little- merman!?

exploring the l̶a̶b̶ aquarium!!!

It's been a few hours since they walked in and started looking around the place and it was quite fun, until it was lunch time where they took a break of looking around all the exhibits (almost all the exhibits) and started taking together it was a bit nicer than what Red Son was expectingb it to be, and thought it was confusing that people where paying to see animals when they could have gone swimming in the ocean, but nun-theless he tried to pretend like he wasn't amused by all the wonderful animals and creatures that the aquarium had to offer.

Mei: so how do you like the aquarium so far red boy
*Sips some of her tea waiting for an answer*

Red: it's.......quite... Decent I suppose, And it's "red SON" not red boy, dragon girl. I still don't like all the water but the creatures are quite astonishing

Mei: I knew you would like it!

Red: what makes you say that?

Mei: dunno, just had a feeling you would, wait.... Did you just say that the animals here were "astonishing"? 🤨

Red: what?? No- *got caught*

Mei: yes you did! You just did!

Red: *sigh* fine I suppose I did. I do like the animals here so far

Mei: ha! I do got some ideas on what to do next, but that's if you want to split up to explore more of the aquarium to see who can mark down the most sea creatures that they see firs!t and the one that has the most animals marked down wins! But I'm unsure if you would be fast enough to catch up to me [she said as if she was going to challenge red]

Red: oh? *Places his coffee down* is that a challenge dragon girl?

Mei: hmmmm maybe.

Red: then you're on. [Red stood up and started walking he was already done with his food meanwhile Mei wasn't]

Mei: !!! [Start scarfing down her food to see if she's able to beat red and hurry up]

{After a few more hours of exploring and seeing all new animals red was in the lead and was seeing new animals and doing his best to avoid any water on the floor and did his best to avoid people specifically big groups of people, meanwhile May was only behind Red by a few sea creatures and was catching up quickly}

Red: hmmm.... ? [Looked around on the map to see if there was any parts of the aquarium he hasn't gone to which there was a good half maybe more but he heard a sound from behind the door of the "staffs only" door, it sounded like... singing? But that doesn't really make sense. All the staff were at the main entrance or in the lunch Hall helping people, red started walking away but then the singing caught his attention again, he was soon going to become curious and peaked his head through the steps only door to see a staircase, weird when the map never said anything about there being a downstairs only three floors, the main floor, the second floor, and the third, red was on the main floor. The map doesn't say that there is a basement red slowly started going down the steps as the singing got louder and then he stepped on the floor when the stairs stopped, he walked around saying that it was empty and almost pitch Black if it wasn't for the fact that his hair was letting out a slight glow, and then he saw something shiny and assumed that it was the light switch, he touched it and it turned out to be a lever he flipped the switch up and the lights turned on they weren't as bright as the one from the main floor or any of the 3 floors, the lighting was extremely dim but it was good enough to be able to see the singing stopped suddenly when red bumped into a janitors set he knocked over some bottles of Windex and a weird bottle that had a glowing liquid inside it looked almost like.. blood? possibly. But what type of blood is gold? Red wasn't going to focus on that. He looked at the water that he knocked over that was inside the mop holder, red looked around and then realized that all the walls weren't walls at all, it was a big tank much bigger than the ones from upstairs it covered all of the walls and it was much bigger looking at it from outside the tank, but it looked empty no fish no crabs no starfish not even that much plants it just looked abandoned but red didn't want to jump to a conclusion and continued looking he wasn't even paying attention to the challenge, after a while he gave up of looking to see if there was any life inside of the tank and started walking back and as soon as he did he saw Shadow move from the corner of his eye and instantly turned around]

Red: WHO'S THERE!?

Red: . . . I know someone is there I just saw your shadow. [Red started walking around again, and then noticed another Shadow move from the corner of his eye again and he instantly turned around]

Red: you're not supposed to be here,
[Bed wasn't expecting to get a response but. he did]

?: You think? And I don't think you're allowed to be down here either I mean they haven't come down here in a while do you mind throwing that fish into the tank?

Red: !!! [Red was caught off guard by the quick response and almost fell out of a surprise, he was confused at first but then slowly started looking around he didn't see anybody, maybe they were behind the tank? No, the tank water is extremely clear despite it looking abandoned he would have been able to see someone if they were on the other side, he didn't see anything besides the decorations in the tank and the fake plants that were in it but there was also a rock in the inside of the tank which red assumed the person was probably behind but that just made red more confused because the person's voice didn't sound echoed or as The mortals say "waterlogged"? red assumed that was the right word, but still the person's voice didn't sound waterlogged it sound perfectly clear and somewhat feminine but not feminine, feminine. Like a woman trying to talk like a male, red then looked at the fish that was in a bucket and then grabbed it]

Red: ... Where would I throw it in?

?: On your left! If you keep going that way you'll see a ladder! Put the letter on the tank but near The Rock and then throw the fish in they never cover the tank because they assume that they can just throw the fish in and it will be 100% guarantee to fall inside the tank even though it sometimes doesn't and it falls on the floor and then they put it inside when it's covered in dust and dirt. [The voice sounded a bit annoyed when it said that]

Red: what do you mean letter I didn't see a- [that was walking around to the left side and then saw the ladder]
Oh? And where are you and how did you know that there was a ladder down here, what are you even doing down here?

?: Do you mind doing what I asked first? and then I'll answer your question, I promise I'll answer your question if you do it.

Red: hm.. ok [Red grabbed the ladder and did his best to move it to the part of the tank that had the massive Rock and then carefully put the ladder down he then looked for the bucket with the fish inside and then grabbed it he carefully climbed up the ladder and was now at the top and then saw that the person that he had been talking to wasn't lying the tank was uncovered he then looked around a bit and then hesitantly put his hand in the bucket that had the fish and then held it out over the tank]
What am I supposed to do now?- !!!

[A quick figure moved around in the water from behind the Rock and instantly swam up grabbing the fish from Red's hand and red instantly pulled his hand back letting whatever grab the fish take it he almost fell off the ladder but then something grabbed his arm redhead closed his eyes thinking that he was going to fall off the ladder but after a minute that he realized he wasn't falling he opened them and then saw a figure in front of him, it was a boy, their hair was wet but it looked long and looked as if it was drying up quickly he had the most beautiful top ever it looked as if he had a pearl necklace holding the top on and then looked at his face, the boy had beautiful brown skin and golden eyes it almost looked as if he had a crown on his head, and as red took a closer look he realized that the man in front of him had gills on his neck which was making red confused, only fish had gills. right? Red then look down and realize that the man didn't have legs but in almost golden tail it was glowing slightly from the dim lighting redhead then started panicking and was squirming trying to get the man to let go of him and then fell into the tank his hair almost turned into a cold black and he hit his head on the glass, the glass must have been reinforced with something because it didn't break. Red felt dizzy because he wasn't able to have the chance to hold his breath before falling into the tank and slowly blacked out, and right as red was about to close his eyes he saw a figure as well as a gold light and then he blacked out]

**I will be continuing this chapter in a bit**