The Sea Sprite
Chapter 1
Written by: CS-Masyet
"There's said to be sea sprites living in the ocean beyond the shores nearby. I wonder if we'll see one today?"

"You're so silly, dear." My mom said to my dad, who was behind the wheel. "You don't actually believe the stories about them, do you?"

"You never know. But regardless, that beach is still a nice place."

"So, we there yet or what...?" I asked, bored in the back seat.

"You don't seem too excited about this, Tide." My mother responded, bitterly.

"That's 'cause I'm not. I just want to get this over with."

"Don't be like that. You might even find your soulmate there. Wouldn't that be romantic~?"

"I don't really care about 'soulmates', mom. I've already made that clear."

"Tide, isn't it about time you started thinking about your future?" My father interrupted. "You're almost 19, for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"We're here!"

Dad stopped and parked the car in a vacant parking lot. There was sand everywhere, since it was near the beach.

"It's about time..."

"Don't worry Tide, it'll be worth the wait. I promise." My father said to me, after we got out of the car.

"Um, dear..." My mom said to him, with a worried expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Look." She pointed towards the beach. When my dad saw what she was pointing at, a horrified look appeared on his face.

"Dad?" I decided to take a look too, to see what was wrong.

--

"W-what happened here?!"

There were many fish and even whales lying on the beach, either dead or flopping effortlessly. They were on a huge stretch of wet sand - it was like the ocean was partially drained.

My dad checked on one of the smaller whales. "Tide, could you give me a hand?"

"Um, sure."

We carried the baby whale to the water. It swam away happily.

"Who could have done this to the ocean?" My dad asked, punching the sand.

"Honey, look!" My mom pointed at some weird machine off in the distance. It was full of ocean water, and was dispensing polluted water in its place.

"It's that! That's what's wrecking the ocean!"

"What do you think you're all doing?" A man in his mid 20's walked up to us, with an angry expression on his face. "This place is owned by Gorudo Aquacorp! You can't just come here without permission!"

"So you're the one who's been drying up the sea?!" My dad retorted with a similar angry expression. "How could you? The fish and whales living here need the water to survive!"

"What's it to ya? It's our property; we can do what we like with it."

"You can't just own a whole ocean! That's impossible!"

"Gorudo Aquacorp can! Besides, we're being nice enough and dumping back the water. See?" The man pointed at his machine.

Yeah, dirty water...

"You should be grateful that we're so generous! Wahaha!"

"You'll... You'll upset the sea sprites..."

"What? Sea sprites?" The man looked at him questiongly, then laughed again. "Pah! Such things do not exist! Who'd actually believe that?!" The man left, chuckling on the way to the machine.

"What do we do now, dear?" My mom asked. "Should we go home?"

My dad said nothing, looking at the ground, dejected.

I... I have to do something about that machine!

I ran towards the man, hoping he'd lead me right to it.

"Tide, wait!"

"If I can find out where it is, I might be able to figure out how t-..." Before I could finish, I tripped and fell into part of the polluted water. "Someone help!" I called out, my sprained ankle making it hard for me to swim, and the dirty water making it difficult for me to see.

The current of polluted water almost swept me toward the sewer, but someone saved me just in time.

"Thank you, I almost drowned..." I wiped me eyes to see who saved me. What I saw shocked me. "Huh?"

In front of me sat a beautiful girl with green skin, and what appeared to be fins on her arms and legs.

"A-are you a se-..."

Before I could finish, the mysterious beauty swam away, out of sight.

"Wait!" I sighed, realizing calling out anymore would be pointless.

"Tide, are you alright?" My dad exclaimed, seeing me sitting on the ground, soaking wet. "What happened to you?"

"I tripped and fell into the sewer water, but I'm okay now."

"Oh, thank goodness..." My mom breathed a sigh of relief. "I was so worried..."

My father helped me up.

"I'm sorry, dad. I wanted to something about that machine, but..."

"That's alright. For now, we should help the sea creatures return to their homes."

"Mark, we're still going to stay here? After what that man said?"

"I don't care if they're some big-shot, wealthy company. They can't do as they please to this ocean or anything living in it!"

Wow... Dad's acting really cool all of a sudden...

"I'll help you, t-... OW!" I tripped again, forgetting I had damaged my leg earlier.

"Did you hurt your leg? Go to the beach house with your mom and rest. You can help when you're better."

"S-sorry..."

--

My mom helped me walk to the shack.

"Tell me if you need anything, sweetie."

"I'm fine, mom."

She left me to sit next to my grandfather, the owner of the beach house, while she went to unpack our stuff.

"Dagnabbit! You whippersnappers are so reckless these days!" My grandpa exclaimed after I told him what happened earlier. "You're lucky your father was there to help you."

"Actually, it was a girl with green skin that saved me..."

"A-a girl with green skin, you say?!" He asked me, with a shocked expression on his face. "So, you met a sea sprite, eh?"

"So it really was one!?"

"Yes. Tell me, do you know what a sea sprite is, sonny boy?"

"Um, no. Not really."

"Then allow me to explain. It's only a legend, but..." He coughed. "Ahem. Sea sprites are an aquatic race that roam the oceans of this world far and wide, spreading their song around the globe. It's not known why exactly, but it's said that their song has the power to cleanse the world."

"But isn't it just a legend?"

"Yes; a lot of people don't believe it, especially since they're supposed to be the offspring of normals and mermaids..."

"Um, what? What's a 'mermaid'?"

"Ya darn whippersnapper!" Grandpa yelled suddenly, startling me. "The youth of today doesn't know anything! Then again, mermaids haven't been around for a long time..."

So that girl I saw was probably a sea sprite, then. But if that's the case...

"Hey grandpa, how long has that machine been here?"

"Are you talking about that dang contraption that 'Gerubo' or whatever company made? They've been polluting the ocean for months, now! It's just downright terrible!"

"If there really are sea sprites living there, wouldn't the pollution be bad for them?"

"Of course! Pollution's bad for all the little critters living in the sea, not just the sea sprites." He coughed. "But, there's not much we can do about it, I'm afraid."

"There has to be something! If I could just do something about that machine..."

"Youth these days; so reckless! Didn't you hurt your leg trying that before?"

"B-but..."

Just then, I heard the door open. It was my father, and he looked really worn out.

"Speaking of reckless youths..."

"Nice to see you too, dad." My dad said to grandpa. "I tried to get as many fish and whales back into the ocean as I could, but I don't know how much good that'll do. What with the ocean being polluted..."

"Hey dad, you didn't happen to see any sea sprites swimming in the ocean, did you?"

"Sea sprites? Was your grandfather telling you those tall tales again? I'm surprised you of all people would believe something like that."

"Actually, I think I saw one today. It was a girl with green skin; she saved me when I fell in the sewer stream."

"Really? If that's so, then maybe... Just maybe, the ocean could be saved after all."

Their song holds the power to cleanse the world...

"Haha, if only! I'm sure you were just seeing things, Tide." My dad patted me on the back, then went to go see mom.

Was I really?

--

I decided to go to the ocean to see if could find the sea sprite myself. The sun was already setting by the time my leg healed, but I didn't care.

"Um, sea sprite? Are you there?" I called out. "I just wanted to thank you for saving me earlier..."

Just then, a heard a small splash coming from the sea.

"Uh..." Did she hear me?

I decided to look down into the water. But before I could, something popped out and made me fall backwards.

"Wah!" I landed hard on the ground. I was lucky that I was surrounded by sand.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Are you alright?" A gentle voice said to me.

I wiped my eyes to see who was talking to me. It was...

"... you're the sea sprite!"

"Y-yes, that's right..." She said nervously, slightly poking her head out of the water. "You are the one called Tide, correct?"

"Yeah, but how do you know my name?"

"I heard your father saying it. It is a very nice name." She told me with a warm smile. I couldn't help my face from reddening.

"U-um, thanks?"

"I want to talk to you about something, but not where anyone else will see. Would you come with me?"

"Sure, I guess. You did save me, after all..."

"Great!" She grabbed my hand suddenly, and pulled me into the water.

"Bbbguh!" What is she doing?! I can't breathe!

I tried as hard I could to hold my breath, but I eventually started to choke.

"O-oh no!" The sea sprite said to me with a shocked expression. "I forgot normals can't breathe underwater!"

She pulled my face towards hers. "Everything will be okay..." She said softly, then proceeded to kiss me. Well, it was more like CPR, but I couldn't help but blush anyway.

"Y-you... What was that?"

"Are you alright now?"

"Huh?" It took a while to realize it, but I eventually figured out I was talking and breathing underwater. "H-how did you do that?"

"That's not important now. Let's go." She grabbed my hand again, and pulled me down deeper.

--

She swam aways further down, deeper than I imagined this ocean to be. On the way, I saw many schools of fish swimming among coral reefs. Amazingly, I could still see the orange sky above me very clearly.

"Beautiful..." I stated, amazed at the sights around me.

"Here we are." She told me, after finally stopping.

"Is this... your home?"

"I guess you could say that." She answered. "But it would be more precise to say this whole ocean is my home. It is for the fish and other creatures, as well."

"Oh, I see. But I'm surprised... I would have never thought this sea was so beautiful and vast. Especially after seeing what that machine was doing."

"Yes, that machine..." She uttered with a pained expression. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about..."

"I-is something wrong? Has that thing affected those living here?"

"Greatly, especially those living closer to the surface. You saw that terrible black liquid, right?"

"Considering I almost drowned because of it, it'd be kind of hard to forget about it..."

"Well, because of that stuff, many lives have been lost. My family included..."

"It's killed sea sprites too?!"

"Yes. In fact, I'm the only one left in this ocean. It's rather lonely..."

"That's terrible..."

"Even if I'm the last one left, I want to help save this ocean, since sea sprites are descendents of the guardians of the sea. But when I tried to do something, I got afraid..."

So that's why she was in that polluted water...

"But I heard you and your family talking about wanting to stop that awful thing as well... I was wondering if you could help me..."

"..."

"O-or maybe not..."

I clutched her hands in mine comfortingly.

"Don't worry; I was already thinking about wanting to do something. But after hearing what you told me, I'll definitely find a way to save this ocean!"

"T-Tide..."

"So now you don't have to be the only one guarding this sea. Okay?"

"Thank you..." She started tearing up. "Y-you're a really kind person."

That's news to me...

"But I feel like I should do something for you in return..."

"Hm... Okay then, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"What's your name?"

"Oh? It's Brooke."

"Well then, it's nice to meet you, Brooke."

End of Chapter 1

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Writer's Comments (8/21/2012):

Well, that's that; the first chapter of "The Sea Sprite". Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it (no seriously, I did).

It ended a bit different than I planned; in fact part of the original was sort of cut off from this one. I actually end of doing that a lot more than I'd like, but I think it's better this way (well, for this chapter in particular).

So yeah, I finally got it done and I'm actually kind of satisfied about this one! So yeah (lol, again?), until next time...

- CS-Masyet