked into the living room and blinked at the large group there. "The number of people grew." She said.
"Yeah, it did." Kiri said, "And we've got both a plan and people on the inside." She answered Rayza's question.
"But still, it's incredibly risky!" Rayza shouted.
"And Coco will probably die if we don't do anything!" Madison stood up, whirling around to face the girl.
Rayza sighed, "That's true." She said.
"Exactly." Madison said, "We have to do this, no matter the risk."
"Do you want to help, Rayza?" Kiri asked.
Rayza thought for a moment, "I can't disappear off the face of the planet for a few days." She said, "John will kill me."
"In order for the plan to work, we have to be back in the apartment by nightfall." Moiyu said, "It should be fine."
Rayza nodded, "Okay then. What do I have to do?"
XXXX
"Sara, here!" Tadewi grinned as she ran over to Sara. The orange mermaid was watching over her class as they played around on the track.
"Tadewi, what are you—" Tadewi cut Sara off before the idol could even finish her question.
"We found Rayza!" Tadewi grinned wider, handing over the phone number, "She said to call her when you get a chance."
"Thanks, Tadewi!" Sara smiled. Suddenly she winced, grabbing the wrist that had Uya's bracelet on it.
"What's wrong?" Tadewi asked, immediately worried.
"It's… It's burning…" Sara said.
"Take it off!" Tadewi cried.
Sara pulled the bracelet off carefully, the burning going away as she held it in her hand. Tadewi grabbed Sara's wrist, taking a look. "Oh my god…" she muttered.
"What?" Sara asked, afraid to look.
Tadewi carefully showed Sara the mermaid's wrist. There, burned into her skin were the words, 'Release the bracelet.'
XXXX
Madison, Moiyu, and Jay swam to the back of the castle, to a maintenance door that none of the mermaids had known even existed. Actually, none of the mermaids even knew that Gaito NEEDED maintenance on his castle, never mind that there were doors specifically made for this purpose. When Moiyu and Rilene told them this, they were rather shocked.
Back to the point. The three members of the rescue team swam up to the door and Moiyu opened it quickly, swimming in. Myieli had "accidentally" left the door unlocked for them. Moiyu locked it behind them and led them down a hallway.
Now, in order for this intricate plan to work, the large group had been split into several smaller groups. Moiyu, Jay, and Madison were the group who would actually rescue Coco. Kiri, Aryl, Lexia, Caren, and Rayza were the distraction group, who would deliberately put themselves in danger to hopefully draw the water demons out. (Past involvement with some of these specific water demons proved that this was more than possible.) Luchia and Hanon were ordered to stay out of sight until Moiyu, Jay, and Madison gave a specific signal, at which point they would be swimming over to bring Coco back to the mainland while the original rescue group split up to confuse any pursuers. Rilene had stayed at the apartment.
The plan was virtually foolproof if each group followed their parts correctly.
Now we rejoin Moiyu and her group.
Seeing as they hadn't run into a single water demon so far (and a lot of water demons lived in that castle) it was easy to assume that Kiri's group had done their job right. The stairs were free of any guards and the door to the lowest basement was unlocked. Moiyu quickly and silently opened it, the trio swimming in.
They saw Coco immediately. She was in a cage of pure ice and she was a mess. "Coco!" Madison cried, swimming over.
Coco's eyes flickered over to Madison, surprised. "M-madison?" she muttered.
"Don't worry, we'll have you out of there in a second." Madison promised. "Moiyu, do you have the key?"
Moiyu nodded, "It's right here." She said, putting it into the lock. The door swung open, but an alarm sounded. "Crap."
Coco inched away from Moiyu.
"Ah, don't worry!" Moiyu assured her, "I'm not here to hurt you- I'm here to save you."
"Trust me, she's a good water demon!" Madison smiled. "Come on, Coco, we have to get out of here fast."
The alarm was getting louder.
Madison helped Coco swim out of the cage. "Where's that other door Myieli mentioned?"
"Myieli?" Coco asked, once again surprised and now almost convinced she was dreaming again.
"Well, she said there was a reason she wanted to talk to you, didn't she?" Moiyu smiled at Coco. Coco blinked.
"Come on, we're going to get caught." Jay said, slamming the door to the lower dungeon shut and locking them inside, "Where's the door?"
"Right." Moiyu nodded, swimming over to the farthest wall and feeling along it. Somewhere on the wall was a door that could only be opened from the inside. Gaito had put it in so that the guards could escape if they were locked in the lower dungeon by accident. It was a one-way door. She ran her hands along the wall until she finally found the keypad. Quickly typing in the code as someone began to bang on the door. The emergency escape door lurched open and Madison and Coco swam through. Moiyu and Jay followed, just as the door to the lower basement burst open and two angry water demons swam in.
"Hurry hurry hurry!" Moiyu shouted, increasing her swimming speed. The water demons were gaining.
"We're not going to get away like this!" Jay said, "Madison- keep swimming. Get to the checkpoint. Moi, you and I need to stop and keep these two distracted."
Moiyu nodded, "Good idea."
"Good luck you two." Madison said, before increasing her speed just enough to get away but not to hurt Coco, who was having trouble swimming. Moiyu and Jay turned around, facing the two water demons head on.
"Well, never expected you two to come back again." One of them said, crossing her arms.
Moiyu grinned, "I'm a sucker for a challenge, what can I say?" she smirked.
"You- follow the mermaids." The demon that had spoken earlier ordered the other.
The other demon nodded, and tried to swim off, but Jay stopped her.
"I don't think so."
"You think the two of you can restrain us?" The first water demon chuckled, "Moiyu, the washed out traitor and Jay, the simply washed out?"
"You can insult me all you like, Chosse, but you're still never going to get Coco back." Moiyu crossed her arms.
"Well," Chosse smirked, "We'll see about that."
And the fight began.
XXXX
"Was that the signal?" Hanon asked.
"I think so." Luchia nodded.
"Well, come on!" Hanon swam towards where they were supposed to meet the rescue trio, only to see Madison and Coco- no Moiyu and Jay.
"Where are Moiyu and Jay?" Luchia asked, worried.
"They're fine- stayed behind to help us get away. Get her to your kingdom FAST, Luchia." Madison said.
Luchia nodded, "Right." She said, "Come on, Coco, my kingdom's not far and you'll be able to rest."
Coco smiled weakly, "Thanks."
XXXX
A light blue light suddenly burst out of the gem in Lexia's weapon. "Geez." Lexia muttered, "Guys, fall back!" she shouted.
Rayza, Kiri, Caren and Aryl immediately scattered, confusing the already confused water demons. Lexia swam away as well, soaring towards the meeting place. When she finally got to the small cave the four had agreed to meet in, she found two surprising visitors there.
"Moiyu? Jay? Weren't you with Madison?" Lexia blinked.
"We were, yes." Moiyu nodded, "But we got split. It's alright- Madison got Coco away, and if you're here, Hanon and Luchia got Coco to Luchia's kingdom."
Lexia nodded. Kiri and Rayza swam in.
"No Caren or Aryl yet?" Rayza asked, looking around.
"They probably got lost." Lexia said.
Kiri sweatdropped, "Probably."
Ten minutes later, there was still no sign of Aryl or Caren.
"Yup, they definitely got lost." Moiyu nodded.
Lexia sighed, "Think it's safe enough to head to Luchia's kingdom yet? We should head back to the surface soon."
"Yeah, go ahead. I'll wait here for Aryl and Caren for a little bit longer, and meet you back at the apartment in an hour or so." Kiri said.
Lexia nodded, and the two water demons and two mermaids quickly swam away.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I know, I know, short chapter, and after such a long wait, but I got randomly inspired last night. I must have started that saving Coco scene twenty times before this. I'm still not happy with it, but it's better than any of my other tries, so here we go. I'll get the next chapter out soon and sorry again for the delay on this...