Nexus: Well, I don't have much to say for once other than thank you to everyone for the usual stuff and my disclaimer of me not owning this show... so on with Chapter 9 I guess

Chapter 9: The Lessons Begin

"Zac?" Lyla said breathlessly as she looked at the figure that had walked in through the entrance to the grotto. "Is that you?"

Zac didn't respond but instead just stared at Rita.

"I guess we all have a lot to talk about don't we?" Rita asked, motioning for Zac to take a seat around Rita's small table. He dropped his case and took a seat near to Rita, Lyla sitting on the opposite side.

There was tension in the air when Zac was talking to his parents, but it was nothing like the tension around four mermaids and a merman.

"So, you finally escaped from that scientist?" Sirena spoke up.

"Yeah, though I didn't think I ever would at one point," Zac replied. "And I guess my hunch about you being like them is right, isn't it?"

Sirena just nodded her head and looked over to Rita.

"There's no secrets to be had here any more, I'm pretty sure you've worked it out right Zac?" Rita asked looking at him.

"Yeah, you're like them too," Zac replied, his head lowering away from Rita's eyes.

"Okay enough tension," Rita demanded. "Let's get what we know out of the way first. All five of us are merpeople, four natural born, one human transformed. Zac was captured by a marine biologist and now turns up inside my grotto after three weeks. During this time, none of my contacts on land could find you, meaning you must have been in a pretty secure location."

"It was far away from the Coast, a centre called EC42. Wouldn't say they had great security at night though, I wouldn't be here right now otherwise," Zac began. He went on to explain how he had escaped, and also the run in with Evie and his parents. "They promised they wouldn't tell anyone though and they know I'm here for now."

"So why did you come here then? There are loads of places in the ocean where you could have hidden," Nixie wondered.

"I needed to see if you guys know something, about sea demons," Zac asked.

All four girls tensed up when they heard the word sea demon. They knew it was about Joanna. Rita explained for him what a sea demon was.

"Sea Demons are horrible creatures. They supposedly went extinct after they were all killed, but obviously we were wrong about that. There was only ever one thing worse than a merman for a mermaid, and it was a sea demon. They force their way inside a mermaids body and feed off of her life force. They are only small so once they fill up on power, they grow to full size, the biggest on record being 70ft. There is nothing known to stop them fully, as they can only be defeated once they are grown, and then they are very hard to defeat. Sea Demons were a bigger cause of mermaid deaths than any other kind of sea creature out there, including you Zac. There is one thing that can be done to slow the process down, freezing its tail off before it enters the body. I know that's what Lyla did to the one inside Joanna."

"You were there when it happened?" Zac asked confused.

"I was out at Mako, unable to forgive myself about what happened to you. I decided to leave, feeling a strong powerful force in the water, and I found the sea demon cutting open Joanna's chest. I froze the tail off but I don't know how far along the process is," Lyla explained.

"She had me trapped two and a half weeks ago, when the sea demon worked its way into her body. From what I can remember and work out, that would have been the same day."

Rita froze up completely. This was not good. "This means that the sea demon is not to be taken lightly. It never was in the first place but now we have no choice. I know you three were banished from the pod and you haven't had any training since. And I know Zac has a little control over his powers, but if we are to ever hope of taking out the sea demon, I will need to train you all. You all share basic powers of water but there are some differences in some effects of more advanced powers. Me and my friend Calypso did the one thing a mermaid shouldn't, read the files on mermen powers. We were so intruiged though, always yearning for more information on our enemies. So it looks like I'll be able to train you all."

"So, looks like I'll be staying for a bit then," Zac stated.

"I guess it does," Nixie said. "But where will everyone stay?"

"Yeah, this is awkward. I only have three beds. My bed and two guest beds. I can make one with the sheets and pillows in the grotto though its only makeshift until I can order two more beds," Rita explained. "The issue being where one of you will sleep for now."

"I don't mind sleeping underwater in the cavern's entrance," Zac offered.

"Are you sure about that?" Rita asked surprised.

"I've been sleeping in a glass tank for the last three weeks, I think I can handle another night like that," Zac replied.

"Thank you Zac," Lyla said.

Zac smiled at her before looking down to his watch. "It's already 6:20."

Nixie stomach growled at her. "And there's the proof."

"I don't get a sea food shipment until tomorrow so there isn't enough to go around. Me and Zac are more accustomed to human food so we'll order Pizza," Rita said, standing up. She walked out of her grotto and used the book case entrance, the girls and Zac following behind. Rita got the girls seated down at the table with the remainder of her sea food whilst she and Zac were at the phone order Pizza.

"Zac what toppings?" Rita asked.

"Tuna," he replied.

"He really is one of us," Rita murdered so the man on the phone wouldn't hear, Zac chuckling when he figured out what she said.

"Yes just Tuna on both of them please. Great thanks," Rita answered down the phone. She hung it up. "20 minutes at most."

"Great, wouldn't want it to be much else longer, I'm starving," Zac replied, taking a seat at the table too, trying to ignore the call of the sea food that the girls were eating.

20 minutes later, Rita and Zac's pizza showed up, which they gratefully tucked into.

Once everyone had finished, Rita washed up the dishes using her powers to clean them. Once she was done, she told everyone her plans.

"I know it's only just gone 7 right now but I'm pretty sure Zac is really tired, and I know you girls will be as well after helping me clean the grotto this morning. I suggest you all try and sleep now so we can start fresh and early tomorrow morning," Rita told them.

"What about you?" Nixie asked.

"I need to write down some notes from the file I keep on mermen powers and get things prepared for our coming lessons. We'll be doing this for about a week or so. I don't doubt for one second that the sea demon will be researching about Zac right now, trying to find him. I know it seems like we're biding our time, but teaching you some new powers is the best course of action."

"Mermaid school, nuh uh, over my dead scaly body," Nixie said shaking her head.

"Nixie, this might be the only chance we have to master them before the sea demon finds Zac, and us," Sirena scorned.

Nixie groaned. "Fine, but this had better be worth it."

- A couple of hours later -

Rita made sure she was really silent with her preparations as to not wake up sleeping Lyla in the grotto. Once she was done, she did a quick check on Zac before she went to bed herself.

She peered down at the entrance linked the ocean and couldn't help but remember the times when she fell asleep down there. She smiled to herself before quietly leaving the grotto and going to get some well deserved rest.

- The next morning -

All the girls had woken up just fine but Zac took a little bit of effort. Lyla had to slip into the water and carefully swim over him.

"Wake up sleepy head," she said in a sing-song voice.

Zac eventually turned over to her. "Oh, morning," he replied, stretching.

"So, ready for lessons?" She asked as she swam over his body and up towards the surface of the grotto.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he replied, following after her.

Once everyone was around the table in the grotto after some breakfast, which was a feast of sea food, they were all ready for lessons. Though Nixie was still none too thrilled about mermaid school again. That was her one perk of being on land and it was just ripped away from her.

"Well, I think it might be best to start with the basic powers over water," Rita said looking at the bowl of water sitting on the table in front of her. She motioned her hand and the water rose up out of the bowl like a snake. "First, there's Hydrokinesis, the power to move water and shape it." She clenched her hand slightly and the water froze. "Second, Hydro-Cryokinesis, the power to freeze water." Lastly, she clenched her hand fully, the ice melting back into water then evaporating. "Finally, Hydro-Thermokinesis, the power to heat water."

"We know this already," Nixie remarked.

"I know you do," Rita replied. "You were taught the basics, Zac wasn't. Just deal with it." Rita wasn't going to take this lightly at all.

"These abilities can be used on a small scale, or on a larger scale. As two of you know." Rita looked over at Lyla and Sirena.

"What are you trying to imply?" Lyla asked.

"Remember the indoor snow storm?" Rita replied snidely.

"You two made it snow indoors?" Zac asked surprised.

"Only because of my moon ring," Sirena replied timidly.

"Moon ring?"

"We'll talk about them another day," Rita hurried. "To test your powers, come down to the grotto's lower entrance." Rita then walked off to the ocean entrance, everyone following behind her.

Rita did the same movements she did before but on a much larger scale with the water available. She had the water twisting all around the grotto area, making sure it was not over them, froze it, then melted it. "It's actually not too hard with large amounts of water, it's all about how fast you can do these three powers one after the other in rapid succession.

Zac had been watching Rita's hand movements closely. He'd never used Hydro-Cryokinesis before but he was going to give it a try. He very quickly made a snake of water rise out of the pool and prepared to use a power he'd never used. He clenched his fingers in at the same angles as Rita and hoped for the best. Once he saw that the water had frozen upon instant when he did, he pulled his hand into a open fist and evaporated the water. The timing of it was faster than Rita had done so.

"I didn't think you had this much control over your powers Zac," Rita said, purely stunned.

"Yeah, I'm a little shocked myself," he replied honestly, getting a scoff from Nixie.

"Ignore her," Lyla replied, giving Nixie a stern look.

The four of them practised getting faster and faster with their powers until the girls were able to move just a little faster than Rita, and Zac was able to become even faster than before, taking but a few mere seconds to do the whole process. They took about an hour doing this.

"Very impressed," Rita said happily. "Well, now that the basics are done, time to move on to some of the more advanced and separate skills you can learn."

The five walked back up to the main grotto area, the four students standing next to each other, Rita standing up a little further away.

"One of the number on essential powers is Invisibility. It doesn't last forever but it's a good quick cover," Rita explained. She clenched her hand into a ball with it facing her, and twisted her arm, turning her invisible. Zac was stunned by this move. A few second later, Rita flicked her arm to the side, unclenching her hand in the process.

"So, Zac. Clench your hand and have it facing you." Zac follower her instructions. "And twist." Just as expected, he turned invisible like Rita did. A moment later, he released his arm and hand in the same way that Rita did.

*Just as I thought, mermen really do have a whole array of powers. He might even be able to learn the advanced techniques that the girls won't be able to,* Rita thought to herself.

"The girls already know this power, it's not a tough one but over time you'll learn to keep yourself invisible for longer. And you can spread it to other people as well," Rita explained.

"Wait, we can make the invisibility cover other people too?" Sirena asked.

"Yes, but it's a super advanced skill and it's the one I'd like you all to work on for the rest of the day," Rita began. "It's a simple movement but it takes time to master." Rita walked over to her four students and got the three girls to stand in a line and asked Zac to observe. She clenched her hand and pointed her arm facing Lyla. She moved her hand clockwise around to Sirena at the end, the invisibility cloaking all 4 of them.

"Zac, can you see us at all?" Rita asked.

From Zac's point of view, all four were invisible. "Nope."

Rita released her hold. "Invisibility over more than 1 person is tough enough. That's why I'd like you all to learn how to cloak only one person each. Together you can therefore cloak all four of you. With time and experience over the years, you'll be able to spread it to more people and also objects around you." Rita demonstrated this by standing on top of her table after moving the water bowl off of it. She clenched her hand again and moved her arm in one circular motion, the table becoming invisible with her. "That's also only a small scale object, experience is everything." Rita then walked over to the grotto's upper exit. "I have business to sort of for school so you'll be left to your own devices for most of the training before I have to leave." And with that, she left.

"Man, Rita really is powerful isn't she?" Zac stated.

"Yeah, it's a shame she didn't get to stay in her pod, she'd have been a great asset to it," Nixie replied sadly.

"What happened to her then? Why didn't she get to stay?" Zac asked in wonder.

"She's sort of like us. She was cast-out," Lyla explained. "She was caught gaining legs to make contact with a land boy, Harry. Harry was going to be her husband, but he died."

Zac didn't quite know how to respond. Rita was ready to give up her life as a mermaid and marry a human even though it was forbidden to do so. "She must have loved him a lot then."

"Okay enough lovey dovey sadness. We need to focus on our training," Sirena ordered. "So can we get back to it?"

Lyla teamed up with Zac and Sirena went with Nixie.

It wasn't easy at first. It began with nothing happening until Zac was able to just about able to get Lyla and himself even the slightest bit invisible. "Gotta keep trying."

After a while, they were all starting to get the hang of it. They could make themselves about half invisible, given another hour or two and they would be done with this one skill.

Lyla focused all of her energy and swiped her arm across her and Zac. "Did it work?"

"Nixie, Sirena, can you see us?" Zac asked.

Nixie and Sirena stopped their training and looked over where Lyla and Zac should have been. It dawned on Nixie that Lyla had done it. "Lyla, you've done it!"

Lyla released the cloak, a massive grin adorning her face. "Now you try," she said looking at Zac. Zac focused the same way Lyla did with the same result, the two of them smiling away, so happy to have mastered the next step in invisibility.

Nixie and Sirena then tested their powers out again, the two of them were able to cloak each other. The four of them had done one of their first steps in training.

Nixie looked over at Zac. She never really said thank you to Zac for saving her, and there were on or two other things she needed to apologise for.

"Zac, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," Nixie said with her arms in front of her.

"For what?" Zac asked.

"A number of things. At first, I absolutely hated you. The land boy who fell into the moon pool and caused our pod to leave Mako Island, leaving me with these two. I still resent you for that admittedly but that's not my point. The point is, over time, you're not the land boy I thought you were. I didn't know what I thought of you back then, but I see you differently from how I used to. You save me from that net and kept my secret all that time, risking your own to a few of your friends in the process. Usually, a merman would never help a mermaid. But you did. And even though we lied to you about who we were, you're not holding it over us and making our lives hell. And the whole thing with Joanna, you escaped her lab and came to us seeking help. You didn't want to go at this on your own like I thought you first would have. I can't believe I'm saying this but, thank you Zac, for being the one merman I can rely on. The three of us with Rita won't be able to defeat this sea demon and you're just going along with it so peacefully, mastering powers that you don't even need to be learning really." She walked over to Zac and gave him a brief hug. "But don't think I'm going easy on you, we're on good terms right now okay?"

Zac was rather stunned by Nixie's words. She'd hated him so much but finally saw that he wasn't the bad guy, that he wasn't trying to ruin her life. He was only trying right now to help them. "I guess I should say thank you as well." Zac scratched the back of his head. "It seems that mermaids and mermen aren't meant to be good friends or even be together but, we are."

"Yeah, we are," Sirena spoke up. "We're a team now after all. There's a massive threat to the entire of the ocean world out there, a world which you've yet to explore deeply Zac. A world which no human should care for. I want to say thank you as well, for offering to help us."

"And me, thank you Zac," Lyla added.

For once in his life, everything was falling into place. He felt like he had somewhere he could belong. If he couldn't be on land any more because of his disappearance, then he would have to accept it and move on, even if it meant loosing those important to him. "By the way, have you guys seen Cam at all? I tried to check in with him before I came here but there were no cars in the garage and no-one was answering the door."

Nixie sighed. "Whilst you were gone, Cam left for America with this parents. They were moving over there and your disappearance triggered Cam to go with them. He didn't have much left in Australia and just up and left."

"So, my best friend up and went." Zac was trying hard not to think about it. Cam had always been there for him and now he was off in America, doing god knows what." Zac needed some space for a while. "I'm uh, going for a swim I think."

"Is that really wise?" Sirena asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'll stay down," he called as he exited the grotto through the back entrance and began making a b-line for Mako Island.

When he entered the moon pool, he rested his arms on the ledge and sunk his head into them. He couldn't stop thinking about it all. The sea demon, learning new powers, Cam. It was almost too much to take in. "Damn it Cam! The one time I need some moral support from a friend is the one time you aren't here!"

- Back at Rita's-

"Nixie, why did you lie to him?" Sirena asked.

"Zac can't know what really happened to Cam. If he did, he'd barge in asking for Cam putting loads of people at risk," Nixie explained. "Not telling him is the best course of action."

Lyla just stared right through her. "Do you want Zac around everyone? I know we're working with him to defeat the sea demon but once it's over no more nice Nixie okay?" Nixie stated.

The three stayed in the grotto and decided to wait for Zac to come back. If Rita came home from school and Zac still wasn't back, then they would go find him. It didn't hurt for them to practice some of the powers they already knew like telekinesis, levitation and Lyla's very own Aerokinesis.

Nexus: So, training has begun to defeat the sea demon and Cam's 'supposedly' in America. Care to take a guess at where Cam might be or what actually happened to him.

I'll see you all for chapter 10 in the near future, where training intensifies and is completed.