Chapter 6: The Little Mermaid (Part 1)

Narrator: Kikumaru Eiji

Back stage

Riku: Yo, minna! The new script for our next drama, The Little Mermaid has been done!

Ryoga: I hope I get a role this time…

Other tennis members: 'He's still at it…?'

Riku: Right... Thanks to the voting contest that was held by Yanagi-san and Inui-san, I finally decided who will be playing Ariel for this drama.

Ryoma & Marui: *Cursing and glaring at Yanagi and Inui*

Riku: Anyway, time for the disclaimer. I don't own the characters from Prince of Tennis, no matter how much I wish I own them.

-o0o-

At the ship

Once upon a time, there lived 2 princes from the land of Hikomaro, Japan. They were sailing across the seas and oceans for absolutely no reason. Were they bored or something?

Anyways, their names were Prince Echizen Ryoga and Prince Tezuka Kunimitsu. The royal butler, the advisor, their adoptive father, Echizen Nanjiroh, along with a number of sailors working on the ship accompanied them in their journey.

"Nice weather today… Makes me wanna sleep under the sun…" Nanjiroh muttered appreciatively as he yawned. This action earned him a twitch and glare from his adoptive sons.

"Oi, Oyaji! Don't you dare to sleep when we still have to help around the ship," Ryoga lectured, while shooting his adoptive father an evil glare.

"Mada mada dana! You need to relax once in a while, so your body won't get stiff! You're already stif though! Hahaha!"

Hearing those words rolling out of the old man's tongue, Ryoga opted to not protest. Instead, he only some sentences that I suspect to be something along the lines of 'Baka Oyaji', while eating an orange he stole from the kitchen.

("Riku-chann, help me! He's glaring at me!" Eiji wailed in fear. "Um, continuing…" Riku coughed.)

Meanwhile Kunimitsu, who was reading a science book, just rolled his eyes. 'Relax is when you spend time resting or doing something enjoyable after you have been doing work… And this man hasn't been doing any work at all…' the young man thought silently, as he twitched his eyes in annoyance.

How do I know what he's thinking? It's written in the script!

And at that moment, a sailor called Shun Suzuki approached the princes and made a conversation with them. "The weather today is nice today, isn't it? I'm sure it's because King Genichirou is in a good mood today..."

"King Genichirou? Who's that?" Ryoga asked.

"King Genichirou, also known from his title, King Triton, is the ruler of the sea. According to the legend, when he's in a bad mood, or when humans piss him off, he will produce a storm and cast it upon the oceans," Another sailor named Issa Washio answered.

"There's no way a legend like King Triton and the merpeople exist! And since when King Triton has a name? I though Triton WAS his name." Ryoga said, while gobbling his third orange up.

"You better not insult legends like this, you know? Who knows what might happen to you. Kids these days…" a sailor named Akutsu Jin grumbled, while lifting the fishing net he set a few hours ago from the sea.

Unfortunately, the fishes that were caught in the net managed to dive back into the sea, before he managed to completely lift the net from the sea.

Meanwhile, in a certain under water kingdom, called the Hyotei Kingdom, a music festival is currently being held in order to celebrate the kingdom's anniversary. Shuichiro Oishi the crab acts as the maestro while the other six daugh- I mean sons- screw this. Let me repeat.

The other six she-males sang.

("Riku-chann, help me! They're shooting me an evil glare!" Eiji wailed in fear again, as he pointed at the six daugh- *cough* sons. "Continuing…" Riku coughed again)

They're going to sing Ometto Samba today, with Marui and Ryoma as the lead singers.

"Presenting… The most royal, handsome, scary, and powerful king of them all, KING TRITON! Aka King Genichirou." A fish declared with its squeaky voice. And at that precise moment, King Genichirou entered the hall, and sat on his throne (while glaring at the fish announcer).

"Next comes our dearest royal lowborn! The ugliest advisor plus maestro of the year, SHUICHIRO OISHI THE CRAB!" The fish declared again, as Oishi the Crab entered the hall and swam to his spot, in front of the she-male choir (with steam puffing out from his head).

"Why am I being badmouthed…?" He grumbled quietly, as he took his music sheet out. After grabbing his baton, he cleared his throat and started swinging his baton in various directions.

The music then started. After the short intro, the she-males started singing beautifully. King Genichirou nodded his head in satisfaction, as he heard his daughters- sons- CHILDREN sing.

And then, the moment we're all waiting for is near. Oishi swung his baton enthusiastically, King Genichirou widened his eyes in anticipation, and the she-males gradually increased their volume. Guess what?

IT'S TIME FOR THE YOUNGEST TWINS, MARUI AND RYOMA TO SING! Insert drum roll please.

The she-males surrounded a large clam, as they sang. After a few seconds, the clam then gradually opened, to reveal…

None. No Marui or Ryoma can be seen in that clam.

"MARUI! ECHIZEN! TARUDAROU!"

"I wonder if we'll make it back in time…" Ryoma muttered under his breath, as he and his elder twin, Marui swam further away from Hyotei Kingdom.

"It'll be fine! Don't worry so much." Marui cheered happily. Ryoma, who followed his elder twin behind, can only sigh quietly. "So, what are we gonna do now?" Ryoma asked his 'brother'.

"Hmm… Let's meet Tooyama!" Marui suggested brightly.

And while unaware of their angry father's wrath, the twins then met up with their furry friend, Tooyama Kintaro. He's a seagull that Marui and Ryoma visit frequently, in order to learn more about the human culture.

Both Marui and Ryoma always brought items from the ships that wrecked at sea to the seagull to ask what are they used for. Today, Marui and Ryoma had brought a fork, a manga (still wrapped), an unopened can of grape flavored ponta and some flavored bubblegums like grape, mint, and oranges.

"Hmm… This is called a dinglehopper, and this item is used to comb your hair!" Tooyama exclaimed, as he started brushing his fur with the fork. "Hmm… This is called a ponta! You drink this when you're thirsty." He exclaimed again.

"But, we're surrounded with water! Why would the humans create a flavored drink again?" Marui asked curiously.

"Well, because humans are the type of species that never gets satisfied! Anyways, this is called a manga, and you can read this when you get bored, and this thing is called a bubblegum, and you can chew on it." Tooyama replied.

I wonder is Tooyama-san really used the fork as a comb… Nya.

"Ano… Marui-senpai- I mean, Bunta-san, Ryoma-san... The musical festival has already started, you know…?" a trembling fish, known as Akaya, informed as he thought about the punishments that they will receive for being late.

Well, there's a possibility that they completely missed the festival itself, but we should think positive… Right?

At that, the twins shrieked ("WE DIDN'T SHRIEK!" the two complained) and proceeded to dive into the water, swimming back to the castle in haste.

And of course, by the time they arrived, one pissed-off king along with one tired conductor greeted them.

"Uh oh…" the twins muttered. "Uh oh indeed! What event is it that you absolutely MUST attend, that you completely missed the festival?" the king asked, his face still showing his anger.

"Umm, uh…"

"100 LAPS AROUND THE KINGDOM!" the king suddenly shouted.

"W-wha-"

"100 LAPS AROUND THE KINGDOM. NOW." The king commanded.

And so the three of them did it. Not to mention, after the physical torture, the king still slapped them harshly.

"Heyy, let's go up to the surface!"

"Sure. There's pretty much nothing else here."

"B-but you've just received harsh torture from the king! Would it be wise to-"

"Whatever. Let's go, Ryoma."

"W-wait!"

And so, both Marui and Ryoma decided to swim up to the surface, dragging the unwilling Akaya along.

They reached the surface just in time to see a ship passing by. The ship had set off a lot of fireworks, and the noise produced was pretty loud.

"What's that? A ship…?" Ryoma asked himself. "Seems like it. Let's check it out!" Marui suggested, as he grabbed his younger sibling's hand and dragged him towards the ship. "W-wait for me!" Akaya exclaimed, rushing up to the two twins.

The twins then managed to climb up the ship. And that was when they saw the sailors on the ship, dancing around happily, singing off -tune, and drinking.

Last but not least, they also noticed 2 handsome young men sitting on two barrels.

One of the men had hazel eyes and black-green hair, similar to Ryoma. He wore a necklace around his neck, and he was laughing happily.

And the other man had dark brown hair, and he wore glasses. The brunette had a small ghostly smirk on his face.

And then, all of sudden, someone older than them, perhaps their father, presented the two young men two presents. The first present is a package of gravure magazines.

At the sight of the magazines, the two princes threw the magazine back at the older man, along with an evil glare.

Ryoma proceeded to facepalm.

And the second present are 2 carved stone sculptures, one for each of them.

When both Ryoma and Marui (fake) sighed as they watch their prince charmings laugh merrily, a cat suddenly appeared out of nowhere and licked Ryoma on his cheek. Ryoma then giggled.

Everyone (except Ryoga and Nanjiroh) in the scene stopped their activities and stared at Ryoma in shock. The normally stoic and arrogant Ryoma, just giggled? That Ryoma, just giggled?

("THE WORLD IS ENDING! EVERYONE RESCUE YOURSELVES!" Eiji shouted. "Someone sedate him!" Riku commanded. At that, two men appeared from behind the curtains and injected something into Eiji. The latter fell to the ground. "Um… 15 minutes break!" Riku shouted out.)

After 15 minutes of resting due to the shock received from the scene above, a storm suddenly approached the ship and everyone acted in character again.

All the sailors acted quickly and lowered the sails, but a thunder then striked at one of the explosive barrels. This caused a fire to break out, and quickly made damage to the ship.

Noticing the danger, the twins then quickly jumped into the sea, and watched the scene from underneath the waters. All the people were already standing on the safety boat. But two men were missing…

"TEZUKA! RYOGA! GET YOUR BUTTS HERE!" the old man from earlier shouted. Turns out, the two princes were searching for the cat earlier (since they didn't want Ryoma to impose his wrath on them).

When they finally found the cat (he was sleeping under the table), they quickly threw the cat to the elder man.

"QUICK!" the man shouted, as he tried to prevent the cat's claws from scratching his face.

But the moment the princes tried to jump from the burning ship, suddenly…

They slipped. Both Tezuka and Ryoga slipped, and fell into the ocean.

Both princes then instantly drowned. When they were about to lose their consciousness, a hand reached out to each of them, and pulled them out to the surface.

A/N: What do you think about this chapter? I hope you guys like it!

As for those who voted Marui to become an Ariel-wannabe, don't worry. He's still the main character for this drama. Ryoma's just his sidekick!

By the way, I'd like all of you to vote who will Marui be paired with, Tezuka or Ryoga? Thanks for reading, and please review!

Replies for the reviews:

To Guest: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED :D I hope this chapter is to your liking!

To seaweedbrainlover1117: I love your enthusiasm XD I'll try to transform Ryoma from a Cinderella-wannabe to an Ariel-wannabe as to your liking :D

Editor/N: Dinglehopper: Fresh and canon from the movie itself :D and poor Oishi. Not that I don't find bullying characters enjoyable (what the heck) anyways, thanks for reading and please review!