The trio of mermen swimming together, Herman and Prince Ethan were trying to catch Jackson up about the siren. The octopus mer still looks slightly confused, he swims ahead of them a little,

"So, wait. You're telling me that the two of you are looking for the rarest sea creature in the whoole wide ocean, because of a pull or something your highness has."

The prince of Sturona chuckles while the small fire shrimp huffs in annoyance,

"For the thousandth time, yes! I know this sounds, really ridiculous but it is all we got right now." The slightly childish octo-merman scrunches his face in thought, his face relaxing and then scratching his cheek once he gets it, hanging back a bit,

"I mean, I get it. Kinda. It just seems like a stretch to me." Prince Ethan floats in front of them, smiling triumphantly and flexes his muscles,

"Don't worry, friends. If we stick together, we can find the siren in no time." Herman rolls his eyes while Jackson looks at his idol admiringly. The small, fiery merman continuing scuttling, the other two quick to follow suit,

"Now that we ave' caught you up and Princey gave his...wonderful speech. Can we get back to it?" The prince stops posing as he follows them, rummaging through his bag and taking out a piece of kelp with notes etched on it,

"Luckily for us, I wrote things down. Let's see here..." He reads over his notes, going aha! Once he finds what he is looking for,

"According to my notes and what others have told me, we should head to deeper waters first." Herman stops scuttling, getting nervous and starts to sweat profusely,

"D-Deeper waters?! Are you crazy!?" The smallest of the three swims into the royalty's chest, clinging to it,

"You don't understand! The deeper waters are pitch black with all sorts of monsters lurkin' in the dark." The brown-haired octopus mer shudders, becoming just as scared as he is,

"That sounds scary! Are we sure the siren is in deeper waters?" The most confident of the bunch gives them both a reassuring smile, patting their backs,

"Those are just fish tales, plus with all three of us, there is no way our enemies stand a chance." Herman was about to argue when he caught a glimpse of something from the corner of his eye. He wasn't sure but it looked like a long-tailed merman. The grumpy shrimp mer quickly turning around to see what it was,

"Did you see that?" Prince Ethan looks around, catching a glimpse of him too,

"That's him! Come on, guys!" He chases the siren, the other two struggling to keep up with them, and they all continue the chase until the unknown merman hides behind a boulder and they all stop in front of it, trying to catch their panting breath. The richest mer floats straight, taking a deep breathe,

"I'm sure I saw the siren; he must've hidden behind that boulder." Jackson swims towards the rock, looking at what is behind it with sympathy,

"Aaaw, I think we scared him." Herman harrumphs, saying with a sarcastic voice,

"Aren't sirens supposed to be fierce?" The attractive octo merman approaches the terrified siren, trying to seem as non-threatening as possible and sticking his hand out in peace,

"It's okay, we aren't gunna hurt cha." The siren comes out of hiding a little, he looks nervous and the trio gapes at his beauty, making him even more nervous. Prince Ethan snaps out of it, swimming forward and placing a hand on his chest,

"I've been waiting a while to meet you. I know this may sound strange, but I felt this..pull ever since we first met." Herman scoffs at this,

"Uugh, cheesy romance." The siren comes fully out of hiding, sitting on top of the boulder with his tail wrapping around it and he said softly,

"My name is Kasper and I feel it too." The Sturona royalty looked surprised, then grins giddily and starts to ask questions animatedly, the others soon joining in. They all talked for what seemed like hours, Kasper starting to feel more comfortable when two armed royal guards swim up to the group and the mysterious siren hides behind the boulder again. Sensing danger, Jackson floats in between his new friend and the guards, his body rigid. The two guards approach the group fully, turning their attention to the runaway prince and one of them say,

"Your highness, what are you doing here?" Prince Ethan grins nervously, scratching the back of his head,

"Uuuh.... I was just..." The guard that was standing by sees Kasper's head pop out for a second from behind the boulder, tapping the other guard's shoulder and points to where he saw him,

"There it is!" They swim past the next king of Sturona towards the hidden siren and the large octopus mer growls, getting into a defensive stance. Prince Ethan follows after them, one of the guards stops him,

"I'm sorry but I can't let you do that." His face twists in anger, he tries to push past,

"Why? Who ordered this?" The guard that was blocking the confused prince pushes him away, tapping his spear on the ground hard,

"By the order of the king, we must take the siren, alive, as a prisoner of the kingdom of Sturona."

Prince Ethan stops, staring at the guards even more confused and thought, 'My father? Why would he order something like that?'

One of the two royal guards drag Kasper out, his new friends trying to fight him off and at that very moment, two figures slams into the guard and he lets go. One of the figures, who was the hagfish mermaid from before, grabbed the arm of the stunned siren and shouted to the others,

"This way! Hurry!" The trio saw their chance, swimming away and not too long after, the other figure who was the viperfish crony, catches up to them. The two goons lead them back to their master's cave, everyone else was in awe but were still on edge, and they finally got to meet the henchmen's master, he was working at his desk. He turns around once he notices them, grinning wickedly,

"Hello, there. Now, I know you all have questions and lucky for you, I have all the answers you seek." The merman of royal blood puts on a brave face, puffing out his chest,

"Who are you? And what do you want?" The fangtooth merman swims behind Prince Ethan, putting his hands on the other's shoulders,

"Oh dear, young, prince, that doesn't matter. And what I want, is a trade." The heir to the Sturona throne gives him an uneasy look, tensing up,

"A trade?" The intimidating mer swims past him, smirking and floats in front of everyone, one hand on his chin while his arm was resting on his other arm,

"It's simple, gentlemen. All the answers for just a few scales from your siren friend over there."

The trio of mermen shouts in outrage, starting to argue when Kasper swims to the fangtooth sorcerer, his face determined, "I'll do it."