The Generator
Later that morning, Lyla had left Ondina and was now swimming back to Zac's place. She thought about her previous transformation into a dugong, and how fun it must be to give the others a scare. By concentrating hard, she managed to control her shapeshifting and was now swimming as a dugong, making some squeaks along the way.
At Zac's house, near the jetty
Lyla, still in her dugong form, slowly approached the jetty near Zac's house. As she made some more squeaks, Dr Blakely heard them and was excited. He called out to Zac and the other mermaids, "Hey guys, I think there's a friendly creature nearby."
Zac and the mermaids walked up to the jetty, where they saw the dugong emerge at the water's surface.
"Hey little fella," said Mimmi. She began making some dolphin sounds to try and attract the dugong.
Lyla heard Mimmi's dolphin sounds and became irritated. Not thinking about the consequences, she quickly transformed into her natural mermaid form. In the process, Mimmi was shocked and jumped backwards.
"Lyla, how did you manage to shapeshift like that?" she asked.
"Oh, Ondina taught me how to do it." Lyla replied.
Mimmi's expression changed to a sour look, and she moaned "Lyla, why would you want to hang out with that nasty Homeworld gal?"
"Look Mimmi, Ondina isn't the nasty shark that you make her out to be. She truly understands my plight as a hatchery mermaid," answered Lyla.
Mimmi was still annoyed as Bella comforted her. "Maybe we should hear Lyla out. After all, she is different from us and probably needs a fellow Homeworld mermaid to truly appreciate what she has gone through in the past."
"Alright fine, but I just want to make sure none of us get hurt by any of the Homeworld pod. On another note, I want to show you all my new invention." Mimmi announced.
Mimmi brought out what looked like a radio transmitter, and she spoke "This device will help disrupt the Homeworld tech. We will need to hook it up to a large source of power though, and that will be a generator located somewhere near Tangerine Mountain."
"Er, how do we all get there?" asked Zac.
"Well, that's where I come in." replied Dr Blakely. "I have a van we can all use."
I regularly travel all the time as part of my work, and I've even taken these mermaids on missions to Tangerine Mountain many times before."
Zac, his father and the three mermaids left the house and saw the van parked outside.
"Well, how do we all fit in there?" asked Zac.
"Oh Zac, the mermaids will all be riding in the back." Dr Blakely answered.
"Unlike humans, we don't need to be strapped in." said Lyla. "But we will be cloaked and invisible, just to avoid drawing attention to ourselves."
Mimmi was surprised to see Lyla remember the rules for road travel so well. She spoke up "Well, let's not waste time. We want to have this done by nightfall."
At Tangerine Mountain
Dr Blakely stayed in the van whilst Zac and the mermaids left to head out for the generator. As they were walking, Bella was the first to speak "Guys, I think we need a proper game plan for this mission. We're dealing with high voltage electricity cables around the generator, so why don't Lyla and I fuse so we have the ability to short circuit them?"
"Are you sure Bella? Last time I recall, your fusion went out of control" replied Mimmi.
"Don't worry Mimmi, it will be just fine." Lyla answered.
"Well, that's settled. Let's fuse!" Bella announced as she and Lyla began to walk up to each other. They grabbed each other's hands and Bella said "Synchronise!"
The two mermaids began a dance, as they twirled around. A white glow enveloped both of them, and within seconds the two of them vanished. In their place was a new mermaid with curly blonde hair.
"Well look who's here! The great Rikki Chadwick!" announced the new mermaid.
"Ooh! Another fusion!" exclaimed Zac. "What awesome power will you use?"
"You'll see," replied Rikki as she began to cast her spell. "Fire devils erupt!" she announced as her spell launched a series of fire tornadoes at the generator. The spell seemed to be working well, as it short circuited the high voltage cables surrounding the generator. But soon the spell went out of control, as the embers began attacking nearby trees.
Combined with a strong wind, the embers quickly spread and ignited a bushfire. Mimmi was not pleased and tried to intervene "Rikki, just stop your spell. You're destroying everything!"
"No way! I'm just getting started!"
The bushfire continued to grow as Zac and the others found themselves stuck in the middle of the forest, with their only way out blocked by the fire. This time, Zac was the one to attempt to reach out to Rikki. "Please, I know you two are in there. Just come out and be yourselves again."
"But I am myself!" shouted Rikki. "I'm sick of others trying to split me up!" Rikki threw her hands forward and launched a flame attack directly on Zac. His clothes started to burn, and he panicked, quickly rolling onto the floor to try and put out the flames.
Mimmi realised what she had to do and stood directly in front of Rikki. She spoke up "If you want to fight then you'll have to go through me!"
"Well then let's bring it on, one on one style!"
Initially Rikki tried the same tactic by launching a flame spell, but Mimmi quickly overpowered it by using her weather manipulation powers. She started creating a thundercloud directly over Rikki and it soon unleashed a burst of rain, soaking her and transforming her into mermaid form.
"Is that the only trick you know?!" said Rikki as she was lying on the floor. She tried to cast another spell, but this time both Zac and Mimmi restrained her arms. Rikki feeling dejected then unfused with another white glow, with Lyla and Bella soon emerging into their normal forms.
"Lyla, Bella – are you two alright?" asked Mimmi.
"Yes Mimmi, we should have listened to you." Bella replied.
"That was another awesome mission! I can't wait for more!" announced Zac.
Lyla did a facepalm as she spoke up "Well that was exhausting for me. I think we all need a good long break!"
Mimmi and Bella chuckled as they spoke up "Yeah, that's one thing we can all agree on!"