The Airship

Pozaiton and Pool smile widely at Chris and the Amphibian that Corry and Noland were in, now floating right next to Chris. The warriors of Atlantis were now helping with the clean-up efforts from the battle.

"You are welcome to come back here whenever you'd like, Atlantis is forever open to you humans!" The King says joyously.

Chris chuckles before replying to Pozaiton's offer.

"We'll definitely come back here later, but as of now, we need to get back to dry land, we have a mission to accomplish, Techway needs to go." Chris says.

"Well, we certainly can't get in the way of that. Go ahead and do what you need to do, we'll be supporting you." Pozaiton chuckles.

Through this whole interaction, Pool's just been floating next to her Father with a vacant expression on her face. She seemed to be deep in thought.

"Uhhhh, quick question." Noland pipes up through the loudspeaker.

"Hmm?" Pozaiton asks, looking into the cockpit of the Amphibian.

"Could you use your magic or something to revert Chris to normal? I don't think he can really do anything on land with that fish tail-" Noland states.

Pozaiton stares blankly at Noland and Corry before slowly floating back down towards Pool and Chris.

"Erm.... Well.... You see... We can transform humans into one of us, however... We can't really... Turn them back-" Pozaiton stammers.

"WHAT-!?" Chris cries out, staring in horror at the King.

"....What did he say?" Corry asks Noland.

"He just said that Chris can't be turned back into a human by their magic!!!" Noland shouts at Corry.

Corry eyes widen at the prospect of Chris being a Merman forever.

"Are we gonna have to keep him in a fishtank!?!?" Corry asks, flabbergasted.

"Of course not!! I'll just find a way to turn him back to normal myself!" Noland responds in kind before going back to the loudspeaker.

"Chris, swim into the bottom entrance hatch real quick!" He calls out.

Chris does so, swimming under the now open hatch into the Amphibian and poking his head inside.

"What's up?" Chris asks.

"Hold out your hand real quick." Noland tells Chris.

"Uhhh, like this?" Chris replies, holding his hand up in front of Noland.

"Perfect." Noland states, pulling a small scalpel out of his pocket and cutting off a small piece of the skin on Chris's palm.

"OW- THE HECK WAS THAT FOR!?" Chris yells, quickly recoiling his hand back into the water.

"Please stop yelling, I'm gonna try and make a formula to turn you back to normal." Noland says calmly.

Chris's expression softens as he realizes Noland's intentions.

"Oh- Well then uhhh... Carry on I guess-" Chris says awkwardly before swimming back down.

"You know, you could have told him what you were gonna do, before you did it." Corry says.

"I know, I just thought it would be funny to see his reaction." Noland says, giggling a bit.

Corry side-eyes Noland cautiously before looking back out the window. Noland takes the skin sample and goes to the lab table that was at the back of the Amphibian to begin working on a concoction that would fix Chris. 

Chris swims back down to the Atlantean Royals to begin explaining the situation to them.

"Noland took a piece of my skin, probably for the DNA in my skin cells, so that he can make something to turn me back to normal. He's a really smart guy, so I have faith that he can pull it off." Chris explains. 

"Ah, well then I suppose that settles that." Pozaiton says, laughing a bit.

Pool looks up towards her Father then up towards the Amphibian. She begins to speak, hesitating slightly, before finally uttering out a small sentence that was barely audible to everyone else. Pozaiton looks down at Pool, tilting his head quizzically at his daughter. Chris turns his head to look at her as well, a curious look spread across his face.

"Did you say something Pool? Go on, don't be shy." Pozaiton says softly.

Pool gulps before shaking her head and looking up determinedly at the King.

"Father... I wish to go with these humans." Pool says, her face showing she was set on this decision.

Pozaiton stares at Pool blankly. Chris chokes on the water in his gills, coughing.

"You want to come with us-!? How would that work-!?" Chris asks, utterly dumbfounded by her statement.

"Your scientist friend's name is Noland, right? I want him to turn me into a human." Pool states.

Countless thoughts fly through Chris's head. He didn't want Pool to get hurt, but he also could see that Pool wasn't being shy about her decision, she was openly and strongly saying what she wanted to do, that's something Chris could respect.

"My little Pool... You can't be serious! Becoming a human and going into the land!? What do you hope to achieve this way!?" Pozaiton shouts, more shocked than angry.

"I don't want those Techway people to come back here... So I want to help Chris and his friends defeat them! You have to let me!" Pool begs to her Father.

"P-Pool... My little one, this time was already much too close for comfort, I don't want you being in danger constantly out on the surface!! Do you know how perilous it is out there!?" Pozaiton says, a bit of desperation in his voice.

"If I remain here, I'm still in constant danger... Those Techway people know where we are, and they could come back anytime. I don't want that for us, I want Atlantis to be safe!" Pool states.

"Think about this-! Think long and hard-!" Pozaiton starts.

"I have thought very hard about this and I know that this is exactly what I want!! Let me go, Father!!" Pool suddenly shouts out. 

Pozaiton's face freezes up in shock that his own daughter just yelled at him. Chris floats to the side, watching the conflict anxiously. Pool, realizing what she's just done, covers her mouth.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't... I wasn't..." She stammers, but Pozaiton just gives a feeble smile and laughs a bit.

"Such bravery... I never knew you had it in you, my daughter..." Pozaiton says quietly, going to hug his daughter.

"That's what you want to do, right? Then fine, I can't stop you... Just please... Promise me you'll stay safe out there." Pozaiton mumbles.

Pool freezes in place, her eyes drifting over to her Father's head as he embraces her. She sniffs and hugs him back, now sobbing lightly. Chris gives a light smile and chuckles. Corry watches from the viewing window on the Amphibian.

"There's something really emotional going on outside, the mermaid lady wants to come with us." Corry says, a smile on his face.

Noland, currently boiling a liquid in a flask, quickly looks back at Corry.

"I'd rather not keep a girl in a fishtank on the ship-" Noland says, scratching the back of his head.

"She wants the Chris treatment and get turned human, you know, with legs and stuff." Corry explains.

"......That might be possible." Noland states.

Outside of the Amphibian, Pool finally lets go of her Father, wiping her face.

"You can't be crying now, you've gotta be brave Pool! You clearly have much more confidence in yourself than I originally thought, so you must show it for the world to see!" Pozaiton says in a very noble tone.

"R-Right!" Pool shouts, clearing her eyes and sniveling a bit.

Chris floats up to Pool, smiling gently.

"Go ask Noland if he'll get some of your DNA, just make sure he's not a jerk about it." Chris says, joking a bit.

Pool nods and floats up to the ship, poking her head through the bottom hatch like Chris did.

"Um... Hello! You must be Corry and Noland!" Pool says anxiously.

Corry smiles and waves at her from the control seat.

"Yep, nice to meetcha!" Corry says cheerfully.

"Yeah, it's uhh.. cool to meet you." Noland mutters lightly.

"So... Mr. Noland? I wish for you to turn me into a human... Would this be possible?" Pool asks somewhat nervously.

"Well, for starters, please don't put that "Mr" prefix at the front of my name, you don't have to be so formal with us. Anyways... I think it should be possible, if I can take your DNA and maybe splice the fishlike aspects away from the human aspects, I may be able to pull it off." Noland says to Pool.

"Wonderful! So umm... Do you need to cut off a piece of my skin or something-??" Pool asks.

"Nah, just a hair will do." Noland admits.

"Oh- Well I can gladly provide that." Pool says with a wide smile on her face, pulling out one of her light blue hairs and handing it to Noland.

"Thanks, I'll get you a serum whipped up real quick... If it works of course, but let's not worry about that, focusing on the negative can end you up in the negative after all." Noland says philosophically, walking back to the table.

Chris was staring daggers at Noland through the viewing window, furious that Noland cut his hand, but only took a hair from Pool. Corry sees this and Snickers, trying to hold back laughter. Hearing Corry, Noland turns his head to look out the window, laughing a bit himself.

"Ehehehe.... Ehhh.... I feel like I'm in for it later." Noland says with a slight hint of worry in his voice.

Pool swims back over to Chris and her Father.

"While we're waiting for Noland to finish those formulas, I think I'll go grab my stuff... Oh, I should grab your clothes too, Chris! I'll be back!" Pool says happily, swimming off into Atlantis.

Chris and Pozaiton watch as she swims off before they both look at each other.

"Please... Take care of my Daughter. She insists that she'll be ok with you people, and I believe that as well. Just make sure she doesn't get herself into too much trouble." Pozaiton asks Chris.

"Don't worry, she'll be in good hands. We'll make sure nothing happens to Pool." Chris assures Pozaiton.

"You know, I think your daughter is much stronger than you put her out to be." Chris says, looking back out towards the majesty of Atlantis.

"She's definitely proven that in the last battle... I'm quite proud of her for what she's become, I'm sure that her mother is smiling down on her right now." Pozaiton says wistfully, looking up.

Chris floats up to Pozaiton's height and pays his shoulder, nodding to him. Eventually, Pool comes swimming back with a large bag. She swims up to the bottom hatch on the Amphibian and tosses it inside before looking at her Father one last time before she would be leaving.

"Pool... You truly have grown up right before my eyes. I hope you and the humans defeat this Techway menace and bring peace back to Atlantis." Pozaiton says, holding his fist out towards Pool, who does the same.

"I'll come back, Father! Once this is all over, I'll come back for you!" Pool says before crawling up into the Amphibian, crawling across the floor to the side of the room. Outside of the Amphibian, Chris looks at Pozaiton and holds his hand out to him.

"We'll defeat Techway so that you can live without being in fear." Chris says.

Pozaiton grins and shakes Chris's hand firmly.

"I'll take that promise to heart, Christopher." Pozaiton says replies.

Chris nods and swims back to the Amphibian, crawling in through the hatch and scooting over to where Pool was. Corry holds a peace sign up to Pozaiton with a smile before turning the Amphibian around and propelling it back towards the way they came from. Pozaiton waves to them as they leave.

"Good luck, my strong baby..." Pozaiton says proudly.

TO BE CONTINUED...