The Airship

Corry stands horrified, staring directly at the many Techway submarines that were on a straight path down to the depths of the ocean. Noland runs up next to Corry, looking out through the viewing glass as well.

"You're right... It's Techway... But didn't we just deal with them on the shore!? They must be looking for us because we've lost a man, we're weaker now-!" Noland shouts, panicked.

"....Let's follow them." Corry says suddenly.

"FOLLOW THEM!? OH, NOW YOU REALLY HAVE LOST IT!!" Noland shrieks at Corey.

"Just trust me on this, they may lead us to where Chris is, I just have a hunch!" Corry says, determined.

"Hunches never saved the day Corry..." Noland says exasperatingly, walking back to the back of the vehicle.

Corry sighs and turns off the lights on the Amphibian off before pushing forward on the steering module, making it follow the Techway submarines unnoticed.

Over in the halls of the Atlantean Palace...

The newly merman-ified Chris and Pool swim through the halls of the palace. They pass through a window, which Chris looks out from. Outside is the city of Atlantis, Merpeople could be seen swimming along the roads, there were street lights and everything.

"So... How does Atlantis stay hidden? With today's technology, anyone should be able to find this place..." Chris says, still looking around curiously.

"The Life Generator also prevents Atlantis from being seen on any scanners or sonar equipment... It completely hides the existence of Atlantis, and is hidden in a valley that humans would never think to even look in..." Pool explains.

"...And Techway found it through merperson sightings in the area, right?" Chris asks, looking Pool in the eyes.

"Well... Yes, that's the leading theory..." Pool says quietly.

"Yeah... I expected as much..." Chris says under his breath.

Pool looks at Chris from behind her, frowning lightly.

(He seems to know a lot about those Techway people... It's kind of scaring me...) Pool thinks nervously.

The two eventually reach a big door guarded by two armored Mermen.

"Woah..." Chris breathes, enamored by it's sheer size.

"Gillias, Moray, please open the door" Pool asks politely.

The guards nod and open the massive doors. The guards side-eye Chris suspiciously as him and Pool float inside. The interior of the room was a long room with a throne at the end of it. In the throne sat an old Merman wearing a crown. He was also wearing a gold necklace and bangles, and his hair was short and curly, a much deeper shade of blue than Pool's. His wrinkly eyes shift to Chris as he follows Pool.

"Pool... Who have you brought to me? I don't recognize him..." The King says.

"U-Umm... Yes, Father... This is..." Pool stammers before being interrupted.

"My name is Christopher, your daughter saved me from drowning and transformed me into one of you." Chris explains to the King.

The King's eyes narrow on Chris, he starts swimming up to look down at them.

"You brought a human into our peaceful civilization!? Pool, what's gotten into you!?" He yells furiously.

"F-Father, you have to understand, he's not with the bad men, he's actually trying to destroy them!" Pool tries to explain.

"Have you learned nothing!? Humans are liars, every single one of them!! They're all selfish!!" The King shouts, now swimming towards them.

"I want nothing more than to help you people right now, I promise." Chris says calmly.

"That's what they all say!! Now Pool, turn this human back to normal and let him drown!" The King demands.

"Father, no!! He has good intention, you must listen to me!!" Pool says desperately.

"You would disobey your father!? Fine then, if you won't do it, I'll do it myself!!" The King yells, lifting his arms up.

The palms of the King's hands start to glow a light blue color, directed towards Chris, who is now also in a light panic.

"Just listen to me, don't kill me-!!" Chris yelps.

Suddenly, the palace shakes, causing Chris, Pool, and The King to stop and look around. Small chunks of debris break off from the ceiling, floating down through the water.

"Dammit... They're back! See!? This human must have led them here!!" The King says angrily.

The King quickly swims out through the doors, Gillias and Moray tailing him.

"Chris... Is it true that you led them here?" Pool asks sadly.

"I wouldn't even think of it... I need to help you guys out, I promise I won't let Techway take the Life Generator!" Chris says determined as he bolts through the door as well.

Pool watches, shocked by Chris's resolve.

"He... Can't be lying with that kind of attitude, right...?" She asks to herself.

".....If he says it like that, then... I trust him! Yes, he can definitely be trusted!" Pool shouts, smiling proudly before also leaving the room.

Merpeople were now swimming to their homes frantically to hide from the aggressors. The walls shake and shudder as attacks hit the walls of the fabled kingdom. The King floats outside of the gates, troops on both sides of him. Across from the gates were the many Techway submarines, shooting large energy shots towards the walls. When the shots hit, they are deflected by an unseen barrier that surrounds the perimeter, though it is quickly losing it's strength.

"Take down those humans!! Make sure they cannot get past this wall!!" The King calls out.

The troops swim out towards Techway, wielding weapons such as tridents and spears. In response, Techway soldiers wearing scuba gear and wielding energy rifles pour out from all directions. Though they seem to have been prepared for this moment, they were still being outclassed in terms of speed by the Merpeople, getting speed blitzed left and right. 

"My people are well adapted to an aquatic environment!! You will never win in your current condition!!" The King calls out proudly.

Inside of a big submarine that was sitting at the back of the fleet, Techway soldiers were putting in a bunch of commands.

"He thinks he has us beaten again... Then let's show him the new weapon we've been working on... We need to use the Hyper Cannon!!" The commander says.

The soldiers look fearfully at each other and start putting on their scuba suits, the commander of the sub doing it not too soon afterwards. Once they're done changing, they plug in a bunch of commands into the various control consoles before immediately rushing for the exit, climbing out of the submarine all at once. On the outside, a large cannon slowly emerges from the underside of the craft, glowing a bright cyan color. The commander signals the other soldiers to move out of the way, which they all do once they see the giant cannon powering up. The cannon eventually fires a large beam of cyan energy towards Atlantis, the shock of the blast destroying the submarine as well. The King notices it and stares in shock.

"What is this...? This one is different..!!" He shouts.

His palms begin to glow light blue as he holds out his hands. A visible current quickly forms in front of him to make a water barrier, which tanks the beam as it hits, but King Pozaiton is clearly struggling to hold it back.

"I-I can't... Let this... Through!!!" He yells desperately.

The beam eventually blasts through The King's guard, knocking him down towards the sea floor as the beam shatters through the barrier, breaking the gate apart and creating a large explosion in the epicenter of Atlantis. The soldiers of Atlantis look on in horror, in awe at the power of the weapon.

"It's over... Our barrier..." The King murmurs to himself as he floats towards the base of the wall... Before suddenly, a figure appears from out of the gate.

".... That's...!!" The King says, shocked.

It was Chris, now floating in front of the totaled gate.

"A new weapon, huh?" Chris says to himself.

The King floats up behind Chris, his hands were trembling horribly and were seemingly at least fractured from trying to hold back the energy wave.

"Human... What do you think you're doing...!?" The King asks, sounding more angry than anything.

"What does it look like, I've come to help you out!!" Chris shouts back, returning the slight anger.

The King's stance seems to loosen when Chris says this, his face morphing into one of confusion.

"Why would you want to help us? Humans are the same, all of them!!" The King responds, unable to contain even the slight amount of shock.

"Could you not!? Let a human help you out, because if you don't, Atlantis is gonna get wiped off the face of the Earth!! Do you want that!?" Chris yells, clenching his fists.

The King glares deeply at Chris before eventually giving in, sighing.

"If you make one move against us, I will personally have your head in the afterlife Human!!" The King threatens.

Chris smirks, looking back ahead at the aquatic armada before him.

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Chris says before swimming ahead.

"Ack-! I'm not used to this yet-!!" Chris yelps, realizing his inexperience in using a Merman body.

He zooms towards a group of soldiers and slams his fist into one of them, cracking his visor and launching him deep into the endless blue.

"I can still move like normal... Fuck, these Merpeople have it made-" Chris says, looking at his fist before realizing he was still zooming forward.

He holds out his hands like a break and does a swift u-turn, trying to tackle the group again as they begin firing an energy onslaught towards him.

The King watches from the gates, holding his arm.

"...That young human may have just prolonged our demise..." The King says, watching Chris's inexperience.

Pool finally catches up with her Father and Chris, looking out towards the fight before noticing the King.

"F-Father!! Are you ok!? Oh gosh.. your hands!!" Pool gasps, quickly swimming up to her Father's side.

"I'll be fine... Where did you find that human again...?" The King asks.

"F-Father, but, you-" Pool stammers.

"Where did you find him?" The King repeats, looking at Pool now.

"I-I.. I found him off of the coast... He was drowning..." She says, looking away.

The King looks back to Chris. Chris was seemingly getting the hang of being a merperson, corkscrewing through a volley of energy shots and slamming his fists into multiple soldiers, knocking the away.

"...Is he trying to repay a debt..?" The King asks.

"A debt...? Why would he...?" Pool begins to ask before she realizes.

"....Oh my gosh I saved his life-" Pool murmurs.

"...My Daughter, I have a lot of respect for you, but that was quite obvious." The King says, facepalming.

Chris had defeated quite a few enemy soldiers, leaving them floating in the water.

"Alright, this is easier than I thought it would be!!" Chris says triumphantly.

Another one of the large submarines floats down in front of Chris. Inside, the staff members look at each other.

"We can eliminate this fish person along with the rest of Atlantis if we use another Hyper Cannon!!" The general of that sub yells, signaling the other staff members to punch in the commands.

Chris notices the giant cannon emerge from the sun and begin powering up.

"Shoot... Another blast like that will wipe out the rest of Atlantis-!!" Chris panics, trying to think of a way to stop it.

"Maybe I can get inside of her submarine and... No, not with this damn fish tail..!" He hisses, freezing like a deer in headlights.

Suddenly, out of the deep dark blue, a different energy shot comes flying out, hitting the Hyper Cannon and making it's energy output invert on itself, destroying the submarine prematurely.

"What the-!?" Chris gasps, trying to pinpoint where the energy shot came from.

"That wasn't one of the Submarines we're fighting...!" The King says, quickly diverting his attention to a small rocky overlook at the back of the battlefield.

Slowly coming down from above was a small amphibious vehicle, with a familiar voice booming through a speaker.

"Didn't expect to find you like this, Chris!!" Corry's voice echoes out.

Chris immediately smiles and laughs.

"Took you long enough guys!!" Chris chirps.

TO BE CONTINUED...