The Cove

"And right underneath us is the sunken battleship," said the lovely tour guide standing and pointing to the crisp blue sea through the floor of the boat.
I've been on this tour some many times that I could do it myself, but it gets better all the time.
The story of the battleship is that it sunk 4 years ago when the ship's core went haywire and had a melt down. The crew weren’t very lucky, they all died. Some of them were blown to pieces and some were never seen again. When the clean up crews arrived they cleaned the scene of radiation and took all the bodies and parts they could find and left the boat hull at the bottom of the seafloor, Only after they took every piece of radio-active material there was. They left the hull to become a coral bed and help to create a reef.
What a reef it is. It stretches for miles almost all of Golden Island's south side has some coral on it now. The dead are given a remembrance on the day of the explosion. The rememberance always has a big turn out on a huge barge, floating over the sunken boat.

"This concludes our tour, thanks for coming,” said the tour guide with a fake smile.
"Com'on Jimmy," called a voice.
"Oh, sorry," I said looking up to see my older brother Dan offering me his hand and a warm smile on his face.
I got out of my chair and we walked off the boat and getting on to the dock and then onto the beach.
"I don't know why we keep on going on that thing," said Dan with a puzzled tone.
"It's fun, and Ocean World hasn't opened yet," I said brushing my short brown hair with my fingers. It was a warm day, great for swimming, and for Dan's sake, trying to snag a girl.

We finally got home and Grandpa had some ice tea ready for us.
"Thanks Grandpa," I thanked and took a glass. Dan nodded.
"Don't worry boys," he said with his friendly smile, the kind of smile all grandparents have," I'm going out to night with Grandma, ok?"
We nodded.
"That’s great, invite a few friends over for a movie, I’ll pay."
"Wow, Thanks Grandpa." Dan and I cheered and plans of parties flew through our heads.
I went inside and went to my bedroom and put on my swimming shorts. After my shorts were on I headed to the kitchen and put on some sunscreen, then went out to the beach.
The hot golden sand reflected the suns rays and the water sparkled back. The water was clear and there were gentle waves hitting the beach. Perfect conditions.
I looked around and then started the famous Baywatch run. I raced across the hot boiling sand and dove into the cool ocean water and came up soaking wet.
I noticed Dan standing on the deck showing off his muscles to an invisible crowd.
"How's the water, shorts?" Dan called.
He's been calling me that since we first came to Grandpa and Grandma's for the summer.
"It's a bit cool!" I shouted and then began to swim to the small dock. Once there, I stood up and looked at the coral reef which laid a few meters away. I zoned out for a second watching the reef. Then, I saw movement. It was too big to be a fish. I watched the movement and then it vanished behind the coral.
"What are you looking at?" Came Dan's voice behind me.
"I think I saw a dolphin! Or a shark!" I said stunned.
"Cool, Where?" he asked standing next to me. Then I noticed how much taller he was then me. We're only separated by 3 years but we seem worlds apart.
"I don't see it." Dan said looking at me, then his view shifted to the beach, "We have new nieghbours."
I followed his face and spotted a new girl on the porch of the house next to ours. She stood tall with red hair and a nice slim body; she looked to be Dan's age.
Dan patted my arm and sugguested," Com'on, let's go meet her."
"Sure," I said shrugging and we dove into the water again.

We reached shore and I threw my t-shirt on and we went next door.
"Hi," said Dan to the new girl," I'm Dan."
"Nice to meet you, I’m Jade,” she said putting down her magazine.
"I'm Jimmy," I introduced.
"Nice to meet you," she greeted, "Jimmy, I have a younger brother about your age, go into the house and take a left." She instructed.
"Sure," I said feeling a little nervous," thanks."
"No Problem," She said then begun to talk to Dan.
I walked into the house and then saw a tubby man holding a box in the empty kitchen area.
"Hey," said the man in a loud voice, "What are you doing in here?"
"Jade sent me in to find her brother." I told him nervously.
"OK," he said with his face lighting up," Want some help finding him?"
"Sure," I aceepted, and he led me to a bedroom with some boxes.
"Hey Max look what Jade found." The man said with a grin.
I saw some brown hair behind some card board boxes and then came a face. He had huge brown eyes with some freckles. He was wearing a red t-shirt and black shorts.
"Hi," he greeted, "thanks dad."
"You'd better unpack," His Dad suggested as he left the room.
Max opened a box exposing some action figures. My mouth begun watering.
"Cool," I exclaimed, "You brought Action figures!"
"Yeah," Max said, "Wanna play with them?"
"Heck ya!" I practicly shouted.

We chose our characters and weapons out of the Spider-man, Batman, Project Mew, and X-Men figures.
We set up his room to be like a city, and set the villains on top of the tallest tower of boxes. We then set up the story and made a silly radar dish for the villains to have their weapon of mass destruction.

While we were playing I learned that Max was from Alberta, a couple provances away from my home provance of Ontario. His Grandpa died leaving his family with this summer home. He was 13, like me, and loved the same things too.


Soon it was 6 o'clock and Dan told me that I had to go home for dinner. I told Max that I'd be back after.


While we were eating our hamburgers, Grandma walked in and grabbed her car keys and asked, "How was your afternoon boys?"
She looked much like Grandpa, white hair, cheerful smile and sparkling blue eyes.
"Great," Dan said after he swallowed a mouthful, "I meet a great girl today next door."
"And you Jimmy?" asked Grandpa entering the room and putting his hands on my shoulders.
"I met Dan's new girlfriend's brother, he's the same age and we played action figures all day," I answered looking up at him.
"That's great dear,” Grandma said getting her purse," We should go now Bill."
"Yep," Grandpa agreed, "Be good guys."
"We will,” Dan and I replied with evil grins.

Grandpa and Grandma left to go play cards with thier long time friends across town.
After we were done eating we looked at the movie guide to see what was at the video store. We then decided on Chaos and Ring 3.

We left shortly after and returned home with the movie. I went over and got Max from his house, and Dan got Jade. I gave Max the "Grand Tour" then we decided to continue our Action Adventure Tale with the figures.
Max and I took some to the dock without the little parts, just in case.
We spent 2 more hours playing and our story ran deeper because the villains were only pawns for some worse people as the sun set below the horizion. The final battle was taking place between the good guys and the villains on the high seas.
"Hey kiddies," said Dan standing above us soaking wet, "Movie time!"
"Give us a few minutes," I asked and we continued playing.
A few seconds passed and we were almost done, but Dan grabbed an X-Men and threw him into the water then demanded, "Come on!"
I looked to the dark blue water and where the X-Man sunk, then said, "We'll skip it."
"Fine your loss." Dan said and jumped into the water.

"I wanted to see it," Said Max once Dan was inside.
"We have to get the action figure back." I stated and looked to the spot where it had sunk, "I'll need a water proof flash light and a inhaler."
"I don't have them at our house," Max answered.
"Then we'll have to sneak into my house and get them." I told him.

We snuck into the house via my bedroom window and got my grandma's extra inhaler and a waterproof flash light. Then we snuck back out the window, and got back to the dock.

We planned what to do and then I set out on the waves while Max told me where the figure sank in our rubber boat. In the right spot I used the flashlight and pin-pointed the figure, then dove down in the dark water.
The coral was still bright colours and there was small fish swimming around here and there. Soon I reached the X-Man and I noticed it was on a coral plant with blue spikes. I learnt about some coral in school and that some should be avoided so I quickly decided to grab the figure. I got my hands on the the figure and pushed up on the sandy floor and the blue coral poked my leg. A sting shot up from my leg and within a second my foot was numb! Blue Needles! That’s it! I took a breath from the inhaler and begun to swim up. The numbness spread upward and soon my entire right leg was numb and it begun to make my left leg numb. I reached the surface and called for help. The numbness spread to my cheats and more salt water enter my mouth I begun to drown. I hope Max had heard me.
Soon my arms were numb and I began to sink into the ocean. I dropped the figure out of my numb hand and my face went numb. I felt a gentle hand on my chest and blacked out.

*
***
*

"Wake up Jimmy!" came my brothers’ voice from somewhere.
I opened my eyes to see blurry versions of my brother, Max, and Jade standing over me. I was still feeling numb but I felt the green mat of the dock under my back.
"Good, he's ok." Jade said backing up a bit.
"What happened?" asked Dan confused.
"I don't know," I answered truthfully,” I accidentally touched some Blue Needles and I went numb after I called for help."
"We found you on the dock and we saw a splash from behind the dock when we opened the door." said Max, "When we got here, we found you and the action figure beside you."
"We'd best get some ice on that sore and keep you in bed," Jade prescribed.
"I'll get the rubber boat," Said Dan jumping in the dark water.

Soon I was in bed with the TV in my room and an ice pack on my leg.
"It's lucky that something saved you," said Max sitting next to me on the bed, "I wonder who or what it was."
"I saw something big earlier today moving in the water, but it was too deep to see what it was." I said sighing.
"Strange," said Dan walking in with a pop.
"Very strange," Said Jade walking behind Dan.
"What could it be?" I asked looking at them.
"Maybe a dolphin saved you?" said Jade thinking.
"Nah," said Max and he received a smack from Jade on the back of the head.
"Maybe it was a scuba driver," suggested Dan.
"Or perhaps a mermaid," I said quietly.
Then came silence.
"It could happen," I said nervously looking around the room.
"Did it have feathers and sing?" asked Max.
"No," I answered remembering the shape," why?"
"Because there's a kind of mermaid named the Sirens that killed people in the ocean by drawing them closer by thier songs," answered Max.
"Maybe the radiation infected the crew mates on the sunken ship and changed them into merpeople?" said Dan once again with a thinking look.
We all looked at him with blank stares.
"It could happen." Dan said looking back at us.
"Right..," said Jade rolling her eyes, "but we need to find out ourselves."
"We should rent some diving equipment and swim around,” suggested Dan, "Our grandpa can gets us a good deal."
"We go tomorrow,” I said and then Max and I begun to play action figures and watch TV.


The Next Day

"Welcome to Diving and Such," said Mr. Ringer,a rather large man with buldging arms and a belly dressed in a polo shirt to Max, Jade, Dan and myself. The store sat on a dock over a nice beach. It was painted white with a sloping roof.
"Thanks Martin." Grandpa said standing behind us," Set them up for a good day."
"Will do," said Mr. Ringer itching his arm," Take care."
With that, Grandpa walked back to the road. Diving and Such was just a small walk down the street from Grandma and Grandpa's house.
"So what will you be doing today with the gear?" asked Mr. Ringer standing tall infront of us then leading us to the dock,” but first let’s measure you all."
Inside the little store we were measured and we meet Mr. Koss, a man tall man with black hair and mustach from Ocean World on vacation, he loves fish.

Once outside waiting for Mr. Ringer to find us the perfect size we saw Mr. Koss standing down on the beach by a group of men.
"What are you doing?" he asked the group standing the in path of the sunlight.
"Were putting the finishing touches on our sand castle, Boss." said one of the group members smoothing the side of a wall.
"Were here to find mermaids, not win a sand castle contest!" yelled Mr. Koss at the top of his lunges at the group.
I looked at Max, he looked at me and so did Jade and Dan, we knew what we had to do.
"We have to stop them," said Jade," We must warn the merfolk."
"How will we find them?" asked Max looking at the water.
"How about finding them and give them to Mr. Koss and get rich?" asked Dan with a grin.
Jade smacked him.
"Ok," Dan said rubbing the back of his head.
"There, ready," said Mr. Ringer behind us.
We suited up and our black and blue suits were strange at first. We got some small lessons on how to work the air systems and we were off swimming in the clear water.

We automatically headed to the site where I drowned and looked around. We found the coral and a lot of life around it. The coral was bright and was full of all types of fish and small animals. We surfaced.
"Can't see any merpeople here,” said Max floating in the water.
"Right," I said," we must go deeper, go to where the coral ends and we'll search for something."
We dove back into the water and made out way over the coral and reached the end of it. Once there we found about 10 feet of sand until a cliff that was a drop off. We signaled to move down the cliff soon we were slowly sinking into almost complete darkness. We turned on our flashlights and I felt a chill run down my spine as I felt the water behind me move.

We soon were about 100 meters deep and we found a small cave entrance. We all stopped and floated and we looked at each other. I sensed more movement around us and I moved my flashlight to see a green fin in the corner of my eye. I felt a cold sweat under my wetsuit.
Dan then signaled towards the cave and we swam in to it. The size of the cave was too small for us to swim side by side, so we went in a small line with Jade in the front and Dan in the back with me and Max in the middle. The cave led to a bigger tunnel and we saw another fin, this time red.
We pressed on.
We soon reached a smooth stone tunnel and we saw a human hand behind a corner, we swam as fast as we could, but when we arrived at the spot we found nothing.
We found writing on the smooth wall saying: This way to the exit. It was pointing back the way we came.
As we ventured deeper we found lights floating in the water, much like street lamps.
We continued up the hallway of smooth stone until we left the smooth hallway and entered a large room. Then a rush of voices come from the dark waters and a net fell on us. We struggled and we knew we weren't alone.
"They're kids!" said a voice.
"Look at them!" said another.
"We should tell the captain!"
"They found us, who else may come!" came voices around us.
"Silence," came a voice in front of us," Lights."
With that came a blinding flash of light and it reveled a room full of mermaids and mermen. The one in front of us was blue with red spots on him with a long whip like tail; he held a golden spear and had green fins on his hands and one on top of his head like a Mohawk. Another one came by and looked like a female, she had the classic mermaid look with a fish tail and a shiny blue swim top, her hair was long and brown and it flowed in a long phony tail.
"Why are you here?" asked the blue and red one.
We mumbled out words under our oxygen masks.
"They do not have the power of speech under water,” Said the female one," Take them above."
With that the male signaled with his spear and out net arose and placed on a round island above the water in front of dozens of merpeople.
We got out of the net and we took off our masks and the head part of our suit.
More whispers flew through the huge circular room.
The blue and red merman with his muscular cheats out of the water asked the question again,” Why are you here?"
"There's men coming for you," I told him.
"Lots," says Dan assured.
"From Ocean World," added Max.
"To imprison you," Jade said with a worried voice.
The main merman was shock either from the words we said or how we all said it all within 3 seconds.
"We need not fear there’s Ocean World men," said a merman from the crowd.
"There's Teams of them coming!" Dan yelled out.
"How many per team?" asked the mermaid.
"We saw 12 in one of them," said Max.
"How many teams?" asked the mermaid.
"No idea," said Dan sadly.
"I decided we need their help," said the main mermaid.
Whispers flew through the room yet again.
"Why?!" asked another merman.
"We need them!" said the main female mermaid,” Meeting dismisses."
With that the merfolk dove into the water in front of them and they swam in different ways under the water. As soon as they were gone and the main merman and mermaid were the only ones left.
"Place on your gear and follow us," said the blue merman.
We placed on our masks and put our oxygen mask on and jumped in the water. We followed the two quick swimmers to a small room where we surfaced and began to talk.
"I'm Ken," said the merman," and this is Amerda."
"Nice to meet you," Amerda as she shook our hands," now tell us all you know."

We told all that happened on the beach and the interaction with Mr. Koss and his thugs. Ken and Amerda are shocked and they talked underwater once we were done.
"We've decided that more information is required,” Ken said with a stern voice.
"Yes, and you must also tell the captain," said Amerda.
"Is he nice?" asked Max.
"He is," Ken assured," but he's very sensitive about his weight."
"You're underwater," stated Dan,"wieght shouldn't be a problem."
"Just don't be afraid," Amerda warned.
With that we placed on our gear and swam after Ken and Amerda.
The merman and mermaid led us to a huge door where 4 mermen, bigger then Ken floated with spears.
Ken swam over to them and gave a little chat then came back to us as the doors opened. We entered to see a large man with a Killer Whale body under his waist. Compaired to the others the captain was about twice the size and looked like it had a hugely fat tummy. He had short black hair with grey temples and he looked like he was about 45.
"Who are these people?" asked the large whale-man that sent small waves at the surface.
"Captain," said Amerda addressing the huge whale-man," these children have come with horrible news of the search for us."
"WHAT!" yelled the captain sending shock waves under the water and pushing us away.
"Calm down sir," Ken told him," We're using them as spies so we can retrieve some information."
"Good work," said the captain," we'll use these small ones to help us live in peace."
"Thanks sir," says Amerda and you and the group nod.
"Go forth and find the info," instructed the captain and signaled us away.

Once outside the captain room and inside the little room again Max says," Nice guy."
"I have a question," said Jade exposing her hair by taking off her hood.
"Yes?” Ken asked.
"Why did he have the body of a whale and you two are different?" Jade questioned.
"We should have told you before," said Amerda sighing," we're the surviving members of the nuclear battleship that blew up about 3 kms away."
"When the nuke blast hit us we hit an marine animal and we were fused together." said Ken," I fused with an eel, Amerda fused with a trout and the captain fused with a killer whale."
"Cool," I said with Max.
"Perhaps," said Ken," We'll show you out, you know what you have to do right?"
"Of cores," Dan nodded.
"Good." Amerda smiled.
With that they lead us to the entrance of the maze of tunnels and waved good byes.

Back at the surface

"That will change our lives for ever," I said.
"Yep," agreed Dan," So what do we do again?"
"Spy on the making of Ocean World," Max reminded.
"Oh ya, right," Dan remembering,” Just so much to take in at a time. Do we get to break stuff?"
"I'm sure we can if they are going to catch them," Jade said planning," Then we'd have to slow them down."
"Can we get out of these suits?" asked Max and we went towards Diving and Such where we told Mr. Ringer to keep them ready for future usage.
After that we return back to Grandpa and Grandma's where we discussed what you’re going to do.

That Night

"Look, there's a guard," Dan said pointing down on the construction site of Ocean World.
We were watching the site to see if we could hear any word about them knowing about the merpeople.
"We're getting no where up here," said Max sitting behind us, "what we need to do is get in and search the files."
"That's a great idea," Jade sitting up, " We must get closer!"

With that we got up and snunk down the hill. We cleared the fense and the guards and got into Ocean World's main area.
Ocean World's almost finished park was creepy at night. Full of animal statues and eerie empty paths.
"Now where do we go?" asked Jade looking around.
"To the map," Max said pointing at the map across the walkway.
We looked at the map and found where the whales and dolphins where going and one that read "Main Attraction".
"We should go there," instructed Jade.
"Nah," said Max," Main office."
"I don't see that on the map," I said over the map.
"It's the only building without a name," Max replied pointing at the map.
"I say we should go to the main attraction place." Jade agrued.
"I say the main office," Max says and soon their fighting and letting out loud shrieks.
"Hey!" Came a voice and a bright light down the path.
"Shoot," cursed Jade.
"We gotta hide!" Dan paniced.
"To the Main office," I blurted out," It's closer."
We took off running and we jumped into the ball pit of the kids’ playground to hide for a minute until things quieted down.

"Ok," said Max," the main office is right over there on the other side of the seal pen."
"Right," we said and started to climb out of the ball pit without falling or sinking back in.

We made our way to the main office and found the door to be locked, no surprise. Dan spoted a big air vent and he helped Max and I get up into the opening.
The cold steel clung under our bear knees as we reached a small office room.
"Here we go," said Max over a large vent," come help me open it."
I agreed and crawled on over and begun to gently bang it when it swung open and we fell to the couch, just under the vent. We looked around the room and into the window on the door to see no one in the hallway. Max and I soon found the front door and let Dan and Jade in. Once we were ready, we led them to the main office that we passed. Once inside the office we began to look for the plans.
"I'll look over here," I said walking towards a file cabinate.
"I'm over here," said Jade taking the book shelf.
"I'll look in here," said Max sitting on the chair behind the desk.
"And I'll look over here," Dan said looking at the table on the other side of the room.

After searching for a minute we all came up with some secret papers.
"We all found papers about merpeople?" I asked looking at our results.
"Yep," each of the other members said looking down at the papers.
"Then we gotta share them with Ken." I said and turn towards the door and saw the hallway lights go on.
"Shoot!" Dan cursed.
"We gotta get out!" paniced Jade .
"The window," Max said pointing to it.
Dan opened it to revile a huge tank of water.
"Do you remember what was in this pool?" Jade asked Dan.
"It was either sharks or something else." Max replied in a bit of a panic.
"Place the paper in the plastic cover," Dan said.
We all handed our papers to him and he shut them in the cover.
We opened the window as wide as it could go and prepared to jump.
"Here's to dolphins!" Dan said as he jumped. Jade jumped after him then came Max and I as the sucurity team reached the door and opened it.
We fell about 10 feet and landed in warm water. Quickly we swam to the edge and climbed out.
We sat soaking wet with the plastic cover next to us.
Flashlight beamed across the pool and around the pool area. We pushed up against the wall and waited for the flash light stopped. The lights vanished and we signaled to move.
Soon we were at the gate of the pool. We turned to see a Great White Shark cartoon figure with huge sharp teeth grinning. We gave a nervous laugh and took off across the park and jumped the fense and went home.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Dan said to Jade and Max.
"Keep your papers hidden," I told them.
"Right," Max and Jade said and went back to their house.
Dan and I snuck back inside through the windows and fell asleep within 5 minutes once we were in bed.


The Next Day

Max, Jade, Dan and I sat on the dock with the papers still their plastic covers.
"Should we open them?" asked Max looking at the rest of us.
"Of coures," said Dan.
"Ok," Jade said reaching for hers,” Let’s open them."
We each open our papers we took and read them in silence. The gentle waves were the only thing louder then our breathing.
"Oh boy," said Jade.
"What?" we all asked.
"They're going to breed them, then show them off around the world!" She said panicking.
"We gotta tell them!" Dan said.
"Right!" Max and I said.
"To Diving and Such!" Dan said standing up.

A Bit Later

We suited up and jumped into the water with the plastic covered papers. We soon made it to the tunnel and once again I felt like we were being followed.
We made our way into the twisting tunnel and it still felt we were being followed.
Soon we made it to the smooth hallways and we entered the main room were we surfaced.
"It's the children," came a voice.
"Their back," said another.
We got upon the island where we took off our oxygen masks.
"We need to speak to Ken and Amerda," Dan said to a group of merfolk on the side of the room.
"I'll take you," said a tubby merman with the classic fish tale.
"Thanks," Jade smiled.
"Why must you see them?" asked the merman closer to the island.
"We have important papers for them to look at," Jade said placing her mask on.
"Right,” He nodded,” follow me."
He dove underwater and we jumped in after him.
He took us through a maze of tunnels until we reached a door with a guard standing beside it.
"They must see Ken and Amerda," said our guide.
"One minute," said the hulking guard with an eel tail as he went into the room.

A minute later he came out and said," Take them to room 103, they'll come in a few minutes."
Our guide led us down the smooth hallway until we reached a small room where our guide let us in and said his goodbyes.

We climbed out of the water and took out our papers and equipment. We set up and within 5 mins they came into the room.
"Hello gang," Ken said as he head popped out of the water.
"Why have you came?" asked Amerda once she emerged out of the water.
All of a sudden we all broke out talking.
"One at a time!" Ken said in a loud voice.
"Jade, tell us what you have to say," Amerda said in a gentle voice.
"Ok," Jade said in a clam voice," we have documents proving that Ocean World is after you."
"Oh boy," said Amerda taking the papers into her hands.
"Let me see some," Ken said and we handed him some.
"Their building a huge area," said Max.
"They have signs, merchandise, and even mugs of you!" Dan told them.
"I see," Ken said flipping the page.
"They're coming, soon," I warned.
"Hmmm," Ken muttered while still looking.
"Ten teams of 15!" Amerda explained.

Boom! , came a rumbling from somewhere.

"What was that!" Max said jumping.
"Oh no," said Amerda.
"I know," Ken said nervous.
"They're here," Jade said quietly.
"Amerda!" Ken said," We must fight!"
"Right Ken!" Amerda agreed," You 4 best take the back route to the way out."
"No way!" I protested, " I want to help!"
"Me too," said Max standing up.
"Me three," demanded Dan.
"For the merpeople!" Jade said.
"Yeah!" Max, Dan and I cheered!
"Fine," Ken sighied.
"Right!" Dan said.
Ken and Amerda left the room in a hurry and a small bell on the wall started to ring.
"Must be their alarm," Dan said listening to the light tinkering noise.

We suited up and covered the papers back up. We dove into the water and reached the door to open to see some merpeople swimming as fast as they could holding some items and their tiny children.
We fought up the stream of frightened merpeople until we reached the main room where we saw a ferrous battle between merpeople and scuba divers with nets.
The water had a bit of red in it as the merpeople where trying to get rid of the men while the scuba people are trying to catch the merpeople.
A few scuba men floated at the surface.
A tug came from my foot and I got tugged down. So was everyone else. Scuba men had us in their powerful grip. They pulled us down to the ground where we saw Mr. Koss behind his oxygen mask smiling.


Soon the battle was done and most of the merfolk were caught. Mr. Koss took us to his boat and the merpeople where dragged under water to Ocean World.

We entered Ocean World through huge steel gates in our normal clothes; our scuba gear were taken off. Mr. Koss stood silent, we stood silent.
"Welcome to Ocean World," welcomed Mr. Koss as we docked," Please come with me."
The guards behind us pushed us forward to follow him.
The larger boat carrying the merpeople also docked beside the boat. We got off and the crane rose the dozens of merfolk in nets into a few new pools.
Mr. Koss led us up to a deck like area over the pools that held the merpeople, 3 in all.
"Sit down," Mr. Koss said to us as he sat.
Seeing there's nothing else to do yet, we sat.
"I'm so glab you made it," Mr. Koss said in a happy voice," I made a casserole."
I looked at Max, he looked at me, and I knew he didn't like casseroles as much as me.
"Why are we here?" Jade finally asked up.
"A good question my dear," Mr. Koss said with a smile, "I'd like to thank you."
"For what?" asked Dan taking a sip of water?
"For leading me to the merfolk," he said then spotted the food coming our way," great the food."
"How?!" Dan said almost dropping his water.
"We at Ocean World set tracking devises in all of our stuff," he reached for a one of the booklets and took out a small chip,"like this one here."
"Drat," said Max.
"I know," I said in discuss.
"Anyway," Mr. Koss said, "Please try the casserole, it's really quite good."
The meal begun and a sun set on the ocean and made a beatiful sunset and my mind filled with images of the merpeople free and happy and not being in front of spectators. Then I decided what to do.
"FOOD FIGHT!" I yelled and threw some peas at Mr. Koss.
"Why you...!" he yelled but was it silenced by some mashed potatoes in the face by Max.
"We have to get the merpeople out," I whispered to Max as I continued to throw food at Mr. Koss.
"Right." Max answered as he got hit in the side of the head.
"Desert anyone?" asked a chef as he arrived with a few pies.

I looked at Max, he looked at Jade, Jade looked at Dan, and Dan looked at me. We all threw food at the chef and frightened him off while we laughed. We grab some pies and begun to over power Mr. Koss as he tried to call for help as he stood up and backed away from the table and back to the railing. He stood there whiping pie and whip cream off his expensive looking suit. We stood ready with some more pies.
"No!" he shouted and climbed on the rail.
We took a step forward.
"No!" he said from the other side on the railing and over the pool.
Another step.
Mr. Koss bent down behind the railing.
Another steep.
He looked over and jumped from 15 feet above the water in to it.
"Ha!" Mr. Koss shouted as he surfaced and then was dragged underwater by the merpeople.
"Right!" Dan cheered.
"Yeah," Jade cheered also," Part two, set the merpeople free."
"And destroy the evidence," Max budded in.
"Ok," I said, " Dan and Jade should work on releasing the merpeople and Max and I will look for all records of the merpeople and destroy them."
"Good idea," Dan agreed, "Be careful little bro."
"You too," Jade said looking at Max. He nodded and Dan and Jade took off down the walkway.
"To the main office," Max told me.
"Right," I said and followed him to the walkway.

Max and I got into the main office building and found plans for the merpeople area with pictures and concept drawings of them. We took the folder with us and headed to the security central.

"What are you doing here?" asked a rather large scurity guard.
"Our dad's sent us,” I said in a pant.
"There's a fight at the north exhibit," Max said in a huff.
"Oh boy," said the guard," thanks boys. Hey Jeff, come with me!"
Another guard came out of the small little hut and we stopped the door from closing and entered. We took out the tape rolling and 2 others that had the word "merfolk" on it. I placed all of our findings in a backpack I found in the security room.
"Got them Jimmy?" asked Max looking at the cameras.
"Yep," I said putting the backpack on,” Do you know the location of the camera?"
"Yep," Max said and sprayed a bottle of water all over the controls.
"Let's help Jade and Dan!" I said and we headed out the door.

"There’s the camera location!" I said pointing to the camera over the merpeople pool.
"I hope this is the last one," Max said as he chucked a rock and hit it dead on, smashing the lens.
"Great shot!" I said giving him a high five.
"Thanks," Max said returning, "2 cages have been freed; but the 3rd one and the large gate still remains!"
"Let's move."

We found Jade and Dan behind a statue of a mermaid.
"The last one is heavily guarded," said Dan peeking out from behind the statue.
"They've called for help," Jade informed, "So we must work fast."
"Right," I nodded, "We'll go for the big gate, you go for the pool."
"Break," Dan said and Max and I ran for the huge tower that controlled the gate.
"Hey," called a voice. I looked to my side to see a merman swimming at our speed, "What can we do?"
"Help Dan and Jade free the final pool." I told him still running.
"Right,” he said and dove underwater.

We reached the bottom of the tower and looked back to see the merpeople throw rocks at the guards.
Max and I begun to climb the steel ladder and we made it to the top of the deck in no time.
"No one," said Max looking around.
"Lucky!" I cheered and we moved into the small room at the top of the tower.
In the room there were several controls and buttons on the control panel.
"What button!?" I yelled looking over the panel.
"I bet it's the red one," Max said pointing to it, "it's always the red one."
"Press it," I said and he pushed it.
Nothing happened.
"Hmm," I said looking blankly.
"Maybe it's the green one?" Max said and pressed it.
We felt movement and we looked out the window to see the giant gate open.
"YES!" Dan and I slapped hands again.
"Look,” I said pointing towards Dan and Jade, "They released the final pool!"
"We did it!" Max said in excitement and gave me a hug.
"Com'on!" I said after the hug and we made our way down the ladder.

"Great work,” Jade said at the bottom.
"You too," Max said jumping off the ladder.
"Thanks to all of you," Ken's voice came from the water.
"Oh hey," Dan turning around.
"You must get out of here, jump in the water," Ken said.
We saw red and blue lights flash on top of the hill above the deck.
"Ok," I said and jumped into the water with my new backpack on.
Jade, Dan and Max jumped in after me and we all held on to a merperson and we rode out of Ocean World and into the open ocean.


The gentle waves crashed onto the beach behind us and the pink and orange clouds gently hovered over the endless sea in front of us. We sat on the dock looking down at Ken and Amerda and a few other merfolk.
"Thank you," Ken said with Amerda by his side.
"Here's the backpack with all the evidence of you guys," I said handing the backpack over to Ken.
"Keep the back pack," Amerda offered, "We'll take the paper and destroy them."
"Where will you go?" asked Jade.
"We can't tell you," Ken said with a hint of mystery in his voice.
"But the captain has been freed from his large chamber due to those Ocean World scums." Amerda said with a little bit of a smile.
"I guess they did something right,” I joked.
A gentle laugh filled the air.
"Thanks for you help once again," said Amerda, "You'll be hero's in our eyes for ever."
"We must go now," Ken said and we waved good-bye as the two merpeople dove under the water and faded away with the rest.
"Good luck," I said and I realized I never knew who saved me, but I wish them luck as they jumped into the air.






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